jmsampica

The return of "price matching" at Target was announced a few weeks ago. It made the local Minneapolis/St. Paul news. If I remember correctly, they said that you had to bring in the COMPLETE competitors advertisement and check out at Customer Service, not the regular registers. Hope this helps!

Well said Dan! Very well documented explanation of the tv technology differences. Speaking from experience, I can tell you that the Panasonic Plasma sets are virtually "bulletproof". I have the 50" 720p Viera which I purchased from Costco.com over two years ago (paid $1999, got free in-home delivery). I also was able to get the $200 Panasonic rebate (ordered the Firedog Circuit City installation, printed off the receipt, then cancelled the order). I just went back to Costco with my original receipt to inquire on returning my pannie for a new 1090p Pannie... told me "no problem", but bring the remote control and user manual. Told them I would do one better and repack it in the original box. So, I will receive a refund of $1999 (plus sales tax), then purchase a new 1080p Panny Plasma for $1449 (ok, I will wait a few weeks until it goes back down to $1200) and pocket the difference! What a deal! Two year old 720p Plasma traded in for a new 1080p Plasma (gotta run those blu-ray discs on the PS3), with a SD card slot and other new features. Unfortunately, Costco changed their unlimited return policy Feb 2007, so if you made a purchase after this return policy change date, you only have 90 days for a return.

You can however use the K-mart 20% off coupont through Wednesday! Used it last night on the $169.99 GPS unit that was available through online only. Had no problem when I picked it up at BB and asked for a Price Match. Saved me $36.29. Going to use it today on Rockband for PS3 at another BB location near work. A friend of mine used it at Circuit City yesterday to purchase an 80GB Sony PS3. No problem, saved himself over $100. Spread the word, as this coupon is only good through tomorrow. Check out the coupon on the offline deals section if you are unaware of it. good luck and happy shopping

Just got a call from my friend who went to CC this am with the infamous 20% off one item K-Mart Coupon. Lo and behold CC price matched it... He purchased the 80GB SONY PS3 ($499 reg. price) for $424 after 6.65% sales tax. I am going to use my 20% off coupon on Rockband and maybe a second 20% off on a Nintendo DS Lite Zelda Gold kit. I believe that Best Buy also price matches competitors coupons...

Please be sure to check out the k-mart 20% off coupon in more detail on a seperate thread... it appears that k-mart corporate has issued a letter to all their retail stores "invalidating" the coupon! I used it over the weekend on a PS3 game, when my friend went on Sunday to use it, they told him it had been invalidated by corporate. So, it appears that those of us who were able to use it before Sunday lucked out... Doesn't Circuit City price-match coupons? Why not take the K-mart coupon to CC and do a price match there (and get another 10% off on top of the 20%??). Just a thought...

Be very afraid... Whenever you are deciding on a purchase of any sort, be sure you comparison shop!! Autos, appliances, electronics, etc. Many may find the HD-DVD is all that they need. For those who want the best audio & video experience and the the largest high definition movie library, then look at Blu-Ray. At the very least, do some research on both formats- compare the number of movie studios that support each format, check out the movies that you and your family are interested in to ensure that they are in the format you want, and by all means, compare movie sales statistics from Nielsen. I had a very funny experience at Blockbuster a few months ago... was asking the clerk when they were going to start renting Blu-Ray high-def movies. He stated: "well, seeing as it is a dead format, I don't think we will ever rent them at Blockbuster...". Lo and behold only a very few short weeks later, Blockbuster had a national news release stating that they would only rent Blu-Ray high-def movies at their stores. Be sure to compare player specifications by format- much of what I see here and on the HD-DVD fanboy sites like avsforum does not match the manufacturer's specification sheets (very inaccurate and likely to mislead potential player customers). By the way, the Sony PS3 does upconvert regular DVDs to 1080P high-def. Again, check out the manufacturer's specifications: Sony Adds 1080p HD Upconverting to PS3 Picture on standard-definition DVDs will be enhanced. By Phillip Swann Washington, D.C. (May 23, 2007) -- Sony said today that it's sending an upgrade to all PlayStation 3 consoles that will enable standard definition DVDs to upconvert to 1080p High-Definition. Old news- suprised that people familar with high-def missed this announcement! Be sure to check out the latest Consumer Reports on Best Gifts. They had a segment on high-definition video and name the studios that support each opposing format along with a sample movie list for each.

It's hard to argue when Blu-Ray has dominated the HD format war since January! 7 out of 10 studies (including Disney and Pixar) support Blu-ray (produce Blu-Ray movies). So, if you are looking for movies on HD-DVD from these studios, good luck. Blockbuster has gone 100% Blu-Ray (no HD-DVD rentals), Target is shifting further to Blu-Ray (70% Blu-Ray movies, 30% or less HD-DVD). Same for Best-Buy (70% vs 30%). The el-cheapo Toshiba (the only name-brand electronics manufacturer to actually produce HD-DVD players as compared to a dozen who produce Blu-Ray players) doesn't even use the latest and greatest video resolution which is 1080P. Their machine is only 1080i. Also, don't forget about the Sony PS3, every one of them is also a Blu-Ray player. Here are some other recent news & deals for Blu-Ray: Blu-ray news Less Green; More Blu: Amazon BOGO Sale Posted November 12, 2007 by Josh In order to keep momentum rolling, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Buena Vista Home Entertainment have teamed up with Amazon for yet another Buy One Get One Free (BOGO) sale. If you missed out on the last big sale, now is your chance to purchase those titles you might have missed when they were first released. There's a total selection of 112 titles to choose from. (includes Disney titles) What benefits does Blu-ray offer compared to HD-DVD? Although both Blu-ray and HD-DVD are similar in many aspects, there are some important differences between them. The first is capacity. Because Blu-ray utilizes a lens with a greater numerical aperture (NA) than HD-DVD, the laser spot can be focused with greater precision to fit more data on the same size disc. This allows Blu-ray to hold 25GB per layer (50GB on a dual-layer disc), whereas HD-DVD can only hold 15GB per layer (30GB on a dual-layer disc). Blu-ray has also adopted a higher data transfer rate for video and audio (54Mbps vs 36.55Mbps). The greater capacity and data transfer rates for Blu-ray will allow the movie studios to release their movies with higher quality video and audio than the HD-DVD format. The second is content. The Blu-ray format has received broad support from the major movie studios as a successor to today's DVD format. Seven of the eight major movie studios (Warner, Paramount, Fox, Disney, Sony, MGM and Lionsgate) have released titles for Blu-ray, whereas HD-DVD only has support from three major movie studios (Warner, Paramount and Universal). This is an important difference because some of the studios might only support one of the formats, so you won't be able to get your favorite movies in the other format. Choosing the format with the most content support minimizes this risk. The third is hardware support. The Blu-ray format has broad support from the world's leading consumer electronics, personal computer and media manufacturers, including Sony, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Pioneer, Sharp, JVC, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, TDK, Thomson, LG, Apple, HP and Dell. The Blu-ray format will also be supported in the next-generation PlayStation 3 (PS3) video game console. This means that you will have a lot of choice when it comes to players and hardware. The HD-DVD format has far fewer supporters, so the amount of players and hardware will be very limited. Currently, Toshiba is the only company offering a stand-alone HD-DVD player. Neilsen Sales Numbers: Week ending 11/4/2007: Blu-Ray Sales = 71%, HD-Dvd= 29% Year to date: Blu-Ray Sales = 64%, HD-Dvd= 36% Since Inception: Blu-Ray Sales = 61%, HD-Dvd = 39% Not a very good track record for HD-Dvd and it's sales continue to erode. I would not be happy to be stuck a year from now with a $98 Toshiba A2 or $169 A3 HD-Dvd player and no new HD-Dvd movies to play on it, when I could have spent $300-$400 on a superior Blu-Ray or Sony PS3 system with many new Blu-Ray movies rolling out...

Be sure to check out the most recent Consumer Reports issue... Plasma and LCD HD TV comparisons and recommendations. They also make note of 1080P vs. 720P resolution. Cliff note version: Best picture that they have ever tested: Panasonic 1080P Plasma. Panasonic 720P/1080i was a very close 2nd and the testers were hard-pressed to note a difference between the 1080P and 720p/1080i.

For those of you comparison shopping Plasma and LCD HDTV sets, be sure to check out the November 07 Consumer Reports. Great section on these type of sets. Stated that the Panasonic 1080P Plasma was "the best" they have ever seen... while the Panasonic 720P was nearly as good (and hard to distinguish picture quality-wise).

Check out the Ultimate Electronics BF ad... Ultimate is in the upper Midwest (Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area for sure!). $849.99 for the Panasonic 42" Plasma HDTV (60U). Checked with Sears, yes, they will price match on BF.

Happy Thanksgiving all! I also confirmed that the Sears in Coon Rapids MN will also price match the competitors Black Friday ads. In fact, they offered me the Panasonic 42" Plasma HDTV last night at the Best Buy Black Friday ad. Glad I waited, Ultimate Electronics has the same Panasonic 42" HDTV in their Black Friday ad for $849.99 and the 50" Panasonic HDTV for $1999.99!!!! I will be at Sears tomorrow to price match the 50" Panasonic, Sony PSP, and some games while also getting that air compressor and maybe the ping-pong table!! Happy shopping, be safe out there!

It can be hit or miss... you really have to check a number of retailer's online sites. I did some comparison checking last year (online vs. early bird), found some that were duplicated, but not many. Good luck, be safe, God bless you and your comrades. Retired 2005 USAF-ANG Aircraft Maintenance Squadron Commander, and Executive Officer (23 years TTIS) ONE, OEF, GWOT, Joint Forge, GWI, Just Cause

Checked with the local Best Buy stores in MN, no preorders. Also checked Target, same story. For those of you in the Twin Cities area (Minnesota), the Richfield Best Buy will open at Midnight November 17th (actually Thursday night!!), so you should probably plan to campout EARLY if you want to get a PS3 system as I suspect they will probably only have approximately 25 systems per store. Just an FYI. Good luck!

Combination of debit card and American Express card. With American Express, the factory warranty is DOUBLED in length (a 12 month standard warranty becomes 24 months through AMEX). So, you have ammunition when someone at BB, CC, or other stores try to sell you the highly inflated extended warranties. It usually stops them right in their tracks...

Had a varied experience last year regarding price matching... Saw a particular video game (PS2 Battlefront II) that was on sale in the K-Mart BF flier for $19.99. 1) Went to K-Mart, they said: "sorry, it was a mistake, should be Battlefront I not II". 2) Went to Circuit City with K-Mart ad in hand, they said: "no way, this must be a mistake". 3) Went to Best Buy, they said: "Of course we will price match this K-Mart ad price!". 4) Friend went to Walmart, they said: "Yes, we will price match the advertised price". Had friend purchase 2 extra Battlefront II games, sold on E-Bay for $35 each. BII was in short supply and if you could get it, the price was $49.99 + sales tax (state dependent of course). So, I will again look to Best Buy and/or Walmart for Price Matching again this BF. :)