Thanks Ali Bhai Jaan! Checked it out and will fiddle with a couple of settings when I get home tonight ..

For those living in Texas and Louisiana, Conn's has the Toshiba HD DVD Player for $199.00.

Who would have thought, a sub $200 HD DVD Player before the holidays at a B & M store!!

Blu Ray the choice of TheDigitalBits.Com while they say that HD DVD will loose :



Article: Click Here!

I paid $500 for my first DVD player in 1999

I paid $900 in 1998

Blockbuster endorsing Blu-Ray!!!


Blockbuster to Expand Blu-Ray to 1,700 Stores

Company will continue to offer HD DVD titles online and in select number of stores

DALLAS, June 18, 2007 – In response to the growing demand for high-definition DVDs, Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE: BBI, BBI.B) today announced that it is rolling out an expanded Blu-ray disc inventory for rental to 1,700 corporate-owned BLOCKBUSTER® stores by mid-July. The Company will continue to offer both Blu-ray and HD DVD titles through its online rental service, http://www.blockbuster.com, and will continue to offer both formats at its initial 250 stores that currently carry both high-definition formats.

"We intend to meet the demands of our customers and based on the trends we're seeing, we're expanding our Blu-ray inventory to ensure our stores reflect the right level of products," said Matthew Smith, SVP Merchandising for Blockbuster. "While it is still too early to say which high-definition format will become the industry standard, we will continue to closely monitor customer rental patterns both at our stores and online, so we can adjust our inventory mix accordingly and ensure that Blockbuster is offering customers the most convenient access to the movies they want, in the format they want."

When Blu-ray and HD DVD were introduced to the marketplace in 2006, Blockbuster began offering the high-definition formats on all titles in which it was available through blockbuster.com. The Company also introduced both formats on select titles in 250 stores in November of 2006. With Blu-ray rentals significantly outpacing HD DVD rentals at its BLOCKBUSTER stores, the Company made the decision to expand the number of stores offering the Blu-ray format.

With the expansion in July, the 1,700 stores will be carrying more than 170 titles in Blu-ray and will continue to add titles in the format as they are released from the studios.

"We are excited to be able to make more high-definition titles available to our customers in those stores where our research indicates there will be the most demand," said Smith. "Obviously, when customers are ready we can expand the Blu-ray offering into more stores and add HD DVD to more locations if that's what customers tell us they want. We'll continue to work with the movie studios to ensure we have the right assortment of products."

Blu-ray formatted titles are available from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment, FOX Home Entertainment, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Lionsgate Home Entertainment, Warner Home Video, and Paramount Home Entertainment and can be played on Blu-ray dedicated players, Sony PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) or a Blu-ray compatible computer drive.

That’s the most convincing and logical argument I've heard so far to back one format against the other.

Ali

10 MORE Reasons Why High Definition Formats Have Already Failed
Got the link from AVSforum...

Not an official story .. only a tip from an individual who works at some unspecified store:

Blockbuster's Blu-ray Endorsement Having Major Impact on HD DVD Player Sales

Blockbuster's decision to support Blu-ray in all of its 1,450 stores is having a bigger impact than it seems. A tipster at an unnamed retailer tells us they've had more HD DVD player orders canceled over the last few days than they've seen over the entire life cycle. The kicker? All of them were canceled because of the Blockbuster announcement.

Not only that, new sales of HD DVD players are nonexistent, with Blu-ray being the only things moving now.

The more tech savvy of us rent our stuff on Netflix or Blockbuster Online (which is still supporting both formats for now), but this announcement—covered in many mainstream media sources—had a big impact on people who actually rent at Blockbuster.

Any of you tipsters working at other retail outlets see something similar? Email us if you have.

GizModo.Com

Sony cuts price by $100.

New 60 GB for $499, plus free sixaxis $49 from CC, you qualify for 5 free BR discs too..

http://www.valueelectronics.com/htf.htm

Toshiba HD-A2 for $199.99 with free shipping and HDMI Cable!!!

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=313

News

Tartan Video Exclusively Blu-ray
Posted July 13, 2007 by Josh

Tartan Video has announced that they will support Blu-ray exclusively for high definition movies, and will release three of their most popular titles this fall. First up will be Paul Verhoeven's 'Black Book' and a 50th Anniversary Edition of the classic film 'The Seventh Seal' on August 27th in the UK (Black Book: September 25th in the US). A few weeks later, the thriller 'Oldboy' will be released on September 24th.

In the UK, these films will utilize AVC video encoding with DTS Master Audio, and also include the DVD version bundled with the disc (no word on how Sony Pictures will be releasing the films in the US). Tartan Video has an excellent library of classic films from all over the world, and they are a welcome addition to the Blu-ray family.

Good news for the future...Veer Zaara will be re-released in the future in Blu-Ray format...along with Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge...both with DTS sound.

but get ready with your check book with this special offer first





BOOK and Audio DVD
Item Code : VZBK + AD - US
US$: 104.99

T


VEER-ZAARA Book - Special Features:

* A Free Audio CD “The Love Legend Themes” containing the never-released-before Veer-Zaara themes and instrumental scores used in the film.
* Around 200 pages... giving insights on the journey of making of this love legend.
* Exclusive behind-the-scenes & on-location images from the film.
* Personal letters & experiences of the entire team, including Shahrukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukerji, Hema Malini, among others... who traveled on this journey called Veer-Zaara together.
* Insights on the making of its much-loved and critically acclaimed music of Veer-Zaara composed by the late Madan Mohan, including personal letters of Lata Mangeshkar, Sanjeev Kohli, Javed Akhtar, Udit Narayan, Roop Kumar Rathod, Sonu Nigam and all singers.
# Memorable personal experiences of all technicians which worked tirelessly to bring this love legend to life.
# Never-before-known facts and trivia about the film.
# Exclusive images from the Grand Premiere of Veer-Zaara and selected quotes.
# Press Quotes, Awards and numerous Accolades won.
# Heart-warming feedbacks received from film lovers and audiences from all over the world (you could also be one of them, if you had submitted your personal feedback on Veer-Zaara through the YRF Website!).

VEER-ZAARA Audio DVD - Features:

* This Audio DVD disc features all the 11 songs in pristine quality surround sound formats featured below:

1. Meridian Lossless Packing (MLP) 5.1 - 24 bit / 96 KHz.
2. Meridian Lossless Packing (MLP) 2.0 - 24 bit / 48 KHz
3. Dolby Digital 5.1 - 24 bit / 48 KHz.
4. Dolby Digital Stereo - 24 bit / 48 KHz.
5. DTS Digital Surround Sound 5.1 - 24 bit / 48 KHz.

# Special capsule on The Making of the Music of Veer-Zaara (featuring the voices of the late Madan Mohan, Lata Mangeshkar & Yash Chopra). This capsule is available in 2 pristine quality surround sound formats - Dolby Digital 5.1 (16 bit / 48 KHz) & Dolby Digital Stereo (16 bit / 48 KHz) and also features rare still images.
# The Lyrics and the Images of all 11 songs can be viewed on-screen while the song is being played, thus enabling sing-along.
# The Credits button in the main menu gives the viewer an option to go through the Credits list.
# The product also includes an exclusive “Lyrics Booklet” of all the 11 songs featured.

Can't wait to download it! haha

I dont really encourage piracy, but I've been bitter after being stiffed on so many occasions.

you got it if you are subjected to upscaled standard dvd, sub optimaly authored as high def dvd at exuberant cost, then that is best way!