(August 29, 2009) Every year the new football season brings with it the start of the HDTV peak sales period. 2009 TV sales volume is around 2008 levels, but with a tilt towards smaller screen size consumer purchases, resulting in lower than anticipated revenues for major retailers and vendors. Best Buy is fighting back this week by dramatically lowering the price of large screen HDTVs and packages, with savings up to 42%!
HD Guru received a copy of Best Buy’s 8/30/2009 Sunday circular. Use this advanced notice to plan a purchase at your local Best Buy or to negotiate with your favorite retailer or etailer. With inventories building on large screen size HDTVs (>39″) dealers and vendors are desperately trying to move more big screens. The result, the lowest prices of the year for 2009 HDTVs. Discounts this big normally occur after Thanksgiving. Below are the best deals (we rounded off “Was” to the nearest whole dollar to save space). Best Buy’s circular lists 33 HDTV models on sale.
Make/Model           Size    Was  Now      $ Savings
Samsung UN46B7100 46″   $2900 $1799.99 $1100
Samsung UN46B8000 46″   $3200 $2099.99 $1100
Samsung UN55B6000 55″   $3500 $2399.99 $1100
Samsung LN55B650 55″   $3000 $2299.99 $700
Samsung LN46B650 46″    $2100 $1499.99 $600
Samsung PN58B550 58″    $2600 $1899.99 $700
Samsung PN50B550 50″    $1600 $1099.99 $500
Samsung LN40B640 40″   $1500 $999.99  $500
Samsung LN52B550 52″    $2000 $1499.99 $500
Sony KDL-40XBR9  40″      $2300 $1499.99 $800
Package Deals
Panasonic TC-P54S1 54″ Plasma w/DMP-BD60K Blu-ray
player was $2300 Now $1649.98 $ Savings $650
Sony KDL-52XBR9 52″ 240Hz LCD w/BDPS560 Blu-ray player and HTSS360
5.1 Home theater system was $4000 Now $2499.97 $ Saving $1500
Sony KDL-46XBR9 46″ 240Hz LCD w/BDPS560 Blu-ray player and HTSS360
5.1 Home theater system was $3500 Now $1997.97 $ Savings $1500
One more deal. Beginning tomorrow, J&R (www.jr.com) will have the Panasonic Blu-ray player DMP-BD60K for $199 (was $299) HD GURU is currently evaluating its sister model (DMP-BD80K) with similar video performance and the preliminary test results are excellent.
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I have looked all over the web for info on Samsung panels. Do you know if they are 8 bit or 10 bit (looking mostly at the ln40b650 and 630, but others also).
ONe website has a samsung tech that refuses to answer the question!! I can only assume they are 8 bit because if they were 10 bit, they would be telling us. What do you know?
Will HD Guru include on its reports whether the plasma TV set has any cooling fans, and if so how many and where they are located.
For example the TC-P50V10 has 6 cooling fans (4 on top and 2 on the bottom back) while the TC-P54S1 has none.
Similarly, comment on the noise produced by such fans when they’re tunning at max speed (unit is hot in a hot room).
I believe if HD Guru starts including the information about the cooling fans it would be the ONLY site on the web to have such information.
Does it make the content better?
I work at an independant tv store and have been doing so for over 5 years. We have had these prices for the past two weeks. The original price is marked up. You could get these prices any day of the week just by asking. Acctually in most of these tvs there is still over 10% profit for most retailers. Exspect lower prices as the holidays aproach.
I have to agree with Chance. I live in Canada and it’s bloody hard to find certain products, not to mention the latest electronics. I either have to pay exorbitant shipping & duty fees to order from the US or purchase from a local store or B&M retailer at marked up prices, where I also have the luxury of exchanging the TV should any problems arise. I hope these deals blow their way north of the border cause I’m going to get ripped off either way, so I might as well save a couple hundred bucks in the process.
I must say BB has dropped their prices dramatically over the past few weeks but it’s not enough. When I was looking in purchasing the Samsung LED LCD UN46B7000/7100 at the beginning of the month, I was researching them every where from e-stores, local retailers and directly from the manufactures and all where between $2600 – $2100. So I decided to downgrade to a 40 inch instead as the 46†was too high for my budget. BB had the UN40B6000 for $1800 vs Fry’s UN40B7000 at $1600 so it was an obvious choice. 3 weeks later (this week) Fry’s dropped their price down on the UN7000 to $1400 for the 40†and $1600 for the 46†and includes the Samsung BD-P1600 Blue Ray Player (worth $225) for free so I decided to return my 40†and get the 46†for the same price I paid for the 40†and received a free blue-ray player. BB has the same TV for $1799 but with no Blue-ray so how is that a good deal when Fry’s is dropping their prices below BB and includes a Samsung BD P1600 Blue Ray Player?
You can look at Best Buy price history here: http://camelbuy.com/
It makes it easier to decide if you’re really getting a good deal or not.
There are no deals here… Recession times … U want LCD screen deals check out dealmac.com new egg, tiger direct costco, Hd Guru should give real deals and not sponsored fake ones. Buying a screen over $1000 does not seem like a deal these days when you can find blue ray players @less than $200
I’m pretty confused at why everyone is attacking HD Guru. He made a great point. The prices are big drops from where they were and what the MSRP is for several of these models.
Will you always get the lowest price by shopping at Best Buy? Probably not.
Why would people still shop there despite what people have said? There are a few reasons, 1) because it’s close and if you can’t/don’t want to wait for shipping you can get it the same day. 2) rewards – you can save money by shopping at stores like Best Buy through their reward program. 3) Sometimes you can actually get a deal. It sounds impossible, but it does actually happen.
Tracking weekly ads is exactly what we do. Due to a combination of factory to dealer incentives and recent price drops, a number of HDTVs on sale now ARE at the lowest price of the year.
If you read the copy, you would have learned how readers can use these new low prices as a base line to negotiate with their local retailers, since many B&M stores wouldn’t price match etailers.
And yet, these prices still don’t compete with e-tailers, and are most certainly not the lowest prices of the year. Go pull up the deal BB had earlier in the summer, bundling Blu-ray players with 46″ TVs for less than the prices above. $1500 for a 46″ is NOT, NOT NOW, NOT EVER, a deal.
In order to use these “new low prices” to negotiate for a deal you’d have to actually post some new low prices. Did Best Buy pay for this article? You should be ashamed to defend this crap.
no deal here…waste of time
Congratulations for falling for the hype! As you may have noticed from the comments, these are the every week prices. Pull out your ads from the last 6 months and take a look – a 40″ HDTV for $1000 isn’t a deal, its a rip off. Newegg or Dell will offer the same television in a 24 hour sale for $700-800.
Tracking weekly ads is exactly what we do. Due to a combination of factory to dealer incentives and recent price drops, a number of HDTVs on sale now ARE at the lowest price of the year.ÂÂ
If you read the copy, you would have learned how readers can use these new low prices as a base line to negotiate with their local retailers, since many B&M stores wouldn’t price match etailers.
Want to learn how to negotiate the best deal? Read our “How To Negotiate the Best Deal” article. Here’s the (Link)
HD GURU
I work at Best Buy in the Home Theater Department. I worked today (Sunday), the first day of these new “deals”. Not ONE customer I dealt with today came in looking for any of the “deals”. Frankly, I’m not surprised…Best Buy’s prices are not that good. My employee discount, however, IS GREAT!
for those who complain it’s too expensive, check out the site bestbuy.ca prices charged for similar products. Canadians pay 50% more expensive even with the exchange rate!
Actually I found 2-packs @ Costco.com for less. No, I’m not kidding. 2-packs!
A big sale tain’t do much good if BB can’t deliver the TV for almost 30 days. The first delivery date for most of the USA for a 50V10 Panasonic is like Sept 25. And forget the 54V10 at all in many areas.
Nothing special about these prices.
still too expensive. what’s the point of a big TV. it just makes you want cable, and want to sit around like a vegetable getting fat.
By the way, these deals don’t seem that great.
1andOnly – Not sure what their return policy is for stuff like this, but that seems like a pretty good bit of leverage if they don’t make good on the new lower price.
@1andOnly,
No big deal. Even if they price matched it to Amazon, Best Buy will typically give you the price difference if their new cheaper price is within 30 days of your purchase. Just show your receipt at Customer Service.
I bought a Panny 50V10 at my BB yesterday for 1999 – they pricematched the Amazon price. It’s set for delivery on Sept 19.
If tomorrow’s price is substantially lower, what recourse do I have? I put it on my BB card, so I don’t have a credit card company in my corner….
I’m going to agree with Ranjan
Didnt look up all of them but I have been keeping an eye on the Sony 40″ since its the only 40″ that fits in my space (others just an inch too big) anyways..
Went to amazon
Sony BRAVIA XBR Series KDL-40XBR9 40-Inch 1080p 240Hz LCD HDTV, Black
List Price: $2,299.99
Price: $1,397.45 Free Shipping
You Save: $902.54 (39%)
About 100 cheaper AND free shipping… BB still is making a killing
Best Buy must have out of their minds and so as you giving the Marked up prices and then bringing them down to the exorbitant original prices!