[tdavis21484]

I swore I'd stay out of the fight until the end, even though I'm an HD addict. However, the rebate Toshiba offered, plus the five free discs, pushed me right off the fence. I picked up the HD-A2 today from Circuit City. More impressions to come, but...


I created this thread for anyone who was, like me, pushed off the fence by this promotion. I think it will be an interesting way to track who took advantage of the $100 off instant rebate in order to join the HD DVD Nation.


For me, $299 plus tax for an HD player plus five movies was too much to resist...how about you?


UPDATE: I just moved into a new house, and got a "welcome" package that included a $40 off any $199.00 or larger purchase coupon. I'm going to try and go apply that!


UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: They applied the $40 coupon, so now I have an HD-A2 that I paid $259.00 for - the thing was retailing for $500 about a month ago, so I'm feeling pretty good about my choice. I already own 8 HD DVDs after taking advantage of the Matrix Trilogy deal, and there are 5 on the way.


Trent

 

[lparsons21]

I was 'this close' to driving to BB and getting it today, mostly because I lack patience. But the **************** deal was just too good to turn down. So because the Toshiba rebate primed VE to add a few things at the $299 pricepoint and I wanted some movies to watch when I got it (and I hate Matrix) Robert's deal was the best for me.

 

[josephmckinney]

Does the $100 rebate apply to the xa2? That just might do the trick in knocking me off the fence!

 

[DavidRamsey1234]

I bought the A2 at Circuit City this afternoon, with the 10% discount from AAA...and picked up "Phantom of the Opera" HD DVD to make my wife happy...and MAN, the picture quality is really unbelievable. I used to use a Samsung upconverting DVD player, and it can't hold a candle to this A2. I absolutely love it. I have it hooked up to my Sony Bravia KDL-26S2010, and it looks superb.

So now my question is, what are the 'must have' HD DVD titles? The ones that really look stunning...I've heard "King Kong" is great.

thanks,

David.

 

[sbarrier]

David,


There is a "tier" thread in the HD-DVD software forum.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=705387

 

[eghill1125]

I took the plunge today also. I returned a Samsung Upconvert and with the money from it added I was able to get the HD-A2 at BB. I also took advantage of the Matrix deal and received Happy Feet and the Corpse Bride for free. All in all I will eventually (with toshibas 5 free) have gotten the equivalent of 10 HD DVD's + the HD-A2 for what amounts to the price of the MSRP out of my pocket.


I must add that I have checked all the disks that I got today and they all load right up, even Happy Feet which is a combo and I have heard people are having problems with it. Needless to say, but I will anyway, I am new to the HD game and I am very very impressed with the quality. The pic is fantastic and the sound is so crisp it is amazing to me. Now to enjoy all HD DVD until I get the PS3 in 2009.

Then I will be HD neutral. Keep both formats coming.

 

[MichaelHDDVD]

I'm going to make a poll for this

 

[charlie3133]



Quote:
Originally Posted by eghill1125 /forum/post/0


I also took advantage of the Matrix deal

Were you able to price match the Matrix trilogy at BB? Several retailers are selling it for around 20 dollars less.


Also, does anyone know how long the Matrix offer is on for or was it just one day?

 

[delpis]

Even though I think Blu Ray will win, i'll be getting my first HD player tomorrow at Costco. Hopefully Planet Earth is available there too. Can't wait to watch!

 

[MichaelHDDVD]

 Vote and tell us which player you purchased or plan to purchase, and whether you are new to the HD DVD game, now format neutral, or simply picking up a 2nd player.

 

[eghill1125]



Quote:
Originally Posted by charlie3133 /forum/post/0


Were you able to price match the Matrix trilogy at BB? Several retailers are selling it for around 20 dollars less.


Also, does anyone know how long the Matrix offer is on for or was it just one day?

Unfortunately no. I called a BB that was 40 minutes from the house and they said they had 3 left. I hit the car and when I got there I was able to grab the last one in stock. I never even had the chance to check other prices for the Matrix first. I will say that the BB I went to gave me the Matrix now so I didn't have to return Tuesday to pick it up. They had them in the back and the kid went and brought it over and gave it to me.

I believe I will still be able to price match it if I am in the area in 30 days or less though... right?

 

[rbye05]

Jumped in, bought A2, today at BB. Picked up Planet Earth and Happy Feet. So far wife and I are blown away.

 

[Scarpad]



Quote:
Originally Posted by tdavis21484 /forum/post/0


I swore I'd stay out of the fight until the end, even though I'm an HD addict. However, the rebate Toshiba offered, plus the five free discs, pushed me right off the fence. I picked up the HD-A2 today from Circuit City. More impressions to come, but...


I created this thread for anyone who was, like me, pushed off the fence by this promotion. I think it will be an interesting way to track who took advantage of the $100 off instant rebate in order to join the HD DVD Nation.


For me, $299 plus tax for an HD player plus five movies was too much to resist...how about you?


Trent

Yeah I fell over the fence as well picked up up from CC today also, I'll be waiting a few days to see if all is ok then I'll mail the rebate out for the disks. I sold my 360 Friday with the Add on, and after watching Superman Returns on the A2 tonight I have no regrets.

 

[MichaelHDDVD]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Scarpad /forum/post/0


Yeah I fell over the fence as well picked up up from CC today also, I'll be waiting a few days to see if all is ok then I'll mail the rebate out for the disks. I sold my 360 Friday with the Add on, and after watching Superman Returns on the A2 tonight I have no regrets.

Is there any difference in the video between the 360 player and the standalone? I know all about the audio differences.

 

[tee_733]

can you get full screen with these toshiba players..cause with my 360 via vga i get those annoying 6 inch letter box bars

 

[MEJHarrison]

I jumped on this finally. I got the player at CostCo (HD-D2) for $250. Now it turns out that I need to upgrade my receiver (I'm only getting 2.0 sound), but I wanted to do that anyway. I just wasn't planning to do it so soon.


I'm 100% satisfied and I'm loving it so far.

 

[tdavis21484]



Quote:
Originally Posted by tee_733 /forum/post/0


can you get full screen with these toshiba players..cause with my 360 via vga i get those annoying 6 inch letter box bars

This is off topic, but I'm going to respond anyway - those "bars" are there because the movie is presented in its original aspect ratio. It just so happens that 16:9 HD sets aren't as "wide" as the director intended. There's nothing wrong with your set or player.


You can use the zoom feature on your TV or player if you want, but it'll crop off the sides.

 

[dougb415]

My wife was gung-ho for the A2 this weekend, so we headed up to BB a little early (she wanted to make sure we got one) Sunday morning. They had 5 on the shelf, and we got the first one. The clerks had no idea how to handle the Matrix deal, since those DVDs won't be available until Tuesday. We finally got a manager who had us buy the A2 for $299 and then buy the 2 "free" DVDs we chose as part of the Matrix deal, and on Tuesday he will refund the purchase price for those 2 DVDs and fold them into the Matrix pkg.


We picked up King Kong and Dreamgirls as our two freebies, plus we bought Hulk and Phantom Of The Opera. My wife was disappointed that they didn't have the Planet Earth series there, but amazon.com has it for $66.99.


So our breakdown goes (or will go) like this:


HD-A2 $299

5 DVDs $125- (freebies from Toshiba)

2 DVDs $ 55- (freebies from Best Buy)

---------------

total $119 final cost for A2


My wife has really gotten into the whole HT thing, so she is the one who climbs behind the rack and hook and unhooks everything. Bravo for her! She's an engineer, and the final result looks and sounds great.


She watched Phantom yesterday afternoon, and we watched most of King Kong last night. Tried a couple regular DVDs, upconversion looks better than our former Sony DVD player. Load time for HD DVDs takes approx 6 seconds more than a regular DVD. My wife didn't even notice the difference. No problems playing any disc so far.


Final verdict: we love it! It's hooked up to an LG 50PC1DRA, and the image is stunning. Sound quality is very good as well, tho our receiver will probably be the next thing being replaced. We have an Onkyo TX-SR502, so we'll probably go for the TX-SR605 later in the year; right now we are both more than happy with the system we have.

 

[geko29]



Quote:
Originally Posted by MEJHarrison /forum/post/0


I jumped on this finally. I got the player at CostCo (HD-D2) for $250. Now it turns out that I need to upgrade my receiver (I'm only getting 2.0 sound), but I wanted to do that anyway. I just wasn't planning to do it so soon.

As long as your receiver is relatively recent (ie not a 10-year old Sony) and has a optical or coaxial digital input, you should have no problem getting 5.1 audio. Change the S/PDIF output to "bitstream" and you'll get a 1.5Mbps DTS downmix of any audio format.

 

[tundrSQ]

the strange thing for all the fence jumpers, is that you could get a better deal online for the past 2 months