It's no surprise that Best Buy is encouraging customers to pick up Samsung's 3DTV and Blu-ray player at the same time, but smart buyers should doublecheck to make sure they're actually saving money before they walk out of the store. Next week's advertisement does feature Best Buy's price on the UN55C7000 that's $300 lower than the
MSRP, and grabbing the display and player all at once gets a free
Starter Pack throw in with two pairs of glasses and the
Monsters vs. Aliens flick, but the $3,419 package deal at the lower right and its "$780" savings?. That claimed price throws in a $150 Geek Squad install to set up the TV, connect WiFi and "sync your 3D glasses," while also including the TVs price and $349 estimated Starter Kit value. While there might be some customers who don't know their HDMI from their WEP key who can save that way, we're figuring most
Engadget readers can keep a few bucks in their pocket and hook things up themselves, and if you're looking to grab another pair of glasses, it's probably important to save anywhere you can. The real insult here however, can be found to the right, encouraging buyers to pick up
The Blind Side right away, instead of
waiting to rent from Redbox or Netflix.
posted March 18th 2010 2:13AM
Oh no they didn't!
BestBuy is such a rip off.
@Xtole
I got my current big screen HDTV from BestBuy for a really good price, better than I could find online (and I spent a lot of time looking)
@Xtole
Pah, Best Buy? More like "Poor Purchase".
@Xtole
I agree. I just bought this same TV from ABT Electronics in Chicago for $2650
@Xtole That was one of the most immature comments I've ever read. Have you ever been inside of a Best Buy? Try finding a staff or a price match policy like that anywhere else. At least people there are genuinely trying to help.
Insectosaurus is awesome :) Especially when he part when he turned into a butterfly!
So just skip the install. The TV is still on sale and you still get the free starter kit.
It's $50 for the delivery and install, which really isn't that bad if you need it. The box is pretty big and hell they will take it out of the box and throw the box away for you if you want, after that just tell them to leave and set it up yourself.
@reallynotnick
Because that $50 could be going towards an overpriced 3D Blu-Ray.
I seriously don't agree with in-home 3-D Vision based setups. It may be a cool feature, but I don't think the technology will ever get to the "amazing" factor. How about we work on making current LED televisions cheaper and even more energy efficient. Oh, and for the record. Best Buy hasn't been the best buy in a looooong time. I'm also tired of some horrible sales person trying to tell me what I want when they have no clue what they want.
@MERGATROYDER and cars should still be run on steam power. lol.
@Den
It's a gimmick. It'll be in all HD TVs in a few years but hardly used by the owners (possibly except for 3D games). Most 3D movies are post-processed for 3D which allows depth of field but no object depth. You end up with a series of "layers". Kids may like it but it soon becomes tiring. Avatar is the exception (filmed with stereo cameras) but the immersive feel of 3D requires a very large screen to be effective and such screens (e.g. 100" in the home) are painful to watch "normal" TV.
This is not the "next big thing", no matter what the TV makers tell you. Fortunately, the cost of implementation is low so the added margin will ultimately be small (after the gotta have the latest thing suckers have blown their wad).
Blind Side w/o 3D? I'm not interested.
/s
"sync your 3D glasses." whaaa..? I love the geek squad.
@liquidsuns
Doesn't beat the install your videogame for free service they offer... because putting a disk in a drive is just too hard for some people
@rahulbhatia I'm going to order that service and insist that they sync my glasses, just to see what they say.
@liquidsuns Wow. So what do they do, point you at the TV, then slip the glasses on?
@liquidsuns
Probably give you some BS about how they synced the glasses for you before bringing it over so they wouldn't take up your time syncing them in your home.
once again i am ashamed to admit i work there. Gots to love the magic numbers they come up with.
@danhawk911
I too work for Best Buy and I also am ashamed you work there.
@danhawk911
I also am ashamed you work there. There are a LOT of people out there who would appreciate the free install, and to them this is a great deal. These aren't made up numbers, it's all listed in the ad.
Is anything from Best Buy ever a deal? A Studio 15z(seriously, z) costs as much as the 1557(with 3 USB and better graphics card.
@N900
Can't really blame Best Buy for that, they sell most of their computer at or close to cost...and in same cases when they are on sale, they sell them below cost.
There's a turd in the punch bowl.
Or buy a PS3 for cheaper than the standalone 3D blu-ray player. Then you have a nice media hub!
@SilverSurfer still confused on only ps3 can do the hd 3s with hdmi 1.3. i will probably buy a slim ps3 just to use for 3d movies if i ever get a 3d tv. Unless oppo or someone release a 3d player with 2 hdmi out so i don't have to get a new receiver.
Not sold on this 3D stuff as nearly all the content shot for TV&film is not natively done in 3D. HD was well worth it but this, no thanks...
I'm actually doing a Masters Thesis in Industrial Design about re-thinking home entertainment...
Help me out with my research by taking a quick 10 question survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5T7VZFC
Thanks guys!
@aiyo
Done. Goodluck!
@aiyo
You need to allow comments for question 10 so that one might qualify their decision. For example, I would not pay more for recycled materials as I believe that they should be cheaper with all the time and energy saved in processing them versus raw material processing. I see all the time how much we save converting recycled materials to products, but everybody wants to charge more for them as it gives some consumers a warm fuzzy feeling that they are somehow helping the environment by paying more. All it is doing is making the number of millionaires increase by 16% during a recession.
I love the way it says in the corner "Only 3419.96". ONLY?!?!!!!
@r3loaded
Still a pretty good deal. My 52 inch Sony alone cost me 5K three years ago.
@arkweld
That was your choice to by an over priced TV because of the four special letters.
@arkweld
My 55" Vizio cost $1170 about 4 months ago. Maybe I'm not a videophile but I can't tell much difference between my tv and others that cost 50% more.
so I dont see the problem here? I feel like one of the guys (or girls) at engadget got excited for the deal... realized they can hook it up themselves, and got upset.
So now you post to cry about it? The point of the free install is to make sure the tv gets delivered and set up properly without any hassle to the customer. Yeah you can do it yourself properly because you work with technology all day. You realize how long it takes most people to just set up a cable box or universal remote?
I see this bundle as a good deal for the convenience and starter package.
I like the "55 inch class" mention. Does 54.6 inches really get you into the "55 inch class"? What are the minimum requirements to get into the class?
So, what do you suggest Mr. Lawler, instead of "Blind Side" ?
Al Gore's epic, or one of Michael Moore's art pieces ?
@machloja
Before you try to hijack this thread and turn it into a political one (nothing better to do this week?!), he was referring to the new deals in place with Redbox/Netflix that "force" them to wait 28 days from the retail sales release of a title before offering it up for rental. This is the "real insult" Lawler was referring to, not any comment on the context of the movie. Turn off Fox News and pay attention to the website you are posting on (see, wild assumptions can be fun for everyone.)
"It's cold in Antarctica."
"I told you global warming was a liberal lie!"
And so it goes...
Hmmmmmm. The TV is only about $400-$500 above what I would drop on a 3DTV. Hopefully in 3-4 months the price will drop a bit....hopefully.
The TV though is the core expense at this point. I already have a BR player. I don't need a 3D one anytime soon and its a far sight easier to replace, then a TV.
Does samsung tv has improved their mother board already?
Better make sure they will give you the bundle price without the geek squad service. I bought a 52" Sammy DLP in late 2007 and they were going to charge me regular price because without the geek squad service it broke up the bundled sale. I did not want to wait for nor need Geek Squad to deliver the TV, set it up, and "optimize" it Finally after haggling with a manager and blatantly explaining that I was providing all the necessary cables and that I was not going to purchase any additional accessories from them to facilitate their "install" they gave me the "sale" price sans geek squad. The only reason I even bothered was 0% for 36 months and around $300 of a $1700 TV.
You'd be crazy to pay $2969 for the TV and $399 for the Blu-ray. That's Samsung's MAP price. The free starter kit is nice, but even that still doesn't include a high speed HDMI cable.
@Wozamil
Most Samsung TV and blueray players include HDMI cables.
@ConceptVBS That is incorrect. Neither of these products include an HDMI cable. However, how much longer do these manufacturer's plan on including composite A/V cable?
Don't forget to leave the HDMI cables in the store and order them from monoprice.com or bluejeanscable.com. While the monster garbage is a complete hose job, even the cheaper cables at best(?) buy are a rip off.
I just sold this package to a customer last night looking to become an early adopter. All in all he spent $6.5k after the TV, Blu-Ray Player, Six sets of glasses, Bose Cinemate a stand and a bunch of cables.
You guys gotta realize that many of the customers who walk into Best Buy do not know about Engadget, finding the best deal, or are tech savvy enough to *gasp* install their own software. These types of deals and packages drive new technology (LOL at the Bose) at the expense of an uneducated consumer.
But im preaching to the wrong choir. So flame away guys, this stuff is god awfully marked up in price, you already know I shop at monoprice =P
@jdmsir20 you sold the package before the ad came out?
anyway I worked at best buy for a while and obviously there are better deals out there for those of us who search, but if you understood how little they make on some products it makes sense why they mark up cables and such.
Overall I am with the others who aren't thrilled at the 3D tech. I saw it at a sony store and while it was neat I have no desire to have it in my house as it is no more than a gimmick to me right now.
Also on a side note the only cable that will work is a M 1.4 HDMI cable so i did a little digging on Bestbuy and the cable they have is for 119.99(rocketfish 12 feet) while amazon has a similar cable 1.4 $5.00(10 feet). So buyer beware :)
Are you kidding me? Is this really news? Does anyone on this forum actually believe Best Buy can save you money? My in-laws just bought a "money saving" bundle from Best Buy last year with a TV, Bluray player, cables (Monster of course), and "installation". I priced everything online and without even trying found it all for $500 less. And I didn't go to shady places. I just did a quick search on Newegg and Amazon. I buy all my cables from monoprice.com.
It says it all right there: "NO INTEREST"
Oh but does it come with a SUPER LOW PRICE $50 HDMI cable? I THOUGH NOT.