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Vizio Announces Some Black Friday Deals

alan — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 01:29:45 +0000

Vizio has announced lower prices for some of their HDTVs including a few Black Friday deals. Here are the details:

Vizio’s Costco Black Friday Deal

The Vizio 37-inch VW37L 1080i LCD HDTV will be on sale for $499.99 at Costco for Black Friday weekend (11/28-11/30) while supplies last. The VW37L has 2 HDMI connections, 5500:1 dynamic contrast ratio, and weighs 55 lb. LCD Buying Guide has a review up of the VW37L, rating it a 78.5 out of 100, which appears to be a pretty average rating for their site.

Link to official Vizio VW37L page.
Link to our review of buying an HDTV at Costco.

Other Vizio Deals

Vizio 32-inch VP322 720p Plasma HDTV $437.00 at Walmart effective Wednesday. It’s a new everyday low price, so no rush.

Vizio 42-inch VS420 1080p LCD HDTV $698.00 at Sam’s Club locations nationwide while supplies last for the Holidays. Pretty sweet deal also.

Vizio 32-inch VOJ32LF 1080p LCD HDTV $559.99 (yawn) at Sears nationwide through Sunday, 11/30/08.

Link:

Official Vizio press release.

Best HDTV Deals for Black Friday 2008

alan — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:15:06 +0000

Now that the Black Friday 2008 picture is more clear, we’ve analyzed all the HDTV-related deals and have come up with a list of the best deals worth waking up early for. Looks like Wal-Mart might be one of the best places to shop for Black Friday this year. Check’em out below.

Item	Price	Store	Notes
Samsung 50-inch 720p Plasma	$798	Walmart	Model unkown (We think it's the PN50A450). Link to ad scan.
XBOX 360 w/ Guitar Hero III: Lgeneds of Rock and Wireless Guitar	$199	Walmart	$70 video game and guitar for free. Nice. Link to ad scan.
Xbox 360 Arcade w/ 7 games including Rock Band 2 (no instruments)	$199	Dell Home	$50 video game for free. (Instruments sold separately). Link to ad scan.
Transformers Blu-ray disc	$9.99	Best Buy	Awesome Blu-ray disc with stunning visuals at a bargain DVD price. Push your HDTV to its limits. Link to ad scan.
Sony BDP-S350 Blu-ray Player	$179	K-mart	Note Thanksgiving Day only. One of the better reviewed Blu-ray players out there. Link to ad scan.
Sharp 42' 1080p LCD HDTV	$779	Dell Home	Model LC-42SB45U. Link to ad scan.
Sharp 46' 1080p LCD HDTV	$899	Sears	Model LC-46SB54U. Save $500. Link to ad scan.
Magnavox NB500MG9	$128	Walmart	Cheapest Blu-ray player currently available. Link to ad scan.

CNET Reviews Vizio VP505XVT 50-inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

alan — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 02:38:10 +0000

Vizio previously made inroads into the world of HDTVs as a bargain brand, but their most recent HDTVs are starting to impress reviewers with their quality as well as their price.

CNET recently took a look at the new Vizio 50-inch VP505XVT 1080p plasma HDTV ($1499 msrp) and was extremely impressed, rating it a 7.7 out of 10, the highest rating yet for a Vizio television. Reviewer David Katzmaier had this to say:

Simply put, the Vizio VP505XVT is one of the better-performing plasma TVs we’ve tested this year from any manufacturer. It delivered deep black levels, relatively accurate color, and solid video processing, thanks in part to HQV.

That’s a pretty strong statement for a bargain HDTV.

Katzmaier liked the Vizio’s cheap price, deep black levels, realistic shadow detail, accurate grascale, extensive picture controls, and 4 HDMI inputs. They didn’t like the fact they noted some false contouring and an inaccurate green primary color reproduction. But overall, they found the set to be “Vizio’s best effort yet” and find it stands toe-to-toe with similar-sized but much more expensive models from other brands. Playback Magazine also reviewed the VP505XVT recently and was likewise impressed.

The Vizio’s $1499 price tag is the suggested manufacturer’s price and is likely to drop quickly in the near future. Be on the lookout for the Vizio VP505XVT on the shelves of Costco soon.

CNET reviews the Vizio VP505XVT

Official Vizio VP505XVT website

Playback Magazine review

Panasonic DMP-BD35 Blu-ray Player for $150 at Sears.com (Sold Out)

alan — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 23:52:51 +0000

Starting Sunday, November 23, Sears.com has the Panasonic DMP-BD35 Blu-ray player on sale for $150. The player won the coveted Editor’s Choice award from CNET as one of the best Blu-ray players for the money. Unfortunately, it looks like the site quickly sold out of them. No word on if they’re getting more in stock.

*Update* Looks like they removed it entirely from their online store. Bummer.

Link

Panasonic DMP-BD35 $150 at Sears.com

Walmart Black Friday 2008 HDTV Deals Released

alan — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:34:46 +0000

The entire list of Wal-Mart Black Friday deals has finally been released. It looks like Walmart may have some of the best deals for Black Friday. The standouts are what we listed previously: a Samsung 50-inch 720p Plasma for $798, Magnavox Blu-ray player for $128, and an Xbox 360 with Guitar Hero 3 and guitar for $199. An asterisk (*) means it’s a doorbuster deal, good only for the early hours.

HDTVs

Emerson 32″ LCD HDTV $388.00*
Polaroid 42″ 1080p LCD HDTV $598.00*
Samsung 32″ LCD HDTV $498.00
Samsung 40″ 1080p LCD HDTV $798.00
Samsung 42″ Plasma HDTV $698.00
Samsung 46″ 1080p LCD HDTV $1,098.00
Samsung 50″ 720p Plasma HDTV w/ 2 HDMI Inputs $798.00*
Sansui 19″ LCD HDTV $178.00*

Blu-ray Movies

Blu-ray disc: American Gangster $15.00*
Blu-ray disc: Indiana Jones Crystal Skull 2-Disc Special Edition $15.00 *
Blu-ray disc: Iron Man Ultimate 2-Disc Edition $15.00*
Blu-ray disc: Kung Fu Panda $15.00*
Blu-ray disc: Shooter $15.00*
Blu-ray disc: Transformers 2-Disc Special Edition $15.00*

Miscellaneous

Magnavox Blu-ray Disc Player $128.00
Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray Player $198
Xbox 360 Arcade Bundle w/ Guitar Hero 3 Game & Guitar $199.00*

A PDF of Walmart’s official Black Friday ad can be found here.

Vizio 50-inch VP505XVT 1080p Plasma HDTV Reviewed

alan — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:47:26 +0000

The new Vizio 50-inch VP505XVT 1080p plasma HDTV ($1,499 msrp) is a sweet deal in terms of quality and screen size at a low price. PlayBack Magazine reviewed the Vizio VP505XVT and gave it some very high marks, including 10 out of 10 on their value scale. They summed up their review with this:

A true bargain, the Vizio sets the standard for affordable plasma excellence. With its high quality picture and equally good video
processing, this 50-inch set puts to shame other set out there that cost two to three times its highly affordable price.

They tested the set with the Blu-ray version of Seven Days in Tibet and found the color reproduction to be “full of expressive color” and “rich, but not overly saturated.” They also liked the set’s black levels and found shadow detail in dimly lit interior scenes to be “easily discernable,” an area where most bargain LCDs perform poorly.

Vizio XP505XVT specifications:

1080p
4 HDMI inputs
30,000:1 typical contrast ratio
1.073 billion colors
114.7 lb (with stand)

The Vizio VP505XVT is currently only available on Vizio’s website, where shipping costs ruin the bargain price, but hopefully it will be on the shelves of Costco soon. I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up as one of 2009’s bestsellers.

Link:

Official Vizio VP505XVT website

Sharp Aquos BD-HP21U Blu-ray Player $180 at Sears

alan — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:43:08 +0000

Sears has the Sharp Aquos BD-HP21U Blu-ray player on sale for $179.99. The BD-HP21U is a Profile 1.1 player whose standout feature is a very quick start-up time (discs load in about 10 seconds). It can also decode Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD audio.

The player hasn’t been professionally reviewed, but CNET did check out its immediate predecessor, the BD-HP20U, which they rated a 5.4 out of 10. They liked the excellent 1080p/24p video quality, but didn’t like that the player’s Quick Start feature uses lots of power even when the player is on off.

Link: Sharp Aquos BD-HP21U for $179.99 at Sears.com

Wal-Mart Pre-Black Friday Bundles (Online Only)

alan — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:11:33 +0000

WalMart.com has some nice value bundle deals on sale leading up to Black Friday. A standout is a sweet Playstation 3 bundle for $488 (see below). Head on over to Wal-Mart.com to check out their pre-Black Friday value bundles.

$488

Not a bad deal, considering the PS3 goes for $400 by itself.

Link: Playstation 3 Wal-Mart Holiday Bundle.

Bit Rates of HD Content, Including Online Downloads

alan — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 18:57:12 +0000

Below is a table featuring the bitrates and codecs of popular HD content sources, including the major download services.

Note that bitrates are not the only measure of potential picture quality. Other factors to consider are the quality of the source material and the type of compression (codec) used.

Codecs differ in their efficiency in compressing the original picture. Theoretically, one codec could provide a much superior picture over another with both having the same file size. Nevertheless, the differences between codec efficiencies is currently not great enough to disregard bitrate–it’s still the best measure of potential picture quality.

HD Source	Bit-rates	Codecs
Blu-ray	40 mbps	MPEG-2, VC-1, MPEG-4 AVC (H.264)
ATSC HDTV (over-the-air)	19.39 mbps	MPEG-2
Cable TV	10-15 mbps	MPEG-2
Apple iTunes	4.0 mbps	MPEG-4 AVC (H.264)
Xbox Live	6.8 mbps	VC-1
Hulu.com	2.5 mbps	MPEG-4 AVC (H.264)
Vudu HD	4.0 mbps	MPEG-4 AVC (H.264)
Vudu HDX	9.0 mbps (with bursts up to 20 mbps for action sequences)	MPEG-4 AVC (H.264)

Note: Bit rate is the amount of data that is processed per second as you watch the HD content.

Wal-Mart Black Friday 2008 HDTV Deals

alan — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 17:49:20 +0000

*Update* The entire list of Walmart HDTV deals can be found here.

Wal-Mart’s Black Friday deals brings us the cheapest Blu-ray player yet, the Magnavox NB500MG9 for $128. There are two other HDTV-related deals:

50-inch Samsung 720p plasma HDTV $798

Xbox 360 ($199) w/ Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock game and wireless guitar.

Via CNN.com.