Latest on Blu-Ray vs HD DVD ?

cheap way is the PS3

The HD-DVD Toshiba HD-XA2 did go on sale yesterday (Sun.) for $299. It also includes a choice of 5 free HD-DVD's from a list of 15, sent by mail from Toshiba.

As with many new formats, the prices started out high, probably to let the early adopters help pay for research, marketing, etc. As the war progresses, the prices will continue to drop. Prices for players will also see drastic reductions as old stock is discounted to get ready for newer models. Look for more drastic cuts later in the summer as producers make way for the new model rollouts at the Sept. CEDIA show in Denver, including more players that will do both formats, at a price much lower than the current LG brand dual-format player. In the next few weeks Sony will roll out their new smaller Blu-Ray with MSRP of $599. And in a huge technological breakthrough, this new one will even play CD's!

Software is still ridiculously high, $20-$35 per title, depending on extras and perceived demand. The good news is that Netflix now carries a lot of titles in both formats, so you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars after you buy a player to have something you can watch on it.

Just to be accurate, the HD-A2, NOT the XA-2, will be at $299. The A2 lacks 1080p and multichannel analog outputs. The XA-2 is the current top-of-the-line, and has all these features plus the Reon upscaling chipset.

If the HD-XA2 is $299. I'll jump all over it. but I don't think it's the case. I believe it's the HD-A2. You can get the D2(same as the A2+HDMI cable) for $249 and 5 mail-in free movies from Toshiba at Costco, if you have one in your area. I think that's a darn good deal to jump in the HD theater.

You can wait until the dust settles, (like most people, in 5 years) or you can buy now and enjoy some really super picture quality that you just simply can not get on standard def DVD.

Up until this point Blu-ray had the titles and HD-DVD was missing some titles. That is about to change with the Matrix trilogy, on HD-DVD only. (due later this month) Blu-Ray has some good Disney titles coming later this year, and at present time they will not be offered on HD-DVD. So my take at this point is that both formats have either announced or pre-announced a decent number of titles, to make this a non-issue between the two formats.

The brand new Toshiba finally outputs 1080P, so don’t get confused and buy the older, less expensive player and think that you are getting full HD-DVD, because you will be disappointed. But even still the brand new second generation HD-XA2 still does not output 1080p/24. 1080P/24 will become prevalent in the fall along with HDMi-1.3

As for the new lower cost Panasonic Blu-Ray, it does NOT output 1080P/24. The Sony BDSP-1 and the Pioneer unit does.

The LG combo player has been applauded because it plays both discs, but it has received poor reviews for its color saturation, and it does not have a full implementation of the HD-DVD functionality.

Be sure to check out the review in Home Theater June 2007.

I compaired the Toshiba 1st gen player and the Sony. I bought the Sony because the picture was significantly sharper, and brighter. I have not compaired the new unit but I have seen it in action and it looks to be closer to what I get on my Blu-ray setup.

Enjoy