Traditionalists might balk, but the holiday shopping season is already underway. Skeptical? Head to your local department store and you'll be inundated by Christmas trees and ornaments. Bargain hunters, though, know that the real deals are more than a month away.
Black Friday, traditionally, is when retailers truly slash prices. Early birds can save hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars off of their holiday bills. Switched.com checked with a few elves, who gave a sneak peek at what you can expect deal-wise this year.
Blu-ray Players and Movies: Blu-ray is shaping up to be the biggest door buster of this year's Black Friday. de Grandpre expects at least one retailer will offer a Blu-ray player for just $49. Look for bargains on Blu-ray films as well, with last year's hit titles (such as "Iron Man") to fall as low as $5.
Laptops: With the proliferation of Netbooks this year, it's never been easier to find affordable portable computing, but Dan de Grandpre, CEO of DealNews.com says it will get even cheaper on Black Friday. Look for well-equipped Netbooks to sell for $199 – and basic 15" laptops to go for as little as $249.
HDTVs (Pretty big): The holidays are typically the best time to buy a new TV – and Black Friday is the time to do it. If you're looking for a normal sized set, you're in luck. Piper Jaffrey analyst Mitch Kaiser says he expects to see 32-inch LCD sets for as low as $299. GottaDeal.com is estimating 37-inch plasma and LCD sets will fall to $399 or less.
HDTVs (Really big): Need something bigger? How about a 46-47 inch LCD set for $599 – a 25 percent savings? Or a 52-inch LCD for $999? Dealnews says you can expect both. Plasma deals will be a little harder to come by, but a 50-inch set should run roughly $899.
HD Camcorders: You've wanted to shoot your child's school play in HD for a while, but haven't been able to spring for the pricey camcorder. This might be the year. Low-end, flash-based 720p models could drop as low as $60 (though you won't be able to zoom with those). Expect a high quality 1080p HD camcorder for $349.
GPS: While navigation systems have dramatically expanded their reach this year – even making it onto the iPhone – there's still a market for car-based systems. Dealnews predicts you'll be able to find a no-name entry-level system for $49, while a Garmin or Tom-Tom brand will be as low as $69.
Digital Picture Frames: Showcasing your digital pictures consistently gets cheaper. This year, skip the 7-inch screens and focus on the 8- or 9-inch ones, which should be available on Black Friday for as little as $30.
Monitors: Computer monitors might not be the sexiest of gifts, but they're usually welcomed with open arms – and they'll be cheap this year. Name brand 22-inch LCD models may go for as low as $99, while 24-inch models will drop below $150.
Memory: Don't know anyone who needs a monitor? External hard drives are always popular, since they're an easy way to back-up data. Dealnews expects a 1TB drive to fall as low as $49 this year. Gottadeal is looking for 8GB flash drives to hit $15.
October is over and before you know it Black Friday will be here, and so all the studios are preparing their holiday selection. Although this mostly consists of classics like 'It's A Wonderful Life,' 'Forrest Gump' and others, there are also some okay day and date titles like 'G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra' and 'The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3.' Next week Disney makes things much more interesting for animated feature fans though as both 'Monsters Inc.' and 'UP' will be released on Blu-ray for the first time.
So the biggest movie of the year has come to Blu-ray and is behind us, but there are plenty of hot new releases left on the docket this year -- just not this week. This week we are planning on getting a couple of movies for our kids as well as checking out the latest 'Battlestar Galactica' movie, 'The Plan.' Other than that we're looking forward to checking out Larry David in a Woody Allen movie, we mean how could that not be funny?
Here we are one more week until 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen' and 'Waterworld' are released on Blu-ray and as you might expect in October, nothing much to see here -- just kidding about 'Waterworld,' that movie stinks. If you are into scary movies then 'Drag Me to Hell' should be a welcomed addition, you know with its IDMB score of 7.5 and all. Disney does have 'The Proposal,' but we'd bet you feel the same way as we do about it; we'll pass.
You we can't help it so here we go -- we're off to see the 'Wizard' on Blu-ray this week as one of the all time classics is released in HD, but other than that there isn't much to get excited about. Sure if you like TV shows you might be interested in the latest seasons of 'The Unit' or 'How I Met Your Mother' and like usual there are plenty of other catalogs to help complete your collection, but most can keep waiting for the Summer blockbusters to open their wallets. 
There's only one thing to call this week and that's Star Trek week. Sadly, of the six 'Star Trek' Blu-ray Discs being released this week, the one we are really waiting for isn't included -- that's okay though as it'll probably take you that long to watch all of these. Universal evidently isn't out of catch up titles yet as it releases two more worth watching with 'Hot Fuzz' and 'Shaun Of The Dead.' The SciFi week is rounded out with the 'Terminator' TV Show which we still can't believe made it an entire season.
These weekly posts are starting to make us sound like a broken record. In fact we really don't know what else there's to say about another week of solid catalogs and TV shows for Blu-ray. By our count we have about another five weeks of this before the Summer blockbusters start to get released on Blu-ray.
This post gets harder and header to write each week. We mean what is there really to say about a few old catalogs and a few TV shows. It's not that we don't think anyone is going to get excited about the latest season of 'Smallville' on Blu-ray, it's just that we don't get excited about it. That's okay though as there is plenty left to watch in our queue as we wait for the fall, which not only brings with it lots of great new movies on Blu-ray, but new HDTV shows and football as well.
Another week closer to Fall and another week of so, so releases on Blu. Again this week we're excited about at least one catalog title, and the one this week is extra special. In fact we can't imagine growing up without seeing 'The Last Starfighter' and can't wait to see it in HD for the first time ever. Other than that though, we probably going to pass on everything else this week, but maybe we'll rent 'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days' for the wife -- on second though, she'd probably make us what it with her, so scratch that.
Will Summer ever end? It certainly doesn't seem like it as we suffer these hot days inside without much to watch on Blu-ray. No worries, because football will be back before we know it and in the meantime we'll catch up with some catalog titles from Lionsgate and Sony. At the same time we'll skip the '17 Again' from New Line, but we're sure some big Zac Efron fans won't.
On this slow week in August we're happy that both Disney and Fox went to the vault and pulled out a couple of classics. The first on our list has us thinking we should have some French fried potaters for lunch, while the second reminds us of when we just were just a couple of yutes. So in other words, if you're all caught up on the recent day-and-date new releases, now's a good time to go back and enjoy some of the classics in HD for the first time.
It may be hard to believe but this is one of the better weeks in July as far as Blu-ray releases go. Not only do you have some solid catalog titles from Sony and Fox, but you also have a nice selection of documentaries. Things really get interesting starting next week as Watchman is due which kicks off a few weeks of good releases. 
We just passed the official half way point of 2009 and still waiting for Hollywood to start releasing the goods again. So until then, we'd like to highlight 'The Universe' from A&E. We're drawn towards this for a few reasons. One is that we like to see TV shows being released on Blu-ray since that just gives us one more reason to not subscribe to cable, and two we like documentaries on Blu-ray. There are also a few catalogs this week that might be up your alley though, like 'Grumpy Old Men' and 'The Deep.' Otherwise keep moving and waiting until the end of July when a few good titles are due to hit the streets.
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