Though they've been floating around retail channels for a few weeks, Best Buy and Netflix have finally made official a partnership bringing streaming to the latest Insignia Blu-ray players. The NS-BRDVD3 runs $179, while the NS-WBRDVD edition tosses in WiFi for $20 more, while they won't stream out of the box, a firmware update just made available should add all that Watch Instantly goodness. These two keep the (we'll be nice and call it plain) styling of earlier models, and likely live up to the family reputation of "basic Blu-ray playback at a bargain" reported on the second generation of players. Of course, the BD-P1600 offers more features and a nicer reputation at about the same price, but Reward Zone members may want to think twice, with AVS Forum posters mentioning the NS-BRDVD3 can be had for just $99.99 through the 24th. Decisions, decisions.

Read - Best Buy and Netflix Announce Partnership to Instantly Stream Movies Over the Internet Via Latest Models of Insignia Blu-ray Disc Players
Read - Save $50 On Select INSIGNIA® Connected Blu-ray Disc™ Players with Netflix [Via AVS Forum]

It's not that surprising to learn Best Buy will be among those delivering a 1080p LCD with Blu-ray disc player packed in under its Insignia store brand, as we've been expecting rebadged units from overseas to hit the value market for some time. Marked "coming soon" at $599, it's easily a few hundred less than a comparable model from Sharp, but buyers will have to live without some of the newer line items like 120Hz motion processing and a contrast ratio higher than 20,000:1. Though we don't expect a lot in terms of load times, audio support or other features (no specs on the Blu-ray player noted) we're sure a bedroom or dorm room somewhere will find a spot for the NS-LBD32X. Your move, Wal-mart.

[Thanks, Zach]

It's all pending an official announcement later this morning but both the New York Times and San Jose Mercury News are reporting that Best Buy and TiVo are forming a "broad partnership." Under the multi-year alliance, Best Buy will "heavily" promote TiVo products at its 1,100 stores across the US. TiVo, for its part, will develop a special flavor of its set-top box that will be sold in Best Buy stores and lets the retailer advertise its products and services directly to TiVo subscribers -- items can then be purchased via the TiVo remote. The alliance goes even deeper as it will see TiVo's software and search tools added to Best Buy's own-branded consumer electronics (like Insignia and Dynex HDTVs) and Best Buy's Napster music service will become available to TiVo subscribers on their TVs. While this all sounds like a win-win for the two corporations, TiVo CEO Tom Rogers says that the Best Buy-customized TiVo with Napster won't likely arrive until "early next year" while the inclusion of TiVo's interface on Best Buy's Insignia or Dynex TVs is even "further out." Until then the benefits for us, the consumers, are less clear.

P.S. That's our mock-up above of what we imagine the Best Buy TiVo will look like.

Update: Aaaand, it's official.

[Via ITVT]

Read -- San Jose Mercury news
Read -- New York Times

Ever heard that phrase "you get what you pay for?" Yeah, it applies here. Insignia's low-cost NS-2BRDVD has been effectively panned by reviewers over at CNET, with the only bright spots coming in the form of a relatively low price, a USB port for accessing digital media and "solid Blu-ray image quality with most movies." The bad? That Profile 2.0 compatibility we reckoned it had actually isn't there (currently, at least), and it lacks full onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. In truth, that's not totally awful, but what affluent individual with a decoding AV receiver (psst... those aren't cheap) would go out and grab this? At any rate, the deck is also slow to load some flicks, and it doesn't support firmware updates via Ethernet or USB. If you really needed a bottom line, here goes: "The NS-2BRDVD is an under-featured and slow-loading Blu-ray player, but it provides basic BD playback at a bargain."

While Best Buy completely failed to issue a press release trumpeting the inability of its latest Profile 2.0 Blu-ray deck to pass Energy Star specifications, it didn't hesitate to pump one out extolling the power-sipping virtues of its Insignia LCD televisions. In case you weren't aware, the Energy Star 3.0 specification went into effect at the beginning of this month, and any Insignia LCD TV manufactured after November 1, 2008 will meet those requirements; in fact, six of the models will exceed the requirements by 15% of more. Um, cookie?

Just over a month after the Insignia NS-BRDVD Blu-ray player fell to $229.99, Best Buy has now reduced it $30 further in order to compete with all those other recently reduced rivals. Best of all, the big box retailer is still throwing in that $100 coupon book for use on BD movies from Disney, Touchstone and Miramax, and even though there's no Profile 2.0, all the bare essentials are here. The best part of this news, however, isn't that we're seeing yet another sub-$200 Blu-ray player -- it's that this thing now has a real chance of being stickered at $150 or less on Black Friday. Gimme, gimme.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Not even four whole months ago, Best Buy was pushing its Insignia NS-BRDVD Blu-ray player for $349.99 with a $100 coupon book. Now, that same pamphlet of discounts comes bundled in a box stickered at just $229.99. We've reckoned here lately that once the $200 price point was met by a few manufacturers, BD units would start flying off shelves more briskly; we can't say $230 is close enough just yet, but it's sure good to see things moving in the right direction.

[Thanks, Anthony]

For those maintaining that $349.99 for an Insignia Blu-ray player is still too pricey, how's about this deal? Best Buy is now offering a $100 Coupon Book right in the box of its newly released NS-BRDVD, and while there could very well be a score of $5 coupons in there, we do know that it'll provide "instant savings on a great collection of Blu-ray Disc movies from Disney, Touchstone and Miramax." It should be noted that the book is included regardless of whether the unit is purchased in-store or online, but the actual coupons within can only be redeemed in a brick-and-mortar location. Anyone actually cracked one of these open and care to share what's tucked inside?

[Via TG Daily]

What's this? Best Buy finally released the Insignia NS-BRDVD blu-ray player for an affordable $349.99. The design, like other in-house Insignia-branded products, is questionable, but if you were looking into the PS3 as a player, this could be a $50 cheaper option if games aren't your thing. The unit outputs at 1080P, decodes Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD, and decodes 2-channel Dolby TrueHD. Outputs include stereo audio, composite video, component video, optical Toslink, digital coax, and HDMI. No word on image quality just yet, but based on previous Insignia products, we're not holding our breath.

[Thanks, Jordan]

We've had digital TV tuners for years, but for many there's a lot of anxiety associated with trying to ensure you're ready for the analog shutoff. So to do our part in helping to make the digital transition a success -- and to get some much needed cred' with the mother-in-law -- we set out on a quest for a DTV converter box.

Finding a DTV converter box that is eligible for the $40 voucher is pretty easy, in fact, in almost every place we looked, we found 'em. The problem is that the voucher is only for $40 and since those who actually need one in the first place are too cheap frugal to pay for cable or buy a new TV, every penny counts.

Here we go -- you ready to take home an Insignia NS-LCD37 37-inch LCD HDTV (courtesy of Best Buy) as a grand prize in our hundred gadget giveaway? Follow the rules below, and hope for the best.

The rules (yeah, there are always rules):

• Leave a comment below. You know the drill.
  
• You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.) In other words, be careful when commenting and if you submit more than once, only activate one comment, ok?
• If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory.
  
• Contest is open to anyone worldwide!
• Winner will be chosen randomly.
• Entries can be submitted until Sunday, September 16th, 11:59PM EDT. After that we're all done. Good luck!

Is this a production model? A concept or tech demo? We don't know just yet but we can tell you that Funai is the Japanese company responsible for Wal-Mart's Duraband. In addition, they manufacturer products for Emerson, Sylvania, Symphonic, Best Buy's Insignia brand and Circuit City 's Pye brand. Therefore, chances are this player might not show up with that snazzy blue bar, but it will probably compensate with a low price. Oh yeah, we're curious about the Wireless Uncompressed HDTV sign next to the player too.

We've been wondering when this was going to happen; in fact it's hard to believe that ATSC has been around as long as it has before the first portable popped up. Sure it is nearly impossible to enjoy HD on such a small screen (The NS-7HTV is 7-inches at 234 x 480), and ATSC is so notoriously bad for mobile use, but all of that aside, we're glad there's finally a way to enjoy digital programming on the go -- even if you have to stand still to get it. Now you can finally make that portable TV purchase you have wanted to, but were holding off because you knew it'd be obsolete when the analog signals go dark.