insignia
Latest
Best Buy's Insignia NS-BRDVD Blu-ray deck: now with $100 in movie coupons
For those maintaining that $349.99 for an Insignia Blu-ray player is still too pricey, how's about this deal? Best Buy is now offering a $100 Coupon Book right in the box of its newly released NS-BRDVD, and while there could very well be a score of $5 coupons in there, we do know that it'll provide "instant savings on a great collection of Blu-ray Disc movies from Disney, Touchstone and Miramax." It should be noted that the book is included regardless of whether the unit is purchased in-store or online, but the actual coupons within can only be redeemed in a brick-and-mortar location. Anyone actually cracked one of these open and care to share what's tucked inside?[Via TG Daily]
Best Buy unleashes Insignia NS-BRDVD Blu-ray player for $349, PS3 yawns
What's this? Best Buy finally released the Insignia NS-BRDVD blu-ray player for an affordable $349.99. The design, like other in-house Insignia-branded products, is questionable, but if you were looking into the PS3 as a player, this could be a $50 cheaper option if games aren't your thing. The unit outputs at 1080P, decodes Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD, and decodes 2-channel Dolby TrueHD. Outputs include stereo audio, composite video, component video, optical Toslink, digital coax, and HDMI. No word on image quality just yet, but based on previous Insignia products, we're not holding our breath.[Thanks, Jordan]
The quest for a DTV converter box
We've had digital TV tuners for years, but for many there's a lot of anxiety associated with trying to ensure you're ready for the analog shutoff. So to do our part in helping to make the digital transition a success -- and to get some much needed cred' with the mother-in-law -- we set out on a quest for a DTV converter box. Finding a DTV converter box that is eligible for the $40 voucher is pretty easy, in fact, in almost every place we looked, we found 'em. The problem is that the voucher is only for $40 and since those who actually need one in the first place are too cheap frugal to pay for cable or buy a new TV, every penny counts.
Did you give the gift of a hacked account this Christmas?
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Did_you_get_the_gift_of_a_hacked_account_this_holiday'; Do you even know? Many digital photo frames sold at Best Buy, Target, Costco and Sam's Club have a particularly insidious trojan embedded in them - one designed to thieve your account information for a variety of online games. One of the primo geek gifts of 2007, variations of these devices were bundled with darn near everything gadgety during the holidays. Some percentage of these contain a professionally written and very stealthy little gremlin that Computer Associates has dubbed Mocmex that is apparently capable of robustly concealing itself from many detection engines. This isn't an amateur-night special, by all reports. This is professional nastiness, with multiple variants.
Best Buy confirms it sold virus-infected Insignia photo frames, no recall in the works
As we noted a week back, Best Buy's house-brand Insignia photo frames are indeed virus-infected, but now it appears Best Buy is doing something about it. Unfortunately, info is still slim at the moment from company lips. Best Buy says it's "connecting with our customers who may have been impacted," and has pulled remaining inventory from the shelves, but there are no plans for a recall of the infected NS-DPF10A, and Best Buy won't specify what specific type of malware we're dealing with. Best Buy seems to think that anti-virus software should have no problem dealing with the old-ish trojan in the frames, and recommends customers plug the frame into a PC and run some current anti-virus software to eradicate the malware. Macs are unaffected, and Apple could be seen on the playground making smarmy remarks about the incident to anyone who'd listen.
Infection alert: Insignia 10.4-inch photo frame kindly bundled with trojan
We haven't exactly gotten a torrent of email complaints from angry Best Buy customers, but for anyone wondering why the $230 Insignia 10.4-inch photo frame got pulled from shelves last week, here's your answer: they were manufactured, like devices sometimes are, with a supposedly "old and easily removed" trojan. Funny, though, that the internal memo we got has Best Buy dragging its feet, intending to send a letter to potentially infected customers only "once a solution has been tested and confirmed." Here's a solution: recall the frames and send everyone some anti-virus software and a free appointment with the Geek Squad, instead of letting sites like ours break the news that Best Buy isn't moving fast to fix its digital security mishaps. The memo is posted after the break.
Best Buy's Insignia Kix: please make it stop
Look out Apple, Microsoft, SanDisk and anyone else who actually gives a damn about DAP design, features and quality: Best Buy still has a horse in this race. We were positively floored by the unadulterated horror of last year's NS-DVxG DAP from Best Buy's in-house Insignia brand, and now here comes the Insignia Kix to provide a low-cost, 1-inch screened entry to Insignia's shoddy lineup. The player supports MP3, WMA, WAV and Audible, sports an FM tuner, runs for 30 hours on a lithium-ion battery, and stores 1GB of your tunes for $60. We suppose we can't rag on 'em for building a USB mass storage device, but that's about as positive as we're going to get for this one.[Via dapreview]
The hundred gadget giveaway, grand prize round: Insignia NS-LCD37 LCD HDTV
Here we go -- you ready to take home an Insignia NS-LCD37 37-inch LCD HDTV (courtesy of Best Buy) as a grand prize in our hundred gadget giveaway? Follow the rules below, and hope for the best. The rules (yeah, there are always rules): Leave a comment below. You know the drill. You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.) In other words, be careful when commenting and if you submit more than once, only activate one comment, ok? If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Contest is open to anyone worldwide! Winner will be chosen randomly. Entries can be submitted until Sunday, September 16th, 11:59PM EDT. After that we're all done. Good luck!
The final grand prize round of the hundred gadget giveaway
Ok, it's here: the final round of the hundred gadget giveaway. We've got three grand prizes -- one for each Engadget site -- ready for the taking, listed below. Yes, you most definitely can enter all three. Read the rules and put in your entries before Sunday night. Good luck!P.S. -Thanks to everyone who entered our 37 other rounds in the hundred gadget giveaway! Winners have been contacted and should be receiving their prizes shortly.Engadget classic: Nikon D40 DSLREngadget Mobile: unlocked iPhone (4GB)Engadget HD: Insignia NS-LCD37 LCD HDTV
Best Buy sneaks out new Insignia Pilot and Sport DAPs
You may or may not be a fan of Best Buy's "aggressively-priced" Insignia line of store brand consumer electronics, but with the pre-release hype over other DAPs reaching ridiculous levels, it's certainly refreshing to see the new Pilot and Sport (pictured top and bottom, respectively) released without any fanfare whatsoever. Lacking even a press release, these successors to the Video and Amigo have silently shown up on the big box retailer's website, offering up audio and video playback along with Bluetooth connectivity for well under $200. The higher end Pilot comes in either 4GB or 8GB capacities, supports MP3, WMA, PlaysForSure, OGG, Audible, WAV, WMV, and MPEG-4 files, and sports a 2.4-inch TFT LCD, RDS-capable FM tuner, and SD expansion slot. The Sport, meanwhile, offers up only 2GB or 4GB of storage, a 1.7-inch screen, and microSD slot, while dropping support for WAV, Audible, and WMV and throttling video playback back to a could-be-smoother 15fps. Unfortunately the majority of the configurations seem to be backordered right now, so you'll have to wait at least a week to fork over your $99 to $199.[Via dapreview, thanks KC]
Funai's future Blu-ray player?
Is this a production model? A concept or tech demo? We don't know just yet but we can tell you that Funai is the Japanese company responsible for Wal-Mart's Duraband. In addition, they manufacturer products for Emerson, Sylvania, Symphonic, Best Buy's Insignia brand and Circuit City 's Pye brand. Therefore, chances are this player might not show up with that snazzy blue bar, but it will probably compensate with a low price. Oh yeah, we're curious about the Wireless Uncompressed HDTV sign next to the player too.
Best Buy's Insignia launches first US portable ATSC LCD
We've been wondering when this was going to happen; in fact it's hard to believe that ATSC has been around as long as it has before the first portable popped up. Sure it is nearly impossible to enjoy HD on such a small screen (The NS-7HTV is 7-inches at 234 x 480), and ATSC is so notoriously bad for mobile use, but all of that aside, we're glad there's finally a way to enjoy digital programming on the go -- even if you have to stand still to get it. Now you can finally make that portable TV purchase you have wanted to, but were holding off because you knew it'd be obsolete when the analog signals go dark.
Best Buy's Insignia NS-DVxG DAP: watch out, iPod
Like many of the TiVo VIPs who rushed to order their Series3 boxes so that they would arrive the next day (unfortunately, things didn't turn out so well), we're big proponents of immediate gratification, which is why we still shop at brick-and-mortar retailers like Best Buy despite the increased selection and better prices found online. One thing we don't go to Best Buy for, however, is the Insignia Store, which sells super-cheap "top-notch quality" OEM gear that is supposedly full of "high-tech features" -- but which is really just targeted at consumers on the tightest of budgets. Anyway, the latest "feature-filled" product to take its place among the rest of the Insignia elite will be the NS-DVxG DAP from Joytoto, an absolutely hideous looking player that AVING amusingly implies could topple Apple's reigning champ. Besides the flimsy controls and cheap-looking case, the DVxG does actually offer some compelling functionality, including video playback on the 2.2-inch LCD, wireless headphone and file transfer support via Bluetooth, PlaysForSure compatibility, and a microSD slot to supplement what appears to be 6GB of internal storage. These players should be joining the illustrious ranks of the Insignia family come October, and though pricing hasn't yet been announced, it wouldn't shock us one bit if you end up getting a good deal of change after slapping down two Benjamins.Update: It went through the FCC, so there you go. Here and here.
Insignia Amigo flash-based MP3 player
It's fairly obvious that anything sold "exclusively" in Best Buy might be a bit suspect, and their Insignia house brand is no different. The Amigo, however, is a surprisingly decent looking flash-based DAP with a built-in FM tuner and OLED display. Not much bigger than an iPod Shuffle, it comes in 1GB and 2GB flavors, supports MP3, WMA, Audible, WMA-DRM (PlaysForSure-ready), and touts the ability to display pictures and album art on the external display. The removable, rechargeable battery keeps the tracks spinning for 18 hours, and they even toss in a carrying case and mini-USB cable to boot. While the package is far from remarkable, and the branding isn't likely to boost your social status, the Amigo is well-suited for conquistadors on a budget; if you can wade through the pestering boys in blue, the Amigos are available now for $99 (1GB) and $129 (2GB). [Via DAPreview]