AfterDawn: Tech news

Amazon begins large HD DVD promotion with Xbox 360

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 13 Aug 2007 7:55 User comments (18)

Amazon begins large HD DVD promotion with Xbox 360 Tempting consumers, Amazon has begun using last week's Xbox 360 price drops to sweeten the pot for gamers who may want to step up to HD DVD by offering a new bundle for the Elite Xbox system.
The bundle, priced at $599 USD, offers the Elite system itself, the HD DVD add-on player, and copies of "300" and "King Kong" on HD DVD. This deal is stacked with the current "5 discs free" promotion so in total you receive 7 free movies with your purchase. Amazon advertises a savings of over $240 USD off retail prices.

There is no word on how long the promotion will last, but the bundle is a flashback to last month when Amazon did a similar promotion for Blu-ray and the PlayStation 3. That deal lasted almost a month.

Source:
HD Digest

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18 user comments

113.8.2007 20:41

If nothing else, you have to give props to the HD camp. They are really trying to push their product.

213.8.2007 20:51

If anything it's been Bluray pushing their format, It's about time HD-DVD started sweetening the already cheaper deals.

313.8.2007 22:40

I guess this really makes people have to choose between 40GB and Blu-Ray or HD-DVD

413.8.2007 23:27
BIGnewb
Inactive

about time hd dvd made a move.blu-ray has been the pusher so far.

514.8.2007 03:29

Originally posted by jcur31:
I guess this really makes people have to choose between 40GB and Blu-Ray or HD-DVD

You know the funny thing is that they're supposed to be choosing between being stuck playing Playstation games or being stuck with Xbox games for their gaming choice.

614.8.2007 04:44

i never thought that gaming systems would play a roll in the after-dvd format war in a million years.

714.8.2007 05:49

Something as critical and a "universal" Media format standard, one would think a war should TRY to be avoided at all costs. (No pun intended)

Consumers are going to be the biggest losers.

Question ?

Whichever wins, does this mean that the loser is SOL.
When i say this i mean it in this way. If blueray wins, it would be logical that xbox then tries to support BD so the unit can also play the movies/put games on same media format. Why continue with 2 formats. Same thing applies to HD-DVD.

Would microsoft be allowed to make a blueray plugin player ? Does SONY own the rights to Blueray and whomever sells anything on a blueray formated disc needs to pay Sony royalties.

Is there not something grossly wrong with this picture. All the movies, players, and equipment related to the LOSING format with become obsolete and be garbage.

Wasting the consumers money like this because the "Big Heads" cannot agree is just ludicrous. Unfortunetly, there are too many people with too much money who will feed this war and let it go on.

I cannot afford to participate. I could loose to much in the end. I'm going to have to be like many, sit back, watch and shake my head.

This FORMAT war has costs the companies much. They are making piracy look like the BEST option out there. They ultimately will have ZERO of my dollars when they could have had some.

They are Dummies. I've always had a gameing console. Nintendo, SuperNES, N64, Xbox, and now.....i cannot choose for fear of the format war.

Looks like i'll save my money, Stick to PC Games, and up my bandwidth until this War is over.

I hope the HD-DVD does win though.

814.8.2007 08:04

I hope that torrents win.

Did I say that? :P

914.8.2007 08:04
emugamer
Inactive

Sony would be the biggest loser if HD format wins. If Bluray wins, MS can cut ties to the HD player, as it is just an add-on, and keep focusing on the games.

1014.8.2007 08:31
duckNrun
Inactive

until a reasonably priced dual format set top player arrives i just sit on the sidelines. I am not buying both formats and movies I want to see run the risk of being only on one or the other.

THIS consumer is not loosing out on nothing except watching a movie in either format. The industry however is losing my money on either format while I continue to buy cheaper and 'just as good' dvds.

1114.8.2007 08:33

lol 'just as good', not all of us would agree.

1214.8.2007 08:45
duckNrun
Inactive

Just as good depends on what one is talking about. Does 1080p have higher res... yep. Does it have more room for blue screen extra's that most people don't care about...yep. Does having it play on most people's tv's make a difference...mope.

But to agree with your apparent mindset: Yeah...depends on what specs you're running. Depends on how much you care about the extra crap that IS NOT the movie...

And while some people may not agree there's a whole lot more that do as can be seen by the astronomical uptake that these formats are seeing... I mean OMG... they're selling more than VHS...

better tear down the entertainment center and run to Best Buy to get the latest and greatest... at least as defined by some people.

lol

(spelling corrected)

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 14 Aug 2007 @ 2:54

1314.8.2007 10:24

I have to admit, I just purchased an upconvert DVD player that connects to my HDTV via HDMI, and it looks "almost" every bit as goods as these HD discs. You can get an upconvert player for $50 USD, and most DVDs run between $10-$20, and we all know you can BURN those on your PC at home too. My honest opinion is, it's not worth the money to invest in the HD disc formats right now, and it probably won't be until the prices come down. Ironically, that will be around the same time that piracy catches up to the new tech, although, you can find HD-DVD and Blu-Ray rips just about anywhere, and play those back through your PC, or even 360.

1414.8.2007 14:52
duckNrun
Inactive

thank you for expressing my thoughts better than I was able to.

I've been eyeing the Oppo DV-981HD myself. Did some research and found out that over at AVS the rave seems to be the Oppo brand dvd that upconverts via HDMI through the DCDi chip by Faroudja (also region free which some would consider a minor thing).

For a lot of people, at least right now, looking almost the same IS good enough.

For many more people, at least right now, standard dvd IS good enough.

Perhaps I shouldn't have relied on the phrase 'just as good' instead choosing 'good enough'. Semantics. lol

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 14 Aug 2007 @ 3:04

1514.8.2007 22:45

I keep hearing the word, "Invest" This isn't a house or stock in some company to secure your retirement or your kids education. It's a couple hundred dollar piece of equipment you use for entertainment.

I have both, (PS3) and (Elite w/HD-DVD Add on) and they are far superior quality then DVD with the best Up converting. It really depends on your taste though, If you just have a decent HDTV with a cheap sound system DVD is, "Good Enough." If you are enthusiast you will really appreciate the HD experience.

It's all relative though, I am sure some people drive around in a BMW and go home and watch a 19 inch tube TV.

I'll go on driving my Chevy and renting HD and BD movies from blockbuster online because there is no way in hell I will ever spend $30 to buy a movie I will probably only watch once.

Yeah I'm a sucker, I have the Oppo also, and yes, the quality is Very good.

Some people spend $5 a day on coffee, Just save it for 3 months and get you HD or BD player, at least you wont be pissing it out in a couple hours.

1615.8.2007 02:12

Lol, point well made, although you wouldn't believe the number of people who simply can't get through the day without a coffee...

1715.8.2007 04:50
duckNrun
Inactive

coffee.....where.....where.....coffee....

**looks about wildly**

:-P

1818.8.2007 04:42

Just add another deal to the pile of deals already out there for the Xbox and the PS3.

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