Free BluRay players, digital cameras, PVRs... it must be the silly season again, where TV makers are competing savagely for your Christmas dollar.
It's Christmas again and TV makers are sharpening up their marketing to get you to purchase their brand of full high definition TV (those with a 1920 x 1080 pixel, progressive display panel).
This year (we expect thanks to the strengthening Aussie dollar), the deals are better than ever and you can purchase brand name full high definition televisions for well under $2,000 with some below $1,500 (street price) for 40 inch televisions.
The best sweetener of all comes from Panasonic which is offering a choice of either an HD Touch Lumix digital camera pack, BluRay Home theatre system or HD twin tuner DVD recorder with any full HD plasma. To spur you on to purchase, the Panasonic website has a countdown which shows you just how many bonus units are available to redeem at
http://www.hdbonus.com.au/hdbonus/
Sony has boosted the warranty period on its Bravia televisions to (the now defacto industry standard) three years and is also including a free PS3 with selected models of its televisions. The website
www.sony.com.au also contains a link to the promotions site which shows you just how many PS3 units are still available to redeem.
Sony's offer is doubly appealing because Sony today announced availability of its long awaited digital TV PVR add-on for the PS3, called PlayTV, which only
costs $169.95 to turn your freebie PS3 into a full dual-tuner HDTV PVR.
LG is providing a bonus 23” full HD television with selected models of its full high definition televisions (or with certain models of fridges, surprisingly enough). The website
https://lg.campaign.net.au/NovTV/ shows you just how many bonus 23” full HD TVs are available for redemption.
It seems that Samsung may be trying to clear inventory of its older model televisions by proving a bonus 22 or 26” series 4 LCD (not full HD) television with certain models of its full HD televisions. Given that Samsung is now up to series 8, the question is whether you would want a series 4 television anyway, but if you do, the details are at
http://samsung.promotionscampaign.com.au/xmasbonustv/.
If gaming is your thing, then Sharp is offering an Xbox Elite 360 with 4 games if you purchase a specific model LCD or LED television. Details can be found at
http://www.sharp.net.au/lcd-promo/
Of course you may choose to purchase a budget LCD televisions from the likes of Kogan, Vivo or Wintal (Radio Parts) rather than wasting time (and money) trying to redeem the bonus. The best value sets are currently from Vivo, where the RRP for a 32” full HD television is $699 with a 42” unit selling for around $1,099. At those prices you can afford to purchase your own bonus! Details at
www.vi-vo.comNote that with all of these offers you will need to pay postage and handling which can amount to around $40 for some of these bonuses. Read the website conditions VERY carefully -- freebies by redemption often have hidden catches that require you to claim your bonus in a very specific period of time, and if you fill out any of the forms incorrectly, your claim may be rejected by the manufacturer.