Saturday Scary Good HDTV Deals

More great HDTV offers, so let’s get right to to savings with little ado:

Tiger Direct has a very nice deal on a decently sized Samsung P2770HD 25″ LCD HDTV for $299 – and with free shipping too. Pretty awesome price, and well-reviewed too.

Walmart has an excellent deal on a Vizio 42″ E420VL 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV for $598 with free shipping included. It’s just amazing how far prices have fallen of late, and this is just one example.

Check these out and feel free to join us tomorrow for more HDTV news.

Rarity of Value: Sony offering limited time 3D HDTV bundles

Sony has a rep for not offering the best values in town, but that rep may be changing with their latest announcement, designed to draw people into their 3D-riffic world. Here’s the details from Engadget:

In a rare move, Sony has deviated from their pricey reputation to offer two special 3D bundle promotions until July 17th (or while supplies still last) with the clear intention of enticing wavering adopters to veer whole-hog into 3D. The options boil down to either a 46-inch or 54.6-inch Bravia HX8000 for $270 / $340 off their retail prices, respectively, and as a bonus, buyers will receive a variety of 3D accessories valued at $899 for free. Rolled into that $899 goody basket are two sets of 3D TDG-BR100 active glasses, the TMR-BR100 3D sync transmitter, two 3D Blu-ray movies (“Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” and “IMAX Deep Sea 3D), four 3D PS3 games (two full games, two demos), and the BDV-E570 3D Blu-ray compatible 5.1 home theater in-a-box.

The offer will save you up to $1,200, which is savings worth shouting about, indeed. While not cheap, these are still pretty good packages if you’re a Sony lover.

On-Demand Less Demanding: DirecTV to offer 99 cent HD On-Demand movies

On-Demand HD services from cable operators typically cost a lot of movie per movie, as much as $7 for only 1-2 days of rental time. Well, it appears DirecTV is doing their best to introduce users to their HD OD movie services by lowering the price to a buck for a few days. Here’s the skinny from TVpredictions.com:

For the next two days, Dish Network is offering a special 99 cent deal on select HD VOD movies, writes Home Media Magazine.

The 99 cent titles, which are available in standard-def or 1080p HD, include Alice in Wonderland, Green Zone and Hot Tub Time Machine. The high-def selections would normally cost $4.99 or more.

Home Media reports that the movies are also available at dishcinema.com for viewing up to 24 hours after ordering.

We like the idea, as we feel this market is under served in the HD market, and could be an easy source for watching movies at home without streaming, or the trip to the video store.

More Stuff: Sony HD and FearNET coming soon?

We always like hearing reports of more content, and that’s exactly what’s coming, if rumors are to be believed. It seems Sony is hitting a higher gear with their (possible) upcoming HD movie channel additions.

The L.A. Times reports that Sony is planning to launch two new channels later this year. The first is FEARNet, currently existing as a video on-demand only content provider that it hopes to get with more cable boxes by adding a regular full-time channel, and the other would be a brand new Sony Pictures Movies HD venture, with details still a little thin at the moment.

So far Sony Pictures has not bothered to get its own movie network in the US but it does have a few channels across the ocean in various parts of Europe, and this would be a high definition channel along the lines and spirit of MGM HD, hopefully with higher quality movies than that channel features. Time will tell exactly how this all plays out.

Case Settled: HannStar to pay $30M to end LCD price fixing suit

Now that’s an expensive mistake, boys and girls. Don’t let your babies grow up to be LCD manufacturer presidents, to paraphrase a popular country song (and mangle it badly).

Taiwan-based HannStar Display agreed this week to pay a huge $30 million fine for its role in a large LCD price fixing scheme. In a disturbing trend, this makes the seventh company to “plead or agree to plead guilty as a result of the department’s investigation into the LCD industry.” Very nasty stuff, if you ask us, though we’re pretty sure all sorts of businesses do this kind of thing every day, though not as blatantly it appears.

All together, the US Department of Justice has seen some $890 million paid out and 17 executives charged in total, with HannStar in particular being singled out for violating the Sherman Act for its actions from September 2001 to January 2006, which is a very long time to have a scheme like this running and expect not to get caught.

Hopefully this marks the end of this sad chapter in HDTV history.

Monday’s Marvelous HDTV Deals

It’s Monday, and its time for yet another installment of great HDTV deals. Check them out below:

Walmart – Here’s one of the better deals we’ve seen: The Vizio 37″ VO370M Eco LCD HDTV 1080p for $479 – and that includes free shipping too. First class deal, so feel free to check it out.

6ave.com – On the other side of the price spectrum, here’s a Sony KDL60EX700 60” LED Backlit HDTV & BDV-E570 3D Blu-ray Home Theater System package bundle – for $3247.00 and free shipping. Great offer and quite a bit off the suggested retail price.

Feel free to check them out and have a great day!

Playback HD: The CinemaGo BV-5005HD Mini CG

Here’s some interesting news if a really cool and versatile HD media player built for a variety of file formats is something you’d like to look at:

Brite-View’s CinemaTube may have sufficed just fine for your home entertainment needs last year, but there’s nothing like a little “Special Edition” to really get the gears turning in 2010. Launched today, the CinemaGo BV-5005HD Mini CG is mostly a revamped version of the CinemaTube BV-5005HD, boasting an eSATA interface, USB 2.0 socket, inbuilt WiFi, a BitTorrent manager and access to MUZEE internet radio channels. As you’d expect, the box is built to handle 1080p output and a cornucopia of file formats including MOV, WMV, MKV, AVI, VOB, DIVX, FLV and RMVB, and content can be delivered via locally attached hard drives or a home network / web connection. Best of all, the $149.99 MSRP is being trumped by a $109.99 pre-order price if you get in now, so really, you should probably get in now.

We like saving cash and getting a great HD media storage/player device like this into our homes to compliment that ultra-pricey HDTV set. We’ll report on it as we hear more. Go here to pre-order or see more details.

Titans Clash: 3D version of Blu-Ray included in Japan with Sharp HDTVs

Critically speaking, Clash of the Titans didn’t do that great, including its blah 3D conversion, seemingly done last minute to cash in on the 3D craze in theaters at the time. But Sharp apparently thinks the 3D HD Blu-Ray version is worth including with their HDTVs in Japan. Witness this Engadget blurb:

Sharp is promoting the movie alongside the 3D editions of its Quattron LCD HDTVs and, assuming our understanding of machine translated Japanese is correct, will be tossing in a copy gratis with purchases. At least in Japan, the 2D version of the blu-ray will be released august 25, with the 3D & 2D combo pack arriving October 6.

We think bundling Blu-ray with purchases is a good idea, we just aren’t sure bundling this particular one is a good idea. But at least Sharp is getting on the ball with some cool promotional ideas, which we always like seeing.

More 3D Goodness: 3 Channels Launch, more content coming

3D fans, feel free to rejoice: DIRECTV and Panasonic announced that they have launched three 3D channels, including a 24-hour channel called N3D. Maybe we were wrong about this whole 3D thing; it appears the market is embracing it, for now anyway.

The N3D channel (whose sponsor is Panasonic) is now available at no additional cost to DIRECTV HD customers on channel 103. It does require a 3D HDTV and 3D glasses of course to view, but free of extra cost? We like that idea.

Throughout the month of July, N3D customers will have access to 3D programming like (for example): Guitar Center Sessions with Peter Gabriel and Jane’s Addiction, Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia, Wild Safari: A South African Adventure and N Wave Picture’s S.O.S Planet. Special events such as this weekend’s NASCAR Coke Zero 400, the local broadcast of the Yankees-Mariners series on July 10-11 and DIRECTV’s exclusive, national broadcast of FOX Sports 2010 MLB All-Star Game in 3D on July 13 will all be a part of the package as well.

It sounds like 3D is beginning to be a real force in programming changes for many providers right now, which bodes well for its near future.

HD On The Go: Hulu Plus ‘complements’ Cable/Satellite, not replaces it

You’ll be pleased to know a few things: A. Hulu Plus is about ready to launch, with more HD shows and movies and an enhanced catalog, all that can work with portable devices for only $9.99 a month and B. according to reports, it looks good. Real good. Better than some similar offerings.

Though many could see this replacing their Cable subscription, Hulu doesn’t see it that way. Witness Engadget’s full take on the matter:

Hoping to trade in your expensive cable or satellite plan for a portable Hulu Plus subscription at $10 a month? Not so fast, my fine fingered friend, because Hulu CEO Jason Kilar has revealed that killing cable is not a part of the company’s evil plan, and he’s not entertaining any ideas to the contrary. Kilar told AllThingsD that the service is “broadcast-focused” and “complementary to your cable and satellite service” by design, which is a nice way of saying the incestuous relationships between cable companies, content providers and Hulu itself keep it from offering premium programming — at least, not at this sort of price. Speaking of getting what you pay for, you may be surprised to hear Hulu Plus displays advertising even if you slap down currency every month, but the CEO said lengthy consumer research found that users were more willing to pay if the service were partially subsidized by ads.

So it’s sorta good and sorta bad that they’re forward focused yet not intending to take down full fledged TV offerings. And the ‘more willing to pay if subsidized by ads’ bit? Yeah, we’re glad that helps them sleep at night.

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