dvd

With Blockbuster hanging by a thread and Netflix clearly positioning itself to exit the movies-by-mail business at some point down the road, buying a Blu-ray player might not seem like the smartest move.

Unless, of course, that player is a mere 50 bucks. While supplies last (and they never seem to last long these days), Best Buy has the refurbished Samsung BD-C5500C Blu-ray player for $49.99 shipped (plus sales tax in most states).

Update: Sold out! If you're still keen on this model, Tech for Less has it for about the same price: $43.97, plus $7.70 … Read more

Apologies for my unannounced absence yesterday; I was attending a funeral and neglected to leave a heads-up on Tuesday.

It seems only fitting, then, that I serve up three sweet deals today. Technically, I've got five, but "five-deal Thursday" doesn't have quite the same alliterative ring.

First up, TigerDirect has the ViewSonic gTablet 10-inch Android tablet for $269.97, plus $7.50 for shipping. It's new, not refurbished, and it comes with 16GB of storage. It's on the chunky side, not unlike the $299.99 Toshiba Thrive from the other day, but the real … Read more

The trifecta is now complete: NCR's Blockbuster Express service has hiked DVD rental prices.

Starting Tuesday, customers who want to rent films from Blockbuster Express will be locked into the new 3-2-1 Plan. During the first 28 days after a "hot movie" is released, customers will pay $3 for the first-night's rental, followed by $1 on subsequent nights. After the 28-day window passes, the same film will be offered for $2 for the first night. All other films that don't make the "hot movies" or "recent releases" categories will be offered … Read more

After initially launching for only a select few devices (five to be exact), the Netflix Android app is now supported by most phones and tablets running OS versions 2.2 and up. This means a lot more people get to partake of Netflix's instant-streaming fun.

After downloading the app, getting set up is simple. Just enter your log-in information and your account will sync with your device. Your viewing history, recommendations, and instant queue will all be intact.

Along the top of the screen are four main navigation tabs: Home, Genres, Search, and Queue. The Home tab displays your … Read more

Et tu, Redbox? Coinstar, owner of the Redbox service, is raising DVD rental fees by 20 percent, due to an increase in operating expenses. Let's see if this stirs a Netflix-like outcry.

Netflix's decision over the summer to increase prices for those who had both streaming and DVD-rental plans was met with intense anger from subscribers. Those customers, who were previously paying $9.99 per month for DVD rentals and streaming, are now forced to pay $15.98 per month for the same level of service.

As soon as the price hike was announced, many subscribers loudly declared … Read more

The trouble with trying to adapt a big and growing business to disruptive technologies is that the process is... well, disruptive, as Netflix has demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt.

But "disruptive" doesn't mean "impossible," and it's way too soon to count Netflix out--although that hasn't stopped Wall Street from trying.

Since announcing yesterday that it shed 810,000 net subscribers in the third quarter, the purveyor of DVDs-by-mail and video-by-streaming has been the goat of Wall Street. Its share price plunged 35 percent today, to $77.37, knocking a cool $2 … Read more

Although the issues at Netflix are becoming extremely worrisome to shareholders, the company might still be a worthwhile acquisition target, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter wrote in a note to investors today.

How bad are things? Just yesterday Netflix announced that during the third quarter of 2011, it lost 810,000 subscribers. Even worse, Netflix said that it expects that trend to continue, and by the first quarter of 2012, will report a net loss.

Although Netflix's share price had been declining prior to that news, its shares are plummeting now. As of this writing, Netflix is trading at just $… Read more

Wondershare's Video Converter Ultimate is, as its name suggests, the ultimate video utility for Windows users. But more than just a file converter, the program is a DVD ripper, DVD burner, Web video downloader, 2D-to-3D converter, audio ripper, and even a bare-bones video editor.

It's interface is simple and straightforward, as it has all the major functions laid out as icons along the top of the window. All of the controls are intuitive, and it even lets you drag-and-drop video files.

For the most part, Video Converter Ultimate performs exceptionally well. Exactly as advertised, it lets you quickly … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--In a quiet alleyway here, Ubisoft gave members of the media an early preview of Assassin's Creed: Revelations and the final travels of Ezio Auditore.

For the uninitiated, the Assassin's Creed series chronicles heroic members of a secret society of skilled professional killers that fight corruption and oppression. The games are deliberately steeped in historical research as each game educates players on the era it's set in and real power players of the period--if players choose to take a moment to read the game notes.

In the new game, Ezio, hero of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, leaves Rome behind for Constantinople in search of a weapon that could forever end a war between Ezio's assassins and the Knights Templar. Journalists had the opportunity to play the game for about three hours, uninterrupted--including the entire map of the great Middle Eastern city. … Read more