Samsung BD player for $475!

[JoeSp]

This is a refurbished product but still not at a bad price. Hopefully these units have had the upgrade. If you enter the code '2ndBluRay you can save $75 off their price. The link follows:

www.secondact.biz/

 

[jgantert]

Joe, I thought you have been pretty much panning that Sammy player as one of the worst BR players out there?

Give me a heads up when its under $300.

-John

 

[CochiseGuy]

Samsung BD player for $475!

See! I knew it! The Blu-ray consortium is flooding the market with subsidized players! Samsung is loosing $600 on every player it sells!

Let me know when they start selling for $100 - before that $75 off promo code. :

 

[JoeSp]

Joe, I thought you have been pretty much panning that Sammy player as one of the worst BR players out there?

Give me a heads up when its under $300.

-John

Samsung makes some great products , but you are correct in that I am not a fan of their movie players. They make great tvs but I just don't understand why they can not make a great movie player. You will notice that I did say that I hoped these units had the upgrade done during refurbishing. And yes, while I (I might not be alone here) consider it to be the poorest performer out there, for someone who does not want a PS3 (one of the best performers) and still wants in on BluRay this is a possiblity. I just posted this as information for those who might like the Samsung and/or the low price of a BluRay standalone.

 

[CochiseGuy]

See! I knew it! The Blu-ray consortium is flooding the market with subsidized players! Samsung is loosing $600 on every player it sells!

The above was a sarcastic reference to the "Toshiba is losing $300 on every (A1) player they sell early in the 'format war'. I guess my sarcasm was not that obvious.

OK, I've been an HD DVD owner since early May 2006, but I like to think of myself as a "High Def" fan as opposed to an HD DVD 'fan boi'. While on the HighDefDigest site this morning I saw the ad for the secondact.biz promo for the refurbished Samsung player and got to thinking about it. I'm not that opposed to having an inexpensive Blu-ray player in order to have access to high def content not available on HD DVD.

First, for my setup - a 57" Sony rear projection HDTV with 1080i but only one HDCP compliant DVI input, and a 5 yr. old Sony A/V receiver with 5.1 analog and digital coax & optical inputs but no HDMI - I have to consider how to connect both Blu-ray and HD DVD players to my system. I have a Monoprice 2 port HDMI switch with an HDMI>DVI cable to my display, so video is no problem. I can switch my Dish 211 HD receiver back to component; HDMI is not the noticable improvement I thought it would be. To enjoy the high def audio, I would need a switch for all 12 analog cables to 5.1 to my receiver. I guess they make such a thing.

But then I look at the Blu-ray releases to-date to see what I'm missing. Over half the titles I would want I already have on HD DVD. Kingdom of Heaven would be nice. I rented Devil Wears Prada on DVD and really enjoyed it, but I'm not sure I would enjoy it that much more in HD. I've seen Pearl Harbor more than enough times in HD on cable/sat. In scheduled BD releases, Dances with Wolves & Alien vs. Predator are about it. I can pass on Beerfest.

Anyone have other suggestions for 'compelling content' out there that I can't get on HD DVD or HD broadcasts to justify my adding another $500 in high def equipment to my system? And please, only released or scheduled content, not promised. It was the promise of Blu-ray vs. what they first delivered that pushed me over to HD DVD in the first place.

Thanks, and please no 'fanboi' flames. I'm being honest in asking for suggestions /c omments. There are more than enough places on the web for 'format war' arguments, and one of the reasons I enjoy SatelliteGuys is that it's more civil than most HD sites.

 

[jgantert]

This is a refurbished product but still not at a bad price. Hopefully these units have had the upgrade. If you enter the code '2ndBluRay you can save $75 off their price.

Looks like they dropped the price a bit. For me its $434.98 shipped.

I'm seriously considering it, but the poor Samsung reviews have me not pulling the trigger (yet atleast). I'm really torn if I should go the Samsung route or the PS3 route just for BR.

Oh well, atleast for now, I still have more HD DVDs to watch.

-John

PS> For someone who asked, there are a few good US BR only movies out there:
Resident Evil Apocalypse
Fantastic Four
Total Recall
Species
T2
Hitch
(announced) Men of Honor
(announced) Casino Royale

Humm, not too many on that list...
8 movies I want... $435 player... $54 per movie.

 

[JoeSp]

jgantert, Here is another option for you. If you have a PS2 you can take it to Gamestop/EB and get $100 off a PS3 right now. I do not know how long they are going to do this but you can buy the $499 for $399 and that is a great price. If you do that get the remote for $24 it works seemlessly. And so does the PS3 as a BluRay player.

 

[JoeSp]

CochiseGuy, I am not sure what kind of movies you like but the Pirates of the Carribean movies are going to be on BluRay, Spiderman 1 & 2 is going to be on BluRay, Any new 007 movies are going to be on BLURAY (supposed to release in March. There are more titles release only on BluRay then on HD-DVD. I am at work and when I get home I will paste a site for you to look over the titles for both. I see a few on HD-DVD from Universal that I like and just like HD-DVD supporters hoping for support from BD only studios I am hoping for support from Universal. Right now they are the only holdout on BD.

 

[jgantert]

Actually, I've been quite impressed with the Weinstein HD DVD titles. Some great movies in there like Wolf Creek and Scary Movie 4.

No PS2 for me, btw. I do have an old Xbox sitting around, tho. If I get a PS3, I'll try for the Toys-R-Us or Target 10% off credit card deals. So far neither store has the 20Gb version yet (lots of 60s tho).

-John

 

[vurbano]

jgantert, Here is another option for you. If you have a PS2 you can take it to Gamestop/EB and get $100 off a PS3 right now. I do not know how long they are going to do this but you can buy the $499 for $399 and that is a great price. If you do that get the remote for $24 it works seemlessly. And so does the PS3 as a BluRay player.

Does Sony have a time period for you to leave this site and advertise at another?

 

[JoeSp]

Does Sony have a time period for you to leave this site and advertise at another?

Are you offering money or what?

 

[rancidzombie79]

jgantert, Here is another option for you. If you have a PS2 you can take it to Gamestop/EB and get $100 off a PS3 right now. I do not know how long they are going to do this but you can buy the $499 for $399 and that is a great price. If you do that get the remote for $24 it works seemlessly. And so does the PS3 as a BluRay player.

I just called my local gamestop, and this deal is going until Feb. 18th. You need a playstation 2, two sony brand controllers, all the hookup wires, and a memory card. I'm trying to talk the Mrs. into it, as that is a good deal.

 

[bommai]

I sold my Xbox with 2 games and two controllers for $100 on Craigslist. I sold my old Toshiba SD-9200 DVD player for $150 on Craigslist. I put in $250 of my own money and bought the $499 PS3 from amazon.com (no tax, free shipping). I also bought the PS3 Bluetooth remote for easy DVD control. The quality is phenomenal. Even SD DVDs look great on my 61" 1080p JVC. I watched Tears of the Sun in Bluray and it was stunning. I played CDs in it and they also sound great.

 

[JoeSp]

Aloha bommai and welcome to the world of BD movies.

 

[jgantert]

The sammy is down to $399.99 today only. That's about $150 less than the PS3 ($499 + remote + HDMI cable). I'm tempted, but I'm still not sold on the Sammy.

-John