Worth buying HD DVD now?

[madmax]

Several places like Tigerdirect.com have the toshiba HD-A3 players for sale at $89 with 5 free movies. Is it worth having an HD player around since its become obsolete?
madmax

[BIZILL]

only if you build an arsenal of movies. most probably spend that amount of money on hookers and blow in a weekend. hd dvd will last far longer than one night of pleasure.

[MikeC78]

If you need a good upconverter, I'd say it's a good buy. Plus, you can always play the HD movies and get the ones you really like for cheap.

[Ricardo]

I would not do it. I already hate myself for buying one back in December. Yes, it's a great upconverter, but if you really want Hi def movies, I'd put that money against a BR player.

[Ron-P]

I plan to buy a second player. I want one for my living room and the price is crazy cheap. I already have 30+ HD-DVDs plus it's a fantastic upconverting machine there really is no reason not to buy one at this point.

[Ricardo]

Well, I just figure I am gonna miss on all the new High def releases. I stopped buying DVD's a long time ago and only rent (with few exceptions), so for me having ah HD-DVD does not provide too much value now.

[AndyGwis]

I've already purchased two HD-DVD players and many HD-DVDs. Might get a couple spare machines on the cheap just so I have backups to play HD-DVDs on if my current ones ever crap out.

$90 for an awesome upconverting player and 5 free High Def movies is a sick deal not matter if they are obsolete or not.

If SACD officially "died" and someone offered me a bad ass SACD / CD player and 5 free SACDs for $90, I'd be all over it.

[madmax]

The A3 is $89 and the A30 is $119. I wonder if it be worth getting the A30 for $30 more?

[billbillw]

The A3 is $89 and the A30 is $119. I wonder if it be worth getting the A30 for $30 more?

Yes, the A30 uses a better upscaler and can output at 1080p/24. The upscaler is made by ABT (the company that does DVDO) and is highly rated. The a30 does not do very well with 1080p/60 though. If your TV can't accept 1080p/24, then you are better off using 1080i output.

[madmax]

OK, I ordered the A30. Never hurts to have another DVD player around. :)
Thanks for the input!
madmax

[billbillw]

OK, I ordered the A30. Never hurts to have another DVD player around. :)
Thanks for the input!
madmax

5 free movies too (unless you've already redeemed that rebate once). Even at $10 each for the movies, that's almost half the price of the player.

Tempted to get one myself for the bedroom to replace the aging S97, but I'm torn between that and getting a used 2nd gen model so that I have spare parts for my XA2 (they all use the same drive and power boards)
Might just have to do both.

[McLoki]

Downside of the a3 (compared to the A2) is that the A3 downconverts all sound in HD movies to 640k DD signal. The A2 downconverts to a 1.5meg DTS signal.

Of course if you use it to play standard def movies or have it hooked to your system via HDMI - it really doesn't matter.

I returned my a3 and got an A2 since I have the sound hooked up via optical. I agree - just as an upconverting player, the A2 is well worth the $120 I spent on it. Not a regret at all in getting it. (the $125 sony upconverting player I purchased is not even in the same league as the A2)

Michael

[madmax]

I received the Toshiba HD player last night and watched a few movies. I only have component video input on my plasma (older version) and was worried that HD content would not flow through the component output. It does so that is nice. Apparently there is a copy protection flag on some DVD's which are copy protected. Hopefully I will get lucky and pick ones without the flag. Awesome picture!
madmax

[Sami]

If you want to upconvert your DVD collection through component, you can either get a HDMI to component adapter or rip the movies and burn to a DVD which will get rid of the flag. The latter might not be legal but if you own the movies I don't personally see a moral problem with it.

[madmax]

I looked for an hdmi to component adaptor but couldn't find anything. It would be cool to upconvert the standard dvd's.

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

Yeah I never had any luck finding the HDMI to Component adapter either.

I didn't think it was a flag issue, I thought the Tosh players just don't upconvert via component at all...

[triguy3]

I love my Tosh A30. Upconverted DVD look amazing. gave ne life to my Sdvd collection. Admittedly i am using the HDMI connection to a 720p dlp. my sad old dlp can not display much more resolution than the upconverted DVD's so I am going to be able to enjoy SDVD for as long as the set holds out. for those people with smaller (<42" ) displays or 720p sets with HDMI, they will love these gret machines at this prioce.

[warlocks1]

I don't think you can get a HDMI to component adapter due to copyright issues. If anyone knows of an adapter, please let us know.

[Keiko]

only if you build an arsenal of movies. most probably spend that amount of money on hookers and blow in a weekend. hd dvd will last far longer than one night of pleasure.

Ahhhh, but the memory will last a lifetime. :p

[Sami]

I didn't think it was a flag issue, I thought the Tosh players just don't upconvert via component at all...

They do, at least A1 & XA1. All my Finnish movies upconvert via component since they don't have protection, and no country code. Removing the protection flag, upconversion happens as well.

madmax, try the old trick and connect HDMI cable to the player even when it's not hooked up to a display. YMMV but I've seen it work.

As for HDMI to component, converters are pretty pricey. This is cheapest I could find for now: http://store.homeavcables.com/hdmc-spdif.html (EDIT: this seems to be component-to-HDMI, not vice versa as the title of it says)

I know my friend has HDMI-to-RGB for his CRT projector.