Chicago (IL) – As Microsoft announces a $299 Xbox 360, we are noticing Blu-ray player prices diving as well and distancing themselves from the Blu-ray-equipped Playstation 3 for the very first time. Patience and luck may get you a $300 Blu-ray player in the not too distant future.

$300 is seen as a critical price point that will help Blu-ray to be adopted by a much broader audience. Browsing this weekend’s ad sections in your local newspaper indicates that first-gen Blu-ray players are on their way to drop below $300. Among the offers we spotted is Sony’s BDP-S300 for $359.99 (down $40 as part of a closeout) and Panasonic’s DMP-BD30K for $449.99 (down $50) at Circuit City. Best Buy is offering a house-brand Insignia player for $329.99, which even comes with a $100 instant-coupon that can be used towards Blu-ray movies. Yes, it is marketing, but since you have to buy Blu-ray movies anyway, this rebate is almost as good as cash. And if you are looking at this deal from this side, this deal may be the very first Blu-ray player in the U.S. breaking the $250 mark.

We briefly checked average retail prices of Blu-ray players and there are clear signs that Blu-ray player prices are dropping, most likely in preparation of the introduction of next-gen BD-Live players. The cheapest Blu-ray player you can buy today appears to be Samsung’s BD-P1400, which currently sells for an average of $288. Following are Sony’s BDP-S300 with $348, Philips’ BDP7200 for $370, Samsung’s BDP-P1500 for $376 and Sharp’s BD-HP20U for $392. All other generally available Blu-ray players are listed with average selling prices of more than $400.

Supplies of HD-DVD players are pretty much gone, but you may still be able to get your hands on a device, if you have to. Pricegabber says that Toshiba’s HD-A3 is selling for an average of $141, while Samung’s BD-UP5000 Blu-ray/HD DVD player is selling for about $450 and LG’s BH200 hybrid player for an average of $532.
 

We need Chinese players to drive down prices.

Jul 14, 2008 06:42     

The price is still too high for mass adoption. I'd also like to see Oppo come out with a player.
J. Doe report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

Finally

Jul 14, 2008 09:04     

It's still too expensive to adopt Blu-Ray, unless you are wanting to play some of the games on the PS3. I haven't found one yet, but some of you have. I would like to purchase Blu-Ray but the price for a new movie($30-$40) and the players are still too high at $300. I'll start to look at Blu-Ray when the players are >$200 and the movies are >$25. Until then, my DVD collection being up scaled still looks great on my 42" plasma. I'm just glad to see some progress to lowering the prices.

Headward report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +2

XBOX has nothing to do with this article...

Jul 14, 2008 12:10     

Why try and relate announcement of a gaming machine to the trend of HD media device pricing? The article doesn't even speak of the XBOX 360 other than in the opening sentence. Not a mention of similar playback support, competing playback support, nothing of the XBOX 360 release that has to do with the trend of Blu-Ray pricing. What's next, writing an article that compares the price of Prius (or two) to that of a digital camera? Oh, too late, you beat me to it. Please don't try and relate two unrelated topics in future articles, especially if you don't even make an attempt at relating them further in the actual content.

Nick B. report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +5

HD-DVD or nothing

Jul 14, 2008 13:02     

Blu-Ray FTL
Hax Or report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Blu-ray prices

Jul 14, 2008 13:36     

Keep those prices up there so no one buys them.
hddvdfan report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +2

Ohh yeah

Jul 15, 2008 12:40     

Yes, HD-DVD or nothing! What's that? What do you mean the war is over? HD-DVD LOST?!? They aren't making players anymore?! NO MORE HD-DVD RELEASES, ever?!?! No! You lie! We can still WIN this! We still have supporters like "Hax Or" backing us, so we're still in this thing! Blu-ray FTL as he so intelligently put it! Blu-ray FTL!!! Who needs movie studios and funding and actual HD-DVD players being produced?! Toshiba may have turned their back on us, Microsoft may have stopped producing their immensely popular HD-DVD XBOX drive, and all of the movie studios may have said to hell with HD-DVD, BUT WE CAN STILL WIIIIIN!!!! For the love of God, NEVER GIVE UP HOPE! Blu----raaaay FFFFTTTTLLLLL!!!!! … *cough*

P report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

funny

Jul 16, 2008 15:54     

you really think people are going to buy players at 300 who won't at 400? if it doesn't say 199 or less at best buy, it isn't going to move. If the discs don't drop down to reasonable levels (15 bucks each on amazon) then it won't matter. The only BR players really selling are gaming consoles that happen to come with a BR player. remove those from the equation and you're left with a tiny chunk of the market. I guess it has been more successful so far than UMD was...but is that really a success story? How many years does Sony get before BR is considered a flop? You don't need competition to lose a format war. UMD lost the portable optical video war all by itself. Blu-ray is on the way to repeat that mistake...only this time there is more of an investment to lose. HD-DVD failed, but the disc are still selling, especially in europe. BR is failing as we speak. 2 years from now it will be as pointless as UMD. Downloadable movies are the future of HD.

ben report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0