Media deals this week - Page 88

Oh yes! That took me way over a half an hour, maybe as much as forty minutes. really, it was up and running so fast it surprised even me. Since I had my annual Thanksgiving two week vacation form Southern Calinfornia to Minnesota (used to go at Christmas, but one year it was in the 80s when the jet took off, and -20 when it landed--and THAT was the end of Christmas in Minnesota!) which put me rather behind in a lot of stuff so I haven't had a chance to use it, but I'm slowly getting back to the stage where I can get the time to do something with it.

Nice try, but I'm afraid not. You forget, or maybe didn't know that I live in California, AND, I will be charged sales tax. That makes the cost per disk just a little over $0.91. Still, that's less than the cost of Verbatim +R DL media, and a LOT less than the JVC T-Y -R DL media.

I've unrolled a few too. Here's my economizing methods:

By in three-packs, they're a lot cheaper.

Google the 3-pk item number. Often, there are cheaper places than Amazon, but be sure and consider the shipping, if any.

Sometimes one color is cheaper than another. Go for the cheaper color, if you find it acceptable.

Keep your labels simple - only use one half of the disc.

Mostly I record movies, many of which are in 1.37:1 OAR. For those, I only put the title on the label, (and the year, when there are other films with the same title.) I use the 2 lines of 24 characters mode. I often split titles over the two lines. This reduces the length of the printing, using less ribbon.

For anamorphic and LB films of different OARs, I have phrases stored in "Phrase Memory." I use the one line - 24 characters, 1 line - 49 characters mode, and put the OAR info on the 49 line.

Typically, I get 60-65 labels per tape.

BTW, I think the reason they say to label first, and burn second, is because the labeler uses heat to transfer the print. Perhaps that could affect the dye.

kjbawc, from someone who uses one these disk labellers, I have to agree with you. Those are all very good suggestions for extending the ribbon, and making the best use of it for the money. Thanks!

Thanks for the tips, I will try to use them. I suppose I should know what "OAR" and "LB" stands for but somehow these terms have eluded me and Google didn't help me much. If you wouldn't mind educating an old guy, please expand a little.

Dave

OAR=Original Aspect Ratio
LB=Letterboxed

Thanks jjeff, I am a little embarrassed now, I should have been able to figure that out by myself? Maybe too many of my brain cells have slipped away?

Dave

I'm desperately low on Verbatim 2.4x +R DL discs because I haven't seen anyone post any deals lately and I haven't seen any myself. Well yesterday for the heck of it I figured I'd check Amazon to see what the going rate was. To my surprise they had a 50 spindle for $34.95 They also had the DataLife+ white inkjet series(in the OEM looking spindle) for ~$50/50. I placed 2 of the $34.95 spindles in my cart but didn't order them right away because I wanted to look for other items today. Well upon returning today I was notified their had been a change in my cart price, the spindles went from $34.95 to $50! WTF, a $15 price increase overnight! The DataLife+ went up to $58!
Has anyone else seen this type of thing with Amazon? Why would they be $15 less one day than the next and what is the chance they will be $34.95 in the next month? Dang I sure missed on that one It didn't say limited time sale or sale of any kind so I didn't realize timing was a issue, I just figured DL discs were really dropping now that BD media seems to be catching on.
If anybody sees a similar deal on 2.4X DL Verbs please post, Amazon even had free shipping.

You may have missed the $35 special, but the $50 price is still a good deal you might want to take advantage of. I rarely see Verbatim +DL priced at $1/disk let alone below. The prices I observe at the Etailers I monitor typically hover at $1.20-1.25 depending on quantity and whether it is 2.4-6X or 8X. They have been at that price for quite some time as BD-R has been dropping to the $1/disk mark.

Seriously, who hasn't. Not just Amazon but all over the net. They have access to the same search engines we do to check competitors' pricing. I was just looking in NewEgg on Monday at 2TB HDD's. The prices seemed to be coming down as the flooded factories are coming back on-line. They had a Hitachi 2TB for $110 (free S/H) that sold as high as $230 last month and sold for $80 pre-flood. On Tuesday (and today) I looked again and the same 2TB Hitachi was back up to $150 ($7 S/H).

I thought $35 sounded very good but again I hadn't really looked at DL prices lately so I didn't realize what a steal it was
I have probably 20 left and I don't use a ton of DL blanks so I think I'll just keep checking Amazon daily to see what the prices are doing. I've setup a bookmark so just one click and I'll know what their prices are.
Dang dang dang, I should have just ordered them instantly instead of trying to get a larger order together
If I had more BD players and a BD burner I might seriously think about going the BD-R route, I could probably fit 3 DL DVDs on one BD-R which would put the disc cost at not much more than quality SL discs Problem is I'd hate to lose the compatibility of DVDs where everyone has a DVD player but at least in my family few have BD players. I also have several rooms with only a DVD player, my only BD players are in my media room and lower level main room.

Not quite 3 full +DL disks closer to 2.5-2.75. BD-R does fit 5 DVD-R. That Panasonic BD-75 is still selling for $80 all over, including Best Buy -- time to upgrade. LG burners = $80.

Who knows what final price would've actually came up once you hit that checkout button though.

I've been hearing that Amazon, BB and others have raised most of their prices way up for Xmas.

I know Walmart sure has - I just about fell over the other day walking through there, just in the grocery section alone. And others around here are telling me it's like that in every store with non-food items, too - they just suddenly jumped way up, specifically for the holidays (even beyond the way everything's been rising so much in recent times otherwise).

Yes, the screamin' deals for Black Friday and Cyber Monday are over; now the retailers are jacking prices to catch the procrastinators. Hey, that's just good business sense.

I'm lying low on capital purchases until after the holiday. Best Buy was offering a 46" Panasonic plasma TV at a ridiculously price over the T'giving weekend. Kinda regret not striking while the iron was hot.

Amazon prices: Sometimes wild price anomalies like the one jjeff saw will occur and they're legit. I've learned to strike when I see 'em.

Year or so ago, they were selling a very fine Yamaha "universal" player for about 75 bucks (MSRP ca. $449.99 or something). Probably a closeout deal or something, but it played SACDs and DVD-Audios AND was highly rated for audio quality, so I jumped in.....for two. Months later I checked in and the price was way up again.

I've noticed the sometimes large fluctuations on certain items. On occasion, I've had an Amazon page up in my browser with something I'm thinking about buying - usually a larger dollar item - and it may be there for several days. I'll refresh the page and the price will go *down*. Is Amazon sophisticated enough to be reading something from a cookie on my computer to ascertain my "fence sitting" status and lower the price a little to get me to pull the trigger?

Yeah, I remember that - I came close to buying one myself. But it was a good thing I passed, because I ended up with what was a better for me, brand new Pioneer Elite DV-79AVi (retail $999), for only $199 (that I also learned of through the audio forums here). All the reviews I read on the Yammy (here and elsewhere) said that it sometimes wouldn't play certain pre-recorded discs. From all the experiences I've had with Pio disc players, that was never an issue, and I haven't been let down so far with this one, either.

I recently saw the Yammy again for only $99 somewhere - but it was a few weeks back, and I imagine they're gone by now (I think they only had two or three).

Santa to the rescue:

check your PM's

I got 3, no delaying this time, even free shipping

Are you talking about the Yamaha DVD-S1800BL 1080p Upconverting DVD SACD Player. Back in 02/10 I picked up 2 "like new" units from Amazon.com warehouse deals site for $59 each. One for my brother and one for a friend My brother really loves that dvd player. My friend likes it because it could be made into a region free dvd player. I went back a few months later and the prices went way up.

Like others have said you see something at a great price you must jump on it. Yesterday I posted on my local Korean message board. About the Western Digital WD TV Live Plus 1080p HD Media Player 'like new or very good" condition from Amazon.com Warehouse deals for $57. They had about 8-10 of them. About 6 hours later the prices on all of then went up by$20. A few people on the message board were not happy they missed out on the item for that price.

I wonder how much is due to the increase in HDD prices because of the Thailand floods.

I too have taken advantage of this sale. Thanks for searching this out for us Rammitinski.

Checkout meritline they have daily deal.http://www.meritline.com/dailydeals.aspx http://www.meritline.com/ritek-ridat...--p-18362.aspx

Thanks, BUT, and I apologize for this only a little, I am a media snob! I only use JVC T-Y -R single layer media, and Verbatim +R DL dual layer media. There is some JVC T-Y -R DL media which is excellent, but very had to find (impossible in the US, I had to get it from the UK) and VERY costly ($2.10 per disk compared to $0.70 per disk for the Verbatim).

Couldn't agree more for DL media, I won't touch anything other than Verbs. I'm basically that way for SL media(Tys) but I'd probably pick up a spindle or two of AZO Verbs if cheap enough(<$20 shipped). I've probably got enough cheap(<$15 PC temporary use) media to last me several years.

If we ever lose Verbatim and T-Y media (quality goes down) we are really in trouble.

Not "if" - WHEN. The demand for quality recordable DVD media has to go down, and at first prices will probably go up. Eventually, the demand will drop to the point that the product is no longer viable to make.

Need to take an inventory of my horde this weekend.

Agreed--not if but WHEN. Unfortunate...

I have almost as much blank media on hand as DigaDo, but maybe next time SuperMediaStore has a sale on 8x DVD-R, I should pick a few hundred more....

And those refurb Magnavox 515s from J&R are sure looking enticing. Except, except....I've already bought my last, FINAL DVDR something like 4 times already.

I had, in the past, said that I would never have more than two of these DVD recorders--that my wife would never allow it. Well, I have ten! I have owned thirteen, but sold or gave away three of them. Like you, I bought my "LAST ONE" many times myself.

http://deals.woot.com/deals/details/...omo-code-emc#0
A possible deal for Kelson
$21/20 Verbatim 25GB BD-R discs sounds like a good deal and it doesn't look like they are the cheaper LTH format(or something like that).

Output will be large enough that it will be several years before this happens. Billions of dollars are still being spent on optical media each year, most home have at least one optical media decice on their computers or home theater, hardly a niche. I can still purchase audio cassette blanks! They have been considered long gone for ages.

Thanks for the link, but product #97344 are LTH. Real BD-R from Verbatim run ~$2/disk.