Best Buy getting desperate?

Strange headline, strange content. Desperate? Fire sale? Scheme? How about "Best Buy adds budget BluRay player ahead of holidays"? Nah, wouldn't be CDFreaks without a big helping o' bias.

First, I want to thank management for posting this even though the content was a bit short. I'll keep that in mind for next time.


Second, I can't believe deckard would crap on CDFREAKS for something I posted about Blu-ray. Do you even read my comments, man? If you don't think Blu-ray is having a fire sale then you need to leave your basement more often. The global economy just went tits up and Best Buy, Future Shop, Circuit City, and a bunch of other retailers have a buttload of Blu-ray inventory that is getting caked with dust as I type this. Nobody wants to shell out $40 for the hi-def version of.... well, anything. People are losing their homes. The Canadian dollar, which was trading at $1.10 USD less than a year ago, is now trading at under $0.80 USD. Oil is selling at less than $70 USD a barrel today. Interest rates and stock prices have plummeted. Wake up, deckard. This isn't bias, it's what's really going on in the world... and the news is bad.

Duke,

Blu-Ray disc is here to stay, wether you say it is or not. Best Buy is advertising a sale, that's what they do. The world isn't coming to an end, in fact now is the time to make your fortune. People who lost their homes are the same people who would've lost them anyway regardless of the "economy woes".

I'll take 2 of those players, thank you.

@ discman009

I *never* said that Blu-ray wasn't here to stay. I'm just saying that the general public isn't buying into Blu-ray for numerous reasons, one of them being the current state of the global economy.

Stores have stock + people aren't buying = FIRE SALE.

It's good that you have money and want to buy Blu-ray. For every 1 discman009 there are, I'm guessing, 8 DukeNukems.

Duke, your anti-Blu-ray bias is getting old fast. The holidays are coming up. If the rumors are right, most retailers will be selling Blu-ray players for $100-$150 come Black Friday. They do this every year. Retailers dangle a hot ticket item in front of consumers, hoping that they'll come into the store and pick up a few other items along with their cheap player.

He may be getting old, but he is in agrement with most analysts for the 4th quarter of 2008. They are ALL predicting a very, very poor performance- mainly due to the economy. It's just the way it is.

Google *Blu-ray sales* if you want to see if Blu-ray is "here to stay"

The 4th quarter looks dismal to analysts (and I am not talking about paid off douches like iSupply) Remember- 4th quarter is what everyone hopes will make their year.

There is nothing wrong with Bluray aside from it's draconian DRM scheme(s) that hobble your purchases. Unfortunately, these DRM "features" drug out the launch of both HD DVD and Blu-ray about 2 extra years after the tech was ready to go. I know, I saw it demonstrated in 2003 with a tri-mode drive running on a PC, even Nero had the recording software finished.

Couple this with the fact that they are trying to market something not many people need to begin with, or even want, and it all came along when the economy went belly up and hard drives became very cheap and streaming tech is being pushed as it cuts costs for providers. Who wants to market discs when you can use someones Internet or satellite account?

The same thing that brought down Wall Street will bring down Blu-ray-GREED. Take your incremental upgrades and shove 'em!

@ DukePukem

Name calling. Really? How old are you?

@DukeNukem

He's "this many"...

Funai makes Insignia, Magnavox, Sylvania and others which are cheap period! I returned my Magnavox and got a real BR player a Samsung P1500 for $248 on Fathers Day sale at Walmart and just bought another one from Amazon for $160 with purchase of new Matrix for $55.

Nice!


JohnnyJT
South Philly

Phillies-1 Rays-0

Blu-ray? We don't want your stinking Blu-ray..... Hard drives are $.12 a gig, flash drives are getting cheaper every day. Hi-def downloads are half the price of a Blu-ray disc if you PAY for them. Upconverting dvd players are dirt cheap. In 5 yrs you'll be storing your Blu-ray in the same box as your Betamax . Sony won the format battle but lost the tech war.

Duke, your comments make me laugh. Oil selling below $70 is a good thing, unless your trading oil on the market. Even a clown knows that higher oil prices lead to higher costs for everything else, thus low oil is good for the consumer...perhaps you need to clue into that. Big whoop the Canadian dollar is at 0.80cents...i saw it sit in the 60 cent range years ago, and now at 0.80 cents, on no it's the end of the world. As for stock prices....darn it...i've never seen stocks hover at these levels before, i mean the early 2000's must have just been wiped from history right, the market's weren't getting hammered then either right?? The problem with you is, you wanna act all cool and shit here, but it backfires in your face. As for the firesales....yup, the economy is going to kill apple, microsoft, Onkyo, Yamaha, HP, Toshiba, Dell, and the list goes on....because according to you, no one is going to be buying anything right?? Damn it, Mexico and Hawaii better close up shop, no one is gonna bother vacationing there either.

Oh wake up man, DRM is pretty much a part of everything from Computer software to apple's ipods, to dvd's. Don't come on here acting like Blu-Ray is the first to use DRM. Besides the only people who ever bitch about DRM are the same fools that love to pirate whatever material they can get their hands on. It's funny though, any time an article about Blu-Ray or DRM gets posted, you come running in like a fly goes to a piece of crap.

I have to agree with Duke here. He actually isn't bashing BluRay at all but rather informing a nice article. BD isn't going to die anytime soon it is here to stay. Downloads even those that claim to be hidef aren't so there is no battle there but for the price and with the internets capping the max limit allot of users are thinking differently. I am buying BD now but it isn't a whole lot but when they are at a good price which my sweet spots are around 20-25 which is truely fair I feel being new and all. True 1080p will be bluray at best and I think even Duke can say that is true.

"DRM is pretty much a part of everything from Computer software to apple's ipods, to dvd's. Don't come on here acting like Blu-Ray is the first to use DRM"
Not music people won that battle - by boycotting the labels. Movies next. I am sick and tired of having to spend extra money to REGAIN my Fair Use Rights. If you like getting shafted- that's your business- Sony loves you!!!

I think it would be in sony's best interest to continute dropping prices ASAP. They're the ones getting royalties on every disc sold. If they leave it at high price points, and it becomes something like laserdisc, they're going to lose out on all that royalty revenue. They should really drop prices and push the format, because I think it would be around a while, as they'res no immediate need to replace 1080p, thus no immediate need to replace bluray. Which means they're would be alot of future years to collect royalties. Look how long Philips has been collection CD royalties. Of course sony wants to drop prices and them moving

Like i said earlier, stores have stock of tons of different products, Future Shop and Best Buy better just close down because no one is ever gonna buy anything again. Don't be so naive man, not every one is an idiot when it comes to handling their money, there are still millions of people out there in North America who still earn good wages and know how to budget. Just because a few idiots keep spending when they know they don't have money, don't make it out to be the entire rest of society being that way.

The fact it's an Insignia brand (and that's one someone won't find tons of truly informed reviews on from a 3rd-party website not affiliated to Best Buy) would make me leery. The average consumer *might* bite on a Blu-ray player *if* it's a Samsung or one that could at least have multiple reviews found easily at hand (unlike Insignia). That said, an informed consumer might jump for the player but not for the disks with their copy protection + high cost (given HD-DVD was the better format in terms of being something that could have been mass produced with existing DVD technology, unlike the extra steps and retooling needed for Blu-ray). Just knowing that Sony could have indeed paid off the studios to the tune of $500 million to solely adopt Blu-ray (rumored and likely, but not proven)...well, if more consumers would inform themselves on that + the onerous copy protection and the true overkill that Blu-ray is, those factors would kill it as a format if those factors all became reality among the majority. The whole format started from a flawed premise (assuming that everyone would die to have tons of extras, graphics AND need all that extra storage for same) to say nothing of having to go to all the extra and unneeded expense to make it (compared to standard DVD or HD-DVD). It would be ironic indeed to see the format bite the dust--no slamming Sony--but just because the things that start flawed usually end flawed...and gone.

@ RustyNail

Like DRM do ya? Well this Blu-Ray Player is for you take it and stop spreading the virus cause everyone is sick of it. Your the crap that is stuck on DRM that we all can't stand, you need your head examined LMAO idiot.

But we're not talking about other stock. We're talking about Blu-ray right now. Please try to keep up.


I know that millions of people have money and I'm sure that many of them know how to budget. What Crabby and I (and others) are saying is that Blu-ray is a luxury item. In poor economic times (such as we're in now), the majority of people cut back on things that aren't necessities. Food, clothing, and shelter are necessities. Scarface on Blu-ray is a luxury item that doesn't fill your belly or keep the snow off your head. If you have money for Blu-ray, good for you. I also have money for Blu-ray, but the financial security of my family comes first.

Have you been reading the papers every day like I do? Every fifth story is about massive layoffs (auto sector, Wall Street, etc). Those people will have a tough Christmas and Blu-ray is not on their wish list.

Thanks, Doc. Yes, I am looking forward to 1080p. I'm buying a 50" Pioneer Kuro next year. Blu-ray has the best quality and beats downloaded "hi-def" by a mile. My only two gripes with Blu-ray are draconian DRM and pricing.

I don't think you're seeing the whole picture. Oil selling below $70 *is* a good thing, but only for consumers. However, it means that manufacturing is slowing down and people will lose their jobs.

That's bad.

The Canadian dollar is at $.79 USD. That means we don't buy as much stuff from the US anymore (as I read in the paper today). That means manufacturing in the US slows down and people lose their jobs.

That's bad.

People lost billions in the stock market, so they can't afford to buy as much stuff anymore, so manufacturing slows down and people lose their jobs.

That's bad.

Because of lax lending policies in the US, people bought houses that they couldn't afford. Now they're in trouble and some of them are losing their homes. Also, many of those same banks have gone bankrupt.

That's bad.

"The problem with you is, you wanna act all cool and shit here, but it backfires in your face."

Yes, I sit at my computer with my leather jacket on and act all cool as I type stuff on CDFREAKS. You know me about as well as you know the global economy.

DRM means nothing to those that Own AnyDVD HD. Thought so Duke. I hate the protection with passion but the quality us the best.

I don't think some of you people have a respect for the scope and seriousness of the problem affecting the US economy. Just as I am typing this the Dow dropped like a lead weight in water, "The Dow Jones industrial average dropped more than 330 points in morning trading. Before the open of New York trading, Dow futures had dropped 550 points, triggering a temporary trading halt in stock futures contracts in an effort to slow the decline."

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081024/financial_meltdown.html

Just in my area, Wachovia, lost 23 Billion in the 3rd quater. Circuit City is closing around 150 stores in attempt to keep from filing Chapter 11.

Some other tidbits:

1.
The Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) index lost 3.8% and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) lost 3.5%. All three indexes were hovering around five-year lows.

2.
Asian markets tumbled overnight, with the Japanese Nikkei losing almost 10%. The Moscow market slumped 14% before the exchange said it was suspending trading until Tuesday. European markets slumped in afternoon trading after a big drop in the United Kingdom's third-quarter GDP added to recession fears there. (Full story)
Bets that the Bank of England and European Central Bank will have to cut rates aggressively in the months ahead sent the euro and pound lower versus the dollar. The dollar slumped versus the yen. (Full story)

http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/24/mark...ion=2008102411

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/arti...NESS/810230323

And if that wasn't enough to convince you, Congress has now alotted nearly 1 Trillion dollars in an attempt to stop the "bleeding". Some experts are even saying that this is just a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of bad debt and mortgages out there and that this will help a little or none at all.

If you think that Black Friday is going to be a boon for Retailers, think again. Alot are hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.

@ shaolin007

Thank you. That was a very informative post.

I was reading in a paper yesterday just how much debt we're in (as a society). Every person owes, on average, $80,000. This includes mortgages. They also said that because of the way Canadian banks are structured, we should weather the recession nicely. Our banks never lend more than what the person can realistically pay back and they almost never lend below the prime rate (unless you have rock-solid credit). This is what saved us from the recent meltdown and why Americans are hurting so badly. Canadians tend to be more cautious with their money. That being said, I don't see Blu-ray taking off in Canada for at least another year. People are just afraid of what lies ahead.

I will still do my normal shopping I am in no way of hurting money wise. I worry yea but will I be hurting no. My spendin will only be buying BD movies for us this year. I will wait for the crisis to stop before I invest in a better TV for now. The stock was at 400+ point drop at the opening bell this morning but now resides at the -275+ area and this is good. Not good as in points but you just can't say well the dow dropped another 200+ points so we are in for a ride. The ride is now here announced or not it is. But with the beginning opening of the dow today and where it is at now is a very big plus at the same time so just seeing negative numbers doesn't reflect we are doomed alone there is too many varibles to consider and not just one.

CJF1983, the only idiot is you. Your probably one of those cheap asses who are bitching because they may actually have to pay for a product instead of pirating it. Wake up and get your head out of your rear end...DRM has been around for a long time with products and it's not going away, it's a part of life...i don't stress myself out about it like you do. If i enjoy a product, i'm more than happy to pay for it. Problem is, losers like you are used to getting everything for free and have become spoiled. You'll get a reality check soon enough. As for Blu-Ray spreading a virus?...haha...time to lay off the stupid juice man.

@Dr.Who "The stock was at 400+ point drop at the opening bell this morning but now resides at the -275+ area and this is good."

Ummm- we ain't seen nothin yet with the stock market. Don't be surprised when it dips below 7000 or possibly 6000 by next spring.

Wait till we see the lackluster "holiday buying season" then 4th qtr earnings and also layoff figures for the month of December. They call it Black Friday, because this is when retailers come out of debt and begin to profit. If the "Black Friday" sales are a flop- then so are the stores and the people that work there. They will be broke and not able to maintain staff after the first of the year which is dead as hell in a good year.

Retailers are going to start dropping like flies and the US is nothing more than a bunch of retailers. We manufacture nothing any more and we have no assets.

Corporations will wait until Xmas to lay folks off as it has accounting advantages. You are not "safe" in your job unless you are still employed after Dec 27. Watch the papers, folks always get laid off around Christmas...

I really hate to be doom and gloom, but I just can't see how we can expect anything but more layoffs (which drives the market down and also makes consumers reluctant to spend money which drivess it down more) unless we get some sort of government infrastructure work programs going, like they did in the 30's. I think the government knows this as they are already talking about it. If this happens we might have a chance at recovery. Without it- we are in deep doo doo.

Not only Best Buy having sale on Insignia blu-ray player, but many blu-ray movies are cheaper than DVD in the store if not same price!

The Incredible Hulk Blu-ray $26.99, DVD $34.98
Indiana Jones Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Blu-ray $24.99, DVD $24.99

Ah Duke Nukem, reads his local Ontario paper and is the know it all when it comes to economics. Perhaps you should open your eyes and realize what was going on out west in B.C. with the dollar floating around par....it was killing the forest industry since they export primarily to the United States, same with the other manufacturing sectors in Canada. As for stocks, people always lose money, but you know what, no one is forcing a person to hold onto their stocks. When stocks got hammered in the early 2000's, people picked up stocks on the cheap and easily doubled and tripled their money. Same thing will happen here. If you don't know who to play the market, then you shouldn't even be in it. As for the oil, like i said it before, the only people concerned about oil dropping are people invested in oil. Do you think the trucking industry is crying with oil prices down at the levels they are at now? How about taxi drivers, the ferry corporations, public transit, people who commute? Nope didn't think so. The higher cost of oil led to higher prices in everything such as produce, home heating costs, travel, etc. You think all those fuel surcharges are good for the economy? That's the kind of stuff that started people to curb their spending, the US economic disaster is an entire mess of it's own.

@blair

I can get new releases on DVD for $14.99 at Target. Bestbuy is way overcharging for DVD discs. Thats what FYI charges in the mall and you have to be an idiot to pay those kind of prices.

@Crabbyappleton

"unless we get some sort of government infrastructure work programs going, like they did in the 30's"

Those programs didn't pull us out of the Great Depression unfortunately. While some programs were successful, alot of them were not. WW2 is what pulled us out of the Great Depression.

Alot of people are equating this debacle that we are in to the Great Depression; however, experts are saying that it is more like the depression of 1893. Further reading...

http://projects.vassar.edu/1896/depression.html


@Duke

NP. People don't realize that even though some are not feeling the impact yet, they will eventually. Some people might be comfortable in their position/job but everything is linked with one another. Housing links everything together also. When the housing market is bad so is everything else. Also, when the USA tanks, whether you are a fan or not of the USA, it affects everyone around the world. Thats why markets abroad are having trouble. I agree with Crabbyappleton. Wait till the holiday shopping season is over with. The crap is going to hit the fan in truck loads.

Folks, I hate to sound like a doomsayer but I am calling it how it is. This is some really serious stuff. If you do not watch the news or read a newspaper, you need to be paying attention to whats going on because it will bite you in the ass when you least expect it.

Know it all? No. You have to be pretty blind not to see the writing on the wall though. People getting laid off left and right can't be a good thing. Stock/Futures markets having trading stopped to slow the slide into oblivion can't be a good thing. Sure, some bad things can be good things. Lower fuel prices are good for consumers and for the trucking industry (as an example). Our lower Canadian dollar will make our products more appealing to other countries. But in the end, recession is recession. People's priorities change and Blu-ray is moved down on the list. Way down on the list.

I guess you may be right about WWII- but the good thing about infrastructure work in the US is that: A. It needs it and B. we can't or certainly don't need to "outsource it". We need to make the concrete here and also the re-bar etc. Trucks will be needed, cars and all the heavy equipment. Not to mention all the support industries to accomplish the rebuilding of our wore out - behind the times infrastructure. Maybe a nice electrical recharging grid for cars would be nice - stuff like that. Rail systems etc.

@Crabbyappleton

True.

@shaolin007: "I can get new releases on DVD for $14.99 at Target."

The topic was about Best Buy. Of course you can get cheaper online at amazon, deepdiscount, and ebay for DVD and Blu-ray.

@ RustyNail

Look if you love DRM good for you maybe Microshaft will hire you to pitch their products. As for people like me we don't accept or conform to anything that is restrictive. If you buy content you deserve the freedom to play it anywhere you see fit as long as your not on the street corner selling it which is illegal and I do not agree with such behavior.

Lmao wtf is going on here?? flame wars...

Relax people..BetaRay is here to stay wether I like or Hate it.
As for Economic woes.. I live in Canada, and when Canada was not involved in massive oil drilling out of the oil sands, a lower canadian dollar was great for us here ( with a good US economy) means more exports and investment here. But now Canada is stuck in a bad position as a lower dollar is a good thing for us here being next to the US. But the problem is a lower dollar also leads to cheaper Oil, wich right now is a bad thing for Canada.

So economy 101. When your dollar is higher than the worlds biggest market currency what do you do?? Exchange all your savings and any damn money you have to US then wait for your currency to fall again and make a massive profit. No one in the news is talking about this issue as I know many of my friends took all their money and all their savings and exchange to US at 1.10 .. I did it to and made a killing.. So in any bad situation is a good opportunity. Now that canadians are exchanging their US $ to Canadian the Canadian Banks are going to have big time leverage against the US banks.

@Coolios

Who is "flaming"? And the last I heard, investing in currency isn't really a good idea if you are in it for the short term.

@ shaolin007

Well, I guess that would depend on your definition of "short term". The Canadian dollar was $1.10 USD less than a year ago. If last November you bought $10,000 USD at $9,000 CAD (bank's cut included) and then sold it today at $12,000 CAD (bank's cut included), you'd be ahead by $3,000 CAD. That's a 33% profit in less that a year. I wanted to do what Coolios did, but didn't have the cash at the time.

@Duke

Sounds good, glad Coolios made his money. I have just read other things about investing in currency. It can be a risky venture.

I made about 15,000 profit when i exchanged back to canadian I knew this Low US dollar was a damn scam the japonese did the same crap in the mid 80's ( asked the world central bank to devaluate their currency) .. European millionares were the real losers in all this as they invested their money into imaginary numbers lol.. So the 700 billion bailout is all from Euros lost by Europeans hahaha US tricked them into this subprime hedge fund nonsense..

I played into this exchange game based on this simple thing i already typped..

Canada low economy with 37 million mostly savers..well used to be that way..with a high currency mostly due to the Oil Sands push..
On the other side of the border you have the worlds most best market to sell your product to 340 million hungry shoppers who consume everything!! with a low currency ? lol

The US managed to lower the currency in order to push exports because the US was importing almost 90% of everything. So they brought up their GDP.. I knew this was a damn scam from the begining and waited till the canadian dollar rose..then exchanged to US.. but then the subprime nonsense came out and now AMERICANS are becoming savers again. So oil commodities going down and other sectors too

Any canadian who did not exchange any of their savings to US money I am sorry you will never see that chance again!!! This was a one time shot.. I exchanged back to Canadian at 77 cents lol nice !!!!

I'll have to agree with Duke about people losing jobs and the economy etc. I live in Australia and people are losing their jobs here because of whats happening in America.

The company I work for is American based. We're doing great in Australia but they're doing shit in America. That could = us losing our jobs if the company goes down or gets overtaken by a bigger company.