Why I Purchased an HD-DVD Player After Blu-Ray Won (to Upconvert, Of Course!)

I rented a movie last week and boy was I angry when an hour and 45 minutes into the movie, the DVD began to skip. I did all the usual cleaning and drying of the DVD but to no avail. As a last ditch effort to see the last 15 minutes of the film I had been watching, I popped the disc into my laptop and was able to finish watching the movie.

It was time for a new DVD player.

There were a few options available. I could:

- just get a regular dvd player to replace my old one
- get an upconverting DVD player (learn about upconverting DVD players in another post of mine)
- get an HD-DVD player
- get a Blu-Ray player.

As I never liked that my DVDs didn't fill the whole screen on my HDTV, I knew I wanted to get some kind of upconverting DVD player. I also knew I didn't want to spend the money on Blu-Ray or shell out lots of money on an HD-DVD player that would be obsolete in months. Recall that Blu-Ray won the format war so HD-DVD players and HD-DVDs will likely be on their way out very soon.

When I realized that, the idea hit me. I went ahead and purchased an HD-DVD player. You are probably thinking that I am CRAZY. Why would anyone buy a player that is obsolete even before purchase? Well here's why:

1. I knew that I wanted an upconverting DVD player, and HD-DVD players are upconverting. So by purchasing an HD-DVD player, I would be getting an upconverting DVD player at the same time.

2. Price. The least expensive upconverting DVD player I could find was around $60-70 at Costco. I was able to purchase an HD-DVD player at Best Buy for $99. I purchased the Toshiba HDA3 Upconverting DVD/HD-DVD player (which I review in this post).

3. Movies. I am fully aware that HD-DVD movies are no longer being produced. That being said, I am starting to see HD-DVD titles on sale for $10 (new) online. Thus, if I want to buy some HD-DVD movies, the prices are often less than a new standard DVD.

So there you have it. Why I bought an HD-DVD player AFTER Blu-Ray won the format war. So if you don't have $400 for Blu-Ray, you may think about HD-DVD, too!

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