Walmart, Amazon and Other Deals Start Off December
by Pravin on December 6th, 2007 in shopping.
UPDATE: Amazon is now copying Walmart and doing a 12 movie deal instead of 10. (Dec. 7) and the HD-A3 is $199, and HD-A30 is $259 (Dec. 7)
Merchants come out with lots of deals at this time of year. Stores tend to lump these promotions up for the weekends, while online retailers can unveil their deals at just about any time during the week.
Case in point is Walmart’s sales for this weekend where they’re offering two HD DVD deals starting 8am Friday, December 7. One is for 12 free HD DVDs with the purchase of an HD-A3 for $298, and the other is 10 free HD DVDs with the purchase of an HD-A2 for $198. Here’s how those numbers work:
- 5 free movies you mail in for
- Pick 5 movies at the store (each under $30)
- The HD-A3 comes with 300 and The Bourne Identity in the box
Quantities on these items are limited, so good luck.
As an online retailer, Amazon’s sale has already been going on, and they’ve also been throwing in a few extras now and then. First off is Amazon’s 10 movie deal on the HD-A3, HD-A30, and HD-A35. This is just like the deal at Walmart, except that you get to pick three movies from a selected list to end up with those 10.
Pricing on the HD-A3 has fluctuated at Amazon, but it’s always been cheaper than Walmart’s $298. By the way, Amazon.com has price protection programs so that if a price goes lower than what you paid, they’ll refund the difference so don’t worry too much about fluctuations. If you’re buying these as presents, then you need to get your orders in early for them to get delivered on time — and that may be more important than saving an extra $15 or $20.
Amazon has also been toying with the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on drive. Earlier in the week, it was $129 for a few hours, it went back to $179, and I saw it at $149 too. A more permanent price drop may be inevitable on this drive, and you might want to revisit Amazon from time to time to see what their current price is.
Finally, Amazon’s latest movie promotion is on a bunch of Warner action movies all for under $18. The movies are: Alexander Revisited – The Final Cut, Blood Diamond, Full Metal Jacket, The Last Samurai, Swordfish, and Unforgiven.
This posting will be updated as new information comes in, and you’re welcome to share in the comments about any interesting HD DVD deals that you happen to come across.
December 6th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
I noticed that you mention Alexander Revisited – Final Cut. I don’t recommend this movie. Disc 2 of this set doesn’t play properly on the HD-A2, HD-A20 or HD-HD-A3, HD-A30 or HD-A35. I have tested the second disc on each of these players. I own 3 of 5 of the players. If you google for the error on this disc, you discover that many people complain about this problem. Toshiba tech support acknowleges the problem and says there may be a fix in one of the next updates.
However, there is a workaround I discovered on one of the message boards. If you delete the Warner Bros/Alexander entry from the persistent memory in the player, the disc will play. Emailing Warner Brothers regarding this problem gets no response. I don’t know if Warner Brothers has a fix in the works.
–Dave
December 8th, 2007 at 7:04 am
I purchased a PS3 yesterday. Being an insane gamer I have every system from the old Atari 2600 on up. (just a side note: The Atari 5200 was an AMAZING game system. Too bad it never got traction in the market place) The PS3 came with a BluRay edition of Spiderman 3 so I popped it in for a look. There was NO difference in either picture or sound so I really don’t know where people come up with the argument that BluRay somehow looks and sounds better than HDDVD. However it is apparent that Bluray is a far less polished product. The menus in particular were more like SD DVD than any high def disc. There is obviously no PNP or internet functionality apparent as well. I am not knocking BluRay or starting an argument but I can see that HDDVD will still be my choice whenever a movie that I want is available in both formats.
December 8th, 2007 at 7:23 am
The 1.1 update is coming out for the PS3 this month and it might improve your Blu-ray experience. Of course, it will take a while for more 1.1 titles to come out so HD DVD will still be ahead in your house for a while.
You’re right, the 5200 was really cool for its time – I especially loved Mario Brothers and Joust. With two boys in my household who have grown up on Spyro and Ratchet & Clank, a PS3 is inevitable for me as well, at least so we can keep following the R&C storyline and anything else Insomniac comes out with.
December 11th, 2007 at 5:33 am
I found this interesting and not unexpected:
Almost one-third of non-HDTV households are interested in buying a high-def set in the next six months.
That’s according to a new study from The Diffusion Group.
The research firm adds that the wave of new high-def buyers could bring to shore more HD DVD owners as well.
The company asked “HDTV Intenders” — people interested in buying a high-def set — if they were likely to buy a high-def DVD player. Among those who said yes, 43 percent said HD DVD would be their likely choice while 27 percent said Blu-ray.
Thirty percent said they were not decided which high-def DVD player they would buy.
The Diffusion Group said the HDTV Intenders tend to be younger, more ethnically diverse and have lower annual incomes than current high-def owners.
With HD DVD player prices now starting under $200 — around $100 less than the least expensive Blu-ray player (Samsung’s Blu-ray is $269 today at Amazon.com) — the lower HD DVD price could appeal to the lower-income group.
“The next wave of buyers is comprised of early mass-market consumers, a much larger segment with a focus on practical considerations such as price. It is TDG’s opinion that the format which can best address the needs of mainstream consumers will emerge as the winner of this format war,” said Michael Greeson, president and principal analyst with The Diffusion Group.
Despite the study’s conclusions, however, it’s arguable that many prospective high-def owners are aware of the differences between HD DVD and Blu-ray, including price and features. Previous studies by other companies have indicated that most consumers have never even heard of Blu-ray and HD DVD, or the high-def DVD format war.
The Diffusion Group conducted two separate research surveys for its study, one in October of 1,500 U.S. adult Internet users and one in November of 2,000 U.S. adult Broadband users.