12/07/07: Wal-mart A2 A3 and PS3 secret sale specials (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

For this coming Friday (12/07/07) from 8 a.m. to midnight, Wal-mart has a sale on the following HD DVD and Blu-ray players:

Toshiba A2 for $198 - comes with mail-in offer for 5 HD DVDs and 5 HD DVDs (under $30 each, store stock). 10 HD DVDs come with the A2.

Toshiba A3 for $298 - comes with mail-in offer for 5 HD DVDs and 5 HD DVDs (under $30 each, select from store stock). Also "300" and "Bourne Ultimatum" is packaged inside the A3s. 12 HD DVDs come with the A3.

PS3 for $399 (40GB model) - comes with $50 gift card.

 

[Viper]

Will this be at all Walmarts? I've seen HD-DVDs at the 2 near me, but never any players.

 

[Keith_R]

This offer sounds enticing for the HD-DVD players (Already got a PS3). Do you know if this will just be in store or if it will be online as well?

 

[Viper]

I wonder if Amazon will drop the price of theirs again. Their selection of free HD-DVDs sucks though.

 

[Chuck Anstey]

Should that be A2 for $98? Why would anyone purchase the A2 when you can get the A3 + 2 extra movies for the same price?

 

[ThomasC]

"Some stores will receive the A3 and some the A2."

http://highdefforum.com/showthread.php?t=57515

 

[Patrick Sun]

Sorry, corrected the A3 pricing ($298).

 

[Viper]

The selection of free titles is probably gonna suck, but I think I'll get an A2 if I can. What's so great about A3s to make them worth $100 more? They're not 1080P either.

 

[Chuck Anstey]

This doesn't seem like much of a sale. Other than the 5 free movies from the in-store selection it is the current list price minus a buck and free movie offer.

 

[Chris S]

The only real difference between the A2/A3 is athestical. If both were the same price I would probably go with the newer model simply due to the earlier model seeing an end of support period sooner.

But an A3 for $298 even with the additional 5 free films isn't that great of a deal, IMO. We saw them for half that only a week ago and I don't think we've seen the end of those quite yet.

You can currently get the A30 (next model up) from Amazon ($289) for less than Wal-mart's A3. That might be the way to go especially if you're already looking at getting a new receiver that supports the HD audio formats. The A3 will still decode to PCM but who doesn't want to have that extra little light on the receiver turn on?

 

[Chris S]

Amazon was pretty quick. There 10 free deal just went live again.

 

[ScottJH]

You'll have to step up to the A35 for bitstream audio.

 

[Viper]

Yeah, but their selection of free titles SUCKS.

 

[Chris S]

The Bourne Supremacy
Blood Diamond
Childern of Men
Rio Bravo
The Searchers
Batman Begins
Serenity
Casino
Knocked Up
Hot Fuzz
The Shining

Yea those definitely suck... :rolleyes

 

[Viper]

I already own half of those on SD-DVD, and the other half I wouldn't want. Best Buy's offer seems to allow you to pick ANY title on the site. I was going to email Amzon suggesting they improve on their selection, but I can't find a damn contact/feedback link anywhere on the site.

 

[Chris S]

I agree, their person-to-person contact info has always been very elusive. I'm constantly having to use Google to find their customer service number. Although I will say their website form responses have typically been pretty good if you don't mind waiting 24 hours.

So out of curiosity, which titles are you looking to pick up? I'd HIGHLY recommend Transformers if you don't already have it. The A/V is phenomenal! Also 300 is very good if you decide to go with an A2.

 

[Viper]

I finally found their email form.


The Lethal Weapon movies would also be nice, assuming they're the director's cuts. Studios seem to have a knack for only releasing theatricals in HD even though a director's cut has been available in SD for ages. :frowning:

 

[Grant H]

I think they're all the DCs, but aren't they rumored to be from 1080i masters?

 

[ScottJH]

A30 has HDMI 1.2 and cannot pass the the bitstream data of the new audio formats, compared with 1.3 for the A35.

 

[David_B_K]

To each his own. The Amazon deal I did was for the A3 for $159, which includes the two movies in the box, 3 from Amazon and 5 to be shipped later. The three I chose from Amazon, are for me, the best of the bunch. I got Rio Bravo, The Searchers and The Shining. I doubt my local Wal-Mart would have even had them in stock. The Amazon selection and the price for the player sealed the deal for me. YMMV. I already had all those movies on SD, but so what, we're talking Hi-Def versions of some of my favorites. If I were satisfied with my SD versions, I would not have bought the player.

The hard part will be selecting 5 more off the mail-in form-a selection that is for me a rather disappointing selection.