About K-Mart dropping Blu-Ray, this link may provide more insight.

http://www.dvdtown.com/news/kmart-chooses-hd-dvd/4873

I'm not an early adopter in general, so these really low prices are what's making the difference to me.

Taking a $100 flyer on an HD-DVD player is a much easier choice than having to decide between two $500+ formats like it was not too many months ago.

This one day deal is not going to put a dent on Blu-Ray as much as the 2 studios that went from neutral to HD-DVD exclusive. But even after all that, Blu-Ray is still winning. With the crippled 400 dollar PlayStation 3 already out, you can actually get it for 300 dollars using the Sony card that comes with 12 months no interest. Basically without either deal, the PS3 is only 200 dollars more. Also Sony is finally releasing decent PS3 commercials.

Now there are some things that can change everything. One way is by Microsoft releasing an XBOX 360 with an HD-DVD drive built in. There are already rumors all over the place so I wouldn’t rule it out. Another way is by Toshiba offering 1080p players at a much lower price. Last but not least is to have either Microsoft or Toshiba buy off some more studios to go exclusive.

1. Somebody just told me Sears is going to be selling the A3 for $169.00 the day afetr Thanksgiving. I don't know how true this is but it is yet another huge boost for HD-DVD.

2. Most people who want budget players and shop at Wal-Mart do not have a true 1080p HDTV so really they don't need 1080p players. For a massive chunk of the market a 1080i player is more then enough.

3. Thats just what Americans need more credit cards just to buy a Playstation 3. Do you know how many people never pay those things off within that 12 months and then they end up paying double for it?

4. Even if they do buy a P3, at this low of price they will also buy a HD-DVD player so they can watch every movie.

5. Harry Potter 5 will be out on HD-DVD soon as well as there will be a Harry Potter first 5 movie HD-DVD box set. That combined with a low cost HD-DVD player make a nice Christmas gift for kids that parents can actually afford. The box set will also be in Blu-Ray but the cost of players will not make parents happy to buy the combination.

6. Parents usually would much rather buy a movie player the whole family can enjoy then yet another video game system that will consume poor Timmy's life and turn him into a social reject. Just kidding I like games as well. The part about a family based device is true however.

7. I have a lot of friends who just went and bought the $98.00 players at Wal-Mart and every single one of them loves them to death and wants everybody they know to get one.

8. I doubt these slaes are going to stay one day deals for long. In a month this price level could be the norm.

9. Who cares if Toshiba is loosing money on the players. They will make up the cost from the studios that are all switching to creating HD-DVD. Isn't it SONY that made up that rule that make the player cheap and make up the loss with the software?

http://www.tacp.com/hddvd/data/pdf/T...Rebate_R08.pdf

Don't forget your 5 free movies with it!

Regardless who wins this war, it's still a great DVD player that upconverts regular SD DVD.

This whole thing just reeks of desperation tactics. If the HD-DVD camp is getting so desperate as to lose massive amounts of money on the hardware. It must mean that Blu-Ray is winning. This is a last ditch effort. It won't change anything. Blu-Ray will still come out on top.

I disagree. It's not necessarily a desperate move. It was only a matter of time before a low-end model was priced accordingly. The Blu-Ray camp will have to respond eventually. And high-def DVD won't really take off until HD TVs and DVD players are priced what their SD counterparts were a few years ago.

Apparently BestBuy decided to be extra generous today:
http://www.dailytech.com/Best+Buy+Re...rticle9519.htm

-EDIT-
The article was their a few minutes but the website is down.


All it said was that the A2 became sold out at BestBuy and because it’s discontinued, BestBuy is giving out A3s instead for the people that has the A2 on backorder.

Bad link...

It looks like that whole site just went down. :D

Maybe Best Buy was being a bit TOO generous? :D

C

Yeah and that is why a few Studios switched to HD-DVD right? Because it is failing. Just piece together all the news reports about support that is building up. Studios know more then any of us do about what is going to happen and a few have switched for a darn good reason. Maybe they knew this massive price reduction was going to happen and they wanted to jump in and be part of the huge buying frenzy that could very well happen this holiday season for HD-DVD.

Look the way I look at it the price has already come down to the price point when DVD really took off. My first DVD player was $280.00 and I bought that when I was in collegeand trust me I did have a lot of money back then living in San Francisco. That was an open boxed item as well. My first DVD burner which I bought two years after that was $250.00. Good up conversion DVD players still cost a little bit today. Sure you can get cheap ones for $35.00 but the people who want good quality for a low price are going to really look at these things.

I talked with a bunch of people in other cities and they all said all the Wal-Marts were sold out within 15 minutes of the players going on sale. That is a lot of HD-DVD players that are now in the hands of consumers just in time for holiday shopping so they can load up on HD-DVD movies. Sure that is only 10 to 15 players per store but how many Wal-Marts are there in this country.

I would say it is the other way around. Blu-Ray may not be in trouble yet but this really does start to turn the tables and when the movies start flying off the shelf and other stores follow Wal-Mart's lead that is going to equal an even mroe advantage for HD-DVD. If every person gets loaded up with cheap HD-DVD players guess what kind of movies they are going to buy. That and Studio funding is what is going to make the money for Toshiba.

All I have to say is Target better reverse it's decision to only sell Blu-Ray players or they may be hurting this season.

You're kidding!! That is one of the most stupid retailing decisions I've ever heard of. I think I'm going to ask for an HD DVD player for Christmas. If the price is low enough then someone in my family circle can afford it!!

And that's the way it works...Most people aren't involved in a quality or data capacity debate. They want affordable HDTV's and an affordable way to view movies.

I'm with Thomas on this one. I'm betting on HD DVD, especially if I get one as a gift!!!

I actually purchased one A2 at walmart yesterday at 6:45am and it was a breeze. Went in they brought it out and I was out of the door with transformers as well. I felt like a kid again though I'm in my 20's. Now where are HD DVD burners!!!

Blu-Ray better do something fast! Two stories on the highly influential film geek site Ain't It Cool News:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/34674

and

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/34676

Hurry up, Blu-Ray!

heath

<Yawn> Wake me when the HD-DVD consortium ships a burner...