San Francisco (CA) - Philips announced this week that its pending BDP7200 player will no longer earn the designation of the cheapest player on the market, as it is raising the launch price from around $350 to $400.

The device was set to have the lowest MSRP for a Blu-ray player when it was announced in January, before the effective end of HD DVD.  However, it will now be the same price as Sony's BDP-S300 and lower-end Playstation 3.

The Philips player was announced at the beginning of this year.  Philips "thought that would be the cost at the time," said a Philips spokesperson in a TVPredictions.com story.  She did not give a reason for the price hike, but defiantly argued that it had nothing to do with HD DVD's demise.

On the retail front, Blu-ray player pricing has steadily increased since the HD DVD fallout, likely because of the lessened competition and/or increased demand now that the war is over.

Greediness will kill high def discs...

Mar 14, 2008 13:30     

And so the new trend continues, no HD DVD, we can ream the consumers for Blu Ray devices now! This will make the movie companies extremely happy(sarcasm included) considering no one will buy the players if they keep creeping the price higher. Can we say shooting yourselves in the foot? Onto the future of streaming, on demand and downloadable movies!!!
da man report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

this brings joy to me

Mar 14, 2008 15:26     

consumers should have supported HD-DVD enjoys your Blew-Ray SUCKERS !!!!! waaa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha (/end evil laugh)
09 F9 report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Smacks of collusion and Price-fixing

Mar 14, 2008 15:27     

Hmmm... Anyone in the DOJ and FTC paying attention? Sounds like collusion to me. Where are the Anti-trust hounds when we need them. Agreeing with "da man" now, gouging customers with these tactics will only defeat the adoption of Blu-Ray. I won't buy a Blu-ray player until they are competitive with up-converting DVD players, which means $100-150 price range. I've seen the movies, and they look and sound awesome, but it not worth it to me to pay 3x as much for a player, and even worse 3x as much for the movies themselves. Better shape up there Sony, or you'll have another failed format on your hands, even though you technically won the "War".

EEngineer report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Keep your dang disc player!

Mar 14, 2008 15:49     

This is totally ridiculous! Why are all the Blu Ray players raising in price? Down with the format! DVD is fine! Streaming Video will pwn all!!!
Lowlife187 report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0