Wryker

I also am a fan of HD period, and actually have both blu-ray AND HD DVD players, so kudos to you and me. I agree that one of the best features of blu-ray, and one most frequently ignorantly assailed by HD DVD fanboys, is the protective coating. Say whatever you want about the necessity of it for blu-ray discs due to information residing closer to the reading surface, but the fact is that the coating is a huge advantage over HD DVD. HD DVD, like DVD, can easily get scratched up and consequently become unreadable. Anyone who rents from Netflix knows the frustration of trying to play a sandpapered DVD, and this is what is going to happen to HD DVD as well. Wasted time and money trying to rent HD DVDs online or in the store.

But as to whether or not BD-Rs will have the coating as well, I suspect not since the layer most likely would interfere with the writing of the disc and probably is applied after the discs are pressed in the factories. But who knows, I certainly don't. It would be nice though.

Desperation is when a company employs firesale tactics in order to survive a format "war" that it is losing, and losing big-time. When Sony, which has an even more dominating lead in Australia than in the U.S., to the tune of 6:1 HDM sales, makes this sort of move, it is clearly strategic and not a last gasp to survive at any cost. A grab at the jugular, so to speak, to finally put HD DVD out of its misery after months of declining sales and market share. Japan is already 9:1 blu-ray over HD DVD, and Europe will be next, currently at 4:1 sales advantage. The U.S., sadly, is the slowest to follow (no doubt secondary to Walmart's now infamous firesale of 1080i cheapies and the "Joe 6-pack effect"), but it shouldn't take more than another quarter or two now that Warner will be hopping aboard soon. Hello Warner. Adios HD DVD... you tried your best, but now it's time to step aside for the blu-ray juggernaut.

Wes
I admire your misplaced enthusiasm for HD DVD, but the point was that the Sony 1080p player now has the same MSRP in the U.S. ($300) as the 1080i Toshiba HD-A3, and is $100 less than the 1080p HD-A30. So, actually, blu-ray is now not only the technologically superior but also the cheaper (for those of you who count every $100) HD format as well. Doesn't look like that's going to help HD DVD survive past Q1 in the coming year.

I wonder if this has anything to do with the audio issues (lack of 5.1/7.1 TrueHD, no DTS-HD MA, etc.) of this player. It'll be interesting to see if it has other firmware upgrades or if it's simply a manufacturing problem.

Classic example of HD DVD bringing down the HD medium. HD DVD fanboys defending their 1080i players. What's new. Doesn't matter that most TVs do NOT properly deinterlace 1080i, but what does that matter to them since they seem to think that everyone has 720p/1080i displays like they evidently have. Considering that most of the HD DVD players out there are 1080i cheapies, obviously this is a contentious issue that they need to defend to the end, otherwise how else would they rationalize the predominance of 1080i HD DVD players in contrast to every blu-ray player being capable of 1080p/24?

With $300 1080p/24 Sony players with 8 free movies, Toshiba has finally lost their sole advantage in the format "war," namely, price. Without the price point advantage, why on Earth would anyone spend money on a format that has dramatically less capacity/bandwidth, shameful lack of lossless audio on the majority of their releases, all sort of problems displaying 1080p/24 properly (on those few non-1080i cheapies), widespread combo-disc compatability problems, etc., etc.? The answer, no one except for some sad sacks who just don't know better.

I'm dual-format btw but I can tell you that the day that HD DVD dies, which won't be later than Q1 2008, will be a great day for ALL fans of HD media. Happy Holidays!

D... e... s... p... e... r... a... t... i... o... n...

How pathetic and desperate HD DVD has become. No doubt this was sponsored by Toshiba. At least we won't have to tolerate this sort of sad HD DVD desperation for much longer. Hello Warner. Bye-bye HD DVD.

No way man. I share your unbridled patriotic "man-love" for George W. Bush.

Of course this isn't surprising. All the people I know with PS3s are other young professionals (almost none of whom express any interest in the crapbox 360) with HDTVs while I only see Joe 6-packs picking up 360s that they presumably will hook up to their SDTV, all the while bragging to their buddies how "awesome" the "high-def graphics" are. The Wii, of course, attracts a different segment of the population, namely the female, older, and generally "non-gamer" crowd who definitely have no interest or knowledge of HD anything. Is there any surprise that blu-ray is the HD format of choice for those who can actually afford to make a choice? Seems like HD DVD "fans" are in team red by default rather than by choice. In any case, CES 08 will spell the end of HD DVD once and for all. Or will HD DVD surive without Disney, Sony (MGM, Columbia, etc.), FOx, AND Warner?

There are only four different models, how hard could it be to make a choice. The real answer should be: you shouldn't buy ANY HD DVD player. With Sony's 1080p/24 player selling for $300 with 3 movies in the box (casino royale, spiderman3, and black hawk down) and 5 free in the mail, it's hard to imagine any sort of rationale to support buying any Toshiba player, if there ever was one, anymore. Now that HD DVD has lost the price point (Sony's 1080p/24 player has the same MSRP as Toshiba's 1080i/60 dyanmo), it's also lost the only reason people had for buying it. Bye bye HD DVD!