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Fair enough. Good luck!

Most of the HD DVD players are excellent upscaling DVD players and at the price you can get them at the HD DVD capability is a bonus.

That said, I bought a HD DVD player late in the platform's short life (a Toshiba HD A3). Actually right before they announced they would be discontinuing production. I got a decent deal on the player and I needed a new DVD player anyways so I wasn't that bummed out about the announcement.

I was very disappointed in the quality and durability of the HD DVDs though. I rented a bunch via Netflix (they no longer rent HD DVDs now btw...) and about half were very scratched up and wouldn't play without skipping. I managed to get a few of the double sided HD / DVD combos and was forced to watch the DVD version, because the HD DVD version wouldn't play at all.

I picked up a few titles on the cheap while they were on clearance and scratched a few of them myself doing no more than taking them in and out of the cases in the dark.

If you are dead set on a HD player, I would get a Blu Ray player. It will future proof you and as long as you aren't looking to do Netflix streaming, you should be able to grab one for under $125 now. Blu Ray discs have a coating that seems to be much more durable than even DVDs and Netflix and Blockbuster online have a very good selection available (though the new BD releases usually have a short waiting list).

The only reason to get one in my point of view is if you watch DVD's on your console and dont want to put any strain on your laser.

I don't see why people can't have both a Bluray and HDDVD player. HDDVD players cost almost nothing, you can get a lot of films on HDDVD that are a fraction of the cost of bluray, and the film is still the same film and it's still in HD. There's nothing that is magically better just because it's on bluray. Plus theres some films that haven't come out on Bluray yet but are still on HDDVD. Plus you get the added benefit of it being a good DVD upscaler.

I have a HDDVD player and a PS3 so I can use both, but I don't buy blurays because they are a complete rip off, £20 for a film I'm probably only going to watch a few times is rediculous. However, £5 for an identical version on HDDVD is a much better deal.

Niode wrote:I don't see why people can't have both a Bluray and HDDVD player. HDDVD players cost almost nothing, you can get a lot of films on HDDVD that are a fraction of the cost of bluray, and the film is still the same film and it's still in HD. There's nothing that is magically better just because it's on bluray. Plus theres some films that haven't come out on Bluray yet but are still on HDDVD. Plus you get the added benefit of it being a good DVD upscaler.

I have a HDDVD player and a PS3 so I can use both, but I don't buy blurays because they are a complete rip off, £20 for a film I'm probably only going to watch a few times is rediculous. However, £5 for an identical version on HDDVD is a much better deal.

Which is exactly my reason for going this way in the first place. I already have 2 Bluray players, however the movies on hddvd are generally a quarter of the price for the same performance and that kind of value cannot be ignored.

I just wish my players would hurry up and arrive.

Well, both of my players are here and I must say I'm very happy with my purchase. HDDVD's video and audio quality is just as good as bluray and my 360 addon drive also works perfectly with my pc.

Glad it all works

So, this just happened.

I found out that my fiancé bought me a five disc collection of Blade Runner on HD-DVD for my birthday next week. She doesn’t know I peeked. I have no way to play an HD-DVD, so this puts me in an awkward position. I have the feeling that if I tell her that I can’t play the movie, she will feel like crap.

Do I buy an HD-DVD player? Do I just accept the gift and not say anything? What would you do?

samsonlonghair wrote:So, this just happened.

I found out that my fiancé bought me a five disc collection of Blade Runner on HD-DVD for my birthday next week. She doesn’t know I peeked. I have no way to play an HD-DVD, so this puts me in an awkward position. I have the feeling that if I tell her that I can’t play the movie, she will feel like crap.

Do I buy an HD-DVD player? Do I just accept the gift and not say anything? What would you do?

Awesome gift!

Do you happen to have an Xbox 360 already? If so you could 'out of the blue' order the HD-DVD peripheral as a 'birthday present to yourself'. Hey it's even available with Prime shipping! On one hand, it's a cool piece of quirky video game memorabilia, on the other hand .... it's kind of spendy for just one movie set.

If you're going for stealth, you could always surreptitiously exchange the set if you know where it's coming from. You could even order a copy in your preferred format, and return the HD-DVD version after the fact.

All told though, you seem like a pretty chill dude; I bet you could tell her in such a way that would spare her feelings. That would certainly be the most straight forward route.

Tell her you're leaving it sealed, it's worth more like that.