HD Deals: This Is Spinal Tap on Blu-ray

If you haven't seen the rock comedy This Is Spinal Tap, this deal we found is the perfect early Holiday gift for yourself. More HD and gadget deals* after the jump.

$200 Blu-ray players from JVC and Toshiba

If you've been holding off on getting a Blu-ray Disc player until the prices go down, you might want to start shopping. JVC has just announced a new budget-priced BD player, and Toshiba's long-awaited player has been spotted at Best Buy with a price tag of $50 less than previously announced.

JVC's XV-BP11 is a bare-bones Blu-ray player with a $199 retail price. On one hand, it supports several different media codecs, including AVCHD and WMV videos. On the other hand, it only has Profile 1.1 (Bonus View). The player lacks an Internet connection, and as such it can't access BD-Live features. That's a pretty big feature to not include in a late 2009 Blu-ray Disc player. Still, if you don't want to go online with your discs, the XV-BP11 is available now for just two bills.

HD Deals: The Hangover Unrated On Blu-ray

If you missed the hit comedy The Hangover during the summer, we found this deal to pre order the Unrated Edition Blu-ray for $19.99. More HD and gadget deals* after the jump.

HD Deals: Halloween Blu-ray Discs

Get in the Halloween spirit with this deal on some new horror flicks on Blu-ray. More HD and gadget deals* after the jump.

LG brings Vudu to Blu-ray

Vudu service has been available on a select few LG HDTVs for over a month, and now the service is expanding to the company's top Blu-ray player. Starting today, the LG BD-390 can access Vudu's movie library, thanks to a free firmware update.

The Vudu pay service offers standard definition and high-def movies and TV shows, available to stream either as a short-term rental, or long-term library purchase. More information about Vudu's service can be found in John Sciacca's review of the Vudu XL2 movie player. Unlike the XL2, the BD390 lacks the hard drive for storage, but the complete Vudu library is still available for streaming.

— Will Greenwald

Wal-Mart rolls back DVD and Blu-ray displays

If you've ever gone for a long stroll inside a Super Wal-Mart, you've probably seen the DVD orchards, where vast rows of discs sit fresh on the shelf, ready to be picked. At the end of most rolls, there is are great new release trees, where the newest films hang from their cardboard branches, signaling the harvest season for new releases.

Those orchards are about to experience some deforestation. Wal-Mart is removing DVD displays from its stores, and no longer using those aisle end-caps to promote new releases. Since Wal-Mart is one of the country's largest retailers of DVDs (and anything else), this change is fairly big news.

Disney doles out "Diamond" classics on Blu-ray

The Mouse has been reticent to release its classic films on Blu-ray, parceling them out one-by-one every few months. Unfortunately, that isn't going to change any time soon. On the bright side, we have over a dozen classic Disney films to which we can look forward over the next 7 years.

According to MSN Money, Disney will be releasing 14 "Diamond Collection" movies on Blu-ray over the next 7 years. The films include Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Beauty and the Beast, Fantasia, The Lion King, Bambi, Cinderella, Lady and the Tramp, The Little Mermaid, Peter Pan, The Jungle Book, 101 Dalmatians, Sleeping Beauty, Pinocchio, and (though its status as a classic is debatable) Fantasia 2000.

Denon's one-two punch: Blu-ray and receiver

Fresh after CEDIA, Denon has announced a pair of new home theater devices, the AVR-4810CI A/V receiver and the DBP-4010UDCI Blu-ray Disc player. These two new high-end products pack some impressive features, and equally impressive price tags.

The AVR-4810CI is a 9.3-channel receiver, capable of adding height or expanded width channels to a 5.1 or 7.1 set-up with Dolby Pro Logic IIz or Audyssey DSX. It can pipe video and audio out to a secondary zone, audio to a third zone, and more audio to a fourth zone with its Audyssey DSX pre-outs. It features built-in Wi-Fi and Ethernet networking, and can directly access streaming music services like Napster and Rhapsody. It also includes two AM/FM radio tuners, one of which is HD Radio-compatible and XM/Sirius satellite radio-ready. For custom installers, the receiver offers remote set-up and maintenance; after it's installed, the installer can log into it via Denon's secure web site and change or correct any settings. All of these features come at a price, though; the AVR-4810CI will cost $2,999 when it ships.

Sonypalooza, Pt. 1: Blu-ray!

If you thought Sony's $300 gaming monster, the Playstation 3 Slim, was the only new Blu-ray Disc player in the company's bag this season, you were wrong. Sony has just announced the BDP-N460, an all-new Blu-ray player with a slimmer price tag and broader home theater features than the PS3.

For starters, the BDP-N460 can stream Netflix video, a feat the PS3 has yet been unable to achieve. It supports Deep Color and x.v.Color, and can decode Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. While it doesn't feature the wireless Internet connectivity of the PS3, its Ethernet port is built to work with Linksys' Wireless-N Ethernet Bridge for easy Wi-Fi setup.

Toshiba finally goes Blu with the BDX2000

It's been a long time coming, but Toshiba has finally joined the ranks of electronics manufacturers making Blu-ray Disc players. After the years-long HD-DVD/Blu-ray fight, the company has embraced the prevailing high-def format with the BDX2000. It doesn't have many bells or whistles, but it sports a very tempting price point.

At $250, the BDX2000 might be one of the least expensive "big-name" Blu-ray players on the market when it hits shelves in November. It supports BD-Live and Bonus View, and features an SD card slot so you can load photos and videos and use BD-Live features without having a big USB key sticking out from the front or back of the player. It can also play AVCHD video, so users can watch their high-def home movies on the player. It's not the most ambitiously gimmicky Blu-ray player out there, but its low price and core feature set could position it to be one of the more popular ones.

— Will Greenwald