Honestly, it will boil down to the movies. A vast majority of movies I want is on BR, but some of them are available in foreign countries on HD DVD. I know I want XXX, Man on Fire and Black Hawk Down on HD DVD.

My understanding is that Wal-Mart is just a giant chain of supermarkets in the vein of Big W or Kmart in Australia. If its anything like here, they attract all types of consumers (except the ultra-wealthy), albeit to purchase different products.

The only movies I really want on HD are the LotR: EEs. Any others I can easily live without. Just give me LotR, dammit! New Line, what are you waiting for?!? *cries*

Wal-marts are very similar to K-marts (assuming your K-marts are the same as our K-marts), however, not all Wal-marts here sell groceries.

Wal-mart tends to attract the middle to lower income brackets here in the US, though primarily the lower income brackets. Sure, many middle-class folks are likely to shop at Wal-mart, but they are much more likely to go to a dedicated grocery store like Abertson's or a dedicated CE store like Best Buy to get whatever they're looking for.

@ makingmusic.
Fair enough, thanks. Ive never been able to comprehend Wal-Marts role in the USA, having never been to the country myself

I'm single, make more than the average family and I shop at Wal-Mart. Why pay more when you can get it for less? Just sound economics if you ask me.

I can't believe some people are still trying to justify HD-DVD. Blu-ray is a better format on every front. Sharp and Sony will both have Players out this winter for 299.99. The PS3 will be at 399.99 and it is the best player on the market. Movies like Transformers have already been limited by the space on HD-DVD. It makes absolutly no sense whatsoever to purchase a format that is already limited. It is not like this is a car or something. People don't have to have this right this second. If it is to expensive for you wait for the price to be in your range. I would like to see a format get in thier and run for a little while. With Blu-ray we have this opertunity to get a product today that will continue to grow over the next 3 to 5 years and last as long as 10 to 15. If we go DVD>HD-DVD>HD-DVD+>HD3D-DVD every seven years it is like get up, trip, and fall, get up, trip, and fall. Maybe I am crazy. Maybe people don't like longgevity. It just sounds stupied to me to keep getting the same product just better every few years.

I'm not sure how this player will sell, i'm sure the movies look like shit compared to a high quality model of either HDDVD or Blu-ray, but then again, if you bought your TV at wal-mart this shows just how little you care about quality to begin with.

 Yeah, it especially bugged me a year ago when the war first began.  Many early adopters chose HD DVD because it was cheaper.  Early adopters don't (or at least shouldn't) care about price. That's why they're early adopters.  They only care about getting the latest tech, regardless of the initial price point.  So these  guys think $1000 for a media player is too much but $600 is just fine?  It made no sense to me.  Sure, HD DVD had a good chance of winning because of the lower price, but had no early adopters adopted it, instead going for the technically superior format, it would've been DOA, and would've never had a chance of winning to begin with.

I'm going to be pretty mad if we get stuck with a lesser format simply because a bunch of early adopters were scared of betting on the wrong horse. And if price was really an issue for them, then WHY ARE YOU AN EARLY ADOPTER!?!  I mean, just wait a couple of f'in months or a year like everyone else.  Don't be impatient, going with only what you can afford, thereby screwing over the rest of us.  Honestly, eventually all players would've gotten down the sub-$99 mark anyway, so price shouldn't have been an issue at all.  Hence, why they are early adopters.

 That's the thing about this player.  The A2 is the standard Toshiba 1080i model.  The only reason it's being sold at Wal-mart for such a low price point is because Toshiba is getting rid of old stock making way for the A3s hitting shelves for the holidays.