What is Digg?Warning: The Content in this Article May be Inaccurate
Readers have reported that this story contains information that may not be accurate.205 Comments
- Zippo, on 02/21/2008, -5/+230It's not really false advertising... they're just changing the focus of the product, from HD-DVD playback, to HDMI and DVD upscaling. And they still mention the fact that they play HD-DVDs.
It's a copywriter doing his/her job. - woodcoxcb, on 02/21/2008, -1/+117In other news, submitter are needing English lessons.
- MeMongo, on 02/21/2008, -8/+112I'm sure that these would actually make pretty damn good upscaling DVD players, so I guess that it's a good thing that Toshiba didn't make them HD DVD only.
[sarcasm] It's good to see that they were thinking about the consumer [/scarcasm] - Marfanity, on 02/21/2008, -1/+66"retailers are scrabbling to do anything to get rid of the HDDVD Players"
triple word score! - bundwallah, on 02/21/2008, -33/+86HDDVD = Has Died DVD. :)
- trogdor282, on 02/21/2008, -1/+51That's actually a great deal - 7 movies for $99, plus a free novelty player!
- lintmonkey, on 02/21/2008, -4/+51Inaccurate. They're not "renaming" HD-DVD players, they're merely pointing out the fact that they conform to the HDMI spec, instead of promoting the fact that they play a now obsolete video disc format.
- tnvwboy, on 02/21/2008, -1/+34And smart retailers. Plenty of people are happy with just upconverting their regular DVD collection. For those consumers this could be a nice option. Sure the HD-DVD format is dead and there will be very few, if any, new titles put on that media but they could pick up some cheap to go along with their regular collection. Additionally since the two formats can technically be played on a dual-format player there is a possibility for the near future that dual-format players will have a fair market themselves. Toshiba would be stupid to not license their technology, especially now when it's a looser. They might be able to recoup a little bit of their investment.
- GuJu, on 02/21/2008, -1/+26its not a big ***** deal
it still says they play HD-DVD's - hexydes, on 02/21/2008, -1/+22I don't care what anyone says; at $99, you're basically paying $15 per movie, and you get a free player. If you look through the list and can put together a collection of movies that you would like in HD, you'd be stupid not to just get this. Unless you absolutely don't want another device sitting on your shelf or something, you're basically getting cheap movies, and then a player to play them. Hell, wait another 1-2 months and you can get the HD-DVD computer drive for $30, rip them all to your computer, and sell the player and drive as a package for $50.
- rishichhibber, on 02/21/2008, -2/+20And why not give a direct Amazon link?
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-HD-A3-720p-1080i-Pla ... - Cerialthriller, on 02/21/2008, -3/+22wow, looks liek this tactic even works with the new and old tags right next to each other, lol
- kazzyD, on 02/21/2008, -3/+22Interesting concept even if the price at the retailer mentioned still isn't great. Incidentally, Amazon just dropped the price of its HD DVD players to $99. And that's with 7 movies included:
http://www.techconsumer.com/2008/02/21/amazon-drop ... - shadydentist, on 02/21/2008, -1/+19Well... its not a lie...
- typicalusername, on 02/21/2008, -4/+22The power of creative marketing and buzz words...
- antipoet, on 02/21/2008, -0/+17Seriously, I'm getting tired of the single paragraph Engadget articles...
- jp12380, on 02/21/2008, -1/+17In all honesty it's not completely worthless, it will play DVD's and it will upscale them. It is not dishonest at all. There are people that would want to upscale their current DVD's.
- kingmanic, on 02/21/2008, -0/+16Thats an interesting gimmick. The literal truth.
- DiggzDE, on 02/21/2008, -0/+15Hell, if the price of them go down to below the cost of normal upscaling DVD players, I may just pick one up.
- asskey, on 02/21/2008, -0/+15Any idea how to take the laser diode out for a cheap blue laser?
- davidrools, on 02/22/2008, -1/+16hopelessly dead, disastrous video design
- schroeder, on 02/21/2008, -0/+14It's an HD-DVD player with upscaling DVD capability. Both are the same player. They tricked you.
- familynight, on 02/21/2008, -0/+13turntables don't fit in this group. they are awesome, and their media is still actively manufactured and used.
- inactive, on 02/21/2008, -1/+14Deceptive advertising would be to advertise that it plays MP3s and Blu-Ray DVDs
- sgxyay, on 02/21/2008, -2/+14I scrabble for English lesson
- otatop, on 02/21/2008, -0/+11Blu-ray is the one that uses Java.
- hasahugedig, on 02/21/2008, -0/+112 are included with the player the 5 are from mail in rebate.
- vierce, on 02/21/2008, -4/+15Blu-ray is great and everything, but jesus its expensive. At least HDDVD had a good price range
- DJPhoenix, on 02/21/2008, -0/+11Not sure why this is on the front page. Who cares that some retailers rearranged the description of a product. They aren't lying, everything they say it does is true.
- rudy23, on 02/21/2008, -0/+10but then this is Digg.
- Akira, on 02/21/2008, -1/+11For the price now, they are quite good upscaling DVD players...
- petemcfraser, on 02/21/2008, -0/+9"...that's unpossible!"
- DAaaMan64, on 02/21/2008, -4/+13DVD beat HD-DVD
Teh lawls are ON - theskyman, on 02/21/2008, -0/+8Its technology debacles like this that make people resort to pirating videos. When someone buys a $200 HD-DVD player they expect the technology to be around for awhile. But now BluRay is the defacto standard! Not to mention all the confusion this is causing. You can't blame consumers for being a bit pissed off by this.
- EatingPie, on 02/22/2008, -1/+8Just an FYI at davidrools... These players are worth a lot more than $99.00. Toshiba artificially lowered their prices and took a major loss on each player as an attempt to win the format war (now they're just dumping them though). They planned to recap their losses later with licensing. That's the reason Toshiba can't make an equivalently priced Blu-Ray player.
Were there no format war, this would probably have sold for $300 or $400. So honestly, if you're looking for a good DVD player, these absolutely cannot be beat.
-Pie - MyNameIsJoe, on 02/21/2008, -1/+8Well, for anybody who's cheap (and willing to pirate movies) now is a good time to buy HD equipment.
HD DVD Player + HD DVD Writer + Bit Torrent = A really cheap High Definition Home Entertainment System - ninjasquirrel, on 02/21/2008, -0/+7Please drive off the nearest bridge...
- frogman54, on 02/21/2008, -0/+7That's just turning a frown upside down, I say. It's not nearly the sneakiest thing big box stores have ever done. That comes later when they say you need a $300, 40 foot, 900 karat gold plated, extra super premium Monster HDMI cable that has been sealed with God's own jizzum in order for you to get a picture.
- davidrools, on 02/21/2008, -2/+9Can Toshiba please make a $99 blu-ray player? I figure they could basically retool their existing manufacturing to go blu and use a lot of the same parts (same 405nm blue laser diode, tray, motors, etc.) and rewrite the firmware
- phoomp, on 02/21/2008, -2/+9I may actually consider purchasing an HD DVD player as DVD-upscaler for $80. But then, I rarely use physical media anymore. BluRay may have won the HD wars, but even it's days are shortly numbered.
- MacEnvy, on 02/21/2008, -0/+7The 3.5" floppy and the CD were pretty big wins too. They've got as many wins as losses.
- dafragsta, on 02/21/2008, -1/+7I just went to Best Buy at lunch. They had TONS of HD-DVD stuff and none of it was marked down really. They even had new releases. This is a real asspounding to give to consumers to not at least attempt to inform them of the VERY volatile status of the platform. Then again, this is Best Buy we are talking about. They don't care if customers get ripped off.
If the studios play coy and don't offer a disc swap, this is just ***** evil. - inactive, on 02/21/2008, -0/+6I'm sure its a great upscaling dvd player, and who knows, you might pick up some dirt cheap hd dvds along the way. Still a good buy
- EtherGnat, on 02/21/2008, -0/+6I'm not really sure I'd consider that a "trick" which implies putting something over on the consumer. I'd consider it smart rebranding, and the customer gets exactly what they advertise. Hell, I bought an HD-DVD player a few months ago and that's exactly why I bought it--as a good upscaling DVD player that had the side effect of being able to play some HD movies.
- kh99, on 02/21/2008, -1/+6I'm going to pay the $109 for no movies and a refurbished player, from the "New and Used" list.
- SgtQuackers, on 02/21/2008, -4/+9I know, 15 failed formats and they finally win one. What a great record!
- inactive, on 02/22/2008, -1/+6In other news, proper grammar in topic titles is no longer a requirement for front page topics.
- s1mph0ny, on 02/22/2008, -0/+5They probably could, but the licensing cost would be pricey.
- inactive, on 02/21/2008, -1/+6Holy ***** *****
Another engaget article on HDDVD/BLURAY - Typhoon2009, on 02/21/2008, -0/+5Until people realize that all the new movies are being released on Blu-ray only... not to mention I wouldn't be surprised if Viacom and NBC put their HD DVD exclusive movies onto Blu-ray.
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