Latest on Blu-Ray vs HD DVD ?

Just to be accurate, the HD-A2, NOT the XA-2, will be at $299. The A2 lacks 1080p and multichannel analog outputs. The XA-2 is the current top-of-the-line, and has all these features plus the Reon upscaling chipset.

If the HD-XA2 is $299. I'll jump all over it. but I don't think it's the case. I believe it's the HD-A2. You can get the D2(same as the A2+HDMI cable) for $249 and 5 mail-in free movies from Toshiba at Costco, if you have one in your area. I think that's a darn good deal to jump in the HD theater.

You can wait until the dust settles, (like most people, in 5 years) or you can buy now and enjoy some really super picture quality that you just simply can not get on standard def DVD.

Up until this point Blu-ray had the titles and HD-DVD was missing some titles. That is about to change with the Matrix trilogy, on HD-DVD only. (due later this month) Blu-Ray has some good Disney titles coming later this year, and at present time they will not be offered on HD-DVD. So my take at this point is that both formats have either announced or pre-announced a decent number of titles, to make this a non-issue between the two formats.

The brand new Toshiba finally outputs 1080P, so don’t get confused and buy the older, less expensive player and think that you are getting full HD-DVD, because you will be disappointed. But even still the brand new second generation HD-XA2 still does not output 1080p/24. 1080P/24 will become prevalent in the fall along with HDMi-1.3

As for the new lower cost Panasonic Blu-Ray, it does NOT output 1080P/24. The Sony BDSP-1 and the Pioneer unit does.

The LG combo player has been applauded because it plays both discs, but it has received poor reviews for its color saturation, and it does not have a full implementation of the HD-DVD functionality.

Be sure to check out the review in Home Theater June 2007.

I compaired the Toshiba 1st gen player and the Sony. I bought the Sony because the picture was significantly sharper, and brighter. I have not compaired the new unit but I have seen it in action and it looks to be closer to what I get on my Blu-ray setup.

Enjoy

Thanks for the correction, I realized my mistake. I still have some homework to do. Thanks again to all for the input.

I have not really been paying much attention to the new hi-res video players. I am much more of an analog 2-channel audio guy..... Having said that I do like watching movies on my HT system. So I wonder if you guy's can give me some general feedback (not to hijack Blkadr's thread)? I have a Sony XBR 40 CRT TV that's about three years old now and of course doesn't have HDMI or 1080p capabilities.

Would the new hi-res Blu-Ray or HD-DVD formats be much of an upgrade over my current Sony S9000ES DVD player? Or, do I need to wait until I upgrade my TV (which is not happening anytime real soon)?

Thanks,

Chris