Best buy sells Toshiba HD-DVD player with 9 free HD-DVD discs

If you ready to go for that 'deal'. Consider find Laserdiscs. You can get like 50 for $25 Useless ?. Guess what HD DVD will be soon.

Sounds like a good deal BUT there is one problem with HD DVD and BluRay that DVD didn't have an issue with. HD DVD and BluRay require equipment, expensive at that, to play back the films in their full or intended resolution and sound. DVD took off so well because there was no need to buy extra equipment just to watch and hear it. It even works on TV sets that were old and lacked a coaxial input. HD DVD and BluRay, I dont think, will never be as popular as DVD. Most consumers are unaware of what is "interlaced" or "progressive". Most consumers are unaware of HDMI, DVI, or even component interfaces. Most consumers are unaware of what 1080p is or what 1080i is. Factor all that in and you have two formats that will probably never take off like DVD did. Most people will just pass up on the newer technology and stick with DVD. Movie companies will never see the boon that DVD brought with HD UNTIL the day that every single SD TV set is replaced with HD tv sets which are still more expensive than their SD counterparts. About this arguing over who will win, I just laugh when I see these arguments. It is a moot point. You guys know this technology but there is ALOT of people that don't have a clue to what it is.

@ shaolin007 You're absolutely right. It will be a looong time before HD takes hold and replaces DVD.

Movie companies will never see the boon that DVD brought with HD UNTIL the day that every single SD TV set is replaced with HD tv sets which are still more expensive than their SD counterparts. I agree, but by then we might see downloading movies on demand. Verizon is installing fiber optic cable in my neighborhood. If they don\'t get blu-ray and/or HD DVD hot and popular soon then we\'ll be looking at two formats of video disc like SpeedyJDK said. Those were a niche product that never went mainstream AND there was a format war there too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laserdisc http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitance_Electronic_Disc

Here is how I see the future of HD movies. First, I'll buy an HD DVD drive for my PC. Then, I'll rip the HD DVD movie from 25GB and compress it to 4.7GB. Now I'll burn that puppy to a 4.7GB DVD and play it on my HD DivX player. No DRM. No $30 a movie (cuz I paid $4 to rent it). What will I drop my coin on? A nice 50" LCD screen. Prolly Pioneer or Panasonic. Definitely not $ony, cuz they're the devil. Anybody else like that future?

Prolly Pioneer or Panasonic. Pioneer

DukeNukem, where will you rent HD DVD when it's dead ? And Blockbuster ain't stocking them . Besides, if you have interest in X264 crap on 4.7GB (Which might be as ugly as divx is from DVD's) you might as well DL em as any other id*it.

Unless more unified players come out, able to play all available formats & cost $300 or less & the prices of HD movies come down to the DVD area, these formats are most likely due to fail, while DVD's with the less impressive video quality, will continue to flourish. I'm just sitting on the sidelines now, waiting to see what happens...and who knows, maybe a 3rd format will come out of nowhere & take over.

@ SpeedyJDK Blockbuster isn't the only game in town. Why are you pi$$ing on x264? The quality is awesome. Why are you giving downloading a hard time? For those of us with 100 megabit connections, it's a great way to get stuff for free. Sure, I know I'm going to Hell for downloading pirated songs/movies/games -- $ony says so.