Cheap Blu-ray Movies | Buyer’s Guide

Wed, May 27, 2009

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Blu-ray movies are expensive, especially when you buy them from the big retail chains like Walmart, Target, or Best Buy. Personally, I think Amazon has the best prices on Blu-ray movies. You can find most new movies for $19.99, and sometimes cheaper. Just be aware that most of Amazon’s “sales” are not really any different than their everyday prices. They usually jack-up the prices during their sales and claim 50% off.

$20 for a movie is still too expensive in my opinion. I want to buy movies for less than $10 though Blu-rays are hard to find at the price point.

I recently started buying used movies from Amazon and have found some great deals, like Batman Begins for $6 and The Departed for $10. The prices of used movies fluctuate depending on the seller. The only downside to buying used movies on amazon is the $3 shipping that is charged for each movie. So that Batman Begins movie actually cost me $9 shipped. Still not bad. No taxes either.

Did you know you can search by “used” movies on Amazon? Combine that with sorting by “lowest price” and you can quickly scan for cheap deals. A little digging can help find movies to round out your library. Here is an example search. Happy hunting.

Since this is a “buyer’s guide,” below are some tips for buying Blu-ray movies:

1) Don’t buy kids movies on Blu-ray. Unless you are a big fan of Pixar movies, they look just fine on DVDs. The Cars DVD looked great on my PS3. Plus, you are more likely to watch kids movies on portable players or take them on trips.

2) Never shop on Ebay. You pay too much of a premium for used movies.

3) Never buy movies from a retail chain. Too expensive.

4) Buy used movies from sellers on Amazon.

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Used Dell XPS 420: Cheapest Cablecard computer?

Sun, Mar 8, 2009

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Dell recently discontinued their line of XPS 420 computers. Why is this interesting? The 420’s were the only computers to come standard with the version of Vista that supports digital cable tuners (i.e. it came with a digital cable product ID). I would suggest verifying with the seller that a digital cable product ID is included; it is usually on the same sticker as the Vista serial code.

This got me thinking: the price of used XPS 420 on sites like Ebay and Craigslist should start to fall, making an entry level CableCard machine even more accessible. Typical prices right now for used XPS 420 run about $500 depending on the specs.

You can buy digital cable tuners on Ebay for about $150 a piece so for a two tuner XPS 420, you are looking at about $800. This should drop with time. If you are in the market for a CableCard machine, I would start to monitor the prices for used Dell XPS 420s.

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PowerDVD Ultra 9 First Impressions

Mon, Mar 2, 2009

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So you want to watch Blu-ray movies on a computer? Then PowerDVD Ultra 9 is the program for you. The latest version of Cyberlink’s media player, at a cost of $99, is all about high definition movies and Blu-ray, plugging the hole left Vista’s lack of native Blu-ray support. [...] Continue Reading…

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Review: Rocketfish Webcam

Fri, Feb 20, 2009

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I was recently contacted by Best Buy’s PR folks to review a webcam under their in-house label, Rocketfish. The Rocketfish Webcam, retailing at $62.99, has all the expected features of a high-end camera, including a built-in microphone. Features include:

* Up to 8.0-megapixel still image capture [...] Continue Reading…

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Auzentech Delays X-Fi Home Theater HD Once Again

Thu, Jan 29, 2009

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Why is it sooo hard for someone to come up with a way to support lossless high definition audio codecs on a computer? It seems like we have been waiting for years to have someone support Dolby TrueHD. Blu-ray drives are under $100. But you still cannot “hear” HD [...] Continue Reading…

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Repost: Sonos Zonebridge: Unboxing and Set-up

Wed, Jan 21, 2009

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My recent purchase of an iPhone has caused me to restructure my Sonos system, adding a ZoneBridge. Since I now use the free Sonos app for the iPhone, I sold my Sonos controller on Ebay for about $150. I was always hesitant to add more rooms to my Sonos [...] Continue Reading…

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Cyberlink and Microsoft Announce Blu-ray Integration

Fri, Jan 9, 2009

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Cyberlink and Microsoft have been working closely to integrate Windows 7 and PowerDVD Ultra, which is the most widely used Blu-ray software in Vista. From the press release:

CyberLink has been working closely with Microsoft to support many of the advanced capabilities of Windows 7. PowerDVD Cinema mode has [...] Continue Reading…

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Repost: Access denied for shared drive in Windows Home Server

Tue, Dec 9, 2008

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I finally bought a HP MediaSmart windows home server. I jumped on the OfficeMax deal two weeks ago. Great machine. I am not sure if it is worth $500 but I think it is worth the $300 I paid.

I have been ripping some of my blu-ray movies I bought [...] Continue Reading…

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AnyDVD HD converting to subscription model in 2009

Tue, Dec 2, 2008

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A purchase of AnyDVD HD, the only viable commercial software to rip and copy Blu-ray movies, has always included lifetime updates, which is essential for keeping up with changes in digital rights management. This is about to change in 2009. From Slysoft’s press release:

Since Slysoft’s beginnings in 2003, all [...] Continue Reading…

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Repost: Sony Still Selling Digital Cable Tuners

Fri, Oct 31, 2008

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Update: The tuners now are no longer available. Canon PC is the only place to get new tuners, besides Ebay

After a brief hiatus, Sony has started Vaio-branded digital cable tuners once again at the price of $299 with free shipping. Sonystyle.com is one of the few places to [...] Continue Reading…

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