I will still wait for a Blu Ray player/recorder. I like the thought of a 50gig disc!

I do not think there is a price point at which it would make a difference to me at all. I still do not own an HDTV which is about the only thing stopping me. As of right now it is looking like Blu-ray is the winner with the majority of the video rental retail giants and a few chain stores refusing to carry HD-DVD, the video quality is virtually the same for both discs, I have watched both formats on the Same HDTV at a friends place who has both because the Microsoft X-Box 360 supports an add on HD-DVD drive for $199 and the Sony Playstation3 supports Blu-ray out of the box for as little as $399. My Local Blockbuster carried both formats this past summer and now all the HD-DVD's that they had for rent are on the clearance table of used movies. Blu-Ray also seems to have designed in support for future expansion where HD-DVD is limited in its growth. Blu-Ray discs that are on the market right now can hold 25GB per layer on the disc compared to 4.7GB for current DVD's and 18GB for HD-DVD, Blu-Ray also supports up to four layers for a 100GB total Disc Capacity compared to roughly 9.5GB for current DVD's and 36GB for HD-DVD's, which have a maximum of two useable layers per side. In Theory a double sided Blu-ray disc could hold 200GB of video, thats more than enough to hold an entire season of your favorite television show in HD, since most HDTV television broadcasts are currently in either 720p or 1080i. If you are lucky enough to live in an area where they broadcast in 1080p well you have no excuse to not have at least one of these formats. The only thing that I am currently aware of is that this format war will probably still be going on by the time that HDTV broadcasting will become the rule of the FCC in the not to distant future.

I bought one of the Toshiba hd-a2's at Wal-Mart for $98. The player is great and for that price you can't beat it.

Even if blu-ray becomes the standard, then you can continue using the Toshiba as a regular dvd player. Regular dvd's aren't going away anytime soon.

I get my HD movies on my Dish HD satellite receiver with DVR. Not as quickly available as on a DVD , but it looks great.

I think that the time for renting or buying discs is over. Why not get your movies from your satellite or cable company, store it on a hard disc drive and watch it when you want to.

I bought an HDTV and the $98 HD DVD player from Walmart, how do I know if I have it set up properly?

I tried to buy one of these, but made it to WalMart too late. Rats. I needed another paperweight! Actually, for $99 it would have been nice to own.

For vizsla731

Its actually pretty easy, on page 20 of the owners manual, the preferred way to use an HDMI cable, this will carry all the audio and video to your HDTV. Second best is to use a component video cable set (three cables labeled green, blue and red) and an optical audio cable.

Of course, none of these cables come in the box.

How much is that going to set me back?

For vizsla731
Local big box stores will carry these cables but it will probably set you back quite a few $

If you are willing to wait a little while monoprice.com makes some good cables at a good price.

I have used their HDMI 1.3 cables and they worked very well.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10243

Is there an alternative to "renting" a DVR from my cable provider? All the stores that I have checked in my area(Balto./ Wash.D.C.) say NO, it must come from the cable or Satellite provider.

For Dale Lawrie

The couple of options are a getting a TiVo - either an HD or a standard definition model. Currently with the HD TiVos you can only record HD from an antenna or using cable cards provided by your cable company.
https://www3.tivo.com/store/boxes.do
Or a media PC, they are getting better all the time, but I am not sure if I would recommend this option unless you are quite comfortable with PCs

With both of these options you will need to buy the hardware and with TiVo there is also a monthly fee. Why don't you want to use the DVR from the cable company? Renting is not that expensive and if it breaks, call them up and get a new one.

TiVo is not always the answer. They are a very good option but certainly not the only one.

http://www.alienware.com/product_detail_pages/hangar18/hangar18_overview.aspx

Media Center PCs can use cable cards just like cable boxes or TiVo. While they are more costly up front they have no monthly fees and with TiVo those can add up quickly over the life of a box.

Evil Cable Companies (ECC) will say most anything to keep out boxes they don't profit from by renting to you. In these cases TiVo can be very helpful by confrencing in to get that ECC to 'toe the line' and stop lying. The FCC and your local cableTV authorities would be very interested in a ECC that violates the law. Reading up at http://www.tivocommunity.com in the Series3 section is highly reccomended.

Other consumer electronics companies seem to be waiting in the wings with new boxes. The announcements from the Consumer Electronics Show may be very interesting.

The elephant in the room is cable companies introduction of Switched Digital Video (SDV) that only cable company boxes can tune without additional (as yet non-existant) hardware.

I bought a DVD at Wallys ,while back.I was trying to hook it up.Called the techie guy.
I have to deal with the DISH, TV and DVD.
Finally got him to calm down and speak english
(something on my level), when the cables broke.

Back I go to Wallys.....the cabels are now sold seperate,,and cost more,,got some more.I have not tried to hook it up.If I don't I am afraid they will pull the plug on the tech help.I have found they discontinue help after a certain time on things.I need to dig around..find the box..find the phone number.What a PAIN.

One would think they could draw a simple illustration as to where the wires go.
If I get it right I could draw one that people could understand.I don't think it would be that difficult.
Wonder if they want to hire me for the job.
After I get a techie and get mine running.

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How can I hear about the one-day 'secret sales' in the future?

Good question Matt,

www.walmart.com/secret

You can either enter your email address and they will send you a notice about the next sale or check it from time to time. The next 'secret' sales are on November 23d and 24th

Oh, the money I save! I'll let you in on my secret: I watch so little television and movies and such, that I just don't care about formats! A live show - plays, concerts, other types of stage entertainment - seem to be enough to keep me visually entertained. But I do agree with the individual who commented that the time to buys movies should be about over. Save the shelf space and get them from satellite and cable company and watch when you want.