Quote Originally Posted by Woochifer
yep, pretty much the same thing has happened with standalone CD players. There's a whole thread on Linn's recent decision to drop CD player production, but aside from Sony, it seems that most of the CE giants stopped making standalone CD players a while ago.

Oppo's decision to stop making DVD players is just the first of many such announcements to come. Denon has now pared their DVD player lineup down to just two mid level models, and eliminated all of their high end players. There's simply no market for high end DVD players because the consumers that would spend more than $200 on a DVD player are spending that budget on Blu-ray instead.

The prices on entry level DVD players from brand name manufacturers have been stuck around $60 for a few years now. That's already commodity-price range, and it's not that far from the $150 street prices you now see for brand name Blu-ray players. There's no question that Blu-ray player prices will continue to tumble throughout 2010. As the street prices dip below $100 in the next year, the rationale for continuing to produce (and purchase) low margin DVD players also erodes.

So, indeed this means the remainder of the DVD hardware market will indeed go to those knockoff brands. But, that's not necessarily a bad thing, because it simply means that the broader market will have already transitioned over to the higher quality Blu-ray format.
All of this is true, especially regarding hi-end product, but, let us not forget how many people watch DVDs on computers and gamig systems....so, I agree with your assessment of the hardware situation but still feel the format will stagger on for some time...

...hell, you can still find VHS at truckstops, lol...