Low prices for some Bluray drives @ Newegg

These two came on my eMail 'St Patrick's Day only' specials newsletter from Newegg.... not sure if these two drives are only on sale for today, or this will be the price for a while...

Sony Optiarc SATA Internal 2X Blu-ray DVD ROM OEM
Your Price: $79.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...H4A-_-27118013

LG SATA Internal 6X Blu-ray Disc Burner & HD DVD-ROM Drive OEM
Free Blu-ray media with purchase, ends 3/31
Your Price: $179.99


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...H4B-_-27136155

That seems like a pretty good deal on the LG since it does come with some media. If you have software already and want one I'd get that package.
I got the retail version last summer myself and it came with passable software and a blank rewritable so I could test drive it, only BD blank I own right now.

If I only had a player this would be an exceptional deal.

Well technically you'd have one with this unit especially if you went the home theater PC route

Is it time to jump the BR burner wagon now?

Not for me (yet anyway). Best case scenario (cheapest online disks on sale, figure 4$), you are paying twice as much for blue ray as for hard drive space. Worst case scenario (bestbuy, office depot etc, every day low price of 20$ a disks) its 10 times the price of hard drive space.
I think I'll go with hard drive space.

I did finally jump on the wagon for a reader, but only because I got a combo drive that reads hd-dvd and blueray. I figure I can rent blueray and buy cheap hd-dvd on clearance. I wouldn't have been willing to buy one yet without the hd-dvd abilities added in.

I'm kind of curious for those that do have blue ray burners, how many disks have you actually burned? More that what was in the first pack you got?

One of the first two movies that I rented wouldn't play at full res. due to copy protection (updated cyberlink software and it didn't help). Thats one of the big reasons I wasn't willing to spend a lot on blueray (too many copy protection headaches, just play the damn movie!!!).

etp has also expressed disgust with all of the junk that they load up on the discs and that updates are frequently required to play the latest and greatest films. I knew that the consumer would end up getting the shaft ultimately as soon as they won.

I have a Panasonic bdp-10a Player, it's first generation, they still release updates for it and so far it has played everything I've thrown at it movie wise, plus some homemade to dvd versions.
I think the last FW For it was in august but everything plays fine, it just takes longer to load stuff then the newer ones and doesn't do BD live.

Could be because etp went the Sony route.

I got the Panny because it was a stupid price deal as a demo from Circuit city, 160 complete with remote and factory warranty, needed something for when HD-DVD"s dried up.
It was their top line unit when new of course and I've always had good luck with their gear as far as TV's and things, plus they aren't Sony
Seeing how Sony mostly invented BD that maybe why their players are so picky about copy protection if that's what ETP and everybody is running into.
The newest Panasonic Players sound very nice as well, might upgrade next time prices fall again.
I do have a Toshiba A2 HD-DVD player and it's been pretty flawless as well so wanted a dual format solution for the PC before none were left.
I really wanted a LG B200 or whatever the dual format player they made was called but it was way too much money so I ended up with 2 machines far cheaper that both work very well.

Not only that but the standalone dual format machines also had alot of issues. No arguments on the Panasonic being the way to go. I am kicking myself for not getting the BD35K when it was on sale last holiday season.

Ok, you caught me buying Sony//me bad

It is the live link for stand alone players that sucks. Until I updated the FW and connected the internet it was almost as fast as my PS3. If you don't have live link then you will have a faster machine if you update the FW for new releases. Got a bigger problem. I need to get my new computer from Dell in the boys room (my office) before my wife sees it.

You really have a Dodge Dart man?

I was wanting the Panasonic 55 but they became pricy and out of stock.
So I got the 51d for 7.1 analog until I can buy a new receiver. My HK7200 is just too good to abandon.

Bluray Burner for 100$

BD-R Media for 1$

That is the sweet spot for me price/value wise

DVDs are fine for now

I have a close to 10 year old Onkyo 777 A/V receiver myself, no HDMI, 5.1 only but it has high current outputs and does a true 105 a channel with THX certification. It has outs for all channels and analog 5.1 ins so I also use them for at least my DVD-AUDIO/SACD player.
I bought a monoprice 4 way HDMI switch and a bunch of the cheap HDMI cables, which work perfectly for 90 percent of what the big company's charge.
The TV has 2 HDMI ports, 2 Component, 2 svhs and 2 rca av jacks so it was pretty current 5 years ago when I bought it and I use it's inputs as well for some of my favorite devices, it's a 34" Toshiba 34HFX84, the last USA made CRT HDTV they made before closing down and going to china for the next years version.
I like the way my system sounds, I'm pretty happy with the TV, so I also stay put. Economies too crappy right now to go out and buy all new stuff, though I'd like a new reciever with all the new sound codecs and things and a Pioneer kuru Plasma set.
Then I have the A2, the bdp 10a, a denon 757 dvd multi format audio player, Panasonic E80H dvd recorder with hard drive, Philips 3575 dvd recorder with 250 gig HD, JVC 9600 SVHS editing machine and a Panasonic Laser disk player plus a bunch of retired gear that sometimes gets dragged back out for projects.