• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Best Buy Gives Customers $299 HD DVD Player for $99

Jimmy 2004

New Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2005
Messages
5,458 (0.78/day)
Location
England
System Name Jimmy 2004's PC
Processor S754 AMD Athlon64 3200+ @ 2640MHz
Motherboard ASUS K8N
Cooling AC Freezer 64 Pro + Zalman VF1000 + 5x120mm Antec TriCool Case Fans
Memory 1GB Kingston PC3200 (2x512MB)
Video Card(s) Saphire 256MB X800 GTO @ 450MHz/560MHz (Core/Memory)
Storage 500GB Western Digital SATA II + 80GB Maxtor DiamondMax SATA
Display(s) Digimate 17" TFT (1280x1024)
Case Antec P182
Audio Device(s) Audigy 4 + Creative Inspire T7900 7.1 Speakers
Power Supply Corsair HX520W
Software Windows XP Home
After Wal-Mart decided to sell the Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player for just under $99 today, Best Buy decided to follow suit and was offering the same player for $99. However, the company met a problem when it let more people order than it had stock for - and Toshiba has now discontinued the HD-A2. You might expect a firm like Best Buy to simply cancel the orders and apologise to customers for the mistake, but Best Buy decided to go one better. Instead, every customer that ordered the HD-A2 after the stock was gone is having their purchase upgraded to the new Toshiba HD-A3, retailing at $299, for no extra charge! Best Buy does say that if you don't want the new HD DVD player you can have a refund instead, but as that's a saving of $200 I doubt too many customers will be interested in that option.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site
 

zekrahminator

McLovin
Joined
Jan 29, 2006
Messages
9,066 (1.37/day)
Location
My house.
Processor AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Brisbane @ 2.8GHz (224x12.5, 1.425V)
Motherboard Gigabyte sumthin-or-another, it's got an nForce 430
Cooling Dual 120mm case fans front/rear, Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro, Zalman VF-900 on GPU
Memory 2GB G.Skill DDR2 800
Video Card(s) Sapphire X850XT @ 580/600
Storage WD 160 GB SATA hard drive.
Display(s) Hanns G 19" widescreen, 5ms response time, 1440x900
Case Thermaltake Soprano (black with side window).
Audio Device(s) Soundblaster Live! 24 bit (paired with X-530 speakers).
Power Supply ThermalTake 430W TR2
Software XP Home SP2, can't wait for Vista SP1.
That's awesome, a very good move on Best Buy's part, and a lot of very lucky HD-A2 customers.
 

d44ve

New Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2007
Messages
2,520 (0.41/day)
Processor Intel E6600 @ 4.2GHZ Wo0t!
Motherboard ASUS Striker Extreme & eVGA 680i A1
Cooling Phase Change !!
Memory OCZ SLI 1066MHZ (2GB)
Video Card(s) EVGA 8800 GTX
Storage Western Digital 320 GB
Case Antec 900
Power Supply Lian-Li V2000
Software Vista Ultimate
Damn, I knew I shouldve picked one up :D
 
Joined
Jan 24, 2007
Messages
179 (0.03/day)
System Name My last amd rig for now i love my new i7
Processor Amd fx-9590
Motherboard ASROCK Fatal1ty 990fx pro
Cooling liquid
Memory G. Skill Ripjaw ddr3 1600 x32gb
Video Card(s) Dual AMD XFX 7990
Storage Samsung 840 pro
Display(s) asus
Case Dell 1520 c2d@2.6 4gb ddr2 667 8600m gt 500gb 7200rpm hitachi
Audio Device(s) Asus ROG g60J I7@2.8 8gb ddr3
Power Supply Antec 1200w
Software windows 7 x64
damn i tried to order the a2 this morning but wasnt on the site that would explain it damit should have woken up sooner lol
 

jocksteeluk

New Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2006
Messages
1,455 (0.22/day)
Location
The 13th room on the 13th floor of the 13th buildi
Processor custom dupont risk chip cpu prototype
Motherboard custom ibm x5 solid state carbon mainboard
Cooling industrial technologies prototype dupont custom heat transfer unit
Memory 6x 2gig prototype ecc hnc ddr4
Video Card(s) prototype low energy version nvidia 9 series unnumberd card
Storage 1tb solid state hdd
Display(s) 44 inch samsung plasma screen tv/monitor
Case custom ibm mobile home server case
Audio Device(s) custom Yamaha sound processing processor in spm format
Power Supply 1200watt deli cord custom made dupont type psu
Software sun unix/windows type v
Hd-Dvd for the win hopefully!!!
 

DaMulta

My stars went supernova
Joined
Aug 3, 2006
Messages
16,168 (2.51/day)
Location
Oklahoma T-Town
System Name Work in progress
Processor AMD 955---4Ghz
Motherboard MSi GD70
Cooling OcZ Phase/water
Memory Crucial2GB kit (1GBx2), Ballistix 240-pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-16000
Video Card(s) CrossfireX 2 X HD 4890 1GB OCed to 1000Mhz
Storage SSD 64GB
Display(s) Envision 24'' 1920x1200
Case Using the desk ATM
Audio Device(s) Sucky onboard for now :(
Power Supply 1000W TruePower Quattro
I havent seen no blue-ray player that cheap.....HD-DVD FTW
 

Easy Rhino

Linux Advocate
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2006
Messages
15,436 (2.43/day)
Location
Mid-Atlantic
System Name Desktop
Processor i5 13600KF
Motherboard AsRock B760M Steel Legend Wifi
Cooling Noctua NH-U9S
Memory 4x 16 Gb Gskill S5 DDR5 @6000
Video Card(s) Gigabyte Gaming OC 6750 XT 12GB
Storage WD_BLACK 4TB SN850x
Display(s) Gigabye M32U
Case Corsair Carbide 400C
Audio Device(s) On Board
Power Supply EVGA Supernova 650 P2
Mouse MX Master 3s
Keyboard Logitech G915 Wireless Clicky
Software The Matrix
i want the best technology to win so... best tech FTW!
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2007
Messages
7,180 (1.18/day)
WTF thats £50 in UK god i want one even if i dont have a HD tv in my house yet thats still a bargain, at least the way i see it because a cheap dvd player is about £19.99 and a hdmi dvd player is about £40 god i hope HD DVD wins not only because it seems cheaper just coz i hate Blu Ray and its crappy quality disks that have serveral problems, i cant wait for this new technology i read about to come out were they can write data to normally unusable portions of an ordinary DVD to increase its volume http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PH-DVD
 
B

bassmasta

Guest
I think for movies, HD-DVD should be adopted, but I heard blu-ray had like 50 gb storage, right? I would love that instead of a flash drive
 

Sh3ngLong

New Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2007
Messages
38 (0.01/day)
Location
Bay Area, Kali
System Name Sh3ngLong's Rig
Processor Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 @ 3.7Ghz
Motherboard Asus P5W DH Deluxe
Cooling Zalman CNPS 9700 NT
Memory Corsair XMS2 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-800 4-4-4-12
Video Card(s) EVGA 8800GT KO w/ AKIMBO Cooler
Storage WD 150GB Raptor / Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200.11 SATA II
Display(s) Dell 2405FPW 24" LCD
Case Antec 900
Audio Device(s) Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty
Power Supply OCZ GameXStream 700W
Software CoD4, BF2, TF2
Benchmark Scores 3DMark06 (default) = 13,867 / SuperPi (1MB) = 13.860s
Fry's is also selling the Toshiba HD-A3 HD-DVD Player for $99. I just picked up two today during my lunch hour. :D
 

jocksteeluk

New Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2006
Messages
1,455 (0.22/day)
Location
The 13th room on the 13th floor of the 13th buildi
Processor custom dupont risk chip cpu prototype
Motherboard custom ibm x5 solid state carbon mainboard
Cooling industrial technologies prototype dupont custom heat transfer unit
Memory 6x 2gig prototype ecc hnc ddr4
Video Card(s) prototype low energy version nvidia 9 series unnumberd card
Storage 1tb solid state hdd
Display(s) 44 inch samsung plasma screen tv/monitor
Case custom ibm mobile home server case
Audio Device(s) custom Yamaha sound processing processor in spm format
Power Supply 1200watt deli cord custom made dupont type psu
Software sun unix/windows type v
i have to say i think Blu-ray may have lost this battle because there is no way they can match the production costs of Hd-dvd which means i cant see them making any price cuts to match. Oh well another Sony format bites the dust possibly, maybe?

hd-dvd for the win hopefully!!
 
Joined
May 12, 2006
Messages
491 (0.08/day)
Location
A small crate floating in the Pacific..
Processor Athlon64 X2 3800+ @ 2.6Ghz
Motherboard BioStar TForce4 SLI (939)
Cooling Stock Opteron Heatpipe Cooler
Memory 4x512 Crucial BalistiX, @ DDR520, 2.5-3-3-8
Video Card(s) ATI, x1900 AIW (600/620)
Storage 80GB SATA2, 320GB eSATA2
Display(s) AGM 19" Widescreen LCD, 4ms
Case Aspire X-Dreamer (Black)
Audio Device(s) Auzentech: X-Meridan (Best Soundcard Ever)
Power Supply Rosewill 550W 2x12V
Software XP Professional X64 & Ubuntu 7.10 x86
As much as I want Blu-ray to win, I work at a BestBuy.. I open in the mornings... and I have a big discount.. It is really tempting to get one before customers can for even less than $99.
 

Helvetica

New Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2007
Messages
159 (0.03/day)
Processor Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz
Motherboard ASUS P5K-E/WIFI-AP
Memory 2GB DDR2 800mhz
Video Card(s) HD2900XT
Storage WD 10,000RPM
Display(s) 1920x1200
Audio Device(s) Creative
Power Supply 700w
As much as I want Blu-ray to win, I work at a BestBuy.. I open in the mornings... and I have a big discount.. It is really tempting to get one before customers can for even less than $99.

I guarantee you 99% that you won't get it for less than $99. You get cost + 10%. BB is most likely taking a loss, and if they're taking a loss, you get no discount.
 
Joined
May 12, 2006
Messages
491 (0.08/day)
Location
A small crate floating in the Pacific..
Processor Athlon64 X2 3800+ @ 2.6Ghz
Motherboard BioStar TForce4 SLI (939)
Cooling Stock Opteron Heatpipe Cooler
Memory 4x512 Crucial BalistiX, @ DDR520, 2.5-3-3-8
Video Card(s) ATI, x1900 AIW (600/620)
Storage 80GB SATA2, 320GB eSATA2
Display(s) AGM 19" Widescreen LCD, 4ms
Case Aspire X-Dreamer (Black)
Audio Device(s) Auzentech: X-Meridan (Best Soundcard Ever)
Power Supply Rosewill 550W 2x12V
Software XP Professional X64 & Ubuntu 7.10 x86
I guarantee you 99% that you won't get it for less than $99. You get cost + 10%. BB is most likely taking a loss, and if they're taking a loss, you get no discount.

Actually I get cost plus 5%, then again it would be my business to know that and not yours.. so don't feel bad. Also, BestBuy wouldn't take a loss just cause they want to to help HD-DVD.. we're doing it (and so is every other store) because Toshiba is literally paying us to do it.

BestBuy is making money on every sale because for everyone one we sell Toshiba pays us more.

The only real benefit of my discount I mentioned is that I can get the player for $5 cheaper and movies for 5-10 bucks less.
 

OnBoard

New Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2006
Messages
3,033 (0.47/day)
Location
Finland
Processor Core i5-750 @ 3.6GHz 1.136V 24/7
Motherboard Gigabyte P55A-UD3, SATA 6Gbit/s & USB3.0 baby!
Cooling Alpenföhn Brocken HeatpipeDirectTouch
Memory Geil Ultra Series 4GB 2133MHz DDR3 @ 1440MHz 7-7-7-24
Video Card(s) Gigabyte GTX 460 1GB OC (mostly stock speeds)
Storage OS: Samsung F3 500GB Games: Samsung F1 640GB
Display(s) new! Samsung P2350 23" FullHD 2ms / Mirai DTL-632E500 32" LCD
Case new! Xigmatek Midgard/Utgard side window with red cathodes, 1x140mm & 3x120mm fans
Audio Device(s) new! ASUS Xonar DG & JVC HA-RX700 headphones
Power Supply Cougar CM 700W Modular
Software Windows 7 Home Premium x64
Benchmark Scores Logitech UltraX Premium & G5 laser v2 + Ulti-mat Breathe X2 for fragging
So American version is already going to third generation and in Europe we have just first "TOSHIBA HD E1 HD-DVD Player". Oh how I wish toshiba would want to sell them here also cheap :) Not that I need one, but for that price I want one even if I don't really need it :D
 

0elemental0

New Member
Joined
May 21, 2007
Messages
148 (0.02/day)
Processor athlon 4800+ x2 (s939)
Motherboard ms-7093 (oem hp) by msi
Cooling freezer 64, arctic af9 x2
Memory 2 gig gskill 2.5-3-3-6
Video Card(s) sapphire hd 3870 w/zalman vf900
Storage 250 gig sata, 320 gig sata
Display(s) acer 22'' at 1680x1050
Case oem hp, i love hidden drive bays
Audio Device(s) soundblaster xtreme gamer x-fi
Power Supply antec trio 650
Software xp pro
i bought the hda2 at the wallyworld.... the a3 would have been nice..but im not complaining.......hddvd ftw.....hopefully
 
Joined
Jan 24, 2007
Messages
179 (0.03/day)
System Name My last amd rig for now i love my new i7
Processor Amd fx-9590
Motherboard ASROCK Fatal1ty 990fx pro
Cooling liquid
Memory G. Skill Ripjaw ddr3 1600 x32gb
Video Card(s) Dual AMD XFX 7990
Storage Samsung 840 pro
Display(s) asus
Case Dell 1520 c2d@2.6 4gb ddr2 667 8600m gt 500gb 7200rpm hitachi
Audio Device(s) Asus ROG g60J I7@2.8 8gb ddr3
Power Supply Antec 1200w
Software windows 7 x64
best buy has the a3 for 200 right now 100 off the normal retail of 300
 
Joined
Dec 21, 2005
Messages
207 (0.03/day)
Processor 3700X
Motherboard Aorus X570 Elite Wifi
Cooling Thermalright Spirit 140
Memory 2x16GB Gskill Trident Z Neo
Video Card(s) EVGA RTX2070
Storage 970evo
Power Supply EVGA Supernova 750W Gold
Software W10Pro
so whats the difference between a2 and the a3????
 

WarEagleAU

Bird of Prey
Joined
Jul 9, 2006
Messages
10,812 (1.67/day)
Location
Gurley, AL
System Name Pandemic 2020
Processor AMD Ryzen 5 "Gen 2" 2600X
Motherboard AsRock X470 Killer Promontory
Cooling CoolerMaster 240 RGB Master Cooler (Newegg Eggxpert)
Memory 32 GB Geil EVO Portenza DDR4 3200 MHz
Video Card(s) ASUS Radeon RX 580 DirectX 12 DUAL-RX580-O8G 8GB 256-Bit GDDR5 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video C
Storage WD 250 M.2, Corsair P500 M.2, OCZ Trion 500, WD Black 1TB, Assorted others.
Display(s) ASUS MG24UQ Gaming Monitor - 23.6" 4K UHD (3840x2160) , IPS, Adaptive Sync, DisplayWidget
Case Fractal Define R6 C
Audio Device(s) Realtek 5.1 Onboard
Power Supply Corsair RMX 850 Platinum PSU (Newegg Eggxpert)
Mouse Razer Death Adder
Keyboard Corsair K95 Mechanical & Corsair K65 Wired, Wireless, Bluetooth)
Software Windows 10 Pro x64
Holy shit. I wish I would have done that and got me the HD-A3. Thats the 1080p one right?
 
Joined
May 15, 2005
Messages
3,516 (0.51/day)
System Name Red Matter 2
Processor Ryzen 5600X
Motherboard X470 Gaming Pro Carbon
Cooling Water is Masterliquid 240 Pro
Memory GeiL EVO X 3600mhz 32g also G.Skill Ripjaw series 5 4x8 3600mhz as backup lol
Video Card(s) Gigabyte Gaming Radeon RX 6800
Storage EVO 860. Rocket Q M.2 SSD WD Blue M.2 SSD Seagate Firecuda 2tb storage.
Display(s) ASUS ROG Swift PG32VQ
Case Phantek P400 Glass
Audio Device(s) EVGA NU Audio
Power Supply EVGA G3 850
Mouse Roccat Military/ Razer Deathadder V2
Keyboard Razer Chroma
Software W10
I lucked out and bagged the 299 one for 99!!!!
Plus 7 free DVD's!
What is the exact difference between the 199 and 299 model anyway?
 
Last edited:
Joined
Apr 5, 2005
Messages
6,770 (0.98/day)
Location
Republic of Asia (a.k.a Irvine), CA
System Name ---
Processor FX 8350 @ 4.00 Ghz with 1.28v
Motherboard Gigabyte 990FX-UD3 v4.0, Hacked Bios F4.x
Cooling Silenx 4 pipe Tower cooler + 2 x Cougar 120mm fan, 3 x 120mm, 1 x 200 mm Red LED fan
Memory Kingston HyperX DDR3 1866 16GB + Patriot Memory DDR3 1866 16GB
Video Card(s) Asus R9 290 OC @ GPU - 1050, MEM - 1300
Storage Inland 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD for OS, WDC Black - 2TB + 1TB Storage, Inland 480GB SSD - Games
Display(s) 3 x 1080P LCDs - Acer 25" + Acer 23" + HP 23"
Case AeroCool XPredator X3
Audio Device(s) Built-in Realtek
Power Supply Corsair HX1000 Modular
Software Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
Joined
Mar 8, 2006
Messages
498 (0.08/day)
Processor Celeron 430 (Conroe-L)
Motherboard ASUS Rampage Formula
Cooling Water, Zalman Reserator XT
Memory Corsair Dominator PC2-8500 DDR2-1000
Video Card(s) Visiontek 2600 PRO
Storage Maxtor Maxline 3, more Maxtors
Display(s) Acer P243w 24"
Case Aspire X-Navigator ATXA9N-BK
Audio Device(s) Mbox
Power Supply Thermaltake Toughpower 750w
Software Protools and a bunch of racing games...
i got an A2 from walmart. HD DVD is cool and all, but they are gonna have to get some better movies, so many people getting these players and all we can get is frickin spiderman 3 and transformers (which is fine). but go to blockbuster and see all the cool blu-ray movies versus the HD DVD ones (yes you can still get HD DVDs from blockbuster). eh....good thing this is for my parents' room. i like the affordability of HD DVD but it seems to be as good as it will get, where as quad layer 100gb blu-ray discs are being developed. wtf...
 
Joined
Jan 24, 2007
Messages
179 (0.03/day)
System Name My last amd rig for now i love my new i7
Processor Amd fx-9590
Motherboard ASROCK Fatal1ty 990fx pro
Cooling liquid
Memory G. Skill Ripjaw ddr3 1600 x32gb
Video Card(s) Dual AMD XFX 7990
Storage Samsung 840 pro
Display(s) asus
Case Dell 1520 c2d@2.6 4gb ddr2 667 8600m gt 500gb 7200rpm hitachi
Audio Device(s) Asus ROG g60J I7@2.8 8gb ddr3
Power Supply Antec 1200w
Software windows 7 x64
the a2 is discontuned it had a few problems with it orgianlly that were worked out the dvd tray on the first revision stunk not sure about the new ones but the a3 is the new model its still just 1080i unlike every blu ray that 1080p from what i understand most hd-dvd movies are still not in true hd format there in 1080i still there are a few 1080p the a3 is basically just a new design most of the same features and the tray is really sturdy other than that i dont know any other differences. the a2 has the hdmi output right? i know the a3 does
 
Joined
Mar 8, 2006
Messages
498 (0.08/day)
Processor Celeron 430 (Conroe-L)
Motherboard ASUS Rampage Formula
Cooling Water, Zalman Reserator XT
Memory Corsair Dominator PC2-8500 DDR2-1000
Video Card(s) Visiontek 2600 PRO
Storage Maxtor Maxline 3, more Maxtors
Display(s) Acer P243w 24"
Case Aspire X-Navigator ATXA9N-BK
Audio Device(s) Mbox
Power Supply Thermaltake Toughpower 750w
Software Protools and a bunch of racing games...
the a2 has HDMI. i figure the reason HD DVDs are only 1080i is because there are way more 1080i displays sold. And there are more 1366x768 displays sold with "1080i" on the box selling for dirt cheap as well. On top of that, HBO, Shotime, Cinemax, TMC, etc. only output HD movies in 1080i, sports broadcasts only going up to 720p for the most part. 1080p might be the latest and greatest, but the buy-in for displays is pretty high, and the content is mostly limited to just blu-ray movies. Parents room = 1080i display + 1080i HD DVD player. my room = 1080p display + most likely a ps3 in the next few months (already had the 360 elite)
 
Top