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Sears Black Friday Blu-ray deals

The Black Friday ad for Sears has leaked showing the lowest prices on Blu-ray players yet.

The low-price leader for Blu-ray at Sears will be the Sony BDP-S350 for $179. With this player selling for this low (normal retail is $299), I would bet on a $99 generic player showing up on Black Friday.

Other Blu-ray deals in the Sears ad include:

• Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player on sale at $199.
• Samsung HT-BD2E Blu-ray home theater in a box system on sale at $599
• Select Blu-ray movies at $19.99, including 300
• National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets on Blu-ray at $18.99
• The 50th Anniversary Edition 2-Disc Blu-ray of Sleeping Beauty at $18.99

There are also great deals on flat panel displays, of course. I’ll update on more deals to come.

Netflix adds Watch Now support for Mac

Netflix is really invested in online streaming. Unfortunately for many of us with Mac computers they had left us out in the cold (so to speak) because Microsoft’s Play Ready DRM was incompatible with Mac. Netflix is moving to Microsoft Silverlight 2.0 beginning today which is supported by Intel-based Mac computers.

The second-generation movie player will also be supported by the Firefox web browser. Another good move.

The roll out will initially be available to a small number of subscribers. The new player will be available to all subscribers by the end of the year.

I hope this new player will also allow for higher-quality video and surround sound audio. I’m not holding my breath.

Samsung Blu-ray players receive Netflix streaming

Netflix Watch Now will come to Samsung’s Blu-ray players with a firmware update. The new deal was announced on Wednesday and will affect the BD-P2500 and BD-P2550 players.

The BD-P2500 is listed at $399 and features BD-Live, as well as the Silicon Optix HQV video processor. It has 7.1 analog outputs, but DTS:HD Master Audio is only output on HDMI via bitstream.

LG’s latest Blu-ray player has this functionality, and it will come to the Xbox 360 with the new Dashboard. Netflix also has their own network player made by Roku.

There are now approximately 12,000 Watch Now titles on Netflix. They’re not the best titles, and they’re in a low-resolution without surround sound, but it is still a great feature. With YouTube and Hulu working on “high-def” video, it’s only a matter of time before Netflix gets on board.

Source: Reuters

Blu-ray players hit sub-$200 mark

A few weeks earlier than I expected, Best Buy is offering their Insignia Blu-ray Disc player for $199. Clearly the pricing battle has begun. Target has recently started selling the Olevia player at $229. Expect even deeper deals as we get closer to December.

I was predicting sub-$200 players closer to Black Friday, but it appears economic conditions have worsened enough to frighten retailers in beginning the season earlier than normal. Black Friday may remain Red this year while consumer shopping is weakening.

This year you can expect more bundles. Sony has begun promoting Blu-ray bundles essentially handing out Blu-ray players free with the purchase of a BRAVIA LCD display. Samsung is currently offering free Matrix box set with their player, a $129 value.

Times are tough, but investing in your home theater can actually help you save money by keeping you at home.

Source: Home Media Magazine

Mitsubishi LaserVue up against Pioneer Kuro

The clash of the titans, so to speak, The Tech Lounge has a side-by-side review of the Mitsubishi LaserVue DLP rear-projection and the Pioneer Kuro plasma. While the Panasonic Viera plasma should be included in a serious comparison, this is the first instance of a third-party review of both side-by-side.

The Pioneer Elite PRO-151FD 60″ plasma display was pitted against the Mistubishi LaserVue 65″ with a Panasonic DMP-BD30K Blu-ray player as the source. They didn’t use a distribution amplifier, instead switching the HDMI manually from one set to the other.

They did use standard video settings in the menu without further tweaking of the image, so it isn’t a conclusive report. ISF calibrated displays will perform to the best of their abilities. This may have an affect on the final photographs they captured. They also don’t mention how the photos were taken, and with still photos the plasma’s automatic burn-in protection may skew the detail a bit.



In conclusion, they determined the LaserVue beat the Kuro in color saturation, especially in the reds department. It did have the sparkle inherent with DLP displays (for those that notice such things), and the viewing angle is about what you can expect from an RPTV. So the Kuro bests the LaserVue in viewing angles and contrast.

I’m interested to see what the LaserVue will do with a proper calibration.

Free Matrix box set on Blu-ray

Warner Home Video has teamed up with Samsung Electronics to offer a free Ultimate Matrix Collection box set free with the purchase of a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray Disc player. The offer is available at Best Buy, Circuit City and Amazon.com

The collection lists at $129, and the player lists at $399, but now you can get both together for as low as $230. What a bargain!



The BD-P1500 is Samsung’s latest Blu-ray player featuring BD1.1 profile. It offers both HDMI 1.3 and 5.1 analog outputs. It is Ethernet enabled for firmware updates.

Olevia introduces $229 Blu-ray player

Budget electronics manufacturer Olevia has introduced a very competitively-priced Blu-ray Disc player sold through Target retail stores. Listed on the website at $299, it will sell in stores only at $229.

The Olevia BD-110 is BD1.1 BonusView capable. It does include 5.1 analog outputs, which is very nice to see on a player this cheap. There is no indication on whether or not it decodes advanced codecs, however, or if it has HDMI 1.3 bitstream output for these codecs.



The race is on, and I’m wagering less than one month to go before sub-$200 players emerge.