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PlayStation 3

It’s official. September 1st the $299 PS3 Slim will be shipping. It comes with a 120 GB hard drive and two USB ports. Roughly 1/3 smaller and lighter the new design features the same performance with reduced fan noise. IR hasn’t been added but the latest word is bitstreaming of HD Audio (Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA) will be supported. A great addition for Blu-ray enthusiasts.

Order Your $299 PS3 Slim from Amazon

Born on the Fourth of July (Special Edition)

We wish everyone a happy 4th of July and give our thanks to the many readers who have supported us by ordering their new OPPO BDP-83 via Amazon. We knew OPPO had a winner on their hands but we had no idea how many readers would be kind enough to place their order via our site.

We appreciate the support and as one enthusiasts to another we promise you’ll find the new OPPO BDP-83 even more valuable than our site! If not, heck you have thirty days to return it.

Bonus little known fact: It has the best Blu-ray remote we have used not to mention it’s backlit.

Order Your OPPO BDP-83 From Amazon

Read Our OPPO BDP-83 Take

OPPO BDP-83 Blu-ray Disc Player with SACD & DVD-Audio

OPPO Digital, Inc. has finally released their BDP-83 Blu-ray Disc Player with SACD and DVD-Audio. Place your OPPO BDP-83 order here! We have been using this player for a month or so and on every level it’s well worth the entry fee. We posted our take in this post.

The short take is the price is the same $499 charged during the Early Adoption Programs. It’s built extremely well for its price point and offers everything one could wish for and then some being a true universal player.

Order Your OPPO BDP-83 From Amazon

Read Our Take on the OPPO BDP-83

If you don’t require world-class DVD upscaling OPPO’s new BDP-80 might just be a better choice and being over $200 less can’t hurt!

Order Your OPPO BDP-80 From Amazon

Toshiba REGZA 55ZV650U 55-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with ClearScan 240, Black

Toshiba will be shipping their new REGZA ZV650 Series shortly. They feature local dimming done correctly for incredible contrast levels, ClearScan 240 for fast-motion clarity and 14-bit processing for a smoother image. Not to mention they come with 4 HDMI inputs and look great. The following models will initially be available:

• Toshiba REGZA 42ZV650U 42-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with ClearScan 240, Black
• Toshiba REGZA 47ZV650U 47-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with ClearScan 240, Black
• Toshiba REGZA 55ZV650U 55-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with ClearScan 240, Black

Samsung LN55B650 55-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color

Through June 21th Amazon is offering a free Toshiba 26AV502R 26-Inch 720p LCD HDTV when you purchase a Samsung LN55B650 55-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color. Doesn’t sound like a bad Father’s Day gift to me. Now which set you give to your dad is totally up to you!

Click Here For Your Free HDTV

Pioneer VSX-1019AH-K 7-Channel A/V Receiver (Black)

If you remember the chain of electronic stores called Incredible Universe you either have a great memory, you are a diehard geek or perhaps both. Since I still remember my first visit I think you can safely say I’m a geek. Especially since I’m far too old to have a great memory.

When they first opened there were lines of people waiting to get in much like the opening weekend of a Star Wars movie. Since I have never cared for Star Wars it was even more entertaining with shows performing continually on several stages. Yes it was much more than several football fields of electronics and to some degree a hint of future retailing which still hasn’t landed. The stores averaged 185,000 square feet and stocked over 85,000 items!

This was at a time when businesses were growing bigger and bigger and if you weren’t growing like weeds you were sure to die a sudden death. Their parent company was Tandy (Radio Shack) and much like the parent company they didn’t focus on pricing rather their philosophy was to sell everything ever produced. Unfortunately the entertainment value they threw in only increased their overhead and decreased your ability run in and run out with the latest gadget. Based on the sheer volume of their buildings and unworldly inventory they didn’t stand a chance.

Before long Tandy was so concerned with their cost the stores were closed and because of their massive size they were forced to sell them for pennies on the dollar. Which brings us to the topic of this post Fry’s.

If you haven’t been to Fry’s it’s hard to comprehend what you’ll find. They combine Incredible Universe, Best Buy, Heathkit and Starbucks into one gigantic location with a larger variety of merchandise than the others could ever hope to carry. Looking for a computer case? My guess is I saw four dozen the last time I looked. Need a power supply for it? I think they have more of them than cases.

Selection wise their home audio and video departments aren’t as inclusive as their computer related departments although I think it’s more from the fact those markets simple don’t have the same depth of products. They tend to carry almost every brand with a few exceptions such as Pioneer receivers or Blu-ray players.

As an example you can actually find a fairly priced HDMI cable for around $10 and if you’d like to spent more there will be at least a dozen other brands. Pricing is something they do very well. You’ll never find them higher than Best Buy and often you’ll find them considerably lower. Just yesterday I saw the new LG Blu-ray players regularly priced $50 less than at Best Buy. With the BD390 still being brand new. The new Sony BDP-S360 was $239 which comes in at $60 less than Best Buy and it’s not even on sale!

I tend to think of them as Walmart. Sure they have weekly sales and great ones at that however if you are looking for something and they have it you know you’ll be paying a reasonable price. Also the odds are pretty good they will have it on sale within 30-days so you’ll end up paying even less.

One area you certainly don’t want to miss is their Blu-ray disc department. Again their everyday pricing is lower than other retail locations and they compete with Amazon rather nicely but come Friday’s ad their prices get even better. In the last few weeks I have picked up Dark City, Tears of the Sun and From Hell for $9.99 each.

They also tend to offer great prices on close-out models especially TVs long before the other retailers. Of course there are a few things I wouldn’t mind seeing changed but overall all I can hope for is they continue to be successful. With so few retailers left we geeks need a place to shop and even if we have a Premier Reward Zone card from Best Buy it’s far too mainstream to really get lost in.

For a variety of reasons these movies need to be enjoyed more than once. The reasons are so obvious we can even list a few.

• They aren’t chick flicks
• They contain more action then you can catch the first time around
• Their story lines are strong enough that you keep caring
• For a couple of hours they let you live life as you never will
• Each will bring hope to the world except for perhaps one which we’ll let you figure out

My guess is you have already seen at least eight of the ten so you should just about be ready to start on your second take. Odds are you’ll enjoy them even more.

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