Poll: Did you buy a HD DVD player this week?
by Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Nov 5th 2007 at 10:48AM
The HD DVD camp's recent price reductions have been great for PR, but we wonder how they'll equate to sales. As great as a $99 HD DVD player is, it doesn't do you much good if they're all out of stock. So we want to know, were you able to take advantage of the deals, or are you so sure Blu-ray will win soon, you don't want to waste $99 just to see some of your favorite HD DVD exclusives in the meantime? Ohh, and please don't be lame and vote just to pump up the numbers.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Speaker @ Nov 5th 2007 10:58AM
I think the demographic this sale was targeted at probably doesn't go to HD news sites...
Ben @ Nov 5th 2007 11:00AM
You mean everyone doesn't read Engadget HD?
Seriously, I'd argue that the demographic you're referring to, won't pay $99 for a DVD player even if it does play HD movies.
dman @ Nov 5th 2007 11:06AM
I wish the survey had an option of "not yet, but it made up my mind to back HD DVD." I didn't buy one yet (I want an A30) but this sale made me think (rightly or wrongly) HD DVD is the horse I want to back, so I will be buying one soon.
Raptor007 @ Nov 5th 2007 1:48PM
Needs an option for "No, waiting for Samsung BD-UP5000."
scott @ Nov 5th 2007 11:09AM
I got 3 at Walmart for $98. I needed some HD upconvert DVD players so for $300 I got three upconverts DVD players, fifteen free HD DVD movies wia rebate, plus now I have the ability to play hd dvd movies. I already had a BD player. Now I have both.
Iscariote @ Nov 5th 2007 1:11PM
The 5 free movies offer is one per household, so get the extras shipped somewhere else.
Bradley @ Nov 5th 2007 1:19PM
Not to be a wet blanket but the rebate says limit one per family, household or address. Not that you can't work around that, and had I been able to find them I would have done the same thing.
Jeff @ Nov 7th 2007 8:47PM
smart choice
ryan @ Nov 5th 2007 11:08AM
I voted Yeah, but I paid more since I picked up an A3.
andyg8180 @ Nov 5th 2007 11:08AM
Wow... I'll give the poll another couple of hours... Looks like a decent chunk of people bought one...
Lee @ Nov 5th 2007 11:10AM
I think an option for "Yes, I bought a $99 HD DVD player as a gift as I already own one" in order to account for all those who did just that.
HD Tom @ Nov 5th 2007 11:14AM
Bought mine on Thursday at Best Buy for $99 - which turned out to be $56 for me (w/ tax) as we had a $50 BB gift card sitting around. An HD-DVD player for $56!! I've watched two movies so far - Seabiscuit and Transformers. I can't beleive how much better it is than my HD-upconverters (which I was fine w/). It's truly amazing, and I will watch as many movies w/ it as possible to take advantage in case BluRay eventually wins. But at worst, I have a solid upconverting DVD player for one of our non-primary TVs! I was going to wait for a while until one of the formats won, but for this price, I jumped in! Well worth it no matter what happens IMO!
HD Tom @ Nov 5th 2007 11:17AM
My question now is, when does a BluRay player sell for $99 :-). For now, I'm all for HD-DVD winning, but if a BR player ends up down here, I'll pick one up for sure and sit it on top of my HD-DVD player. But from what I read, doesn't look like it will sell sub $399 for a while! Go HD-DVD!!!
J @ Nov 5th 2007 11:19AM
I picked up two HD-A2s from Wal-Mart @ $98 each.
BlueOrder @ Nov 5th 2007 11:30AM
Was able to p/u a $99 Walmart HD-A2.
Semi @ Nov 5th 2007 11:54AM
Why bother with HD DVD players? Most movies released before 2002 were either mastered onto disc in a lower resolution OR from their VHS forefathers. HDDVD just means you'll have to throw out your current non-HD movie collection AND wait for all those movies to be remastered and re-released in HD quality. Waste of time and money.
Xyzzy @ Nov 5th 2007 11:39AM
@Semi: Not sure if you're a troll, or just misinformed, but your statement couldn't be further from the truth. Check out Robin Hood, Searchers, Casablanca, etc, for proof that older movies look GREAT in HD.
JeffDM @ Nov 5th 2007 12:39PM
Semi, you are off base on your reasons. Most movies were put onto film, and film can be re-scanned at higher resolutions. Home movies are basically the only thing I know of that was "mastered" on VHS. There are a few clean-up techniques that allow grain to be removed without blurring out detail.
You are also wrong to suggest that existing libraries need to be re-bought. That's not the case. There's not much reason to stick to DVD for new releases when it could be so much better. For the most part, I'm not replacing any movies, but if there's a new movie that I do want to buy, it's well worth paying a few dollars more for for the best possible quality.
MrBigglesworth @ Nov 5th 2007 2:42PM
Shut up, just, shut up. You FAIL at High Definition knowledge.
Ed @ Nov 5th 2007 5:57PM
@ Semi,
Love your fuzzy logic -- I guess that means BD suffers from the same poor quality transfers, huh? Besides, you do know that 35mm film stock has 4000 lines of resolution and it's the film stock that is transfered to dvd formats? Only public domain films are transfered in poor quality formats.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/18/movies/18KAPL.html?ex=1397620800&en=1f425922a579e78a&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND
HD Tom @ Nov 5th 2007 11:34AM
I think what you see here by the results so far is - many people "in the know" such as us who go to blogs such as this jumped on this ASAP! At this price, we're willing to take a chance on HD-DVD and see where it goes. The risk is definitely less than the potential reward!
I mean - at worst, you get a solid upconverter, for about the same price as a good upconverter currently on the market!
Even at $199, it's not a bad deal, and that is what BB is selling the A3 for today. You gotta figure that will go even more south as Christmas approaches!
If HD-DVD is ever going to have a shot at putting down BluRay, they absolutely need to take advantage of this. People obviously will jump if the price is right - that is proven by this unscientific poll IMO!
Segarsj @ Nov 5th 2007 1:17PM
Xyzzy,
Don't forget to include "2001: A Space Odyssey." That movie bests the others in my opinion.
LiqwidZero @ Nov 5th 2007 2:48PM
OMG! Yes! Adventures of Robin Hood is a great classic! It looks GREAT for a movie that was made in 1933. It is also one of the many WB movies that are HD DVD exclusive from Warner Bros.!
Alex @ Nov 5th 2007 11:41AM
@Semi, you got a lot of reading to do! I guess all of us have to throw away BluRay players as well, or did you conveniently leave that out since you're a troll?
Semi @ Nov 5th 2007 3:24PM
HDDVD vs. BluRay... VHS vs. Beta... DVD vs. LD. I hate getting in the middle of a format war. Especially since in 5 years time PC will come with 1 or 2 Tb hard drives. Get a Drobo with 4Tb and USB that into your home theatre and you have a very large, high rez iPod in your house.
I have Blockbuster, that's $19 a month. Add my cable to that- $80. I'm talking about a new format (that they could be working on now) that gets TRUE HD remastered movies onto a Drobo box. Want to see Spidey3, maybe National Lampoon's Vacation, or Ice Pirates in 720p? It's already been purchased and accessible at a button's press. No need to load up scratchable plastic discs, no need to wait 3 days, no need to pay for each on-demand viewing. And no worries about hardware with 5-year shelf-lives OR walls lined with little plastic cases and mostly crappy cover art.
Much like your entirely digitized music collection, your movies will be there. Ready for you by way of a remote control. All yours, not rented, no plastic-bound.
I know it's a crazy, dare I say troll-esque, concept that scares most hardware-jockeys. But believe me it's the way we want to go.
ztiger93 @ Nov 5th 2007 11:48AM
fortunately i was late to jump in the upconvert game, and this was the perfect entry. for $10 more than i almost paid for a samsung upconvert a couple of months ago, i picked this up and will be able to watch hddvd as well. my 37" panasonic plasma does not have 1080p, so this will likely be paired to it for a long time. 5 free movies don't hurt either.
Greg @ Nov 5th 2007 11:49AM
Ugh. Didn't hear about the BB sale. Went to one Wal-Mart on Friday morning, and they had no idea what I was describing when I asked about the HD-DVD players. Went to a second, only to watch some SOB buy the rest of the inventory.
The Fuzz 53 @ Nov 5th 2007 11:56AM
I picked up an A2 for my father for X-mas. I have to say that Wal-mart was a complete mad house at 8am, and every store (walmart, best buy, CC, etc.) that price matched was sold out by noon.
Semi @ Nov 5th 2007 11:59AM
The correct term is "over the bridge"-challenged, thank you.
I want to see a store that has a pre-millenial movie in DVD and HDDVD formats in a side by side comparison using identical displays. Until I see the true difference, if there is one, I'd have to saw NO DEAL.
The majority of consumers will agree with me when they realize their movie collections on disc is being deemed obsolete not long after they ditched their VHS tapes.
Trolls 1, speciesist 0
chad @ Nov 5th 2007 1:55PM
@ Semi
Why would you replace your entire DVD collection? All the HD DVD and Blu-ray players play standard DVDs. So, you can play all your old movies with your newfangled gadget. Then, when new releases come out, you can buy them in a high quality format which does indeed look better than the standard DVD.
Ryan P @ Nov 5th 2007 12:06PM
I saw 2 of these at a walmart over the weekend. I was very surprised.
Landlocked @ Nov 5th 2007 12:16PM
I just went with the HD-A3 as my second player to my HD-XA1. A certain blue and yellow retailer was offering 2 free HD DVDs of your choice off the shelf (so I got something I wanted and not fluff) in addition to two in the box and 5 through the mail. You figure at $30 a DVD...I got $300 worth of DVDs free...
Jody @ Nov 5th 2007 12:21PM
@Semi,
Old movies are mastered on film and are scanned into HD (or regular DVD) off of the film master (also called a reference print). In order to duplicate 35MM movie film the generally accepted digital resolution is 6000 x 4000. Although purists will say that digital cannot duplicate analog film. Also, some high end movie productions in the past actually used 70 mm film (or 65/70), 2001, Lawarence of Arabia, Patton, etc.
So basically, you are off base. Go find a HD DVD copy (or BD) of 2001: ASO and tell me it looks bad.
Semi @ Nov 5th 2007 1:49PM
If you take a look at most of the films released in the 80s on DVD you'll see that these were not mastered from the original analog film at a high resolution. In fact, you'll even find two versions of some movies, a regular release and a special edition/remastered release.
If the industry doesn't prove that it's going to do this for ALL of its films, and not just special films like Lawrence, Casablanca, or similar movies, then I have to say that it's not worth redoing your own (recently purchased?) home theatre system. Show me "Lampoon's Vacation" in HD!
And even if you replace your new DVD player for a HDDVD player and keep your existing collection, you won't see the advantage of the upgraded hardware. Add to that, now you have to go out to purchase a new copy of "Blade", an extra $25 in the hole. Add to that, your LCD is 720 but the true HDDVD version of "Blade" is 1080. But you just bought your LCD. Ouch!
On top of all of this, you may have to get a combo player because you're unsure if all releases will be available in HDDVD and BluRay.
The industry seems to be adopting HD format discs because these are difficult to copy. I think expecting the public to adopt this new format quickly is unfair. Especially, when Hollywood's current stock is not up to par, nor has decided on a dominant format.
BTW: I was an early adopter of tech: MiniDiscs, LaserDiscs, DAT, etc. All it got me was an empty wallet spent on sometimes unscalable and discontinued hardware quickly.
Craig @ Nov 5th 2007 12:37PM
I bought an A2 for $98 and don't even have a HDTV yet. Just planning ahead. Picked up two HD DVD's while I was at it (Transformers & Batman Begins). I took the player to a friend's 50" plasma and it looked fantastic!
Jody @ Nov 5th 2007 12:25PM
@Semi
Go to Best buy and ask them to cue up 2001:ASO on Standard DVD and HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. If you don't see a difference head on over to Lens Crafter's.
Mitchell @ Nov 5th 2007 12:29PM
I have been holding out for a A30 to match my Optoma HD-80 1080p projector but decided that 1080i/60 @$98 dollars was a great deal and 1080p/24 was not worth an extra $250 with the current state of the format war.
Maybe when there is a clear winner (2+ years?) i will purchase the 1080p/24 player around the same ~$100 price tag.
Vince @ Nov 5th 2007 12:26PM
Nice to see only 24% poled are Blu ray to all the way.
Jody @ Nov 5th 2007 12:29PM
"It's the end of the world as we know IT! And, HD-DVD owners feel fine"
Franssu @ Nov 5th 2007 12:30PM
Already have one (Xbox360 add-on), but if prices like these happen in beautiful Canada, I'll buy one to replace my ageing LG upconverter (and not have to stand the jet fighter noise of the 360 when watching a movie).
Scott Brooks @ Nov 5th 2007 1:02PM
Where's the option for "No way! HD DVD forever!"?? This poll stinks of bias....
Ben @ Nov 5th 2007 1:03PM
Hmm, there were 3 answers for HD DVD fans and one for Blu-ray, how is that biased?
Bruzer @ Nov 5th 2007 12:38PM
I bought one for a friend, as I already bought one (the A2 as well) 3 weeks ago... I wish I would have waited, but then again my friend wouldn't have gotten one because I bought the display model for $80.
iamtheoneyouknowbest @ Nov 5th 2007 12:44PM
BB has them an A3 with 10 Free DVDs. Two in the box (300 and Bourne Identity) you pick out 3 ($34.99 or less) and you get the 5 mail order ones. (If you picked up one before they gave you only 2, go back and ask for the third one.. price matching is great.)
All for $199... yeah, way to go HD-DVD.
Picked up one and spreading the word.
Scotty Ice @ Nov 5th 2007 6:24PM
We did the same thing also. We bought a 37' LG LCD tv for our bedroom and got $100 off any accessory so we picked up another Directv HD reciever.
We didn't know about the three other movies. Can you give any other details about it??
venk @ Nov 5th 2007 1:02PM
The fanboys from BluRay.com made it a point to vote multiple times in the CNBC poll by clearing cookies. They even had a big old thread about over there. I wonder how long until that happens in this poll.
Ben @ Nov 5th 2007 1:04PM
Our polls are by IP, so you can't vote twice without changing your IP.
idl3mind @ Nov 5th 2007 12:52PM
too bad M$ didn't jump on the bandwagon and sell the Xbox360 HD DVD player for $99 too.
timatl @ Nov 5th 2007 12:53PM
Was able to p/u a $99 Walmart HD-A2.
Chris Beveridge @ Nov 5th 2007 1:01PM
Not only did I not buy an HD DVD player, I bought my 3rd Blu-ray player. Zero interest in that format, especially since I'm into films and shows from Japan.