Gadget Of The Week: Toshiba HD-A2 - We Like It Cheap & Easy

You can usually find me in the Blu-ray camp, watching all of the non-Universal (or Paramount, as soon as supplies dry up) high-definition content I can stuff into my PS3, which as it turns out is a lot. But this week we pay homage to an HD-DVD player, the Toshiba HD-A2, for one very special reason - Best Buy and Wal-Mart recently made it available, albeit for a limited time, for just $99!

It's still the same HD-A2 that doesn't output to 1080p like the newer Toshiba HD-A20 does, but for $99 you can snap up a DVD and HD-DVD player that will impress your friends without breaking your wallet. Furthermore, this kind of competitive pricing is an indicator of HD-DVD's commitment to winning the format war, or at least losing it having fought the good fight.

It's also the first time I've seen an HD-DVD player more attractively priced than the HD-DVD add-on to the Xbox 360, and it's nice for non-gamers to have inexpensive choices that aren't tied to console machines.