(no subject)

Anyone who has a high-def TV but hasn't gone with a high-def DVD format yet, take note: tomorrow, Friday, Wal-Mart has the Toshiba HD-A2 HD-DVD player marked down from $280 to $100. I think it comes with five free HD-DVD movies, too.

The DVD player is decent, but not top of the line, mind; it will do 720p or 1080i but not 1080p, and there's reportedly some artifacting at the 1080i setting. But if you've just got a 720p projector, or you don't care, you're probably not going to find a better deal, at least until Black Friday rolls around.

For a while I seriously considered going for it, then sense reasserted itself; I don't have an HDTV, nor do I have any prospect of getting one any time soon, and that $100 would be better spent going toward a new computer for me. By the time I'm ready to get an HDTV, the price on HD-DVD will probably have fallen enough to where I can get a player for that price not on sale, or a drive that can play them on my computer. Even if you do have an HDTV, unless it's a huge one you probably won't notice that much difference between progressive-scan regular DVD and HD.

Still, if you're a low-end videophile with money to burn, bear it in mind.