Are you aware of Toshiba’s 5 Free HDDVDs offer? If you’re eligible and haven’t taken advantage of it yet, let me remind you. In case you didn’t even know, then let’s get you up to speed:

Buy a Toshiba HDDVD player between March 1 and July 31, and receive 5 HDDVD movies for free. The eligible players are the HD-A1, HD-XA1, HD-D1, HD-A2W, HD-XA2, HD-D2, and HD-A20. This is basically ALL of their players.

You get to pick 5 movies from 15 titles, but in a specific way. Choose one of:

• Apollo 13
• Seabiscuit
• The Chronicles of Riddick

Then, select one of these:

• Casablanca
• Constantine
• Dukes of Hazard

And one of these:

• Four Brothers
• Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
• Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

One of:

• The Rundown
• Blazing Saddles
• U2: Rattle and Hum

And finally, select one of these:

• U-571
• The Perfect Storm
• We Were Soldiers

Are these the most amazing movies ever made? Not all of them, but isn’t it a great way to start your HDDVD collection? You’ve probably noticed that HDDVD (and Blu-ray) movies cost more than regular DVDs. It’s probably going to take over a year before we start seeing major HDDVD movies routinely selling for $19.99 or less. At that rate, your HDDVD library might take a while to start up. Besides, FREE is even cheaper than renting, so why not take advantage of this offer?

When you combine this with the $100 instant rebate program on players, it makes for an even more compelling reason to get off that HD format fence and join the HDDVD side.

I’ve already mentioned Toshiba’s $100 instant rebate on the HD-A2 HDDVD player, which brings that price down to $299 at Amazon.com. Toshiba’s rebate program is supposed to expand to all of their players on June 10, which means that the HD-A20 would become $399 instead of $499. It also means that the normally $799 XA2 should become $699.

I was looking through the selections in our “aStore” for the site and discovered that Amazon appears to have started early on the expansion of the rebate program. Checking over in the little store, you’ll see that Amazon’s already selling the HD-A20 for just a little less than the $399 price it’ll be at when the rebate kicks in. The XA2 is being offered at just under $599.

In a quick comparison with other participants in the rebate programs, like BestBuy or Crutchfield, you’ll see that they’re still offering these players at the regular prices right now.

I’m not sure what prices these items will have when the official rebate pricing kicks in. Will it be the official $499 and $599, or will it stay at a few dollars below as it is right now? Does Amazon have some special arrangement that allows them to do the rebate without officially doing the rebate? Being such a high-volume dealer, it’s logical that they’d have this ability, but I really have no idea. What I do know is that it’s possible to purchase an HD-A2 or XA2 HDDVD player today for less than the expected June 10 pricing.

If most of your friends have chosen a particular format, guess what? They’ve chosen the format for you too, and you hadn’t even realized it yet!

Get the same HD format that your friends have. It’s as simple as that! Your friends probably like the same kinds of things that you like — that’s how you probably became friends in the first place, isn’t it? It follows that your friends share your taste in entertainment, and being the good friends they are, I bet you’ve already borrowed movies from each other now and then. Do the logical and practical thing, and extend this into your HD choice!

You’ll live happily ever after, loaning movies to each other, recommending titles, exchanging tips about products and technologies, and on and on. It’ll even bring you closer together. (Or further apart if you insist on bragging that their movies are better on your home theater system).

Next up, are your family members, your acquaintances, and associates at work, school or whatever organization(s) you’re involved with. These people come into your life—not entirely by your own choosing—however they’re there and their selection of movies is something you can probably freely borrow from (that one was for the Grammar Natzees in ‘da house!).

In short, don’t sit on the Hi-Def fence when you don’t have to. The format war has barely even started, and it’s not likely to be decisively won or lost any time in the next 12 or 24 months. By continuing to “sit on the fence,” you’re missing out on a lot of good content for your home theater investment. If you’ve already got friends, family, or associates to trade with, then you’re definitely not coming out ahead by waiting and waiting.

It’s an important week for home theater fans and in HDDVD history, and not just because HDDVD.com went live.

First off, May 20 was the first day of the $100 instant rebate on Toshiba’s lower-end HDDVD player, the HD-A2. This instant rebate is taken at the time of purchase (instead of you forgetting to mail in a form) and brings a player’s cost down to as low as $299. In a few weeks, the rebate will be extended to all of their players, including the higher-end HD-A20. This deal is available at the major retailers, just take a look around and you might even see an ad or two at our site.

Don’t forget the quality content for your new player. May 22 brings the release of “The Matrix” trilogy on HDDVD. With nearly 40 hours of content in the “Ultimate Collection” version, this is a great way to show off what HDDVD and home theater is all about. For those of you spying from the “other” format, Disney brings you the first two of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies.

Last, but not least, this week marks the 30th anniversary of Star Wars, and, no, it’s not on HD yet (can you believe it? What are they thinking?).

We’re finally “live” at HDDVD.com!!

Yes, I know the visual theme is simple and plain at the moment. Just like the DVD players based on our namesake, we are still working out a few features and functions. Plenty of big things are in store, so please plan on visiting now and then, or subscribe to the RSS feed.

If you signed up to be notified via email about the site going live, you can expect your first message in a few more days when we know things are truly ready for you.