Toshiba DVD HD-A2 Buying Experience

[tigerfan33]

I would be interested in everyones buying experience of the Toshiba DVD HD-A2. With the price drop for the Friday sale at Wal-Mart and other retailers dropping their price. How big of a hassel was it?? I called my store Wal-Mart today and I was the first to call about the sale. Not sure what to expect when I show up in person tomorrow. I will be posting here to let you know.

 

[mike1973]

My brother called asking if he should jump on the deal and I told him sure, as long as you have a stick to beat off all the other people I think the laptop might be a bigger draw but this is all over the net so I'll be curious to see what happens too. Good luck to anyone trying for one, hope you are able to get one!!!

 

[VinceT3]

I went to Circuit City and told them Walmart was offering the A2 for 98 bux and they sold them to me 2 of them for 95 each including tax..

 

[tigerfan33]

I went to Wally World this morning. Got there at around 7:45 and no one else except one other customer was there to get the "secret tiems". He got his laptop and I got my HD DVD player. By the time I left there was about ten other people there. Probably there to buy the laptop. Only advertisment here was online and the local news had something also.

 

[SatinKzo]

Got to the store at 7:50, everyone very nice standing around in lines. People joking and having a good time. I was 8th in line for the HD-DVD and didn't even get in line for the laptops.

I got 2 A2's and grabbed a laptop too.

Store had 3 carts of laptops and 36 A2's (according to worker, all 3 walmarts locally had same amounts).

When I left, still 2carts of laptops and about 10 or so HD-DVD players left.

We also had about 20 HD-DVD titles to choose from for $14. People were buying those up like crazy.

 

[dkellumw]

Got to the store at 7:50, everyone very nice standing around in lines. People joking and having a good time. I was 8th in line for the HD-DVD and didn't even get in line for the laptops.

I got 2 A2's and grabbed a laptop too.

Store had 3 carts of laptops and 36 A2's (according to worker, all 3 walmarts locally had same amounts).

When I left, still 2carts of laptops and about 10 or so HD-DVD players left.

We also had about 20 HD-DVD titles to choose from for $14. People were buying those up like crazy.

I got to the store aroud 7:50 and there were about 9 or 10 other people already there. I got two A2's. Just a few minutes before 8 all the A2's were gone. I asked about the 50" Sanyo Plasma and they told me that the one unit that they got was already sold. I think I will send Wal-mart an e-mail letting them know that I am a little iritated about that. At least they could have had 2 or 3.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Just got back from my 3rd store this morning, and finally success!! This store had one left as of 20 minutes ago.....

 

[MW390]

Commack NY 13 players sold before I arrived @ 9:50 EDT. East Meadow NY
12 sold before I arrived @ 10:50 EDT. Poor selection of HDDVDs at both stores
and they were not marked w 14.95 on them. Picked up Lebowski and Failure.

FYI 1 store was in Nassau County and 1 in Suffolk County on Long Island. I imagine
the NYC stores would be sold out

 

[dfergie]

I got to my store around 9:15... the dept manager was carting in the laptops and taking to the back... no one there to buy the HD DVD players (8) behind the counter. I called my car pool buddy, bought one and picked up one movie... When he showed up I pointed out the Hdmi cables he would need and left... Afaik there were still 6 after he got his... No Visable Ads...

 

[jcrandall]

My store had 20 on a pallet in the main electronics aisle at 10am. Said they had only sold a couple. Also had a shipper of the $14 HDDVDs.

I only took one player and two movies. I think the $99 price point will pop up several times before Christmas, could be one of the big things this holiday if Toshiba can keep up with the production needs.

 

[haertig]

Suburbs north of Denver. 24x7 Super WalMart in an affluent neighborhood. I had cased this store Electronics department the evening before. Evening before sales people were playing dumb about the sale, but when I asked specific questions and mentioned it was on the website they loosened up and talked about the night crew stocking things for the 8:00am sale. They honesty didn't seem to know what would be on sale though, except for one guy who had a minor clue ("some kind of DVD player" was his comment).

Arrived 7:40am. Approx 10 people milling around in Electronics. No lines. The group appeared to be pretty informed and knew what they were coming after on the technical points, not just "because it's on sale". Sales lady was soliciting everyone who walked into the department, "Are you here for the sale?" Everybody wrote their name down on the list for the product they wanted. I was around 6th on the A2 list. A2 and laptop lists were neck and neck in length, with a good 50% of the group adding themselves to both lists.

8:00am A good 50 people milling around the department by then. Pallets rolled out at 8:00am on the nose, and names were called in order. 40 A2's were available. Strict limit of one per customer, enforced by a 300 lb 4 foot tall lady who apparently didn't like her job. Definitely not someone you'd ask the question "Can I have two?" a second time to. Got mine. Lines formed at the department cash registers to pay, I was around 6th and was done in less than 10 minutes. I saw an estimated 25-30 A2's standing in line to pay, with five or so sitting unclaimed on the pallet. I asked that since their lists had been fulfilled, could I buy a second player, but was denied.

Another person buying an A2 was texting two of his friends at different WalMarts checking on their status. They were at regular (not Super) WalMarts in a nice, but not quite so affluent, area of town. Those other WalMarts are prone to big lines at the door on Black Friday. Neither of his friends got their A2. His quote was "Those stores were 'bum rushed' ". Whatever that means, ... but it doesn't sound pleasant.

Sales lady at my WalMart reported they didn't get any of the $15 HD DVDs in to sell.

Left store around 8:10 - 8:15

Called a different WalMart (near affluent shopping mall, no residential areas close to it) around 8:45 and asked about $15 movie availability. Sales lady said they had the movies, but the A2s were all gone. Drove to second WalMart, arriving 9:00. Electronics department was deserted. $15 HD DVDs were limited to two movies. One copy of the first movie available, three copies of the second movie. I never heard of either movie. Passed on that, bought some Starbucks coffee, and left.

 

[ethen]

Philadelphia Suburbs.

Got to the Store at 7:20. I was the third person in line at the Electronics section. By 8am there was at least 20 people in line. Store had 20 units that they wheeled out on a cart right at 8.

No pushing or shoving by anyone.

I was planning on waiting for the Format War to be over before purchasing, but for $98 I was in.

Tom

 

[dtanderson]

I picked mine up this morning there was one other person buying one along with the 50" Sanyo. They had 4 players on the shelf but I thought I heard someone state that they were going to have to get some more from the back to restock the shelf.

They had a whole rack of the HD-DVD movies on sale.

 

[Voyager6]

Went to a "regular" Wal-Mart near my home at 7:30am. No HD-A2's in sight. Asked about the A2's and was told that they were just unloading them and would be put out later. Couldn't hang around so I headed to a Super Wal-Mart closer to work. Found a display loaded with A2's. Picked up 2 and got in line. People were buying mostly laptops but a few A2's were purchased while I was in line. Still about 30 left when I left the store. I will be stopping by that store later this evening to check out the HD DVD's.

 

[DishDave]

I just got back from WM they still had 5 left on the endcap no problem great deal for $98 Even though i didn't need it.

 

[brainiac]

Showed up at the closer of the two local Wal-Marts here at 7:05. I was third in line. They said that they weren't going to start selling them until 8:00. But as the line grew to about 10 people at around 7:30, they started selling them. I picked up two. Also picked up one of the laptops for my wife. No hassle at all.

 

[teachsac]

None, Zip, Zilch, Nada, All sold out

 

[epaul]

We are about 35 miles from the nearest Walmart and I didn't think we had a chance of getting one of these, but my wife was going anyway so I asked her to look for the heck of it. She called me about 4:00 pm and said they still had bunches left, about 16 in the electronics section. She then called a little later and said there was a whole pile in one of the aisles.

So, we got ours.

This super Walmart was in Altus, Oklahoma. Guess we don't have as many Hd junkies here as elsewhere, thank goodness.

edit: My wife couldn't find the cheap DVD movies at first and then called back and she had picked up "The Unforgiven"

 

[osu1991]

I figured TULSA would sell out, so since I had to go out of town at 7 this morning I thought I would stop at the SuperCenter in small town Okmulgee, Ok and I didn't see anything that was mentioned in the ad about 8:30 this morning.

 

[ethen]

I returned to the same Walmart this evening to purchase a HDDVD Movie to test the player. To my surprise they had two left over. I purchased them for a couple of guys at work.

Movie selection at Walmart was poor. I am planning on going to Best Buy tomorrow to purchase a few movies. Bigger Selection.