Toshiba said to be losing $200 on each HD-DVD player sold
 

WOW this was an old post, but I thought I would respond seeing as I have
now purchased four of these suckers. They now make two versions one
for progressive scan and one for high definition. I bought one of each the
other day. - The progressive scan model was I think $49.00 and the high def
model was $79.00 at Costco. Don’t bother with the high definition model
if you don’t have a HDMI port in the back of your T.V. You can really
see the difference between the Panasonic/Toshiba setup’s with and without
the HDMI port especially with title overlays.

I can't imagine the cost dropped from $500 to $79. Are you sure you didn't get the model that can take movies that are SD, but were mastered (or re-mastered) in HD, and make them look better in SD? There's an actualy SD DVD player that claims something like that.

heath

He's got to be talking about the upconverting players, not the HD-DVD ones.

Toshiba said to be losing $200 on each HD-DVD player sold
 

You are correct Sean, I was talking about the Progressive scan model with
and without HDMI port. Just checked the true HD model out on newegg
and it is running something like $409.00; I guess things are moving along
faster than I thought - I was under the false impression that true High
Definition wasn’t available on rented DVD's only through TIVO or channels
that broadcasted it. Are you telling me that I can go down to Blockbuster
or Hollywood video and rent a full length HD DVD now? The word
High Definition has been seriously abused/ thrown around to much
in my opinion.

Indeed. I've been enjoying my Toshiba A1 HD-DVD player since july. They just released their 2nd gen A2 player.

I don't know about the retail stores, but the Blockbuster web site lists almost 150 titles on HD-DVD at http://www.blockbuster.com/online/ca...?listRef=hdDVD, and a similar number on Blu-ray. It's a little tricky though: you have to go to the title and click on the "All Editions" option to see the HD version.

Netflix has a pretty nice HD DVD selection.

If you have an XBOX 360 you can get a USB HD DVD External drive for $199.
Comes with the remote and King Kong too.

There's already hacks out on the net to make the USB drive work on a PC too. Wonder how much MS loses on those USB drives. They sell the XBOX 360's at a loss.

Toshiba said to be losing $200 on each HD-DVD player sold
 

Do any of you guys subscribe to the theory that in some cases HD
looks to real for certain movies? The only taste of true HD I have
had the opportunity to view was at the Good Guys here in Reno
before they closed shop. They had this mini theater room set up for
displaying their projector units. The lights were all set perfect by
light meters for each unit according to the lumens and so forth. They
demonstrated this movie I guess it would be the equivalent of Space Station
9 or something. My first impression was that the lady looked more like
someone wearing a costume, goofy almost with that much clarity. Maybe
it wasn’t shot or edited to 24p, I doubt it was shot on film to begin with?

My other experience is with my progressive scan Toshiba connected to
my LCD Panasonic via HDMI port. When I watched the latest Star Wars
move the battle scene in the beginning was so crisp that it made R2D2 look
more like a toy. What so you guys think and thoughts on this?

I have the XBox HD-DVD player.

So far, I've watched about a half dozen movies in the HD-DVD format.

Probably the best was "The Searchers," a 1956 John Wayne movie. That's the really cool thing about HD-DVD...it may revive interest in some older, beautifully shot films.

As far as the new Star Wars goes.... I do think that HD-DVD exposes the flaws of CGI. But I felt that some of the Star Wars CGI was flawed upon first viewing the films in the theater. CGI can be a useful storytelling tool, but it's a poor substitute for reality. I'll take real snow over CGI snow every time...

Personally I hate the CGI in all the new Star Wars movies and it has nothing to do with HD or the medium itself. It has a comic book appearance, which may very well be what Lucas wanted, but I get tired of that very quickly.

But you still seem to be talking about standard definition progressive scan DVD's and not HD DVD's...

Hi Boyd, I was not speeking of SD inside the Good Guys, my reference to
progressive scan one more time I know, was only to indicate that -even
in SD-progressive scan R2 looks like a toy - I would hate to see how bad
he looks in HD.