Toshiba's HD-D3 going for $100 on Boxing Day
We've already seen some fairly notable deals for a variety of Toshiba HD DVD players in America and Australia, so it's only fair that the Canucks get a bargain of their own, right? Starting at 6:00AM on Boxing Day (that's December 26th for us Americans), Futureshop will be offering up the HD-D3 for a mere $99.99 while supplies last. It needn't be said, but we'd recommend queuing up a few hours in advance if you're dead set on securing one.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
MAK1981 @ Dec 24th 2007 10:53AM
It's "us" Americans, not "we" :)
Mike @ Dec 24th 2007 11:09AM
Pfft 1080i, where are the HD DVD players for $99 that play 1080p? That would get me interested and willing to line up in the cold canadian winter for.
Wes @ Dec 24th 2007 11:12AM
Your an elist. Ooops, I mean. Your a fine consumer with demanding needs who wants the very better 'p' for prick-sake. Seriously, most people can't see the difference between 1080i and 1080p.
Well, since I guess you won't buy this over the whoooolllee i versus p, we'll just be in our nice cozy houses watching hd goodness while your in your nice cozy house watching sd goodness. Enjoy! Perhaps next winter you can have a $99.00 1080p.
Mike @ Dec 24th 2007 11:42AM
Well the A30 has been on sale for $199 already...and I'm sure it will be $99 before the blue rays are....BUT... a lot of HDTV owners only have 1080i sets so this is perfect.
Plus I have read reviews and posts at avs that if the tv supports 1080p and the disk is 1080p that the flags (i think that was the term) are recignized by the tv and it still displays at 1080p.
Mike @ Dec 24th 2007 12:06PM
Since I invested in a 1080p TV, I guess that would make me a "demanding consumer"
:)
Wes @ Dec 24th 2007 12:21PM
@Mike,
I don't really blame you for buying a 1080p tv anyways. There's very little in picture quality difference from the 1080i to 1080p but 1080p tvs are usually newer. Its hard to buy a lcd/dlp tv in a store now days that isn't 1080p. Its all the marketing rage next to 120hz.
Generally, the newer tvs do have better contrast ratios, color depth processing and other improved specifications is why they look better than the 1080i tvs. Not because the tvs are 1080p.
Kiko @ Dec 24th 2007 1:03PM
Wes: And most people don't care about PiP and Live extras... Does it stop HD DVD fanboys complaining about the lack of this on some Blu-ray players ?
HD4ME @ Dec 24th 2007 2:06PM
@Mike
Theres no pleasing some people.
Wes @ Dec 24th 2007 10:09PM
@Kiko
No no, that's a different case. I am saying most people can't tell between the video quality difference between 1080i and 1080p so its not worth playing double the price ($199 for a 1080p hd-dvd player) versus ($99 for a 1080i hd-dvd player).
People can tell the difference between a machine that provides extra features like PIP, web connectivity for live extras/firmware updates, built in ethernet port, half the price versus one that does not include those items for double the price.
Your comparing apples and oranges. I'm saying its not worth refusing to buy a product that's half the price because it doesn't have a feature you won't be able to even see. In Mike's example, he's refusing to buy an item that's half the price because its missing a feature he won't be able to see.
In your case, its entirely different than a product that has more features for half the price versus a product with less features for double the price.
Spiza @ Dec 25th 2007 1:51PM
Its percentages on both sides Wes. I bet 90% of consumers don't care about extras, and 90% of people can't tell the difference between 1080p and 1080i. There is very little content in 1080p60 though to even compare the 2. A couple video games is probably all there is.
Wes @ Dec 25th 2007 7:08PM
Not even console video games usually render natively in 1080p. Halo 3 runs at 640p and is then upconverted to 1080p.
Anyways, my point was not which format was better as in my example I used both hd-dvd players similar to how the original poster indicated where my 1080p player for 99.00 and didn't mention anything about format. That was brought into play by Kiko and yourself.
But that its rediciously as a consumer with any shopping sense/budget to say 'I won't buy that product for half the price. This product has a feature I won't know/notice and only costs double the price!'
I mean, would you buy a car that lacks power steerling, power windows, leather seats, side, rear mirror warmers and a camera on the back of the car for parking + rear seat dvd players for double the price versus a car that has all these 'extra' features for half the price on the grounds that its truck latch inside of the door is a lever and not a push button? A feature you won't really notice except if your super picky?
Spiza @ Dec 25th 2007 11:12PM
I was mostly talking about TVs wes. I don't know of any game other than gran turismo 5 prologue that uses 1080p. I know you can pimp out your PC and output 1080p as well. But I must admit, I've never seen it. There would have to be a difference though because games don't have a very good blur system like movies do. Its unknown if any director will try to film at 60fps at some point in the future though.
James @ Dec 24th 2007 11:30AM
Boxing Day is our version of Black Friday. It's not just a Canadian thing.
Drake @ Dec 24th 2007 11:44AM
I agree with Mike. If it were those 1080P players then I would line up as well but I'm not going to freeze my ass off for a 720p player. F*** that.
Wes @ Dec 24th 2007 12:07PM
Ah ha! Another demanding customer who will settle for nothing but the very best in fine quality and percision instruments. Its 1080i btw not 720p.
You must be thinking of the Playstation 3 that for a while didn't output in 1080i, just 720p/1080p so if you had an old crt hdtv that only had 1080i and didn't support 720, you'd be downscaled right down to low def!
Prey521 @ Dec 24th 2007 2:32PM
Ignorance is bliss!
Whaaaaaaaaaa, this player isn't 1080p whaaaaaaaaaaa! As if you'd be able to see the difference anyways? Why don't you do your research before whining about something that you apparently know nothing about.
Ryan @ Dec 24th 2007 12:35PM
Before all the needless fighting starts I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and if that isn't your thing then Happy Holidays.
Wes @ Dec 24th 2007 12:48PM
Merry X-mas Ryan! and Happy New Year!
Stormprobe @ Dec 24th 2007 12:53PM
They're already out of stock and it's not even 'boxing day' yet!
Jyncus @ Dec 24th 2007 12:54PM
Nothing wrong, Wes, with demanding "nothing but the very best" as you put it.
It's called getting what you pay for.
When I bought my 1080p FP-5084 I expectantly and happily laid down the money for a 1080p PS3 to compliment it.
Nfinity @ Dec 24th 2007 6:42PM
And when you buy a Blu-Ray you get what you paid for, compared to let's say an HD DVD player?
I mean give me a break.. complete contradiction.. you are praising 1080p and how you should get what you pay for, meaning everything you can.. and you lack interactivity and online on a format like Blu-Ray over HD DVD and that's fine with you?
What a joke.
Spiza @ Dec 25th 2007 1:55PM
Maybe he didn't care about interactivity?
Neil @ Dec 24th 2007 1:05PM
Amusing, if you have an HDTV... a 1080i player will end up being displayed as 1080p on the TV. Soooo ... no difference (unless u bought a cheapo TV which cant deinterlace properly, but if that's you, why would u care about 1080i vs 1080p)... LoL
Anyway, fantastic deal! WB and Paramount are lovin this early surge in DEDICATED player sales, which they've both stated is the most important factor at this early stage in the format war =)
Funny how only the Blu-bots hail the neilson #'s as the end all argument for their format (the companies backing the format dont even tout these numnbers), when in reality attache rates vs dedicated players is what really matters right now. Lets not forget that Harry Potter blu-ray barely edged out it's HD-DVD counterpart despite having 4 times as many blu-ray players out there!
CES 2008 will be great
SimplePanda @ Dec 24th 2007 1:27PM
By 'barely' you mean "two to one" (61/39).
I suppose when you're used to 3:1, twice as many as the new 'barely'.
Mike @ Dec 24th 2007 7:38PM
Simple Panda,
The 61-39 number thrown around with still no link to anything offical is the RUMOR of total sales for the week...thats all movies..including blue rays buy 1 get1 sales. The link to the video bussiness article sugests HD DVD out sold blue ray 55 to 45 on Harry Potter sales.
Spiza @ Dec 25th 2007 1:56PM
Apparently only Sony and Pioneer TVs deinterlace to 1080p24 correctly. I would look for the link, but I'm lazy.
SimplePanda @ Dec 24th 2007 1:16PM
FYI: Future Shop also has the Samsung BD-P1400 Blu-ray player on for $399CDN until I believe the 30th or the 31st of december. Pretty good deal for a true 1080p player with DTS-HD and TrueHD.
Ryan @ Dec 24th 2007 2:04PM
And for that they have the A30 for $349 right now and it's full spec. Not a closeout 1.0 player.
Ed @ Dec 24th 2007 1:16PM
>That would get me interested and willing to line up in the cold canadian winter for.
I'll put good money on the fact that there are many Future Shops in BC that are going to be much warmer than my Boxing Day in Minnesota :-(
Billy @ Dec 24th 2007 1:21PM
Harry Potter HD-DVD outshines it's blu-ray counterpart: http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6515097.html
SimplePanda @ Dec 24th 2007 1:29PM
You're correct. According to Universal (who really would know!), Order of the Phoenix 'outshines' by 55:45.
Notice they don't mention the other 4 films?
Wonder why that is...
Universal and the HD-DVD PG spin is just as wacky as the BDA's.
BD still outsold HD-DVD that week overall 61/39.
HD4ME @ Dec 24th 2007 1:45PM
Damn fine player @ a damn fine price!
Now if only Tosh could have the A30 permanently at this price,HD DVD could get some huge momentum going ;)
shawnmos @ Dec 24th 2007 1:50PM
Just because it says 1080i does not mean it only puts out 720p (which is the case with most TVs that say 1080i). This player can put out the full 1920x1080. The picture is interlaced but that isn't a problem unless your TV has a bad deinterlacer. If it deinterlaces properly the picture will be identical to that of a 1080p player. Movies are only 24fps while 1080i is 60fps, so you don't loose any information in the interlacing/deinterlacing process.
Billy @ Dec 24th 2007 2:05PM
@SimplePanda
You're not getting the point. The point is that this was a chance to compare apples to apples, seeing how a single title would sell on both formats. And blu-ray lost, while having 3 times as many players out there. Consumer confidence is behind HD-DVD... just ask any "average joe." Nobody knows anything about blu-ray accept the fact that it's a "PS3 thing."
Happy Holidays! It'll be an exciting first week of January.
Kiko @ Dec 24th 2007 4:54PM
@Bill
IF (and i really mean IF) Universal's results are rights, and the Blu-ray still win this week, it only mean that Blu-ray supporters don't need big titles to make their format live, and this is indeed what studios need to survive: make customer buy old titles of their catalog !!!
Bill @ Dec 24th 2007 2:44PM
Amazon.com has the Toshiba A3 HD-DVD player for $180 and the A30 for $240.
Happy Holidays!
JayHDDVD @ Dec 24th 2007 5:01PM
I love all this arguing :) Merry Christmas everyone!!!
Going to go watch Bad Santa on my DMPBD30 BR player :P
Xyzzy @ Dec 24th 2007 8:09PM
"And most people don't care about PiP and Live extras... "
If most people didn't care about those features, why would the studios waste their time/money on them?
I can't believe people are still complaining about 1080i/1080p. There's NO DIFFERENCE IN QUALITY. If your TV is halfway decent, it will display 1080p, even with a 1080i player and will look indistinguishable from 1080p. If you don't have a halfway decent TV, you won't be able to see the difference anyway.
Sheesh.
h4ldol @ Dec 24th 2007 9:19PM
Classic example of HD DVD bringing down the HD medium. HD DVD fanboys defending their 1080i players. What's new. Doesn't matter that most TVs do NOT properly deinterlace 1080i, but what does that matter to them since they seem to think that everyone has 720p/1080i displays like they evidently have. Considering that most of the HD DVD players out there are 1080i cheapies, obviously this is a contentious issue that they need to defend to the end, otherwise how else would they rationalize the predominance of 1080i HD DVD players in contrast to every blu-ray player being capable of 1080p/24?
With $300 1080p/24 Sony players with 8 free movies, Toshiba has finally lost their sole advantage in the format "war," namely, price. Without the price point advantage, why on Earth would anyone spend money on a format that has dramatically less capacity/bandwidth, shameful lack of lossless audio on the majority of their releases, all sort of problems displaying 1080p/24 properly (on those few non-1080i cheapies), widespread combo-disc compatability problems, etc., etc.? The answer, no one except for some sad sacks who just don't know better.
I'm dual-format btw but I can tell you that the day that HD DVD dies, which won't be later than Q1 2008, will be a great day for ALL fans of HD media. Happy Holidays!
jody @ Dec 24th 2007 10:28PM
I'm dual format as well and I paid $279 for my full spec HD-A30 to replace my 1st gen player. HD4, I agree with the annoying 1080i thing. 1080P is noticably better then 1080i, especially in action movies, to my eyes I even prefer 720p to 1080i. Actually, I prefer to watch movies on my 720p 50 " HP pl5060N plasma over my 1080p 52" Sammy LN-T5271F LCD. But I think thats more of a black level and color warmth thing than anything else. I do think the blu-ray web bloggers, yourself inculded, make much too big of a deal out of the 1080p thing. Blu-Ray will have many advantages over HD-DVD if they would get the Full Spec profile 2.0 players out, and it makes you sound silly to harp on the one low end model HD-DVD player being 1080i. Especially if you go to bestbuy.com and look at the flat panel display counts, which I have posted below. I think its very cool for toshiba to make a 1080i/720p only HD palyer to save customers $50-100 when half of the HD-DVD's currently available are still not 1080p.
Max Native Resolution
1080p (80)
1080i (3)
720p (78)
EJNelly @ Dec 24th 2007 11:24PM
The whole most TV's not deinterlacing properly thing just seems silly to me. At work I've switched back and forth between 1080i and 1080p, just to see if me or anyone else could see a difference. Turns out that unless viewing thin lines nobody I've asked can see a difference.
Of course, if you watch your TV with your face pressed against it I'm sure you can always see a difference.
Wes @ Dec 24th 2007 10:13PM
"With $300 1080p/24 Sony players with 8 free movies, Toshiba has finally lost their sole advantage in the format "war," namely, price."
$99.00 /w free movies versus $300.00 incomplete spec players /w free movies. Yes. I see what you mean h4idol. They have lost their price point advantage. They are only 1/3rd the cost! OMG drop it further! Saving 66% won't attract consumers enough!
h4ldol @ Dec 24th 2007 11:21PM
Wes
I admire your misplaced enthusiasm for HD DVD, but the point was that the Sony 1080p player now has the same MSRP in the U.S. ($300) as the 1080i Toshiba HD-A3, and is $100 less than the 1080p HD-A30. So, actually, blu-ray is now not only the technologically superior but also the cheaper (for those of you who count every $100) HD format as well. Doesn't look like that's going to help HD DVD survive past Q1 in the coming year.
Wes @ Dec 25th 2007 1:50AM
Ahem, nothing is ever sold as MSRP.
Amazon.com has the Toshiba A3 HD-DVD player for $180
tobin92 @ Dec 24th 2007 10:43PM
Any chance of Best Buy offering a similar sale in the U.S. considering they are the same store?
Jason L @ Dec 25th 2007 1:23AM
Online boxing day sales at Future Shop started on 24th, 8PM EST. Due to technical difficulties the site was shut down until 10 or so. As soon as the site went back up, HD-D3 was sold out in less than 5 minutes (they had 400 in stock).
Wes @ Dec 25th 2007 7:09PM
Wow. So much demand they instantly sell out as soon as available. If hope they soon make this sale price their MSRP.
Wes @ Dec 25th 2007 1:53AM
@h4idol
Honestly, I'm not sure whose enthusism is misplace either when your cheering that a incomplete spec player is no the same price as a full spec player.
When there's a blu-ray player thats 2.0 spec equal to hd-dvd msrp. I'll be impressed. If it reaches the Toshiba frequent sale prices, I'll be even more impressed.
jango fett @ Dec 25th 2007 5:30AM
toshiba must be loosing a boat load of money on these deals. they might as well give them for free... how many times are they going to relesae a crappy player for no money at all?
Nfinity @ Dec 25th 2007 6:58AM
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!! I hope Santa brought you something nice.. like an HD DVD player?! I mean we all know that Santa leans red! :)