Sources: Sub-$200 Blu-ray Players Coming this Winter

Sources have indicated to Blu-ray.com that at least one company will offer a limited number of Blu-ray Disc players for under $200 this holiday season. These players would likely be offered during special "door buster" sales, like those commonly seen on the Friday after Thanksgiving - a day which retailers commonly refer to as "Black Friday". These players will likely be entry-level BonusView (Profile v1.1) players that companies hope to empty from their inventory as BD-Live (Profile v2.0) players begin to saturate the market. Additionally, recent industry whispers that Sony would be lowering the MSRP of their BDP-S350 and upcoming BDP-S550 also appear to be true, but may only be temporary. Official word has yet to be given from the consumer electronics company, but we have been informed that if these players do receive price reductions, the prices may not last long. Blu-ray Disc companies are determined to make Blu-ray the hot item this holiday season. No longer competing with the HD DVD format, consumer electronics manufacturers and movie studios hope to lure consumers to the high definition format this Winter with inexpensive players and a wide variety of titles. Note: As mentioned above, this information comes from trusted sources within the industry who are not speaking officially for their respective companies. It should not be considered official until an official press release confirms the information.
Source: Blu-ray.com | Permalink	Relevant for:

stockstar1138  » Sep 03, 2008	Show comment Hide comment
HD DVD achieved these prices nearly 18 months ago and had sub $100 players a year ago.

CptGreedle  » Sep 03, 2008
HD DVD is dead, and was only supported by Toshiba. And despite that lower price, Blu-ray still won. I think this is great news, and the right thing to do. I told my dad about players dropping down to $200 and he was thrilled, he has been waiting for a price drop like that. With this news, he is almost sure to buy one.

stockstar1138  » Sep 03, 2008
oh yeah, i forgot about the dead part CptGreedle. My bad.

Blu-Ron  » Sep 03, 2008
Blu-ray Disc companies are determined to make Blu-ray the hot item this holiday season? Start lowering the prices of discs. October is gonna kill my wallet.

Blu-ray Fanatic  » Sep 03, 2008
I'll probably buy my grandparents a blu-ray player

Blu-ray Fanatic  » Sep 03, 2008
That means more people will own blu-ray and studios need to create more blu-rays for blockbuster and hollywood video.

Blu-Ron  » Sep 03, 2008
"I'll probably buy my grandparents a blu-ray player" You're a good man, Charlie Brown.

Blu-ray Fanatic  » Sep 03, 2008
My grandparents own a Magnavox HDTV but no HD services or player. It just agitates me when I see that with people.

Lucy Diamond  » Sep 03, 2008
These will most likely be good players for building collections, but anything that spreads the virus is worthwhile for the movement.

mystiksuicide  » Sep 03, 2008
Somebody better tell Toshiba this is the beginning of the end for DVD's

Sonny  » Sep 03, 2008
200$ is good to hear. :-)

evo_dadi  » Sep 03, 2008
great!!!another reason to wake up early again and shop before going to work

kaliraver69  » Sep 03, 2008
This is great news since companies will try moving those Bonus View players (Profile 1.1) but I see Sony's BDP-S300 is $229 on Amazon.com with free shipping, of course it is only profile 1.0.

SickFlow  » Sep 03, 2008
yeah I say lower the blu ray disc prices at least a little or just for the holiday season at least October alone is really gonna stretch my wallet lol

tnlurker  » Sep 03, 2008
Breaking the $200 price point is huge! It is only a matter of time before Blu starts taking a bite out of SD-DVD sales. Then it should just start a chain reaction. With sub $200 players and all the Disney animated movies on Blu in the works, I would say that blu is on its way to winning over the mainstream. That is great news.

the Bass Mechanic  » Sep 03, 2008
Good news, and kind of what most of us were expecting. I'm most psyched about the price drops (even if only temporary) on the new Sony players. That way I can upgrade from my Sony BDP-S500 and give it to my Mom! Now we just need more info on when (and how much) the price drops on the new Sony Blu-ray players will be. Kanpai! TBM

E55 KEV  » Sep 03, 2008
Why would the Sony price reduction be temporary?

jceperley  » Sep 03, 2008

Well, at work we have one that just dropped to $250, so that's getting close to it. The thing though is I don't think the hardware cost is the problem. It's simply a matter of software, if we could get a couple of rather big titles as Blu-ray exclusives, and maybe drop the price of new release titles by a good 5 bucks or so, that'll seal the deal. Cause from working in the electronics retail for a good time now, I see the problem is that a lot of people simply want the movie and don't want to pay an arm and a leg for it. So if some studio would step up to the plate and release a big summer blockbuster as BD only, and maybe starting charging less of a premium (or none at all) that'll kill DVD.

ECWaenigma  » Sep 03, 2008
Boo-yaa! Mom and Dad, Lil' bro, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

JT_Designer  » Sep 03, 2008	Show comment Hide comment
With more and more players being profile 2.0 I'm sure new apartment buildings being built will have more outlets built into the walls for high speed data. I can see future televisions, refrigerators, computers, and interactive tabletop touch displays all requioring high speed internet connections. Not to mention wireless portable devices as well.

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