Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD player available for pre-order
By Matt Burns 
posted Jan 11th 2006 12:03PM
posted Jan 11th 2006 12:03PM
Early adopters, get your plastic out. Even though this first generation HD DVD player was just announced, good ol' Amazon has it available for pre-order. It is going for $499.99 with free shipping as soon as it is available. I did some more digging and this was the only next gen player I could find.
Now we just need something to play on it.
Toshiba announced the HD-A1 a few days back, they gave a March launch date so we can assume that it is going to be here soon.
Do you plan on boarding the HD DVD boat right off the bat?
No I am waiting to see what comes of this technology...
Holographic DVD (1st generation)
-300 GB Capacity
-160 Mbps Transfer Rate
-26 hours of high definition video
-407 nm Laser (Blue)
http://www.cinenow.com/us/news-1963.html
http://www.inphase-technologies.com/
-HX
according to many on AVS forum they have preordered @ Crutchfield,me I'll wait and see what develops
Holographic media is way too expensive to be used for replacing DVD movies which is what we're talking about with HD-DVD...not a reason to wait in this case...two completely different uses.
A good reason to wait is to figure out who's going to win the format war, HD-DVD or BluRay. My money is on BluRay, I think they've got the stronger case. With hundreds of thousands of Sony Playstation 3's going on sale mid-06 which will be capable of bluray playback, I just don't see how HD-DVD will compete against that to get a good start in the market. In a matter of a few weeks Sony will have thousands of bluray machines (PS3) in peoples homes while Toshiba is still trying to sell their stand-alone players for $500...more expensive than a PS3. Why blow $500 on a HD-DVD player which could be useless in a year if it fails, when you can spend $300-$400 on a PS3 that has no risk of failure...if bluray fails you still have a kick butt gaming machine. The external Xbox360 HD-DVD drive will help, but I wouldn't expect that to make much of a difference...it's likely that few will buy it.
I'll atleast wait until mid-06 before even thinking about making a purchase in this arena. I plan on buying a PS3 to use as my bluray player until prices on the standalone players drop to an affordable price and the format war is over. You just can't go wrong with that approach!!
The thing that gets me is this is going for $500 ok. Well what is the the new Blu-Rays going to start at? I thought I heard around $1000. That is what has me worried. I have not been to thrilled with the whole Sony company lately: PS3, Blu-Rays, PSP games Blu-Rays Movies. They all seem to be on a short list, or expensive.
Brian said: "Holographic media is way too expensive to be used for replacing DVD movies which is what we're talking about with HD-DVD...not a reason to wait in this case...two completely different uses."
InPhase Technologies has gotten the price of Holographic media comparable to that of DVD. They have also released a consumer version of the media. The players are to come in 2007.
http://www.inphase-technologies.com/news/Tapestry_4000.html
This uses the less expensive Red Laser as well. It also uses technologies that have matured in other areas such as digital cameras and projection televisions reducing the cost of making a holographic drive.
http://www.inphase-technologies.com/technology/contribution/index.html
http://www.data-storage-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=40222
-HX
Nope, I'm gonna wait a bit to see who gets off to an early lead in the HD-DVD vs BluRay race. Or at the least I'm gonna wait until the players don't resemble 1980's VCRs. Seriously, that thing is hideous. So are a lot of the other first gen HD-DVD and BluRay’s I’ve seen pictures of.
Only way I might adopt early is if the HD-DVD drive for the 360 doesn't cost a lot.
$300 - $400 for a PS3 is very optimistic. I'll be curious to see how much Sony is going to sell their entry level Blu-Ray player for. I'll also be curious to see how much Microsoft sells their HD-DVD add-on for. Over a $150 will be risky.