Toshiba HD-A1 HD-DVD Player for $380

[CamDawg]

For anyone who's interested in a quality HD-DVD player, ecost has the HD-A1 for $380. Shipping is $12, but you can get $10 off of the purchase with a Google checkout promotion.

Link to ecost

I've had the player for almost a month, and I'm very impressed with it. For those who are a bit worried about some of the potential shortfalls of the HD-DVD add-on for the 360 (i.e. USB 2.0 bandwidth problems, processing HD video will cause significanlty more strain on an already delicate 360, loud fans on the 360, ICT rendering 1080i output impossible over component in the future, no advanced audio output because of a lack of analog and HDMI, etc), this is a way to get into the HD-DVD game without too large of an expenditure of $.

[Jon Liu]

good find Cam!

[SpOoNmAn]

Thats one glowing preview of the HD addon there

Nice price on the Toshiba

[CamDawg]

Originally Posted by SpOoNmAn

Thats one glowing preview of the HD addon there

Don't want to sound too negative about the add-on drive; it's just that it has some potential shortcomings that may be pretty limiting for some of you here who tend to be pretty discriminating about your home theater. On the other hand, I can also understand the price argument; it's much easier to drop $200 than $500 - $1000 on a format that may or may not be around five years from now.

However, I'm wondering where the price point is for most that they'd be willing to pay so they don't have to worry about the limitations with the HD_DVD add-on (not least of which is the significant additional processing stress that that comes with processing high def video). When you add in the significant audio improvements available with the A1 through it's 5.1. analog outputs, the build quality, and the factor of taking my 360 completly out of the equation (to reduce additional stress on it and to avoid any USB bandwidth limitations), my price point was $400. So far it's proven to be a significant enhancement to my home theater, so I'm pretty happy.

[SpOoNmAn]

Oh dont get me wrong, Its good people know its shortcomings, Im sure some appreciate the truth.

We will have to do a poll later concerning this. I dont think any discriminating member here is buying the addon drive with the mindset that it will be their longterm HD player, I know Im surely not. Its so cheap that I want to check it out is all. When I do get back into movie watching bigtime, a dedicated player will be bought.

Ive always said its odd to use a console as a dedicated player, and expecting them to have all the bells and whistles of one is a lost cause.

[Jon Liu]

I agree, I think at the pricepoint of 200.00 you cannot go wrong for a HD format player. Even though it lacks in some departments it's still about half of what you can get a HD-A1 for now. But, with that said, I've heard that it's a lot better in some cases than that of the current gen players. For example load times. People are claiming it's no longer than a regular drive loading a disc now. Reliability overall has improved as well. Of course, this is all heresay and we won't know exactly how it will go until nearer to when it comes out.