I was looking at Blu Ray players on EBay and if you look at the listings with the lowest price, you get a bunch of Blu Ray players that say they are broke. They've actually been tested and they don't work.

Let's say I bought one of these for $20 plus $20 shipping. How much would it cost me to get it fixed? Would Best Buy or Fry's be able to fix it?

Why would anyone even buy one of these unless they were going to get it fixed?

Saxon

Might be an interesting gamble. In some cases it's possible the person saying it's "broke" simply doesn't know what they are doing or refuses to read the manual. "Fixing" it could be as simple as changing the settings or updating the firmware.

Of course if there really is something wrong with the drive then it might not be that much of a bargain afterall.

Yeah, one auction says the following:

UNIT POWERS ON BUT DOES NOT READ DISCS.

This is probably just a firmware problem wouldn't you think?

Saxon

You'd think, but it's a gamble.

i doubt it's snaggable for $20 anyways.

To be safe, put the $40 toward a new PS3.

I wouldn't touch these things with a 10 foot pole. You are talking about, at least, replacing the Blu Ray drive, which are super-expensive to begin with and not readily available at microcenter or frys

Some folks have the technical know-how to play with the optical laser tuning, etc as well. I've know a few that can fix Xboxes/PS2s/etc. It may be some folks can build a working player from a couple of defunct ones.

I'm sure if nothing else, you could swap in a good optical drive from a bricked player onto a goodworking player with a burnt out optical drive. I think I could probably manage that.

Or the player is most likely under warranty through the manufacturer.

Interesting gamble.

My thoughts exactly.

True. At this stage in the BD player game, you would likely find some of these that are younger than the 1-year manufacturer's warranty. I wouldn't think that any of these would sell for as low as $20 final price though...

Here's what you do [if you're nasty]:

Buy a top-of-the-range-but-broken Sony blu-ray player, buy a cheap crap LG or Samsung, switch the drives, sell the LG as broken and the Sony as working.

Actually that probably wouldn't be worth the effort.

I don't think that works at all. I'm pretty sure the drives are slaved to an ID buried in a chip on the motherboard, for copy protection reasons. At least for the HD-DVD machines.

see post number 16 below

I don't get it.

sorry..


Buy BD player at Best buy....
Bid and Win auction for broken player...
Once you recieve the item you won during the auction repackage the broken one into the box you purchased at Best Buy...

Take up to CSA and let them know its broken and you purchased another one at another location for cheaper price and you just would like your money back.

And what happens when the serial numbers don't matchup?

if you wanna get really elaborate you can always use a heat gun and pull the sticker off and switch the serial numbers that way...

BTW, this is just speculation.

I'd rather just buy a Blu Ray player instead of getting busted for fraud

If you're one of those people who hate the look of the PS3 next to your other components, you could get one of these as a decoy and use the PS3 in a hidden spot.

Priceless

I was gonna say, the serial numbers might not match up. If they even check it.

Plus, the broken one might have physical damage or scratches on it.

It would probably work but still very risky.

Saxon

well if anyone is a true cheapscape - They could most definately get away with doing it. Whenever I have taken anything back to a retailer (mind you I work for a retailer chain also) they hardly inspect anything. The visual inspection last all but 3 seconds - I myself wouldnt do it, but it could be done without some catching you.

I do not condone this behavior!

Thats fraud..cmon man I can't believe you would advocate doing that! Thats not about being a cheapskate, thats about being a criminal.

Come on, Dan!