By Carl Laron on November 11, 2010 in
Sneak peeks at the Sears Black Friday circular have been posted online at sites like Black-Friday.net. Looking through it for technology bargains, we saw some decent, if not earth-shattering, deals for LCD and plasma TVs. Whether they are worth getting up for at 4 in the morning on Black Friday is a call we'll leave up to you. However, if you can rub the sleep out of your eyes, we did see what looks to be a pretty compelling offer for an equally compelling Blu-ray Disc player.
Score a Sony Blu-ray Player at Sears
Going through the circular, we found the typical assortment of home-entertainment gear at a good savings over everyday prices at Sears and other major retailers. The one that really catches our eye, however, is Sears' Black Friday deal on a Sony BDP-S370 Blu-ray Disc player. At $99.99, it's around $30 less than the cheapest everyday price we've spotted.
The BDP-S370 is not just another budget Blu-ray player. We (and many experts and owners) love its balance of value, features and performance, which is why we name it the best value Blu-ray pick in our freshly updated Blu-ray players report. Like all budget players, there are some things you'll need to live without, such as 3D and wireless connectivity (though you can add the latter via an optional Wi-Fi adapter). Compared to other budget Blu-ray players, however, the Sony BDP-S370 is absolutely loaded.
The list of positives is long. Picture quality, first and foremost, is excellent with Blu-ray discs and DVDs. Many will also appreciate that the BDP-S370 is one of the fastest Blu-ray players currently available. Extras are plentiful, and include one of the better suites of Internet content providers; the ability to stream movies, music and photos from a networked computer; and broad format support, including support for SACD (Super Audio CD) discs.
Sears is also offering the Samsung BD-C6500 Blu-ray player for $139.99, around $40 cheaper than its normal street price. In terms of features, the BD-C6500 is even more loaded, offering (among other things) built-in Wi-Fi connectivity and 7.1-channel analog audio outputs, though again, no 3D. Picture quality is also excellent. The BD-C6500 has garnered some reviewer kudos, such as an Editors' Choice award at PCMag.com, but user reviews are much more mixed. You can read more about the BD-C6500 in our report on Blu-ray players.
The TV picture
Though we're not quite as jazzed about the TV offerings at Sears for this Black Friday, some worthwhile deals can be found, especially if price is more important than having the latest cutting-edge features. For example, Sears is offering the 40-inch Samsung LN40C500 for $497.99, and adding in 25,000 points (worth around $25) for members of its shopper loyalty program. Counting those points, that's around a $75 savings over what the LN40C500 sells for normally, though not very many retailers carry the model.
This LCD TV is the most basic member of Samsung's LNC500 series of TVs -- so basic that Samsung doesn't even acknowledge it on its website. Slightly more upscale sets in the series, such as the LN40C530, which normally sells for around $625, have met with decent owner reviews and limited -- though largely positive-- expert reviews. While a bell or whistle (or two) might be stripped out (though the LN40C530 is itself a pretty basic TV), picture quality should be similar if not identical. If you're interested, you should act quickly, as the deal is only available between 4 a.m. and noon on Black Friday.
One deal we suggest passing up is Sears' offer of the Sony KDL-52NX800 for $1499. Though that price is about $100 under the current prevailing street price, Sony is phasing out the NX800 series and we would expect prices to soon be even lower. Reviews have been mixed for these TVs. The styling is gorgeous, highlighted by a super thin profile and a monolithic design. Features are another high point, with everything short of 3D in there (3D is a part of the revamped NX810 series that's replacing these sets, however). The fly in the ointment is picture quality. We've seen lots of complaints about poor brightness uniformity, an issue that's common with edge-lit LED designs but even more pronounced, it seems, with these TVs. In addition, the top glass is highly reflective, making the KDL-52NX800 a bad match for anything but a darkened viewing room.