Xbox 360 HD DVD player stoops to $129

by Darren Murph, posted Dec 4th 2007 at 10:22PM

Not even six months after the Xbox 360 HD DVD drive fell to an oh-so-tempting $179, the unit has now reached an even lower low. That's right kids, the attachment has just plummeted to a juicy $129, which would honestly sound a whole lot sweeter if not for that sub-$100 HD DVD fiasco still lingering in our heads. Nevertheless, we've already noticed the player's new price tag over at Amazon and Toys R Us, but feel free to point out any other price slashings in comments below.

Read - $129.99 at Amazon
Read - $129.98 at Toys R Us

Filed under: HD DVD, Players, Toshiba

Tags: amazon, breaking news, BreakingNews, hd dvd, HdDvd, microsoft, sale, xbox 360, xbox 360 hd dvd, Xbox360, Xbox360HdDvd

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

Seth A @ Dec 4th 2007 10:30PM

You then ask the question of if Microsoft is still making these Add on drives, or they are selling off their stock... Ohh, conspiracy theory. Seriously though, is there any way to find out if MS still has these in active production.

Highest Ranked

HD4ME @ Dec 4th 2007 10:31PM

Yip, Bay was right, M$ aren't in this to help HD DVD, they want it to loose. Strange they are reducing costs on HD DVD players and making the product stronger then.
He is obviously snorting the blu coll aid instead of drinking it

Highest Ranked

DeadPlasmaCell @ Dec 4th 2007 10:34PM

"which would honestly sound a whole lot sweeter if not for that sub-$100 HD DVD fiasco still lingering in our heads."

I have to agree.. Wouldn't it have made more sense to have the Black Friday deal be $99 instead of $199? I dunno.. either way, good news for 360 owners.. I got mine on eBay a few months back for $100, great purchase.

Highest Ranked

Wes @ Dec 4th 2007 10:42PM

Whats neat is anyone with a fairly recent pc can pick up one of these and connect them to a Vista based machine and they automatically install the drivers etc. Plug in, ready to go and start watching movies. Provided you have playback software like windvd or vlc player for free.

You can even borrow movies from friends with the 'right' software and 'back them up' for your friend should his hd-dvd become damaged...assuming you have 30gb of space free per movie. Still though, wouldn't 'expire'.

Neutral

Truth Teller @ Dec 5th 2007 12:45PM

Not just Vista.

They work very nicely with a Windows XP PC too.

I just sold mine after a having it as a ROM drive for a year (for �80/$160 too!).
I might just buy another one at those kind of prices.

Highly Ranked

Wes @ Dec 4th 2007 10:45PM

Oops, I forgot to ask a question.

H41dol,
When is the blu-camp going to come out with its internal or external usb2.0 blu-ray player for $129.00? When it comes out? will it be profile 2.0 to have the same features as this hd-dvd player does?

Highly Ranked

Jeff @ Dec 4th 2007 11:10PM

problem is, this article has nothing to do with bluray, maybe we won't read any of filth

Highly Ranked

Boston @ Dec 4th 2007 10:53PM

Hell yes! I'm getting one! I was looking for an excuse to get a HD DVD player for the upcoming Blade Runner release. Thank goodness I waited.

Neutral

ben @ Dec 5th 2007 11:45AM

so, how good is blade runner.... i watch an obscene amount of movies and have somehow never came across that one... obviously you're a huge fan of it, but what movies would you compare it to in quality and genre?

Highly Ranked

Kevin Murphy @ Dec 4th 2007 10:56PM

THe $99 HD-DVD sale is a problem if they don't plan to repeat -- too many people are now going to wait for under-$100 when they would have been tickled to get it for $189 before.

Highly Ranked

Wes @ Dec 4th 2007 11:48PM

I've got to admit, for all purposes, I tend to disagree about your feelings the $99.99 dvd player sale was a problem or a mistake.

The main argument is did you know that some car models went on sale last week? So did some car models the week before that? and the week before that anddd the week before that? :). Did you know people are still buying new cars regardless?

Granted, enthusiasts who follow sales information on a regular basis like every week and desperate to jump into the hd-market once possible would be legitimately concerned regarding the sales price. On the other hand, the general public, I think are not really adopting hd-dvd players or blu-ray players as they don't even have hdtvs yet and as a result not really price/bargain watching.

I mean, does the average housewife or joe six pack when she gets her weekly flyers open the futureshop or circuit city hdm player section and daydream over the though of a Toshiba HDA3. *housewife begins salvating* Wait? No, they don't care as they don't own an hd-tv, might think the hd-dvd will play in a regular dvd-player and can't hook up their hd cable box to their hd tv so they are not watching sd tv.

Highest Ranked

HD4ME @ Dec 4th 2007 11:30PM

I wish M$ and Tosh would limit the movies with their products to maybe 1 or 2 movies at most. This comes with 5 or 6 and the A3 with 10.
I would much prefer to see lower hardware pricing and as a sale bonus, a cheaper movie offer.
I'm sure they would sell a lot more hardware at the $99 bracket and it would encourage consumers to purchase their own movies instead of supplying them with a library so they don't bother buying anything for months,also it would lift Nielsens ratings at the same time, IMO opinion a win win.

Highly Ranked

Wes @ Dec 4th 2007 11:58PM

@HD4ME

I totally agree with you. Heck, if you have a $99.00 player with 10 movies free.... The cost of manufacturering those 10 movies has to be at least.... 50.00(5 dollars per hd-dvd?) I think hd media is like 5 dollasr per disc including marketing, the disc itself, packaging and paying royalties to the disc owner whose disc your giving away for free.

If instead of the 10 discs, you gave the player away at 50.00. I think you'd see a lot of volume get moved. With it, they'd purchase 1-2 discs or start renting 1-2 movies a month every month.

Highest Ranked

Nfinity @ Dec 5th 2007 12:07AM

Oh my god.. $199 players, $129 add-ons..my god HD DVD is going down HAHAHHHA..

This war is sooo gonna be over by mid next year it's not even funny...

Don't worry Blu-bots.. you'll still be able to play Blu-Ray games and I'm pretty sure there will be a hack or something to plug in 360 HD DVD add-on to your PS3s. LOL!!!! It's gonna look a bit ugly and out of place, but hey, at least you won't have to throw the console away... let's just hope they release more then 10 games for PS3 in 2008.

Neutral

EEL @ Dec 5th 2007 12:24AM

"Sybil" head is going to explode!

Lowest Ranked

Greg @ Dec 5th 2007 1:52AM

Nfinity youre right " This war is sooo gonna be over by mid next year it's not even funny... " but what are you going to do with your life when HD-DVD finally gets pulled? I want to see your face, when you have to go out and buy a BD player.

Highest Ranked

HD4ME @ Dec 5th 2007 3:18AM

@ Greg
I am pro HD DVD and I would buy BR when it is profile 2 and well under $200.
Doesn't look like it will be happening this century, and by that stage HD DVD will have swamped the market with $50 HD DVD players, totally replacing DVD, and BR will be remembered as another failed attempt by the fony corporation, sorry I mean sony, and be put in the mini disc, beta max hall of fame.

Highly Ranked

Nfinity @ Dec 5th 2007 4:37AM

Well unlike most Blu-fangirls I do own Blu-Ray too through PS3. What a ripoff that was $600 for a year and a half of NOTHING. No games, absolutely horrific Blu ray quality in movies (only few were truly commendible - POTC series and some cartoons) other stuff is mostly disgustingly grainy. Unlike most people I love movies so I want to watch them, but this certainly allows me to put things in perspective cause bottom line is that this game console is the ONLY (possibly upgradable) Blu-Ray unit on the market. Other stuff is absolute miss. Obsolete players that don't do half of the stuff that $100 HD DVD players do.

I have experienced both formats and can see what piece of crap Blu-Ray really is. No numbers, reports or reviews can change that. Sony can lie and pay stuff for only so long.

I'll remind you again:
- PS3 = utter failure in console market
- Blu-Ray standalone player = utter failure in video market

The only way, you can make it look a bit positive if you start mixing the two trying to find justification how Blu-Ray and PS3 are not horrific failures which of course the whole industry these days is starting to understand is one big scam.

I really hope you didn't buy a Blu-Ray standalone player, because that one you will definitely have to throw away. If not for HD DVD being the clear winner, but because your player won't be playing half of the things that new 1.1 and 2.0 discs will offer. Any way you look at it, your player will be looking at the trash can. And it does hurt when you see $500 or more go down the tubes in only a few months. But that's Blu-Ray for ya.

Neutral

John B @ Dec 5th 2007 9:45AM

As much as h4ldol's zealotry is making the Blu-ray camp look band, you're starting to do the same thing with HD DVD. The two of you are starting to make me a bit apprehensive about reading any comments with respect to HD media.

Neutral

dannyCage @ Dec 5th 2007 3:31PM

What a lot of Bull... I own a PS3 with enuf great titles to kill my time with and the Blu movies looks great, and I'm picky with my video (Pioneer PDP-LX508D)... Maybe you should try movies produced in the 21nd century?

Highest Ranked

HD4ME @ Dec 5th 2007 5:44AM

I've said it B4 and I'll say it again.

What is it you blu botz see with BR?
The facts are all BR players are poorly specified & obsolete 1.1 spec, and it's far more expensive then it's opposition,...WTF, why support it????

There would be no format war if it was not for sonys greed, sony and the BDA created this mess, they have snowed you all with a ridiculously over priced DRM infested DVD player, yet you all defend it as if some one was attacking your homes or something, why?? I just don't get it.

Neutral

MegaZone @ Dec 5th 2007 6:14AM

Must've been a limited time deal at Amazon - they have the price as $179.99 now. Still $129.98 at ToysRUs.com, for now.

Neutral

Shockgamer @ Dec 5th 2007 6:27AM

A tempting price!! I'd surely rush out to get one, if HD-DVD were the format with James Bond, Die Hard and Spider-man.

All this war has done for me is make me differentiate between studios I regularly patronize and the ones I don't instead of using a catch all "Hollywood" label. I love my 360, but if I had to choose, I'd support Blu-ray because they have more of the movies I like.

So I guess it's back on the fence with me until a Dual Format player breaks $300. :p

Highly Ranked

Adam @ Dec 5th 2007 7:05AM

I got mine last Christmas, but if I whine as loud as the iPhone early adopters do you think Microsoft will give me a rebate?

No, I don't think so either

Highly Ranked

Truth Teller @ Dec 5th 2007 7:50AM

Just what is supposed to have been a "fiasco" about the $98 HD A2 seasonal sale?

Are seasonal offers meant to be unusual or something , or is only when HD DVD does it that they are?

This is nothing unusual, HD DVD prices will continue to fall, those holding out for a regular entry level price of $100 won't have too long to wait (the 3 other big Chinese brands coming in late Spring/Summer are going to be there very soon).

Neutral

Spiza @ Dec 5th 2007 8:30AM

I'm waiting for a $100 Toshiba player. I have no use for a 360 add on.

And Nfinity, the PS3 is not a failure. Its doing quite well actually. The US is not the entire console market.

for HD4ME, I don't care about extra features so much, but I do like the hard disc coating that is mandatory on Blu-Ray. HD DVD should do the same. I agree that its more difficult with Blu-Ray quality screening though with all the MPEG2 encodings that were done at the start.

Neutral

mike @ Dec 5th 2007 9:29AM

Strange, when I go to Amazon.com, it still shows the old price, yet Toys R Us shows the new lower price.

Neutral

Ryan P @ Dec 5th 2007 9:33AM

This player enables 1080p playback (with appropriate connections) and suddenly it's no big deal compared to the mystical 100 player! Anyways, this player works great with the computer (given the proper software and some decent hardware). Obligatory defective by design warning.

Neutral

JeffDM @ Dec 5th 2007 10:18AM

Lame HD DVD fangirls and lame Blu-Ray fangirls duke it out!

Neutral

Eddie @ Dec 5th 2007 10:37AM

Great news for HDVD, bad news for me. I bought mine at the $199 mark.

Oh well, at least I'll be able to sync up Harry Potter with all my friends that will be getting an affordable HD player.

DOes this still include the 5 free movie offer?

Neutral

Mark @ Dec 6th 2007 3:21PM

Bad news.. Seems ICT is coming..

http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/12/06/will-2008-be-the-year-for-selectable-output-control/

Anyone wasted their money on the HD DVD bolt-on, and does not have a HDMI port, might as well throw it in the bin..

Neutral

pulaman @ Dec 5th 2007 11:51AM

Has anyone seen this?

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2228134,00.asp

Neutral

Truth Teller @ Dec 5th 2007 12:51PM

Those poor XBox 360 HD DVD add-on reviews do not apply if you use it as a PC ROM device.

You'll get whatever audio codec/standard you PC can put out and similarly with your image it is dependent on your graphics card
(althouh component output is limited - only by one of those stupid 'industry agreed' rules - to 1080i).

XP media centre and PowerDVD 7.3 Ultra were the way to go for my PC, IIRC you do need a dual core PC to run them tho, all the high def stuff takes a fair bit of PC power.

Neutral

Joe @ Dec 6th 2007 11:16AM

Amazon is selling it @$149.99 now

Neutral

Mark @ Dec 6th 2007 3:20PM

Sounds like Microsoft has had enough, and is clearing out the shelves of HD DVD bolt-ons...

Low Ranked

Greg @ Dec 6th 2007 7:24PM

"
- PS3 = utter failure in console market
- Blu-Ray standalone player = utter failure in video market
"
Nfinity - Im sure youre slightly mad- Ive had a PS3 for nearly a year and I love it - It will eventually win the so called console war and I even think it may sell more units than the wii (eventually).
I knew there wouldnt be many games till the end of this year, but the ones Ive bought so far have kept me more than busy. I could of waited a year for the inevitable price drop, but I wanted a HD player for my new HD screen. Ive been using it for movies and Ive not had any quality issues

Neutral

Juice @ Dec 7th 2007 12:53AM

Still over priced in my opinion, you still need a 360, and HDVD players have already sold for less before, this thing should be like $79 not more then 99$ and MS should have a great combo deal for those who want the player at the same time of purchase as a PS3, the PS3 is still the better deal. Dont get me wrong I support the red camp over the blu, look at my previous posts. But this drive should be alot cheaper. The only problem, the PS3 has been a diaster in terms of a gaming system and MS has no reasion to lower its prices, unfortunate for us movie watchers.

Neutral

Hash @ Dec 20th 2007 3:03PM

I have HD and Blu ray. Hd dvd has combo disc, xbox has the option of switcthing to blu ray. PS3 is stuck with bray.

HD DVD HAS STAR TREK

spider man SUCKS

LOTS of Blu RAY movies r downloadable via xbox live

Neutral

HDpurist @ Dec 22nd 2007 4:47PM

I have HD and Blu ray. Hd dvd has combo disc, xbox has the option of switcthing to blu ray when hd-dud is completely dead in the grave and microsoft re-releases another sucky external player to play boo-ray. PS3 is stuck with bray.

HD-DUD HAS BABE

TRANSFORMERS SUCKS

LOTS of HD-DUD movies r poorly encoded at crap bitrate to fit on small 30gb disc. Triple layer 51GB discs will never come as it is vaporware just like hd-dud. hd-dud is a constapated poopoo that is doing nothing but encouraging companies to release low encodes to fit on hddvd - unlike booray that has 50gb massive storage for higher encode bitrate for better quality hidef films on 70" plus screens.

Neutral

Princess Elizabeth Evelyn @ Dec 21st 2007 1:45PM

Hello seller,
I came across your posted advert on the internet and i am interested in purchasing playstation3 from you.How much is it and the present working for a security reasons and i will like you to know that my mode of payment is by cheque,please let me know if you could stand by it.Hope to read from you.

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