i hope you guys in the UK wont have to wait as long as us for the 5 free HD DVD's!!and man the free HDMI cable doesn't hurt

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HD DVD seems to be hoping to get a foot in the door in Europe where are they are struggling.

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both hd-dvd and drm-ray are struggling in europe, other than the ps3.

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The credit issue (2 payments of £84.96) might be attractive for some but I find this one a little odd.

I bet they are just soaking a little 'early - uninformed - adopter' cash up.

Particularly as the Toshiba HD EP30 (the Euro version of the HD A30) is retailing right now on Aamzon UK @ only £188.97.
The very nice Toshiba HD EP35 (our HD A35) is retailing for £249.99.

It's worth noting that Toshiba have not brought the HD A3 into the UK or Europe (leaving the way clear for these coming Chinese brands to be the entry level).

Once the other coming brands start to appear (and replace regular DVD players) I expect to see prices drop with proper competition
(the other brands are expected from March onwards as 'HD DVD China' - which is the same as 'our' HD DVD excepting a firmware & a case badge - goes out on sale).

Meanwhile, until stocks vanish, the Euro version of the Toshiba HD A2 (the HD E1) is available now Amazon UK for £185.

.....and all these prices are, as always, well under anything Blu-ray can offer
(limited stock clearances of old buggy Samsungs & low spec Sonys included). :P

It sounds like a decent deal other than getting two movies I'd never watch again, even in HD. Also, what is with the 1080i output? I thought that 1080p was a bit better as far as picture goes.

Everything these days are getting bundled :)

Originally posted by sciascia:

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what is with the 1080i output?

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- It's a matter of horses for courses.

The majority of HD TVs out there are right now are, by far, 720p/1080i.

So most HD TVs cannot use and have no need for anything else.
Those HD TVs cannot make use of a 1080p signal
(some will just choke completely and others might downscale it for you - if you're lucky.
I suspect most would force you to adjust the high def player's output to less than 1080p to get anything tho).

For those people with a 'full 1080p' TV
(ie a set having a native resolution of 1920x1080)
then they will only see 1080p anyways as flat panel HD TVs can only display progressively.

Unless they have a sh*tty cheapo or low tech early 1080p HD TV with a cr@ppy deinterlacer built-in to it they will not see any difference cos their TV will show that 1080i signal as 1080p anyways.

(not that the usual spec-sheet jockeys really seem to get this bit or can ever be relied upon to tell the truth about it)

So, either you can't have 1080p anyways on your 720p/1080i TV (which is true for the vast majority right now) and therefore the issue is meaningless to you or you're going to get 1080p anyways if your TV is a 1080p set.

Originally posted by sciascia:

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I thought that 1080p was a bit better as far as picture goes.

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- It depends on your HD TV.

1080p/24 & 100Hz is currently as good as it gets and the truth is that hardly anyone has both of those in their HD TVs today.

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1080p/24 & 100Hz is currently as good as it gets and the truth is that hardly anyone has both of those in their HD TVs today.

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I have both :), i use an HDMI cable to hook my ps3 to my 52" sony LCD 120Hz 1080p/24 tv, and i watch pirates of the caribbean on blu-ray and it looks amazing.