The 2008 holiday shopping season is approaching quickly, and consumers are anxiously waiting to see how low Blu-ray players and HDTVs will drop in price. As part of tradition, Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving marks the official beginning of the holiday shopping season when prices are dramatically slashed for one day of complete shopping chaos.
In the United States, Black Friday causes pandemonium at brick and mortar retail stores across the country, especially electronics stores. Thousands of Americans will wait in line at Best Buy, Fry’s Electronics, Circuit City and other stores, sometimes all night, in an attempt to snap up discounted electronics and computer hardware.
What kind of things will shoppers be able to get their hands on this year?
DealNews.com has published unconfirmed rumors that Blu-ray players will be available for $149 and 42" 720p plasma HDTVs will be available for $499. But the site also recommends waiting until closer to Christmas if you want to purchase a plasma HDTV, as popular brand names will receive drastic price cuts after Black Friday. It could be possible to purchase name brand Blu-ray players with movie bundles for $199, but the web site did not list any brand names or movies.
Recent articles published on CDFreaks indicates many of you still want to see Blu-ray player prices drop closer to $200 before you’re willing to hop on the high-definition bandwagon. Memorex and several other companies have Blu-ray players available in the $250 price range, although the lack of features has left consumers disappointed.
Blu-ray movie titles will also be available this holiday shopping season at lower prices, in the movie industry’s latest attempt to try and get consumers to adopt Blu-ray. But the cost of DVDs and upscaling DVD players will also drop prices in time for Christmas, which could hinder Blu-ray sales.
If Blu-ray player prices continue to drop, down to $149, will you be willing to leave behind DVDs in favor of the high-definition format?
27 Comments
Don't forget your 1080p 50 inch display! Are they $199 as well?
I kind of want to see how many people have TVs ideal for Blu-ray who simply haven't switched over because the technology is still too expensive. I know a couple of people who could go out and by a Blu-ray player and a bunch of movies and not need to upgrade their TV, but they are waiting for the price to drop.
- guest
- Posts: 15288
- Posted on: 21 Sep 08 07:40
- guest
- Posts: 15288
- Posted on: 22 Sep 08 00:30
who is with me?
- guest
- Posts: 15288
- Posted on: 22 Sep 08 03:35
If they look at 1080p Blue-ray on a bigger (56" or larger) 1080p screen, they are going to have to think *hard* about forking out the significantly bigger buck$ for the bigger screen, let alone the player.
- guest
- Posts: 15288
- Posted on: 22 Sep 08 16:06
Only if it decodes all HD audio. If not I'll stick with my NMT.
"Cause 720p sucks now since the drop in prices on the 1080p's"
Even the Pioneer Kuro PDP-5080 HD 50" (1366x768) plasma? I hear it kicks the ass of other manufacturers' 1080p sets. I came close to buying one on Saturday for $1,600. Didn't pull the trigger, though. I have a 20 month old who likes to hit expensive stuff with other, less expensive, stuff. Imagine, if you will, seeing a $1600 plasma broken by a $7 plastic rake.
This is good news. I hope its a permanent price drop.
My 42" 768p plasma is totally blu-ray compatible.
I have a 42" 768p high-end plasma (Marantz) and HD DVD looks fantastic with 1080i signal and better than DVD. You do not need a 1080p screen to take advantage of the superior detilaed image of blu ray.
As blue pointed out, quality is the biggest factor. The quality of the video processor is more of a factor then the raw number of pixels on the screen.
The holiday shopping seasont this year is probably not going to be a boom. From what I am hearing, retailers are expecting the worse and hoping for the best this season. I know for my family, the last half of this year has been rough so far. We won't be spending nearly what we did in the past.
@DukeNukem
Pioneer rocks! If I were to buy a HDTV, it would be a Pioneer Kuro plasma!
Thanks for your insight. I'll give them a call and see if they still have it in stock. It's hard to pass on a 50" Kuro for $1,600. I know Crabby likes Kuro, too.
BTW, I hope 2009 is better for you than 2008. With the economy taking a nosedive this year, many families have suffered. Oil went up $16 a barrel yesterday, so I filled my tank last night. You can't be too safe.
Yea, it is pretty rough here too as far as gas. A station up the street from where I live, had trash bags on all their pumps denoting that they were out of gas. Gas is still hovering around $4/gallon. I filled up my car the other day and it was $50. I hope they can resolve the shortage soon because we are getting closer to the Summer to Winter gasoline blend transition. Most refineries wait until the last second to re-tool their equipment for the transition and purposely allow their stock to run low to delay it as long as possible. So you have a shortage already compounded by another shortage which means even higher prices.
If you plan on getting a Kuro 5080, you might want to do the 150 hour break in before you start watching it.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/http://club.myce.com/showthread.php?t=858851
- guest
- Posts: 15288
- Posted on: 25 Sep 08 02:46
Regarding $149 blu-ray player, I think it can be true. We've seen $200 player so in 3 more months we might see $149!! At least if some store phasing out the older Panasonic DMP-BD30 that will be a good buy if $149.
- guest
- Posts: 15288
- Posted on: 26 Sep 08 22:05
upscaling looks just as good, and you can rip DVD.
BD is dead. downloads are the future as long as they dont have drm lol.
- guest
- Posts: 15288
- Posted on: 27 Sep 08 02:34
"Don't worry about the plasma break-in. I tried with my Samsung and it had no effect at all. "
??? No effect?
"6) Plasmas are very susceptible to "burn-in" when in their infancy as the phosphors have not had a chance to age. A few hundred hours of watching varied material to age the phosphors is not unrealistic and will probably due a lot to curtail possible damage."
The break in ages the phosphors so you don't have to worry about it. I don't know what hell the you are talking about. I don't think you know what you are talking about.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/http://club.myce.com/showthread.php?t=608677
- guest
- Posts: 15288
- Posted on: 28 Sep 08 19:14
You don't have hdtv or plasma like us do so reading those things can scare you, we understand, don't worry..
That has nothing to do with it. It ages the phosphors. I read your post. Now how about reading mine.
- guest
- Posts: 15288
- Posted on: 29 Sep 08 06:07
" it still gives me some ghosting whenever my boys play games but as soon as I watch movies the ghosting is gone."
Have you ever thought that since you "did" the break-in, that the ghosting is easily remedy?
" Besides todays Plasma has it own (Built-in) Screen Burn Protection with Pixel Shift or Signal Pattern."
I know. It is called an Orbital.
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