Circuit City to back HD DVD; clearance 'inadvertent'

[admin]

Circuit City stores will continue to sell HD DVD products at retail amid a recent clearance of stand-alone players at select locations.

-- snip --

Additionally, the representative said that over the last week Circuit City experienced strong HD DVD sales and will continue to remain platform agnostic.

http://news.punchjump.com/article.php?id=5485

[NightTran]

so HD onsale on the players and BR sale on the discs? if I buy the 149 HD player do they up grade the regular dvd to 720p or 1080? I am not planing to spend 500 for the BR player because I am not gaming.

Thanks

[admin]

Yes, all the HD DVD players are also DVD upscalers (upscale to 720p, 1080i or 1080p). The cheapest player, the HD-A3, is only 1080i. The others are 1080p. Unless your TV has a native resolution of 1080p, I don't think there's much need for it, as there's minimal difference (if any) between 1080i and 1080p input to a 720p TV. Personally, I would get the A30 with 1080p, since many stores are only selling it above the A3 by less than $20.

If you are in the market for a new upscaling DVD player, I would spent a bit more and get a cheap HD DVD player instead, even if you don't plan on buying any HD DVD discs (the free redemption titles will give you a sample of HD and you can decide whether you want more HD titles or not). Even though I have both Blu-ray and HD DVD players, I find the majority of movies I buy are still on DVD, although more and more of the new releases I buy are on HD (by HD, I mean both Blu-ray and HD DVD, which are both High Definition formats). You may find that upscaled DVD is good enough for you already, or you may find that the extra clarity and color definition in real HD content makes a huge difference - it depends largely on your equipment and viewing habits.

If gaming is your thing, then a PS3 is not bad value at all as both a gaming device and a Blu-ray player (it is, in my opinion, still the best overall Blu-ray player on the market today). The PS3 is also a very good DVD upscaler, which I now use as my primary DVD player.

I would avoid dual format players for now due to price and lack of features. You can easily become dual format by getting two players, for cheaper as well. Only go dual format if you are serious about HD, as if casual HD viewing is all you need, getting a single format player and supplementing it with DVDs should be enough for the short term.

More in the Blu-ray/HD DVD Buyer's Guide:

http://www.digital-digest.com/articles/Blu-ray_HD_DVD_Buyers_Guide_page1.html