Looking for the best Black Friday deals on HDTV, Blu-ray Disc players and other assorted electronics items for gifts or for yourself? Don't bother leaving the house at 4:00 AM to wait in long lines at the brick and mortar stores. Some of the best deals this year on electronics are online, not on lines. Beginning last weekend, we've started to see some amazing deals on Blu-ray Disc players and HDTVs, including Best Buy's $798 50-inch plasma (a Samsung no less) and Sears' $150 Blu-ray disc player (a Panasonic!). Although these deals have sold out, there is no shortage of new offers popping up, many early this morning on Black Friday as retailers try to salvage some profit (or at least turn over some inventory) in a less than stellar economy.
We're seeing some of the nation's largest retail chains offer great deals on plasma and LCD HDTVs, home theater systems and Blu-ray players, including WalMart, Sears, Best Buy and the ailing Circuit City, as well as specialty online retailers such as Amazon, Parts Express, Crutchfield, OneCall, Vann's, Dell Home and Abt Electronics. In fact, the deals may be so good that the excess traffic is putting some of these web sites into duress (the Sears site in particular has been a bit shaky today).
Some of our favorites this year? How about HDMI cables (you know the ones that sell for $35 and up in the retail chains?) for $2.99 each, and a flat panel TV mounting kit for $25? These are available in Parts Express' Black Friday weekend sale. Or Sony's latest high definition Blu-ray Disc player, the BDP-S350 for $179.99 ($120 below list)? This offer is available right now on Sears.com and on Dell Home's web site
(hint: you may have to put it in your cart in order to see the lower price on either site).
The now infamous (but in a good way) $798 Samsung 50-inch plasma HDTV which sold out after three days on Best Buy's web site has just re-appeared on WalMart.com and Sears.com for the same price today (Black Friday). As a point of comparison, at this time two years ago, the best deal on a 50-inch flat panel HDTV was just under $2000, and even last year, the price to beat for a 50-incher was about $1300.
If your tastes run to the slightly less massive, you can order up one of at least 3 different brands' 42-inch HDTV models (Panasonic, LG and Samsung) for under $700, one place even has the 42-inch Panasonic for $599.99 (find that on our HDTV deals page) or get yourself a full high definition 1080p model for $899. Similar deals can be found on Sony, Sharp, Toshiba, VIZIO - virtually all the well-known brands. And all without the need to take off your pajamas, or waste gas and time checking the brick and mortar stores.
We're keeping a running list of the best HDTV, home theater and Blu-ray deals this holiday season. You can find it here:
Samsung is enabling retailers to get aggressive on HDTV prices this
holiday season by offering lower cost holiday-specific HDTV models.
If we're going to see a glint of hope in the economy this winter, it will come based on positive reports back from retailers. And this will only happen if consumers are feeling comfortable enough to make investments in so-called "luxury" items like high definition televisions and high def movie players. But when you do the math, and realize that a night at a the movies for a family of four can easily come in at over $100, then a TV and surround system that can let you do this yourself at home could actually be seen as a cost savings measure. Also, with the DTV transition coming in just three short months, now may be the best time to get a digital set that will continue working with over the air digital broadcasts after February, 2009.
With highly motivated retailers tipping the scales by offering the lowest prices we've ever seen on flat panel TVs, a purchase like this actually could be a wise financial investment, not to mention helping to stimulate the economy. So now you won't have to get up and out of the house early, and you'll also be able to sleep at night.
But even though you won't have to rush out, you will have to rush as most of these deals are limited in stock and expected to be popular. When Sears put that Panasonic Blu-ray player on sale (unadvertised) on their web site last weekend, the deal went live at 2:00 AM and stock was depleted by 2:30. If you see the TV you want online, at the right price, then snag it in your cart and check out before someone else gets the last one.
