Black Friday: Walmart Offers $78 Blu-ray Player

Walmart's Black Friday ad has been leaked, and not surprisingly, a Blu-ray Disc player is among the many deals bargain shoppers can look forward to when they go bargain shopping next week. The retailer will offer the Magnavox NB500MG1F BonusView (Profile v1.1) Blu-ray Disc player for only $78. Last year, Walmart made headlines when it advertised a $128 Blu-ray Disc player (also from Magnavox and very similar to this year's offering) for Black Friday, as it was the lowest priced Blu-ray player at that time. This year Walmart finds themselves in a similar situation, having the lowest price for a Blu-ray Disc player yet advertised. Quantities are limited, so be sure to show up early next Friday to get in on this great deal.
Source: Blu-ray.com | Permalink	Relevant for:

Blue Bull  » Nov 16, 2009
OMG, clutch the pearls! I hope they start directing their energy towards cheaper disc, but damn $78 blu ray players is astounding!

mugupo  » Nov 16, 2009
look like walmart is serously to complete in their eletronic department, soon walmart might just well take over the world.

agoofykindasuperman  » Nov 16, 2009
mugupo, I think that's been their plan all along....

djluis2k6  » Nov 16, 2009
Wow, guess I will be adding a Blu-Ray playing in my bathroom.

that1guypictures  » Nov 16, 2009
I wouldn't buy that Blu-ray player for $50. I love Blu-ray, but as someone who works retail at Best Buy, the cheaper players that load slowly, lack firmware updates, and don't always play nice with every blu-ray disc just cause more customer confusion. Not all Blu-ray players are made equally.

bfocussvt  » Nov 16, 2009
that1guypictures: You brought up a lot of good points the average consumer cares little about. "Mom-and-pop" Blu-ray shoppers don't know about load times, firmwares, etc...

Pantallicarox  » Nov 16, 2009
This is great and all, but my Walmart doesn't even carry blus except for the top 2 or 3 new releases and even those are sometimes $10 or so more expensive than Best Buys prices.

melsbluespecv  » Nov 16, 2009
what pantallicarox? walmart has been having the best prices for new releases lately. and so what that walmart doesnt carry many blu-rays. you can always buy somewhere else..lol

cynatnite  » Nov 16, 2009
Wow! I might get this for a close family member for Christmas!

Rainman208  » Nov 16, 2009

bfocussvt, Yeah but I think his point is similar to my thoughts on these cheap players and that's do we really want a newbie's first Blu ray experience to be on a machine that might only play half of the $20+ movies they just bought? I'd jump for joy a lot higher if I saw higher tier players like Sony, Panasonic, even LG or Samsung reach that price point, even if just for the holidays. Fingers crossed It could still happen I guess.

bluflu  » Nov 16, 2009
Consumer Reports just rated the Magnavox as a Best Buy in their latest issue. http://pressroom.consumerreports.org/pressroom/2009/11/consumer-reports-annual-electronics-issue-finds-great-values-and-strong-performance-on-products-for-the-holiday-shopping-seas.html Also, my local Walmart just finished renovating, and they now have plenty Blus.

*RedStar*  » Nov 16, 2009
Umm...where is the source to this story? i am looking to see the ad and have not come across it. can someone provide the link to the ad?

Penthouse  » Nov 16, 2009
1.1?! I thought they were all supposed to 2.0 compliant. Is this an older model.

*RedStar*  » Nov 16, 2009
Thx Blu Titan!! I have tears of joy!!

Trekofile  » Nov 16, 2009
$78.00 and a 1.0 machine? Might as well paint a target on you that says, tech savy optional. MY 2.0 249.00 player can't play my new Snow White disney title and I'm still waiting for a firmware update from Sharp! I can imagine the hate from the public after it realizes what it's dealing w/ a 1.0 78.00 player! OMG! A fool and his money are soon parted was never truer!

RScottyL  » Nov 16, 2009
Obviously the most recommended player would be the PS3, but if you are on a budget, this will play MOST discs!

cynatnite  » Nov 16, 2009
Thanks, Blu Titan! I wish we could see the entire thing. 99% of our Christmas shopping is done on Black Friday. I saw quite a bit I plan on buying.

dmarvin  » Nov 16, 2009

bfocussvt - Unfortunately, those consumers that don't care about load times and firmware updates will learn the hard way how much this player sucks. It requires you to burn a CD-R and load it into the player in order to update it. To this day, I've never gotten the CD-R to take the update. So I can't play any Fox/MGM titles because it's outdated. And it takes forever to do anything -- not just load Blu-rays. It takes forever to open the load tray, takes forever to power on/off, takes forever to skip a chapter, takes forever to load DVDs. Overall terrible player. I'm glad it's only my secondary player but I'm looking to replace it ASAP with something better.

BlackBeltNinja  » Nov 16, 2009
Everybody complains about not being able to update firmware, but I bought a Magnavox player, NB530MGX, for $99 from Walmart and haven't had one problem with it. No updates necessary to play any of the new blus. To be quite honest, it sounds like it's the players that can update firmware that have the most problems.

DIY_HD  » Nov 16, 2009

I think that most WalMart shoppers know that the store specializes in low-priced merchandise. That said, most buyers of this player won't expect all features to be available. Still if they plunk down $20 for a new BD, take it home, open it and it won't play, that would be a problem they won't forgive. According to BlackBeltNinja, this has not been the case. We don't want buyers to have a bad experience right out of the gate. They could get turned off of Blu-ray forever (once burned-twice shy). If CR reviewed the NB530MGX and if the model they will be featuring on Black Friday is the same, our fears won't be realized. If they are unloading an older model on an unsuspecting public, shame on them.

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