http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/dealzmodo/toshiba-hd+a2-hd-dvd-player-will-sell-for-99-at-wal+mart-this-weekend-317604.php

Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD Player Will Sell for $99 at Wal-Mart This Weekend

Remember that early Wal-Mart Black Friday we told you about? It just got blacker. Wal-Mart tells us that it will be selling Toshiba's HD-A2 for $99 over the weekend only, starting Friday. Yes, at long last, the HD DVD player that was hovering in the mid $200s will break the (definitely profit-free) $100 barrier, at least temporarily. But our source says that this is not definitive proof that HD DVD will win: Wal-Mart will have an unspecified Blu-ray deal or two as well, so keep an eye out.

The least we can say is that this is cheap!

I tought that there would be 2 million players available, if they manage to sell those then they would be far ahead of the competition (for now).

Of course there will be an answer from the Blue-Ray camp as well, yet you have to imagine that the arguments the Blue-Ray camp could deliver a year ago is diminishing: look we have sold 100 million PS2 players, maybe we could do the same with the PS3. But as we all have noticed, sales should have to triple if they even want to dream of achieving that goal.

On the other hand i can't imagine that the Blue-Ray answer is going to be that impressive. It was always the goal for Sony to just milk out the format to generate income. Yet it is hard to believe that people will be still willing to pay 30-40$ for a disk if the player needed for it is only twice that price.
Finally, if dvd-sales go downwards... then we could see a war on three fronts!

But i don't think that it is going to be the same hype as with dvd's. They still do just...well...fine...

As far as I know, Toshiba is wanting rid of the A2's to bring out the A3 and push that model as the entry level model, so this is why the player is generally being released for $198...and Walmart is obviously doing it the Walmart way and reducing it to half price.  Once these models are out the way, then the A3 will take over and it will obviously be at a higher price overall at around $299 and $249 on special yet again, the A3 is still 1080i rather than 1080p.

Blu-ray is obviously much higher in price at around $449, yet the PS3 is coming in at $399 now.

I can certainly see some big sales of this cheap HDDVD player over the next few months, but will it be enough?

The PS3 even though it's a games console, it IS a Blu-ray player and a really good one at that.  And with around 5m worldwide sales of the PS3 at the moment and a predicted 2-3m over the next 2-3 months, this should also make a difference as there probably isn't even 1m HDDVD sales yet overall.

Also, I can't believe for one minute that Samsung, Panasonic and Sony will sit on their hands with a $499 Blu-ray player and let Toshiba soak up all the HD sales with a cheap under $200 model.  Expect to see a Blu-ray player dropping quite considerably over the next month or so in price.  More than likely to be the Samsung entry model and will probably get a $249-$299 pricetag.

Overall, this war is far from over and Toshiba is pulling out all the stops to get a foothold on the market and not allow Blu-ray an easy ride at all. 

Best Buy are assclowns. The walmart brochure is already online....

http://holiday.ri-walmart.com/?section=secret

But, Best Buy will only price match if they can actually call a physical wal-mart and confirm they have it in stock. The two additional HD-DVD moves FREE on ANY Toshiba HD-DVD player would be a seriously phenomenal deal. I didn't get in on the 9 deal on the 360 add on player but I would if they would price match since 100 bucks with 7 movies -- two of my choice is just too damn good to pass up. Period.

I'd definitely buy one if only they had coaxial digital output. I have two optical inputs on my receiver -- one being used by my HD-DVR and one will be used by either a PS3 or a 360. I want my DVD player to have coaxial digital output.

Besides 1080P which is more or less irrelevant on a digital panel when watching 1080 24fps, what else is missing? Are you saying a coax out isn't on the unit?

Hey FishyJoe, hear about HD-DVDs Krogers deal? Yeah they actually signed a deal to get exclusiveness at their DVD section. If you ever go to a Krogers checkit out. They usually have the $5.00 international edutainment movies and stuff that probably just won't sell very well in their DVD section. Now, they'll have mabey 3 or 4 HD-DVD movies....whaoh!

Hey Altimus, hear about users being banned for trolling?...whaoh!

how am I trolling? If you think that one post about recent events is trolling then there are some problems there.  whoah backatya!

Incredible deal, I was going to hold off on $199 since that's still a tough pill to swallow if HD-DVD didn't do well this holiday season, but at $99 and some free HD-DVDs perhaps its incredible.