Samsung BD-P1200 for $399 at Sears YMMV

That's a great deal as the equivalent HD-DVD with Reon costs $100-200 more (XA2). Reon is great for SD-DVD upconversion. If I don't have PS3, I'd be all over this deal.

I can confirm this price, it is apparently system wide. I went to a nearby Sears at lunch and he searched the inventory and found one ni stock, at $399. I grabbed it. I have a new Sony BDP301 that I got from Costco for the normal price of $449. I have had it about a week. It is OK, but the disc tray locked up once on me, other than that no problems. Except my God is this thing S-L-O-W. I could take a shower, fix a sandwitch, mow the lawn, and change the oil in my car waiting on this thing to load a movie and start playing from a power off status. I played with the Samsung that was hooked up in Sears and it was so much faster, I was sold right there. I knwo I don't have True HD and DTS HD, but I didn't have that anyway. I use the analog out and it sounds pretty good to me already. For $399 I think it is a good deal.

Well I was on a crusade with the PS3 for awhile and now I'll have to take a strong like at this player for the price. I'll also be using the analog outs. I'd like to try that versus just using the optical the PS3 has for the DD and DTS audio playbacks.

I'll stay tuned to see what other folks think about this. The salesman I spoke to last weekend who bought this unit at his Circuit City isn't going to be a happy camper now that the price dropped. He really likes this player though versus others he tried.

set it up and it is so much faster then the Sony BDP301. All of the commands work faster as well. Set up was easy and it came with a CD containing the newest firmware. I compared the analog to the digital bitstream and analog is better, just as it was in the Sony. It has resume feature, which Sony lacks. It has ethernet for future upgrades, which Sony lacked. I like the pop up menu and the ability to change audio on the fly from the remote. SD DVD's looked great. I think cosmetically the Sony looks better. Overall I am much happier so far with the Samsung.

Good price for it, any indication why they are selling it for this?

My guess is that they are getting ready for the next wave of players. Good price no, Great price for all this player does.

Yeah players on both format are starting to get on Firesale for the new model that are coming out in the next 2 months...

I visited my local Sears today and they had one on display for $499.99. When I told the sales rep that it was supposed to be selling for $399, he did not believe me at first, but when he checked into it, it was listed as a "close out" item and at $399.88. The thing about close-out sales is that your local CC or BBY will not match that price with the additional 10% off.

In any case, that Sears store did not have any in stock and in fact, neither did two other Sears in San Diego. They showed one in Orange County, CA and when I called, it was confirmed that one was in stock.

Now with driving about 50 miles each way, plus the sales tax at 8 1/4%, it makes the price almost the same as Amazon's, but with the added caveat of wasting time for driving 100 miles round trip.

None at my local Sears. I called around to a few other stores and they didn't have one. I'm wondering if all Sears stores even carried this player to begin with.

It doesn't matter I suppose as other retailers eventually will need to lower the price as the newer players come in.

My experience was that I found one on display hooked up to a Samsung DLP. I turned the player on and opened the tray and found The Wild in it, so I switched inputs on the TV and gave it a test drive. I hunted down some nice but utterly clueless guy and asked him how much it was. There was no price tag or signage of any kind, so he spent about 2 minutes looking all over the player for some info, turning it almost upside down, all the time while the movie was still playing! Yikes!! But it kept on playing just fine, so good for Samsung.

I kept telling him the model number and pointing out that it was running but he ignored me. He finally found the model number on the front and entered it into the computer. It showed none at all, even though obviously they had one of them. So he went to the back to find the box and came back and told me that he had some other number now that he must have gotten off the box. He entered it in and said it showed one in stock, for $399.88. I said "I'll take it".

Get this. I asked him something about it being included in the five free BluRay offer, and he goes over to the player and opens the tray and says "No, I think it only holds one disc at a time". I laughed and said no, I ment the rebate for free DVD's and he said "Oh, I don't know". (it is, but he had none of the rebate coupons. I still have mine from the when I got the Sony BDP301 so I can use it, but if you pick this player up be sure to get the rebate form)

Like I said, nice guy, but clueless. I have never bought electronics at Sears. I don't know how many might have this. This Sears is in an upscale mall so I thought they might have something like this in stock. You might also try Sears online, they might carry it as well. Don't know about shipping.

The BDP1400 and BDP2400 are coming out. The 1400 is set for release September 1, the 2400 in November I think. THe 1400 has True HD, but it loses the HQV upgrade chip. To get that you have to go with the 2400. The 1400 will retail for $499. I don't know about the 2400, probably in the $599 or $699 range maybe? For the price I think this is a good deal. It will be lots cheaper ini a month or two, but you have to find one which will be tough I bet. One other thing, I don't think the new players will be eligible for the five free BluRay movies. At least not with the current coupon since the models are specifically listed on there.

thanks tarheel - great story!

A sears about 30 min from my house said they have them in stock, but the salesman quoted me the 599.99 price (didnt check the computer). I will be taking a ride there to see what's up.

Correction: Not anymore!. Amazon's price has increased on this unit to $510 and if you can find one at a local Sears for $399.88 plus tax, go for it. You will not be able to get it for that price new, unless you eBay it. But then again, ...

Too funny, Tarheel! I not surprised though really when one is inquiring about Blu Ray though one would think an employee in that department should know at least some things.

I'm not going to chase around and I rather not deal with mail order. I didn't see it online when I did check. I'll wait until Best Buy and Circuit City lower the price if this is the one I decide to go with.

Thanks for including info on the upcoming players.

Axmode,

Hey, didn't you have the LNS-Samsung Series LCD? I see you got the T-Series now. What gives?

Ah yes, Samsung ended up replacing that LN-S4096D which was faulty (he one that the tech messed up) with another 4096 which turned out to suffer from terrible clouding. Then, they replaced that with a 4061, which took almost 4 months from beginning-to-end.

Frankly, the 40" was too small for the family room, so in the process of that repair/exchange, I ended up buying a 4661 from Amazon, after some unsuccessful spat with the Sharp 82U/92U (banding issues) and a Sammy 4665 (HDMI drop out issues).

Just to confirm: Sears is indeed selling the BD-P1200 for $399. I picked
one up at the Enfield (Connecticut) store. It was their last unit. I could
not find any in Massachusetts, but the Enfield store was pretty close.

Another good reason to buy from Sears (if you can find any left) is that they
have a longer (3 month) return policy. I think the first month is the same as
everyone else (return with no questions asked) and after that, there is some
restocking fee (not sure how much that is). This gives anyone on the fence
sufficient time to decide whether to keep the 1200, or return it in favor of the
2400 (which should be out by October, albeit at a higher price of $599 or thereabouts).

And, yes, BB will not price-match. The nutheads. I'll have to return my previous 1200
to BB (since its within a month).

The sales guy told me it was 30 day return with a 15% restocking fee, unless the unit was faulty. In that case they would do an exchange or refund, my option. On the receipt it just says 90 days, and alludes to a restocking fee but not how much. Nothing about a refund for a bad unit. So you probably have to just take your chances.

That was the one good thing about the Sony BDP301. I got it at Costco for $449, and took it back no questions asked. Not to mention it had basically a lifetime return warranty from Costco. But it wasn't a money issue with me, I just didn't care for the Sony. Too friggin slow.

Does anyone have the Sears unit or item number for the 1200? Seems they may have better luck searching their inventory that way instead of the model number from the manufacturer.

Best Buy price match will need to have a bonafide ad from another retailer. But they will have no choice eventually to lower the price on the 1200 though when the 1400 comes in is my take on things, same as other retailers carrying Samsung BD players.

I have the BD-P1200 and it is a great upscaling SD DVD player, no doubt. However, it does not pillarbox 4:3 SD DVD's when upscaling, which is a dumb flaw. If your TV has a way to pillarbox incoming 720p/1080i/1080p signals, then you are cool (most HDTV's can't do that, though).

Also, I sometimes get momentary audio dropouts when playing SD DVD's (certainly not every time or with every disc, just once in a while). Blu-ray playback is fine and the picture is awesome, but the BD-P1200 can't play a couple of titles that I am aware of (even after the recent firmware update)... Deja Vu and the Weeds series discs won't work in this player right now (maybe a future FW update will fix this).

Still, I really like the player and got a great deal on mine through a Best Buy charity auction ($375).

$399 is an excellent deal for this unit. Grab one from Sears if you still can. Just be aware of the above issues.

I've got the 4096 and 4095, but I may upgrade to a 46" or larger soon. I'm thinking either the Mitsu 46231, Samsung 81 series or a 5296 without issues, hopefully. I've also been eye-balling the Pioneer 5070 (Plasma), too.

So, how do you like you 61-series sets?

Sears return policy is 30 days on electronics--this is printed on the back of the receipt--with a 15% restocking fee unless the product is defective or the box has not been openned. There is no way to check inventory using the mfgs. model number, this can only be done using the Sears stock number which is supposed to be on a sticker on all display units. If the sticker's gone it's necessary to log on to Sears.com and find the item on the website in order to get the Sears stock number. The 1200 isn't on the website right now, and stock units of more expensive items are often locked up in a back room for LP reasons so your sales associate should be able to check there for stock if all else fails. This involves getting a manager to unlock the stockroom so be patient.

BD and HD DVD players are not stocked in all Sears stores, but are available for order at any store. If you're having trouble finding one try a large store in a less affluent part of town. For some reason higher end stuff can be available in a large store in a bad part of town while smaller stores in more affluent areas don't have them.

We had at least 3 of the 1200 models in stock at our store, but only displayed the 1000 (which has outlasted 2 Sony BD players and still works reliably).

Sorry if this is OT to the others:

ab2ab

I like the 61 sets, although I have an issue with the washed out off-axis viewing. Over all though, I like it better than the 96.

My favorite as of now, is the Sony XBR4 (I will wait about 9+ months to get serious about the XBR5, which is the same as the 4 but in black). This TV just blew me away, from initial reaction at the shops.

If I were you, I would pass on any of the older LCDs which you mentioned. No point in stepping sideways. The 81 is very intriguing, but that is a very new technology and you may not want to be an early adapter of that. Also there is a rumor that Samsung is using the same panel on that model as the ones which they used in the 95/96 series with the famous mura defects. The LED backlighting hides the mura, but it notoriously seems to be there, so be careful.

I was wondering, what happens to those units, when they do not sell in those stores in the less affluent areas?. Do they eventually end up in the Sears outlet centers?. TIA.

$448 at Amazon again with free shipping. Same price after tax for me, I may have to pick one of these up.

I re read the back of the receipt and the 30 days is correct.

and the player is great. In two years you can get a loaded BR for $49. But for now, I don't think you can beat this deal.

"High end" items like HD DVD and BD players are never stocked in very large quantities at our store, usually 2 or 3 units at most. We do have a few customers who can afford and are interested in these so they never end up at the outlet centers. Instead if they go unsold long enough they end up in a bargain bin in our own store--happens a lot with digital cameras and the most expensive camcorders.

Just got home with my 1200.

Drove from NJ to Concorde Mall in DE for tax free Sears shopping!

Only had the floor model left, they knocked 10% off the price. Out the door for $359....not bad

Am I nuts for not getting the Sears warranty? Considering this thing has probably been on for 12 hours a day for a few months. I might run back and get it before 30 days.

PS - on the way home stopped at wawa for some coffee, opened the box and OH NO------they boxed me up one of the damn sony300 players! Went back and had them sort me out. I just turned on the player and they left the Ice Age 2 disc inside.

I went yesterday to my local Sears store (after reading this thread) and they had one unit left....Picked it up. I am new to this player...can someone tell me what the latest firmware is suppost to be....