Blu-ray players unlikely to beat $399 this holiday season
Posted on 06/11/07 23:56 by Seán Byrne                             
Blu-ray players unlikely to beat $399 this holiday season

Despite the significant drops in HD DVD player pricing, particularly with competition between the major retail chains, not to mention Wal-Mart's $98 HD DVD player, Blu-ray players will unlikely fall below $399 this holiday season according to the Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow in this TV Predictions report.  So far, Amazon.com, Circuit City and Wal-Mart have all revealed late last month that they will sell the HD-A2 HD DVD player for $198 during non-promotional periods (under half the current lowest price Blu-ray player), while Wal-Mart is starting its $98 pre "Black Friday" sale special on this player. 

According to Glasgow, Blu-ray still has the advantage of having more titles to choose from than HD DVD making Blu-ray a more attractive choice, with more titles to reach the market this season and in the beginning of 2008.  He also mentioned about Blu-ray outperforming HD DVD.

Thanks to Bobverens for letting us know about this news and making the following comment:  Despite recent downward price trends for HD-DVD players and Walmart's Pre-Black Friday $98 HD-DVD player sale, a spokesman for Sony claims that it will hold the line on entry-level Blu-ray Disc player prices at the $399 level. With entry-level HD-DVD player prices now starting at $200 or less, which format would you be more inclined to buy this holiday season?

Reactions
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By greensabath (guest), Wed 7 Nov 2007 03:07
It doesn't matter how many studios back blu-ray....If people buy it (hd-dvd)...then studios will come
By klark kent (guest), Wed 7 Nov 2007 03:31
Sony bad mouthed VHS too. Go get 'em boys!
By Witchdoctor (guest), Wed 7 Nov 2007 04:13
BWAAAHAAAAHAAAA Take it up the b**ks**e you evil rootkitting sony scum.......
By johnnyjt, Wed 7 Nov 2007 04:33
johnnyjtI got my 2 Toshiba HD-A2 at the Secret Sale last Friday! I love it! JohnnyJT cool South Philly
By CDan, Wed 7 Nov 2007 05:52
CDanThe rumors are that Toshiba may have sold over 100,000 HD-DVD players last weekend. More than the sales of the top BD player over several months.
By brantdk (guest), Wed 7 Nov 2007 08:39
The winner of the format war will be the company that sells their hardware cheapest. Who in their right mind are willing to pay 400-500-600 dollars for a player? The one that gets their player out there cheapest will win the war...It doesnt matter if some of the bigger movie studios back it up or not. They will come around when one format has won. The other format will die out because no one wants to use that much on a player
By SiC, Wed 7 Nov 2007 08:43
$399 just for BluRay playback? Who needs that when you can buy a PS3 for the same price and play games on it. Smilie
By JJJB, Wed 7 Nov 2007 14:07
When combo (Blu/HD) units go for around $300.00 then count me in. Maybe 2 yrs from now when I buy my first HD TV. supergrin Til then I'm sure I'll live.
By Joe Mama (guest), Wed 7 Nov 2007 15:45
LOL. I don't think the opinion of someone who can't afford an HDTV for 2 more years is really important at this point. But I have a feeling you won't need a combo player 2 years from now.
By JJJB, Wed 7 Nov 2007 19:08
C'mon Joe, I can afford anything I want. Remember that Yamaha first generation DTS DVD player I bought for $800.00 ? How about My Pioneer Elite 57-H TiVo with a DVD burner that wasn't cheap and is still used everyday along with a 60"old CRT Pioneer that looks great as long as the FREE non digital cable is still available...lol I don't need to be an early adopter this time around. When everything has HDMI 1.3 and my TV starts to look bad then I'll change EVERYTHING. So what your saying is Blu will win ?
This message was edited at: 07-11-2007 19:09
By ivid, Wed 7 Nov 2007 19:36
More titles to choose from ? More CRAP ! Look at the selection of BR titles coming out and its mostly crap worth a rental at best. If true that HD DVD owners buy more movies than BR owners, then "THE SALE", and lower prices in general will be a big boon to HD DVD sales.
By andromedia (guest), Wed 7 Nov 2007 19:42
This is another nail in BluRay's coffein. supergrin Price is crucial for the average consumer.
By Guest (guest), Thu 8 Nov 2007 03:23
Based on core logic, blue ray is winning all the way! You guys are way too emotionally involved (mr root kit + bashers). Take a moment (and a DEEP breath) and stand back and look at this objectively. 1. No matter who sells how much - the future tech is blue ray. I'm mean come on, do want another format in 5yrs (maybe less), Say HD-DVD v2 now capable of handling all the HD content we never thought we were going to need. NO! So why do it twice and have it cost more (in hardware & movies because we will need 2nd gen/higher capacity), why not just pay the piper and hold on to good tech for longer period of time, this way the players will eventually drop like DVD players now are with the media being reasonably priced. 2. Rumor has it that reason why these HD-DVD players are so low is because analyst have already predicted who lost and are now trying to dump and sell all HD-DVD hardware while they still can before they are stuck with them. Why do think there isn't as much of selection of movies (compared to HD-DVD), have you heard of the expression, "Follow the Money". Please, don't fool yourselves. See what is really happening. The only reason why it's still around is because Microsoft is carrying them. Remember does Divx players that failed many years ago, it's happen again. Enough said. Please don't reply to this comment as it's not necessary. It was written simply for your enlightenment. Failure to do constitutes inmaturity and will demonstrate the lack of confidence that HD-DVD holds for the future.
By BitRate, Thu 8 Nov 2007 08:38
Sony are only good at introducing new technology and comprehensively fucking it up. Blu-ray as it stands now is still incomplete when compared with HD DVD's feature set. HD DVD's installed base is increasing and coupled with the massively reduced price of HD DVD players and more feature film support it's a no-brainer which HD format one should choose.
By BitRate, Thu 8 Nov 2007 08:40
Sony are only good at introducing new technology and comprehensively fucking it up. Blu-ray as it stands now is still incomplete when compared with HD DVD's feature set. HD DVD's installed base is increasing and coupled with the massively reduced price of HD DVD players and more feature film support it's a no-brainer which HD format one should choose.
By H3rB3i, Thu 8 Nov 2007 09:36
H3rB3i>brandk wrote: The winner of the format war will be the company that sells their hardware cheapest. Who in their right mind are willing to pay 400-500-600 dollars for a player? The one that gets their player out there cheapest will win the war...< I think we will never see a clear winner, we are at a point where we must live with both formats.
This message was edited at: 08-11-2007 09:37
By Oz., Thu 8 Nov 2007 23:05
Why MUST we live with them? People could perhaps also decide to turn their precious TV's off once in a while and actually start to live for real and stop living through someone else eyes.
By shaolin007, Sat 10 Nov 2007 16:59
shaolin007"Based on core logic, blue ray is winning all the way!" LOL, ok "core" logic. "No matter who sells how much - the future tech is blue ray." ???. What econ class did you take? If product A is less than product B, which do you think consumers will get? "analyst have already predicted who lost and are now trying to dump and sell all HD-DVD hardware while they still can before they are stuck with them" Analysts are selling the HD-DVD players? And they are trying to dump them on us? This is news to me. When did they start making the HD DVD players? Wow, you are so enlightened. "Enough said. Please don't reply to this comment as it's not necessary. It was written simply for your enlightenment. Failure to do constitutes inmaturity and will demonstrate the lack of confidence that HD-DVD holds for the future." Enlightenment? Seems nothing you said was even fact. You merely stated your opinion. And if you don't want people being critical of your post, then don't post! It is not immature to respond to an absolute plethora of bilge like your post to state why and where it is fallacious.

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