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FEATURES: Holiday Gift Guide 3D tech comes home
  • Matthew Berg
  • Member Since Nov 9th, 2007
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Engadget HD46 Comments

Recent Comments:

I'm sticking with my HD-A3 for now. Got it for $89.99 from Best Best, got two free movies in box, five free movies by mail and a surprise $50 gift card from Best Buy recently.

Just picked up a copy of Planet Earth (BBC Edition) for a whopping $21.67.

I'll be interested in BD when they're a commodity item. That's a while off yet.
@Mr. E

"Plus, editing out part of the movie? Why on earth would I want to do such a thing? I want to see the movie as the creators intended."

Two words - Phantom Edit. Sometimes the creators have their heads lodged firmly where the sun doesn't shine. ;)
People typically sit far closer to a computer monitor than they do to a television.
There's a reason why Vizio reigned as king of LCD sales for six months solid in 2007 and why other lackluster brands such as Polaroid and Sharp hold large chunks of the market. The mainstream HDTV doesn't cost a few grand. Likely has fallen below $1500 as well (don't have any hard figures on overall sales, but Vizeo has an average sale price of around $1000 and other budget manufacturers are pushing a ton of sets in the sub-grand market).

I'm going to be buying my first later this year and will likely be shopping in the 37-40" range (the upcoming Panasonic TC-37LZ800 has my interest), which likely have a street price of $1500 or less (no pricing on that model, but the next step down without 120HZ and only 3 HDMI is $1399 MSRP).

Am I going to buy Blu-ray? Nope. I'm not interested in a Playstation and won't pay $400 for a standalone that doesn't implement the final spec. Just because you have money doesn't mean you have to waste it. :)

It's not even about the price of a single player, though. I have three standalone DVD players in the house. Four computers equipped with DVD players. One portable DVD player. How much would it cost to replace all of them? Or should I buy multiple copies of each movie so I can watch them everywhere?
I'm just waiting for the vouchers and a few more options to hit the market. I have cable on the main set, but don't feel like running it to the rest of the rooms in the house. Besides, with a decent antenna I should be able to pick up some channels from Toronto and Rochester that the cable company doesn't carry.
Depending on the model, could be more. The 90nm PS3s (i.e. anything but the newer 40GB models) draw closer to 175W for movie playback.
They're also doing at least 30% off _every_ Blu-ray disc. ZOMFG FIRE SALE. :)

Hell, look at some of the other BD promos. You've got Sony offering up to $890 off a bundle of an HDTV and BD player:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644530352

Or Sharp offering a free BD player with an HDTV purchase:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcmcat140600050012&type=category

Or Panasonic offering $499 off an HDTV if you buy a $499 BD player:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?type=category&id=pcmcat138200050160

Seriously - both formats have been coming hard and heavy with the promotions since they launched. The only thing they prove is that HDM in general is struggling for meaningful adoption.
The Superbowl would hardly effect sales for the week ending on February 3rd. :)

As for promotions, that goes for both sides. Amazon and Best Buy has had sales on both formats, and a number of manufacturers were giving away free BD players with new HDTVs.
@xolan99

No, The Bourne Identity is the bundled title. Wouldn't be surprising if hundreds of thousands of people getting a copy of the first movie might result in a fair number of them picking up the sequel.
So you want to have to buy a movie twice to watch it in your HD and SD players?
Let the hive mind of Engadget get that for you.
"What is the best wireless surround sound speaker solution? I have a home theater where running wires is just not feasible. I have my own speakers, so I don't want a system that has speakers with integrated wireless. I've done a far amount of research and have only come across a few companies that even offer a reasonable solution: KEF, Kenwood and Rocketfish. Is there anything else out there? What do you recommend? Thank you!"

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