nice price for a 1st gen (now discontinued) player. I think they were close to $900 when new (MSRP)

Slow load times, if you don't need the 1080p or analog outs, probably better to go with the newer HD-A2

1080i? WTFH? Hi-Definition players should all be 1080p, is this all the better HD-DVD can do?

this is a really good deal regardless of the 1080i

I don't care which format wins and I really don't like Sony but it looks like Blu-Ray is going to win the format war.

Get real, please. There isn't a person in the room who can tell the difference between 1080i and 1080p showing the same title on two identical monitors. Not a single one.

Additionally, any set capable of actually displaying 1080p will de-interlace 1080i properly and show it as 1080p anyway, because that's how they were designed. So whether your player outputs 1080i or 1080p, a 1080p set is always displaying 1080p.

I deal with this stuff all day, and the "controversy" is like those insisting they can tell the difference between a 6 foot piece of #12 hardware store wire and the 6 foot $300 ultra-deluxe speaker cable sold by ripoff artists. It's just bullshit.

Get a life and find something else to whine about.

all those people that must buy blu-ray because they think it is the only one with 1080p (which is wrong) and then they hook it up to their 720p TV / projector...just cracks me up...I guess the marketing still works and makes people think that better specs (which isn't true anyway) = noticeable difference.

I'll give you 1080p/24 is better, but can you buy a set that will accept 1080p/24? Or do they all do 1080p/30(60) and a '2:3' pulldown (which rescales the image anyway).

So 1080i or 1080p, more than likely the image is being changed before being displayed.

Looks like Toshiba should be hit up with a design lawsuit from Harmon Kardon.

#5, you are wrong. I can tell the difference between interlaced signals and non-interlaced in any fast action scene. I noticed as soon as I was watching DVDs on projectors years ago. When I upgraded to a progressive scan player the problems stopped (for most discs). It is like the way some people can see DLP rainbows and others can't (I don't see those). For me it is more distracting to see the interlacing than to have lower resolution (why I am a fan of 720p broadcasts over 1080i.) I will admit it is harder to catch at 1080 than 480, but I can still see it sometimes and it is annoying.

And sure some tvs have great de-interlacing, but it still adds ever so slightly to the distortion of the image, and if you are going to spend the money on a 1080p display, it is worthwhile to spend the money on a 1080p player for the crispest possible image.

I enjoy my PS3 with blu-ray and 1080i 24" Dell LCD, the video is great. I tried to play Ice age as circuit city was playing with the 1080p full-HD TV, there is no different with mine(except the size), maybe is hard to tell. So, playing with 1080i is the best choise while Full-HD TV is till too expensive.

#1 do you even know what the term obsolete means?

You can get the Toshiba hd-h2 (a2 clone) at costco for $ 249bacon up converts to 1080 i. You can get 5 hd- dvd's from toshiba mostly their choice for free by sending in the rebate coupon upc and receipt. This is a great way to get started with a new piece. Why buy old and used ?
rebate link :
icom.com/cnwk.1d/pdf/rebates/12960.pdf

#4 I sure hope it doesn't win. Proprietary Sony would soak consumers for years until something new came around. If you carefully look at the differences between the formats, choosing the non-proprietary HD-DVD spawns competition to lower prices and improve quality. IF HD-DVD wins we will see quality players < $100 smackaroonies in no time with reasonable HD-DVD releases as well. IF sony blue-ray wins it will stink for the common man. Remember Beta was slightly better than VHS and thank goodness VHS won years ago.

That was very kind of you.