I so love watching blind devotion to Blu Ray in action ...

Let me tell you one thing - what does this do? Narrow the gap between PS3 driven BR sales and HD DVD sales. And it's not going to stop. I got my 360 HD DVD player and 9 discs, and guess what? I will get this deal AND use another address to get the 5 free movies! The sheer amount of HD DVD players out will make studios pause. Why? The winning format won't be BR for much longer. And studios aren't big on the HD DVD because of lack of region codes. Shoot, I sold my Heroes boxset to some cat in France!

Like it or not, the playing field just got leveled ...

That's real savings ... that's the Wal-Mart way!

@ FishyJoe

Thanks for the good laugh. Your response was classic ...

"Better" does not always win, and is not easily defined KBG29. Check some business history, it's a strange place sometimes.

BR is just a half-step to HVD anyway, right? ;>

To me Blu-ray is an arhaic format laden in digusting consumer limiting DRM. HD-DVD isn't much better but at least it has less and should be as easy to copy as a DVD is now. Which is exactly why Disney HATES HD-DVD because their number one customer? Children. Children break things and when things break they want parents to cough up more money for a replacment disc yea that sounds like a great future to me. If there is one thing I can't stand from companies its this bull shit about full prices for replacment media its the one huge beef I have with Nintendo when my SSBM disc got scratched cause an overexcited friend pulled the Gamecube to the ground the disc popped out and got scratched by the spinning head. They wanted 30 bucks or the price of a new one to replace the damn 10 cent piece of plastic completely unacceptable.

So as far as the format wars go Toshiba I hope they bury Blu-Ray even though it would have been the greater technology otherwise. At least they have shown some semblance of decency towards their consumers unlike Sony/Blu-Ray consortium and their obsession with DRM technologies

Shoot ... BB was all sold out of the players, but one BB has an open box display model without the remote. Shoot, for $99 and 2 free HD DVDs, I couldn't pass it up. I did get the 5-HD DVD offer, but I don't have a box, so I am gonna try it anywho and see if I get some mo' free movies ...

#1 rule to these crazy insane deal, never call your local store. You must go there and check for yourself, every time someone called the store and alert everyone of their employee of the crazy deal they will pick up every piece left and put it on the back for themself.

their computer checked a few store around NYC area have it in stock, but when I went there and check, there wasnt any.

guess I might wake up early tomorrow morning and drive more than an hour to long island to check on walmart. Sucks there is no walmart in new york city.

Actually, the deal I got wasn't on the site. They had just ONE player - the display one - and they held that one for me. It doesn't have a remote, but I can buy one for $30 from Best Buy. I may just try a universal remote. I figure I won't be able to get to a Wal-Mart in enough time to get the deal - plus, I have to wait 10 weeks to get that 5 movie deal. Getting two I want now is worth it ...

That is perhaps some of the finest fanboyism I have ever read.  Beyond even that of the SDF.  Without the small bit of bad language, this is fine prose indeed.

Much to your chagrin, there a whole lot of people that don't give a damn about playing video games.  They just want to watch movies.  A $99 High Definition player appeals to the masses and if supply is huge, sales will be huge.  I'll tell you this:  if a Blu-Ray drive were to show up for $99 this holiday, it would sell like crazy.  Your average Joe six-pack isn't a fanboy.  He just wants cheap.  $99 is cheap and will sell.  Period.  The Blu-Ray group better hope that quantities are *limited* and that the selection of HD-DVD movies are thin because a deal like this could move both a lot of hardware and a lot of software at the same time. 

Free movies? This is becoming ridiculous - the only winners in this contest are consumers :)

(and people were complaining that there was some competition! Can you imagine the prices, if there was only ONE format - and no competition?)

I'm almost certain now - both formats are here to stay. Big enough install base on both to be profitable, and the less studios that support any format - the potentially larger audience for the studios that remain.

If BluRay players drop to $99, we could have a "duct-tape" solution for both formats for $199 :)

*using robot voice*

Yes, master. I shall do as you and your Sony gods have mandated.

...

Give it up. If anyone is screwing the consumer, it's Sony and their Trojan Horse strategy with the PS3 and Blu-ray. Toshiba is just offering a fine product at a great price.