Comments on: CE Surprises of Holiday 2009

By: rob

rob — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:52:38 +0000

I think part of the “smaller” Tv’s has been the price. I bought a 26″ for my bedroom the old TV was dying a slow death and it made sense. I would imagine a lot of people are looking at the smaller ones for bedrooms, workout rooms, kids rooms etc. As for BluRay I thought about it but just not sure if I justify that money just yet. I will keep waiting for the price to come down.

By: Dave Zatz

Dave Zatz — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:38:15 +0000

Random Rage, I didn’t realize the hardware was still available. I’d been informed sales would cease immediately following the new direction announcement (and layoffs).

Regarding small TVs, it’s probably a variety of things… older customers, additional sets, folks not as attached to video entertainment, penny pinching given the economic conditions, etc. I imagine most TV junkies and sports fans already have a large primary set…

By: dwgsp

dwgsp — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:25:20 +0000

I wonder if part of the unexpected demand for smaller TVs is driven by people wanting to upgrade their secondary TVs before the digital transition hits. I realize that folks who have cable won’t be forced to upgrade, but maybe people are looking at the ads and saying “what the h***”.

/Don

By: RandomRage

RandomRage — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 05:15:48 +0000

I grabbed a BDP-S350 for $179 on Black Friday and I love it…now if only the movie prices would start to fall.

Hmm, Dave…I noticed you didn’t reccomend a Dash Express GPS, even though they’re still on sale at Amazon………

By: Brent

Brent — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 23:13:02 +0000

My extended family picked up a few of the less expensive Garmin Nuvi’s this past weekend for gifts. I still don’t own my own GPS and not sure I need one (why would I when I know my wife will ask for directions right?).

My dad asked me about Blu-ray on Thanksgiving as well. I gave him a few tips and in the end he decided to wait even with the prices dropping – just wasn’t a priority at the moment when he already owns so many DVDs and considers the PQ excellent on those already

I’m really surprised about the smaller TVs though. Wonder if it’s people switching to HDTV, but going cheaper due to the credit crunch…

By: Dave Zatz

Dave Zatz — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:29:32 +0000

For probably the third year in a row, people are still asking me GPS buying advice. Despite the analysts who say the PND market is in decline, I think the space is still healthy. FYI I’m recommending the TomTom 125 on the low-end ($100-$125) and a bit higher up the food chain I like the Garmin Nuvi 265WT for about $250-$300 with widescreen, spoken street names, and free traffic data if you can tolerate a few tiny banner ads and offers presented when the car isn’t in motion.

Telenav ($10/mo) for phones is also a future-proofed solution if you have good speaker phone volume and a way to keep the cell from flying around the car. Though it’s not so easy to gift service these days. (They used to offer gift cards at Best Buy.)