You want HOW much?
Thursday, October 4th, 2007I have recently replaced a TV-DVD combi with a shiny LG high-def flat panel. The result of this is that I need a new DVD player - the 360 is far too noisy for watching films (or doing anything that doesn’t involve BOOM! DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA or a loud engine :P) and the PS2 (while not in the same noise league as El Boxo) still has some fan noise which is noticeable during the quieter moments of films.
My current thinking is the Phillips DVP-5980 (even though I bought its little brother from Asda this morning which refused to output over component), so I started looking at various sites to get an idea of price.
John Lewis (who I usually ignore, but who seem to have a decent reputation on AVForums) wanted £69.50 (which was in itself excessive in comparison to Amazon et al). After noticing how the page title (and the search system) falsely advertises it as an ‘HD DVD‘ player, I then spotted much they wanted for a three year ripoff extended warranty: ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE POUNDS. Extended warranties are dodgy ripoffs at the best of times, but more than twice the cost of the item covered? Why would anyone, even the criminally insane/technologically illiterate who buy their electronics from John Lewis shops instead of online, pay such a ludicrous sum instead of just buying a new player (for £129.50 less than the warranty) if it died within that period?
Oh and, to guard against future price reductions (or the very real possibility that many of you will refuse to go near John Lewis’ website in case you catch coffindodgeritis from the clientele), I’ve stuck a screenshot on my Photobucket account:
(warning: the full file is a 150k-ish 1280×1024 JPEG, for those on mobiles or dunce-slow LAN proxies)