Can we stay on topic here? Has anyone done instore pickup on this and seen that it still has the 2 free movies in the box still?

kingchicken said:comparing the A2 & A3 deals:

A2: can get one for $99, but hard to find.
A3: can get one for $199. for $100 more, you get a arguably better machine and four movies instantly.

I think the A3 deal may actually be the better one - or am I smoking something here?

Honestly, most reviews biased or otherwise are pretty much stating the A3, is the same as the A2 with faster startup times. The additional movies help to sweeten the deal. If you are in the market for HD either is a good buy; basically in the end if you can accept the instantly free movies are worth $25/each then the deal is the same really.

I couldn't get the A2 from wally world but I did try the BB link this morning. I want to get that for my folks. Me, I'm looking to replace an A1 with an A3 from Sears on BF.

kingchicken said:comparing the A2 & A3 deals:

A2: can get one for $99, but hard to find.
A3: can get one for $199. for $100 more, you get a arguably better machine and four movies instantly.

I think the A3 deal may actually be the better one - or am I smoking something here?

First off, practically nobody thinks that the A3 is any better than the A2, and some prefer the A2. See AVSForum threads for details. Second, it is not clear whether the A3 boxes still contain the 2 movies (300 and Bourne Identity) and there is no way to find out that I know of, other than going to BB and looking at the boxes...

if there are 2 dvd's inside, this is pretty decent deal...i mean the 9 dvd's are atleast 120-140...hmmm - tempted to get this...

thoughts?

10dulkar said:kingchicken said:comparing the A2 & A3 deals:

A2: can get one for $99, but hard to find.
A3: can get one for $199. for $100 more, you get a arguably better machine and four movies instantly.

I think the A3 deal may actually be the better one - or am I smoking something here?

is the 2 movies in the box a confirmed thing??? can someone chime in...

Well, I bought last night at $249 and yes the box says the movies are inside (haven't opened yet) -- Now I have to drive BACK to Best Buy to price match to get the $50 back; and that is after driving BACK to Circuit City to return the $197 A2.. Oh and now I have an A2 from Wal-Mart for $98 here -- I don't need two HD-DVD players though lol...

munkyxtc said:rampike said:not really. you end up with more savings

It's not really savings if you never spend money. You you wait forever to save a few buck but now you are a few generations behind.

Hey, did you know that the old Packard Bell 166Mhz computer I paid $3500 for in 1995 can be had for under $2 now? The argument with any decpreciating item is just dumb [see my example]

Rampike is waiting to buy until it's less than $1.00...then less than 50 cents...then etc etc. The good news is the Nintendo his kids wanted for Xmas 15 years ago is close to his target price. He's had a bit of trouble upgrading his 8-track player in his Yugo though, cassette decks haven't come down enough for him yet... And that 100 pound 21" Sony Trinitron CRT for his home office? Forget about it! He's saved well over $1000 by waiting to upgrade his 13" monochrome monitor to that bad boy! Of course, he's still waiting for better pricing on all of the above, so he's saved tons!

What say you now, smart guy!?

wow bunch of sony/blu-ray hating fools in this thread. whatever helps you sleep at night.

kingchicken said:I'm not a hardcore A/V guy but i find it hard to believe that A3 is not "any better" than A2. Might be true, but very counter intuitive.

It's true, the A3 is essentially an A2 in the new 3rd gen chassis (more shiny plastic, rounded corners instead of squared ones.) Both do all the scaling in software (no scaling hardware, unlike in the A30 and A35), both are 1080i only, outputs on the back should be identical. Not sure about the startup times as I've owned an A2 for a while but not an A3.

Whatever you get, just make sure you upgrade the firmware either by downloading it from Toshiba or via the ethernet jack on the back of the unit. The latest A2 firmware speeds things up a bit. The latest firmware for both addresses compatibility issues with displays and movies.

As for the two free movies (300, Bourne Identity) packed in the box, all Toshiba 3rd Gen players should have them in the box (A3, A30, A35). The newer manufactured units should come that way from the factory. Though I think some of the initial units might have been repacked/stickered by a Toshiba rep sent to the stores.

In any case, Best Buy advertised the two free in the box movies in their sales flyers for the last few weeks, so if your box is missing them, just take it back to Best Buy and ask for the movies/swap.

Beware of Open Boxes though, I've seen at least one report where I guy complained to BB that his unit didn't have the movies so they opened a brand new one to give him the movies then resealed the new one and put it back on the floor as open box.

kingchicken said:I'm not a hardcore A/V guy but i find it hard to believe that A3 is not "any better" than A2. Might be true, but very counter intuitive.

im not a hardcore av guy myself either - but like the other commenters stated - the people over at avsforum (who are hardcore av guys) claim that the a2 is actually a better machine - the load times might be a little slower - but the av quality is "supposedly" better

that being said - im still waiting to see what happens on these backordered $99 a2 units from last nite - as of 12:15 cst, i still havent gotten a cancellation notice (knock on wood)

there are A LOT of posts on this topic at AVS. after 10 mins of reading, it seems to be that those "experts" don't seem to be all on the same page. It seems more like a "debate" over there, rather than a "consensus"

albrandwood said:kingchicken said:I'm not a hardcore A/V guy but i find it hard to believe that A3 is not "any better" than A2. Might be true, but very counter intuitive.

Companies release new products and models for all sorts of reasons. Could be for marketing purposes, maybe the new version costs less to produce, thus a greater profit margin ...

The car industry has continually produced "new" versions every year ... not all of them are "better" than the previous year ... You may get more buttons, better gizmos, etc, but the latest model doesn't always make a better car ... (3rd generation Mustangs spring to mind).

(and I'm not even going to mention Micro$oft, or Asbestos, or any of the pharmaceutical "advances" over the years ... Doh!)