Free movies with 360 HD DVD player purchase
by Dustin Burg 
{ Jun 10th 2007 at 10:30AM }
If you're in the market for the Xbox 360 HD DVD player and want to jump start your movie library, then this week may be the time to make the purchase. At both Best Buy and Circuit City you'll get two HD DVDs for free with a 360 HD DVD player purchase. Which leaves you with a total of three free movies, because the King Kong HD DVD is included with the player. Now only if they offered a free 50" 1080p HD television as part of the deal, then we'd probably pick up two. Read - Best Buy offer
Read - Circuit City offer
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tim @ Jun 10th 2007 10:52AM
I desperately want one of these but it's so hard to justify buying one when you're working at a grocery store part time.
:(
Enon777 @ Jun 10th 2007 4:36PM
I got a friend that manages a Beast Buy and he said the offer hopes to sell more HDDvd players, cause nobody is buying them. I put one when they came out (360 add-on) and boy was that a mistake. Blu-ray all the way in my opinion!
a ham sandwich @ Jun 10th 2007 11:01AM
im with you tim, except my issue is that i so fear buying the player, only to find out that hddvd lost the format war. as of now, i havent picked a side, so im just trying to force myself not to buy either of them.
HDDVD @ Jun 10th 2007 11:17AM
You don't have to worry about BR or HD format losing, there both going to be in it for a while. So before anyone loses there will be a new format out like Holographic...
So in all in all there both Going to lose...
By the way HD-DVD is the way to go!!
Project Ekim @ Jun 10th 2007 11:38AM
lol your name is hddvd
h0mi @ Jun 10th 2007 11:43AM
HDDVD isn't going anywhere any time soon.
There's a bonus to going HDDVD- read up on 3X DVD ... its a way to author HDDVD discs (in 720p only mode tho but I dont see that as a negative) using your existing DVD burner.
Andrew @ Jun 10th 2007 12:38PM
this is very tempting and i haven't spent my tax return money yet....hmmm
Carnie @ Jun 10th 2007 12:43PM
i don't see the reason to get a HDDVD drive yet anyway...i mean if you really need that crisper picture of a movie you can see perfectly fine on a regular dvd then by all means if you have the cash go for it....
But just know that the format war isn't over yet and is still anyones game...
Tintivilo @ Jun 10th 2007 1:17PM
It would be a million times better if you could choose the HDDVD's that you get for free, lame.
Zepolcire @ Jun 10th 2007 1:41PM
@ 8
With Circuit City you can, but value has to add up to $59.98, so it limits what you can choose. Still, better to have the option.
ymmv @ Jun 10th 2007 1:44PM
HD-DVD is a nice of tech, great visuals and sound, but still I think it will go the way of the Dodo in less than a year. The industry support just isn't there. Blu-Ray has more support from both movie studios and hardware companies, plus Blu-Ray movies are generally outselling HD-DVD movies 2:1. If Universal, the only real HD-DVD supporter in Hollywood, goes Blu-Ray to make more sales, it's game over for HD-DVD.
David W. @ Jun 10th 2007 2:19PM
My problem is, those would be the only hddvds I would ever own because they're so freaking expensive...
Anthony @ Jun 10th 2007 2:55PM
Tintivilo: With Circuit City's offer you do get that choice.
ryan @ Jun 10th 2007 3:34PM
according to wikipedia the blu-ray format stores much more data than the hd-dvd. just thought i'd point that out.
oh, and whenever i see something free in the deal i usually sense a push to sell it which means that product just isn't selling as much the makers thought it would. i remember that 3 free games with sega saturn deal...*shudders*
anyways, i'm not a flamebaiting sony fanboy, quite the opposite really. i'm just chiming in my 2 bits.
jsn @ Jun 10th 2007 3:47PM
ymmv: HDDVD isn't going anywhere in the near future. The numbers you post are number released by the BD group, not from retailers. In truth, if you remove PS3 sales, which shouldn't count anyway, HD-DVD players are outselling Blu-ray players 2-3 to 1. HD-DVD is a cheaper format in every respect. The players are cheaper to make, the mastering and pressing equipment is cheaper and the media is cheaper. The only plus that Blu-ray has is 15gb more total capacity.
The way things are going this "war" will drag on for years and may never end. In another year or so both players will be $199 at which point both formats win and most of us will have adjusted to life with two formats. There's also the dual format players, which will eventually find their way to a $299 price point and that only lessens the chances for either format to really win.
ymmv @ Jun 10th 2007 4:10PM
jsn, sales figures released by Nielsen and stats from online retailers like Amazon and DVD Empire show that Blu-Ray software sells 2:1 compared to HD-DVD. It's true that there have been more HD-DVD stand alone players sold but for movie studios that doesn't mean that much. They only care about movie sales and Blu-Ray movies have been outselling HD-DVD movies since the beginning of this year.
Check out http://www.dvdempire.com/Content/Features/hidef_wars.asp for instance.
Magma @ Jun 10th 2007 4:15PM
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/soapbox/soap060107.html
mrmiller @ Jun 10th 2007 8:30PM
If you use the Blockbuster Online or Netflix, you can rent HD-DVD (and Blu-Ray) online for no additional cost. That's the way to go. It really is a sweet deal, I love my HD-DVD and still fail to see the reason why both formats can't exist together, I mean we have 3 different game formats out right now, why can't we have 3 different High Def video formats?
nick @ Jun 10th 2007 7:47PM
Why buy disc when you can download HD movies directly to the 360?
Sure the library isn't there yet, but then again, neither are disc-based HD libraries.
G Squared @ Jun 10th 2007 8:30PM
it would be sweet if the HD-DVD player came in black to match the X-Box 360 Elite!
YoRone22 @ Jun 10th 2007 10:24PM
ymmv, that link shows that HD DVD still has more sales combined than Blu Ray does. And the reason that Blu Ray is selling so well, is because all of the PS3 owners have no games, so they buy Blu Ray movies to use their consoles. When the PS3 starts to get more games, I bet that Blu Ray movies will stop selling so well.
I bought the 360 addon with one of these deals two weeks ago. Best Buy had a sale where you buy the HD DVD player and the Matrix trilogy you get two free movies. It was a great deal, and I don't regret it one bit.
Liqwid @ Jun 11th 2007 12:04AM
A lot of you have very weird doubts. Universal and Weinstein are both exclusive and have much better films to offer.
You can import any HD DVD from any country and watch it completely region free. I have the UK version of HP and the Goblet of Fire, and it looks spectacular and is, at the moment (I know how to catch my words, see, lolololol), HD DVD exclusive through WB. You need to remember that some movies that are Blu-Ray exclusive here are HD DVD exclusive in Europe or elsewhere. Pan's Labyrinth (undoubtedly a Studio Canal release) is to come out in the UK HD DVD exclusive.
Warner Bros. is doing many exclusive things for HD DVD, like having out some great movies way before a Blu-Ray release or having much better video and audio quality. I'm sitting here watching "The Adventures of Robin Hood", beautifully restored from 1938 with hours and hours and hours of features on the disk. This is the same with Forbidden Planet. I haven't watched either of these films until now, and I must say that I was awestruck at the sight of these old films in these restorations.
Universal has many films to enjoy (these are just some of my favorites and maybe some of yours) such as Serenity, The Chronicles of Riddick: Pitch Black, The Chronicles of Riddick, Monty Python's Meaning of Life (12th), Mallrats (26th), The Big Lebowski (26th), Sean of the Dead (July 31th), Hot Fuzz (July 24th), all of the Bourne films, Billy Madison (July 10th), What Dreams May Come (August,14)
The benefits of HD DVD is knowing that the format is completed. Blu-Ray is not. Timeless classics and most of my most favorite movies are on there. Not so much with Blu-Ray. I'm not trying to be a fanboy, but with the prices of the player and the awesome movies that are out and will be out soon it's just too hard to say no, at least in my opinion. I'm sure that this war will probably never end. Sony is just too reluctant to give up on anything they create, I mean... look how long they tried to keep MiniDisc alive, with those $300 portable players. How does one expect Blu-Ray players to go down when they kept something like a MiniDisc player that high for so long.
h0mi @ Jun 11th 2007 12:43AM
Bluray may very well win the war but the decisive KO never happened and we can expect sales to grow, not shrink, as players hit lower and lower prices (standalone players can be had for $250 at Costco or Sam's club and Crutchfeld has one for $200). Meanwhile the only BD player worth getting until BD-J is finalized is still $600 and sales for that console are dropping. Once ps3 owners find they can play games on the thing, expect bluray sales to drop.
flec04 @ Jun 11th 2007 1:17AM
MS claim you can have a next gen experience with the new Elite & HD-DVD addon drive but what they avoid telling you is that the Elite will only output next gen lossless audio as stereo - yep only 2 channels. If you want to watch HD-DVD movies in 5.1 surround then the audio is dumbed down using other lossy formats.
If you think you won't hear a difference think again, go read what other users have to say about lossless pcm in 5.1 & 7.1.
Michael Paul @ Jun 11th 2007 12:32PM
I'm just afraid I'll spend the $199 and then find one of those semi-mythical $79 Wal-Mart deals that have eluded me so far, too late to return the expensive unit.
Even marked down $50, even two or three free movies, it wouldn't be as good as the fire-sale unit.
So I'm continuing to hang on and hope for the basic price to tumble or one to be a gift or something...
D dogg @ Jun 14th 2007 3:11PM
I BOUGHT the HD DVD add-on at Best Buy. IN STORE they offered my choice of movies, under $29.99 each.
I want to add to this post since I actually BOUGHT one and am not posting speculation (isn't it nice to read non-conspiracy / theory comments once in a while?)
Anyway, the drive is nice - not very big and not loud. The picture difference is definitely noticeable... but is it noticeable enough to make you go "WOW!" Depends: if you don't have a HDTV, dont even BOTHER to think about HD DVD. I bought Superman II: Doner Cut and while some of the footage is just plain old looking (i.e. grainy, washed out), there is still this sheen to it overall that is amazing. It doesn't look like a movie I'm watching in the 1980's anymore, it looks like a movie made in 1980 but viewed now (if that makes sense).
As for King Kong, YES! That movie looks absolutely freaking amazing... JUST AMAZING! And the other I picked up: The Fast and the Furious (pretty strange collection for a 32 year old, huh) looks absolutely great.
One feature I think that gets left to the wayside though with ANY HD DVD is the menu system. It is simply astonishing to access your menu ANY TIME during a movie and not interrupt playback. Also with little features (especially for movies you've already seen) such as picture-in-picture documentaries DURING playing back that you can choose to show or not are simply awesome.
All in all, $217 (w/ tax) isn't hard to swallow if HD DVD looses (unless you work in a grocery store or gamestop). Worst case scenario: HD DVD looses and no new discs are made other than what's already pressed (bargain prices!!!!!)
$217 is a CHEAP price at the moment to sample a technology that just came out.
P.S. The Supreman II menu is friggin awesome. INSIST to sample a HD DVD MOVIE (read: not DEMO) before purchasing... I did.