Merrick again...

A reader named Damed sent in this report on the status of the HD DVD megasale & player availability - as of 11pm on Friday November 2.

Thought it might conceivably be of use. Here's what he sent:

Hey Merrick,

Just a rundown of the HDDVD player sale, as it stands right now.

HD-A2

Walmart was selling them for $98 today. Best buy price matched, then sold out quickly. Cruchfield followed, then sold out quickly. Circuit City was late to the party, and dropped late today, but "only" to $129. Still some available as of right now.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Toshiba-HD-DVD-Player-HDA2/sem/rpsm/oid/169466/catOid/-12872/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

ALL of these players qualify for the 5 free HD-DVD by mail in rebate, found here:

http://download.sears.com/misc/5Free_end022808.pdf

NOW, Best Buy has dropped their price on the HD-A3, the "successor" to the HD-A2, to $199. NOT ONLY does this player qualify for the same 5 free mail in rebate, but it includes "300" and "The Bourne Identity" in the box with the player. Not only that, buy Best Buy is offering 2 free HD-DVDs of your choice with the purchase. Say... Transformers and Batman Begins? Or whatever else you like. So yeah. $199 gets you the newest player and 9, count 'em, 9 HD-DVDs.

The deals are incredible, and we're only 1 week into November!

If you use this, call me Damed.

ORIGINAL REPORT FOLLOWS...

Merrick here...

So, I'm sitting here trying like hell to find a 4GB refurbished iPhone. Problem is, between the price point, overall demand, and the fact they've been discontinued...they're damn scarce. DAMN scarce. The one place I found that actually had one? Sold out AS I was placing my order. That's kind of fucked up.

Any ideas? TELL ME, PLEASE!

Apologies for the digression...I had to vent.

So, I'm sitting here looking for an iPhone when Monki from AICN Games IMs me with a bit of new about HD DVD. Then an e-mail from a reader sends the same information. Then another. Then another. Etc...

So, I guess we'll go here.

I have grave misgivings about posting this information - the eternal (and self-destructive) Blu-Ray/HD DVD feud gets a lot of play here on AICN, and the mere reference of either format seems to get folks' blood boiling. None the less...this was too significant to pass up.

If you haven't heard by now, Toshiba & Wal-Mart have dropped the price of Toshiba HD DVD units dramatically. Like...they used to cost several hundred dollars, and now they'll cost around $99 a unit. This is effective TODAY. This arrangement is planned to last through the weekend only.

You can learn more HERE.

I've never had any direct experience with Blu-Ray, thus I'm not knowledgeable enough to comment on the format war one way or the other. However, I do have an HD DVD unit & I've always been tremendously happy with it as a whole...although I acknowledge there's room for improvement in some areas.

At the end of the day, I'm something of an HD superslut. If the television image in front of me is even 75% "passable" HD, I get to feelin' funny in certain places and HD totally has its way with me.

I just thought some of you out there may like a heads up about this; it'll be interesting to see how this weekend plays out. Part desperate effort to get some dust-gathering units off the shelves & into people's home theaters...part Alpha-Omega Bomb aiming to punch a hole in the Blu-Ray empire, this is an interesting move (for better or worse).

Big thanks to the folks who wrote in about this.

BTW: I'm hearing indications that Best Buy and/or Wal-Mart may also be offering free movies with this sale. I don't know many more details, but be sure to ask sales people if you go out and buy a unit.

Also, check the Talkbacks below...as (presumably) our fine readers will post more information as it becomes evident/available.