http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/ Engadget HD Comments for So it begins: Toshiba's HD-A3 falls to $99 at Circuit City, comes with 7 free HD DVDs http://www.engadgethd.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadgethd.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/Feb 20th 2008 9:37AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/Feb 20th 2008 9:46AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/Feb 20th 2008 9:57PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/
;)]]>Feb 20th 2008 10:11AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/
$80 at costco is very VERY good for a name-brand upconverting dvd player.]]>Feb 20th 2008 10:17AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/Feb 20th 2008 10:17AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/
And why, pray tell, should an HD DVD player, which acts as an excellent upconverter, be sold for $25 when most upconverters go for between $50 and $100?

$100 for a player that plays audio CDs, upconverts DVDs, and still plays what HD DVDs are out there is a great price.]]>Feb 20th 2008 10:32AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/Feb 20th 2008 11:13AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/Feb 20th 2008 10:30AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/Feb 20th 2008 10:41AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/Feb 20th 2008 10:40AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/
You're right even though most people here won't admit it. And FYI, there is a difference on my 50" plasma, but at normal viewing distances, it's not very notable. Cartoons look the same in HD or upscaled, but there is a slight difference with films.]]>Feb 20th 2008 11:15AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/
My feeling is that the old saying is very true. Resolution is important but contrast and color are the most important things. And my Samsung gets a beautiful picture whatever the resolution. With the increased reolution for the most part you can maybe see a few more lines on someones face, or perhaps a brick building looks a little finer. And writing definately looks finer. But for 70% of the movie you would not know the difference. And as for cartoons, there is hardly any resolution to them to begin with. Always thought it was so stupid when the reviewers raved about the picture on recent Blu-Ray cartoon releases when the fact is it would be hard to not have beautiful pictures with animations. TV and video stores have been putting in cartoons for years to make people think the picture is better than it was. Have you ever walked by a rent to own place and they will have a lower quality TV they are selling at way too high of prices with a cartoon playing and you think, wow what an incredible picture?]]>Feb 20th 2008 11:24AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/Feb 20th 2008 10:39AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/
I think what ultimately sealed it for me was Netflix's decision last week. I don't buy many movies anymore, but I did enjoy several HD movies via Netflix over the last few months (when they weren't ridiculously delayed!)

I'm def taking a backseat for the next few months until the prices drop a little more for a standalone BR 1.1 spec players (hopefully!)]]>Feb 20th 2008 10:41AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/Feb 20th 2008 10:49AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/
One big thing that matters is resolution. HD-DVD and BluRay start with a maximum of 1080 lines of resolution, DVD starts with 480. Even with a good upscaling DVD player there is no way to create the details that are apparent in a true HD movie. Things like freckles, hair, wrinkles, blades of grass, and many textures are impossible to add detail to through upscaling. Also, when you display a 2.35:1 format movie it makes a huge difference in resolution. A 480p DVD in 2.35:1 format is really only 422p. Even though the movie says it has 480 or 1080 lines of resolution they count the black letterboxing bars with that. 1080p at 2.35:1 is really 950p on a 1080p screen.]]>Feb 20th 2008 11:22AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/Feb 20th 2008 11:56AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/
> A 480p DVD in 2.35:1 format is really only 422p.

In the early days of DVD, that was the case. But look closely at most widescreen DVDs. They say something like "Enhanced for widescreen TVs". This means that the video is anamorphic, and the full 480 horizontal lines of resolution are retained, no matter how wide the film is.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anamorphic_widescreen

]]>Feb 20th 2008 3:50PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/
Those who think that HD-DVD and BluRay are somehow only marginaly better than an upscaled DVD need to watch more HD content. I have PiratesII on DVD and PIII on BluRay. Played through my PS3 with full upscaling the DVD can't match the detail of BluRay on my 42" 1080p screen. It really isn't close. The reason why 2D animated movies upscale well is that most of the pixels are the same color, it's pretty easy to add more pixel detail when the surrounding pixels are all the same. 3D Pixar films like Cars benefit greatly from a BluRay 1080p transfer. The results are stunning compared to DVD.]]>Feb 21st 2008 1:19AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/
I'd really like to see a decently priced hybrid player though. I'd buy two right up front.]]>Feb 20th 2008 11:28AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/Feb 20th 2008 11:49AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/
That's $80 off a PS3 in my eyes...]]>Feb 20th 2008 12:41PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/Feb 20th 2008 1:23PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/Feb 20th 2008 7:22PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/Feb 21st 2008 1:26PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/]]>Feb 20th 2008 1:34PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/
I'm still wondering why they weren't doing this before Christmas. We'd be having a different discussion now.


Anyway, this isn't the firesale yet. When we see unsold merchandise sitting around mid March, that's when I'll start to get excited. You know there will be some real deals coming then.]]>Feb 20th 2008 2:49PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/
I'm guessing 2 players could last me 10 years... which is as long as DVD lasted before the next format came out. At that point I'll be rebuying everything on UltraHD* anyway.



*UltraHD is my fictional next NextGen format. Theoretically there are higher resolutions than 1080p, even though we don't yet have mass market TVs for them.]]>Feb 20th 2008 8:55PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/
I bought my A30 shortly after Thanksgiving 07 and with my pre-orders for Tuesday's HD DVD releases I'll have 40 HD DVDs. I also have no plans on replacing my HD DVDs with blu-ray. I love my HD DVD movies.

I'll only consider blu-ray when a 2.0 player (standalone) comes out. ]]>Feb 20th 2008 9:42PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/]]>Feb 21st 2008 11:37AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/so-it-begins-toshibas-hd-a3-falls-to-99-at-circuit-city-come/
I think this is the most important and forward-thinking comment on this page; a lot of us get lost in argument and the need to defend our actions, when we might as well bow to the gods of change. To join a lot of you up on the soapbox, my opinion is that people should enjoy what they have, and change habits/needs/hardware when their enjoyment suffers. We can't take money with us when we die, so we might as well spend it on whatever we like as long as our quality of life doesn't degrade. *steps down from soapbox and spends time outside... after playing Wii*]]>Feb 21st 2008 6:18PM