Depends if you see the shimmering or the blurred textures. I prefer non visible (without a magnifying glass) blurred textures rather than visible shimmering (the inverse is true also) :!:
First prices for France seems to be 379€ and 479€ which are around the GTX 570 and 580 prices...
http://www.comptoir-hardware.com/actus/cartes-graphiques/12778-les-hd-6950-et-hd-6970-referencees-en-france-les-prix.html
There was a post not so long ago, talking anout 599$ for the 480. In France at least, the change conversion gives 1$=1€.
And in France the official price of a 5870 is 359€
But the DVD player can also go out of order and then the new player is a DB player cos "it does HD" says the salesman ;) I don't see any issues here, it's just a question of time.