Home Theaters

 Well, I won’t give the many details of the current price wars on the HD DVD front. I have given the beginnings of the charge, and the second wave that has come quickly thereafter. The HD DVD format is coming on fast, not necessarily as a replacement for Blu-ray, but a replacement for standard DVD. With prices this crazy low, who would buy a standard DVD player?

These deals are changing daily, but the ones I put here are those I check to make sure will last until the next week, and next week’s list (unless otherwise specified).

So - to the deals, Robin… (sorry, I happen to have liked Batman on television, and could not resist)

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HD Televisions

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 ViewSonic 26″ LCD HDTV

$449.99 after $150 mail-in rebate @ Office Depot

CLEARPICTURE™ technology eliminates noise, increases detail, and optimizes color
2 HDMI inputs expand your high-definition connectivity
Model N2635w

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ViewSonic 37″ LCD HDTV

$749.99 after $150 mail-in rebate @ Office Depot

High-definition images look amazing and even standard television images are incredibly smooth and sharp
Three HDMI inputs expand your high-definition connectivity
Model N3735W

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Samsung 40″ 1080p Widescreen LCD HDTV for $1,340 shipped  @ Amazon

Model # LN-T4061F

It features a native resolution of 1920×1080 (1080p), 10,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, ATSC and NTSC tuners, and three HDMI, VGA, component, S-Video, and RCA video inputs.

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Samsung 50″ Widescreen DLP Projection HDTV for $900 shipped @ Circuit City

The television is $999.99, but after using coupon KAAP6MRA6Z, the price drops to $899.99. It has a 1280×720 native resolution, 2500:1 contrast ratio, and HDMI, VGA, component, S-Video, and coaxial video inputs.

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  Panasonic 42″ 1080p Widescreen Plasma HDTV for $1350 @ Circuit City

Using the same code as above, the price drops $100, making this quite a deal for PLASMA! It features a native resolution of 1920×1080 (1080p), ATSC, NTSC, and QAM tuners, 10,000:1 contrast ratio, Secure Digital card slot, and dual HDMI, component, S-Video, and RCA video inputs. Deal ends November 6. Hurry!

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HD DVD Players

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Toshiba HD-A30 1080p HD DVD Player $315 @ Circuit City

The HD-A30 features 1080p output with DVD upconversion to 720p/1080i/1080p, Ethernet connectivity, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS HD, and other surround sound processing, and HDMI, component, and RCA video outputs. Deal ends November 6.

Submit this mail-in rebate and receive five HD DVD movies from a limited selection for free.

This is the high priced spread, and won’t be really inexpensive for a long time, not to be confused with the HD-A3.

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Blu-ray Players

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  Sony PlayStation 3 60GB Game Console + remote, game for $500 @ WalMart

That’s list price, but it adds the Sony Blu-ray Remote and a game of your choice for free. Add about $13 for shipping. Sales tax is added where applicable. Game choices include Heavenly Sword, NBA 08, Lair, Warhawk, Resistance: Fall of Man, MotorStorm, and Formula One Championship Edition.

This is also the only Blu-ray player I could find on sale today. The Blu-ray troops have been caught with nothing to push out cheaply for getting Blu-ray into the hands of consumers. Help should be on the way soon. The war isn’t over.

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Miscellaneous stuff

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Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-950 USB 2.0 HDTV Tuner Stick for $60 @ Gateway.com

The WinTV-HVR-950 puts HDTV on your PC with both NTSC and ATSC tuners, up to 1080i resolution, and “TiVo-like” features.

This is just the thing for that ‘personal’ home theater PC,  or an easy way to add a second tuner to that tightly packed small form factor HTPC case.

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Remember when we talked about storage, and that content would eventually be the largest  portion of your home theater equipment? Well, to help with storage of movies, pictures, audio, and anything else here is some help.

OFFICEMAX Slim Jewel Cases,100-Pack
BUY 1, GET 1 FREE  $ 29.99

This is a good deal, and a great time to grab it. Before all the Christmas stuff gets committed to DVD.

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BUFFALO TERRASTATION LIVE 2TB MULTIMEDIA STORAGE SERVER WITH SERIAL ATA HARD DRIVES - HS-DH2.0G.L/R5 $799.9 @ Fry’s

Buffalo’s TeraStation Live 2.0TB Multimedia Storage Server NAS offers powerful DLNA CERTIFIED multimedia server solutions for both the small business and consumer markets. TeraStation Live allows users to have a simple, cost effective data or media server to their office or home network.

DLNA is the standard that means your media PC or TiVo can query the box and grab content for your viewing pleasure.  Simple as hooking it up. Great deal for this much storage!

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BestBuy has Seinfeld Season 1-8 for $17 each season. Shipping is $2 or select in store pickup.

Good price for full seasons. If you’re a fan, I’d snap this up, it won’t be around long.

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More deals as they come throughout the week. Many places are running sales for only 1 or 2 days during the week, so check back often.

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