Two sweet deals from Sony in one week? Mercury must be in line with Neptune. First we got the refurbished PlayStation 3 for $237, and now you can pick up a Sony BDU-X10S Blu-ray drive for $49.99 shipped (plus tax in most states).
Just to clarify, this is an internal PC drive, not a standalone Blu-ray player. So it's really a deal only if you have a PC hooked up to a big monitor or an HDTV. (Sorry, slim pickings on deals today.)
Just make sure you're using a DVI or HDMI connection to avoid copy-protection issues.
The BDU-X10S is a SATA drive with an 8x DVD read speed and 2x Blu-ray read speed. It comes with PowerDVD 8, which is necessary if you want to actually watch Blu-ray movies on your PC.
Drives like these were selling for well over $100 just last year, so 50 bucks is a deal indeed.
Because it's a refurb, the warranty expires after 90 days--no big deal, IMHO, but I thought you'd want to know.
Also, make sure your video card is HDCP-compliant and supports 1,920x1,080 resolution so you enjoy full 1080p goodness on your big TV.