Xbox 360 HD-DVD Drive Now $179 with 5 Free HD-DVDs

That's pretty cool! I am trying to convince my family to buy one of these. They may actually do it with this deal.

I've been planning this purchase for a while. Early August timeframe will be perfect, and now I get a $20 discount and 5 HD-DVDs.

BTW, I'm guessing the 5 free HD-DVD deal will work like Toshiba's current deal. You send in the UPC, your receipt, and pick from 15 titles in groups of 3. You then receive the HD-DVDs in the mail.

Here's the existing Toshiba rebate form as an example.

I remember you talking about your plans to purchase a Hi-Def player. Looks like waiting was the right thing to do!

That's a pretty sweet deal.

I'm glad I've waited....gosh I can't wait to get this deal.

I may alot fundage for this purchase. Netflix offers the choice of HD-DVD format.

I worry that there may not be a next year for Hd-dvd. As the list keeps growing for support of blu-ray and not of hd-dvd it makes me skeptical. Though the current price is a great deal if you have a 360, but what if a year later there is nothing new to supports the player with? These types of format wars get crazy and the consumers usually end up with a few non supported devices in the end. So is it worth the gamble?

Well, you can always keep waiting.

And waiting...

All of my electronics depreciate. The decision I have to make is whether the purchase price today substantiates my desire for the device, given the fact it will depreciate quickly or slowly. If HD-DVD is unsupported in a few years, then my device will depreciate very quickly, to almost zero, but I will have a couple years of watching hi-def movies in return. Blu-ray isn't really an option for me because of the relative expense, so HD-DVD it is.

I have no support for blu-ray, partly because it's sony and other part because I think hd-dvd is better or equal. I would not buy a blu-ray secondly because the price is so freakin high compared to blu-ray. I really want a hd player and would enjoy getting the hd-dvd addon for the 360, but do have the feeling that blu-ray will win this format war very soon. With the way my income is right now $180 is alot for something and that much more for something if it will not be useful in just a few months. I may go ahead and get it and just hope for continued support for a while, atleast from a few decent movies in the next year.

I'm guessing 300 in high def, which I have pre-ordered from Amazon and comes out on Tuesday, will probably subsidize almost the entire purchase.

This is true, did you see it in the theater? Also, I just noticed that new hd-dvd's are 34.99 compared to blu-ray's 29.99, but i would expect that to drop as holiday season nears.

300 was $27 with free shipping at Amazon. I thought the majority of HD movies in both formats ranged from $25 to $30. I also liked that the 300 HD-DVD also comes with the standard DVD version.

Stop it! I might have to go get the hd-dvd add on this week if you keep it up.

Why don't you just sign up for HD cable with the premium channels? You'll get more HD movies for the same price - not to mention HD on demand and HD ppv.

There, you can wait a little longer.

We have found Netflix is the most economical way to supply us with movies. On the TV side, the shows Christina and I are interested in are almost 100% network TV, so I'd rather allocate the funds for subscription services (excluding Netflix, which is subscription) to things I can keep (HD-DVDs, DVR, etc). This method seems to work best for us.

I have hd cable, but most of the times the movies do not look nearly as good as the actual dvd. Alot of the movies you get a touched up version of the regular movie instead of a full hd picture...1080i on tv vs. 1080i hd-player is a significant leap.

altogether the price tag is a hundred more than the ps3. this offer is to counter sony's offer of 5 free blu-ray movies with the purchase of a blu-ray player (ps3 beaing the cheapest). Even with closeout of the 20gig sku on the ps3, the pricetag of a base-model xbox with this offer is over 100$ more than a ps3. Sony and toshiba are going to compete for format, and the winner will be who can make the technology for cheaper. At this point, saying whether or not its worth it its hard to say, but in the end you pay 100$ more for this format at retail.

...but for most of us it's a marginal decision of spending the extra $200 because we already own 360s. You can also get a Toshiba A2 HD-DVD player for below $250 by catching sales and using coupons.

at BestBuy

I finally managed to do it, went to wal-mart last night and purchased me a Hd-Dvd player. It came with King Kong and walmart had such a crap selection of HD-DVD's to choose from that I just returned home with Mr. I'm so pretty and extra hairy in HD Kong. So you get the $25 King Kong + 5 $20-$27 mail-in DVD offer...therefore my conclusion is that I am a happy shopper.

Bought it yesterday at Circuit City. Added Batman Begins on HD-DVD to the ticket to get it to $200 and use a $40 off $200 coupon.

The wife chose Apollo 13, Constantine, Tomb Raider, The Rundown, and U-571 as our free HD-DVDs. I'm only really juiced about Constantine. I really like U-571, but don't think it'll benefit from HD much.

Add those to King Kong, which came with the HD_DVD drive, and 300 (arriving today from Amazon) and I've already got a small HD-DVD collection.

King Kong and Batman Begins in 1080p with 5.1 sound is pretty awesome.

And tonight....this is SPARTA!!!!

Hey there buddy... can I come over? :)

Unfortunately, due to an unknown and elusive shipping SNAFU, 300 did not arrive today. Amazon is shipping another one and the USPS is trying to find it (they say it's been delivered). Will let you know if it arrives. You aren't the only one to ask. ;) Hell, maybe I'll just hold a screening of it this weekend and sell popcorn in the kitchen.

There's a chance the second shipment will arrive tomorrow or Saturday? Wow. Did Amazon chose overnight shipping for you?

No, I'm referring to the initial shipment. My guess is that it fell under/behind the seat of the USPS delivery person's vehicle. I think actual mail theft is probably pretty rare.

Here is a website I recently found that review pretty much every release on HD-DVD and Blu-Ray...http://www.highdefdigest.com/. Though I dont agree with some of their scores it will give you an idea what to expect from the picture side if you buy or rent a certain HD-DVD.

I bought Batman Begins as well...boy is it pretty, now I just keep wishing I had a 1080p tv so I could see how much of a difference the leap from 1080i really is. Also watched 300 last night, it was madness.

Assuming you're watching your 32" LCD HDTV, there's not going to be much of a difference. Street wisdom is that you have to be watching at least a 42"-50" display for 1080p to be discernable.

BTW, the native resolution of that TV is 1366x768. I would suggest running your 360 at 720p, unless you've done direct comparisons between 1080i and 720p and found 1080i superior on your TV. Not only should it look better in it's native resolution, but you'll have less overscan (image lost off the edge of the TV), see more frames (60 progressive (full) frames versus 60 interlaced (half) frames), and since almost all 360 games render natively in 720p there will be no conversions for the 360 or the TV to perform, resulting in a signal that is as pure as you can make it all the way from software to display.

My .02

It's not the size of the TV that really matters. It's the viewing angle and viewing distance. What good is it to watch a 42"-50" HDTV if you sit 3' away from it? What about 15' away from it. My point is that there is a sweet spot somewhere in there.

Watching a 60" HDTV 1080p set can be worse than watching a 27" HDTV 720p set depending on where you are sitting. If you sit too close to the 60" set, you may see screendoors and other artifacts. You may not be able to see the whole picture without moving your eyes quite a bit. You sit too far away and your eyes will not be keen enough to see the difference between 1080p and 720p. They just aren't sharp enough. There's a sweet spot for each set.

Why do people typically sit within 24" of their computer monitor? Because they want definition in a sweet spot.

There's a sweet spot on JDOGG's TV in which 720p would look just as good as 1080p. Of course, this assumes that the 1080p set that he doesn't have ISN'T in it's sweet spot. But because of the way some homes are built and the way some rooms are shaped, some people may not ever be able to get to the 1080p sweet spot anyway so a 720p set would do.

Oh, and don't forget to include factors like glare, reflection, and finish to the surface of the HDTV or the eyesight of the viewer.

Where JDOGG places the HDTV will determine if he will be able to see the difference in upgrading to 1080p. I think he'd have to sit really close to the set to see the difference.

Well, you're right. The info I gave him assumes an optimal viewing distance. I didn't think it necessary to specify "they'll look the same at less than 42-50 inches, from the same distance, with the same lighting, in the same room, with the same source material..." I assumed all other factors were controlled.

But if he's sitting at the right distance (close enough to it), then upgrading to a 32" 1080p set will make a difference and he'll be able to notice it.

1080p isn't limited to certain sizes of monitors.

Just look at our computer monitors. They display greater than 1080p and certainly less than 42". I know I'd had to be using a computer monitor that could only do 720p.

I have no first hand info on this topic. I have not compared 1080i vs 1080p on the same display at varying display sizes. I said 'street wisdom' because the info I have comes from other folks on the net. A/V reviewers and A/V 'experts' that I have read on the net agree about 80% of the time that 1080p will not look better than 1080i on a 32" set. Once again, I don't know, but I have read a lot about it, and that is the consensus. One such article from hdtvexpert.com, written in late July.

He goes as far to say that for the majority of TV sales (37-46 inches), for the money there is "little advantage" (albeit he didn't say 'no advantage') to 1080p versus 768p or 720p.

We're not even discussing a different resolution, just a different frame rate. (1080i vs 1080p)

I do use 720p for gaming, but tend to switch to 1080i for movies...I have tried comparing the 2 when viewing movies but the difference isn't very noticeable to me. From what I have read though movies can look better in 1080i than 720p and games just the opposite. So I've chosen to just do movies in 1080i and then in 720p to try and figure out the difference or if there even is one on my tv. I would probably guess that neither make much of a difference on mine since it is only 32inches and westinghouse branded.

I'm not looking to upgrade to 1080p anytime soon, just was curious what the difference is in the two. I assumed that since I believe 1080p only starts at around 40-42in tv's then I would have to wait it out until someday down the road.

JDOGG's panel is probably 1366 X 768. A 1080p panel will be 1920 X 1080. That panel will look better than his current panel provided he doesn't sit too far away from it. He won't need to get a 42" panel to see the advantages.

I've never personally set up two 32" displays, one 1366x768 and one 1920x1080, and ran the same source material (in 720p and 1080p, respectively) to both of them and compared, so I can't say definitively.

I agree that in theory what you're saying must be true, but I disagree that you can definitively say it is noticeable.

I'm really contemplating buying this thing now with the 5 free HD-DVDs. Microsoft is really making it hard for me to pass up, even if we wouldn't use if for a good while. Jeff, where'd you get the Circuit City coupon?

We're still on a smaller standard def CRT tv though.. Should we join the 21st century?

I will say this: One of the biggest influences in the experience of a home theater to me personally is the sound system. If I'm in a theater, it's the first thing I notice and the first thing that irks me (if inadequate). I usually prefer it turned to 11.

The original coupon comes in the mail to your new address as part of a coupon pack when you file a change of address with the USPS.

You can also print it from online sources. I have used this successfully before, but there's an off chance they won't accept it.

http://www.mypicshare.com/mrkra9hspic.html