Home Theaters

Lots of deals are coming around, a sure sign that holiday time is near, and spending on others, as well as ourselves is coming. Time to start taking notes, finding out what those special people in our lives are thinking about, and crunching the numbers to see what can be done about it. Let the secret Santa out for a while to look through what is offered this week.

First, let’s look at the number one item on the lists of many people.

Televisions, HD Televisions

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Syntax Olevia 532H 32″ Widescreen LCD HDTV $500

CompUSA.com offers the Syntax Ölevia 532H 32″ Widescreen LCD HD Television for $499.99. It can be shipped for $27, or picked up at a nearby store (yes, someone is till close to one)It includes 1366×768 native resolution, 1600:1 contrast, 8ms response time, up to 1080i resolution, built-in NTSC and ATSC tuners, and HDMI, VGA, component, S-Video, and RCA inputs. (although a good price, remember that this is not a native HD resolution)

Samsung 61″ 1080p Widescreen DLP Rear Projection HDTV $1749

Dataviz.com has the Samsung 61″ DLP Rear Projection, model no. HL-T6176S, for $2,299. When you put it down to purchase (shopping cart) it drops to $1,749.  This deal includes free shipping, so that’s even better. Some of the features are 1920×1080 (1080p) native resolution, 10,000:1 contrast ratio, built-in ATSC and NTSC tuners, USB connectivity, and HDMI, VGA, component, S-Video, RCA, and coaxial video inputs. (this looks like a tremendous deal, and this unit has been highly rated, and the Samsung name means quality)

Toshiba REGZA 26″ Widescreen LCD HDTV / DVD Combo $679

Again from Dataviz.com, a good deal on a unit that combines a television and DVD player. The television is HD, the DVD player, of course, is not. That still does not keep this from being a very nice unit for a den, or a bedroom. Perhaps a gift for that son or daughter who is making you very proud of their academic progress! Or a treat for yourself, in your own bedroom retreat. Shipping adds $23, and the features include 1366×768 native resolution, built-in NTSC, ATSC, and QAM tuners, and HDMI, VGA, component, S-Video, and RCA video inputs.

for your perusal :

Best Buy has 10% off selected HD televisions, but it is online only. They use the ‘put the item in cart’ method to show you the actual price, which is annoying, but there are a few deals. Also, you can save $$ by picking the items up at a store, so there is no shipping charge. (probably just as well, because the average employee at Best Buy isn’t really excited about helping the customer - still it can be a good place to obtain a deal)

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Laptops are beginning to come with HD DVD players, allowing a widescreen personal experience almost anywhere. Add a great set of headphones, and home theater is at your arm’s length.

HP Pavilion Intel Core 2 Duo 2GHz 17″ Laptop with HD DVD-ROM $1300

CompUSA.com offers the HP Pavilion dv9260us Core 2 Duo 2GHz 17″ Widescreen Notebook, model RP243UA#ABA, for $1,349.98. A $50 mail-in rebate chops the net price to $1,299.98 which includes free shipping.

It features an Intel Core 2 Duo 2GHz dual-core processor, 17″ 1440×900 widescreen LCD, 2GB RAM, two 120GB Serial ATA hard drives (240GB total - wow!), HD DVD-ROM drive with dual layer DVD burner, NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 256MB video card, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11a/b/g wireless, Bluetooth, integrated webcam and microphone, flash card reader, HDTV tuner, and Windows Vista Ultimate. (this looks like a great deal, and remember, HP is one of those manufacturers who includes the XP restore disc so that if Vista totally puts you off, you can upgrade to Windows XP Pro.)

 Newegg has the TiVo model R54080 (a series 2 80 hour model) on sale for $170.00, which is a nice unit for time shifting, and works well for storing television and music content. With all of the new features, and the ability to expand these units, it makes a great gift for anyone who likes music or television.

Newegg has other deals for the home theater buff, ranging from a Mitsubishi DLP to Angstrom speakers, all a great prices. Because the everyday price is low, sales tend to not be spectacular looking, but are always worth a look - many times a substantial shipping fee will be saved on a sale product.

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Many of the online haunts of mine are on an off-week, or aren’t offering much to the theater crowd. If none of the above deals catches your fancy, perhaps a week of saving, in preparation for the Friday after Thanksgiving would be in order. As always, I’ll be scouring the net for the best deals on things to make our home theater experiences better! I’m sure I’ll find some more things today, so check back later, or possibly tomorrow.

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