Sony new Blu-ray player for $499.

[Smokey]

When Sony announced the BDP-S300 player in February, it put the price at $599, but it has now set a list price at $499 which will go on sale this month. That means the new player costs half of what the company's first Blu-ray player cost when it launched just six months ago - probably one of the fastest price declines in the consumer electronics industry.

The price cut is due to falling production costs and the growing demand for Blu-ray products, according to Chris Fawcett, vice president of Sony Electronics' home products division.

Sony has been undersold in the market for high-definition disc players by Toshiba, which created the rival HD DVD format. Its players are now selling for less than $300.

Neither Blu-ray nor HD DVD players have caught on strongly with consumers, who have been waiting for the market to settle on one of the formats. But dropping prices for players and HDTV sets in more homes mean a big showdown between the discs may be looming this holiday season.

http://www.physorg.com/news100163527.html

[PeruvianSkies]

Smokey, Let me know when it's about $150. Or when a player can do both formats for $300.

[kexodusc]

Smokey, Let me know when it's about $150. Or when a player can do both formats for $300.

Lol! Uhh...do you want a receipt with those???

[bfalls]

There is a player which does both, LG BH100 @ $1200.

[Groundbeef]

Engadget just did a review on this sub $500 player and the reviews were positive.

The problem for Sony now is that the PS3 is now MORE expensive than the Blu-Ray players. Consumers who were mainly interested in the Blu-Ray player for less money & a gaming machine to boot are now going to go for the stand alone player.

The advantage of the cheap blu-Ray player and console are gone.

So, if sales of the PS3 tank further, Sony is going to have some real problems. Current estimates of PS3 sales for the WORLD are about 87,000 units in May. That is the worst showing of any console out in the market. Doesn't bode well for a console that came out only 5 months ago.

[DEVO]

This is definitely making me closer to purchasing. I believe BluRay is the way to go, HD-DVD lacks storage for future capabilities (who knows what's waiting for us)? I'm probably going to wait for the Pioneer Elite model to come down in price...But this is VERY encouraging!

[GMichael]

Engadget just did a review on this sub $500 player and the reviews were positive.

The problem for Sony now is that the PS3 is now MORE expensive than the Blu-Ray players. Consumers who were mainly interested in the Blu-Ray player for less money & a gaming machine to boot are now going to go for the stand alone player.

The advantage of the cheap blu-Ray player and console are gone.

So, if sales of the PS3 tank further, Sony is going to have some real problems. Current estimates of PS3 sales for the WORLD are about 87,000 units in May. That is the worst showing of any console out in the market. Doesn't bode well for a console that came out only 5 months ago.

It would make sense to me that Sony would also lower the price of their PS3 soon. Time will tell.
I'm with PS on this one. Call me when the dual players hit 299.

[L.J.]

It would make sense to me that Sony would also lower the price of their PS3 soon. Time will tell.
I'm with PS on this one. Call me when the dual players hit 299.

u may be able 2 get 2 separate players if things keep going the way they are for about 500, by the end of the year.

[GMichael]

u may be able 2 get 2 separate players if things keep going the way they are for about 500, by the end of the year.

That may scare me a bit. It might be a sign that neither is winning and both will fall flat.

[L.J.]

That may scare me a bit. It might be a sign that neither is winning and both will fall flat.

By the time the war is over everyone is gonna already be waiting to upgrade to Super True 3D HD.

[Rich-n-Texas]

By the time the war is over everyone is gonna already be waiting to upgrade to Super True 3D HD.

Yeah, how ironic is that?! It's a vicious cycle.

[GMichael]

By the time the war is over everyone is gonna already be waiting to upgrade to Super True 3D HD.

Will that be the IMAX Super True 3D HD or the Holographic Super True 3D HD?

[Smokey]

The way price is dropping on HD players, my prediction is that they will replace regular DVD player and customer will have choice of playing HD discs or lower priced regular DVD discs on these players. Regular [standard definition] DVDs will probably be with us for foreseeable future as there alot of materials out there (last 60 years of TV shows) for this format.

[PeruvianSkies]

u may be able 2 get 2 separate players if things keep going the way they are for about 500, by the end of the year.

I'm just not that interested in getting two machines. I have come pretty darn close to making the grab on the HD-DVD player, since it seems to always be half what the Blu-ray players are on the market. It's hard to resist, but I'm in a dilemma since I really love my Parasound D3 DVD/CD player, which I am primarily going to keep using for CD playback, but I believe it will outperform the HD players on DVD-playback, at least I hope it does. Which means that buying two separate units puts me at 4 players, because I also have a Samsung designated for All-region/PAL playback, which gets it's use since about 25% of my DVD collection is from a Region outside US. I've also considered getting an Xbox just to have the ability to play some of the discs on HD, which I have been fortunate enough to get a large viewing of via my friend.

[N. Abstentia]

No thanks. I'll stick with HD-DVD where you can the the Panasonic player for $299 AND it comes with 7 HD movies.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...d_i=1000089051

[kexodusc]

Been awhile since we had the ol' format war update hasn't it?
Who's winning?

[N. Abstentia]

Definitely neither is winning right now.

[Groundbeef]

Blu-Ray is picking up steam, and selling more units right now, but I think in terms of net units, they are pretty close.

In all honesty though, its a little early in the war to be picking a winner. I think its something like less than 2% of US households have HD-DVD (either format),

[kexodusc]

Blu-Ray is picking up steam, and selling more units right now, but I think in terms of net units, they are pretty close.

In all honesty though, its a little early in the war to be picking a winner. I think its something like less than 2% of US households have HD-DVD (either format),

I heard a brief commentary on some Tech show last night that made a point about picking a winner. As long as the Studio support remains the same, that is BluRay enjoys a wider scope of Hollywood support than HD-DVD, and the longer things go without HD-DVD building an insurmountable lead in the format war, the more likely it will be that BluRay wins. It's not enough for HD-DVD to be close or 50/50.

The point they were making was the pricing trends. Eventually, and perhaps in the near future, the gap between BluRay players and HD-DVD players will shrink to a point of consumer indifference. They put up prices around of $150 - $250 where that would happen but I don't know if that was just for show or they were predicting something. It spoke of gaming consoles, portable music formats, and computer stuff as examples.. If BluRay has more availbale new releases just by virtue of Studio support, the consumer is not likely to see enough of a price advantage to go with HD-DVD. The future promise meaning more than the back-catalog in the home-movie biz.

On the flip-side, if HD-DVD's exlusive studio(s) can crank out some huge blockbuster films for an extended period of time, or land something like Star Wars or LOTR exclusively it could build that lead.

The other thing they mentioned was like Presidential elections, a winner is usually determined very earlier, so 2% or 3% market penetration might be all that's needed.

I never really thought of it like that before, but the points were very valid. Right now could be the determining stage of things, despite everyone thinking it's very early on and not much happening.
At any rate, prices have dropped quite a bit in just 1 year, I have hopes that by next summer it'll be worth my time...though the schedule of upcoming releases isn't exactly inspiring.

[Woochifer]

No surprise with the lower-than-previously-announced price point. Some analysts have been projecting that Blu-ray players would hit the $300 mark and HD-DVD down to $200 by year's end. A $500 Blu-ray player coming out in June would put the street prices right on target to hit around $300 by December.

I think Toshiba's recent price move has forced the Blu-ray camp's hand. Most of the newer Blu-ray players announced for this summer at CES from Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, and Mitsubishi, among others, were due to come to market around the $600 price point. At that time, the analyst consensus was that Blu-ray player prices would move down to at least $400 by year's end with a possibility of the prices dropping as low as $300. Now, it seems that the lower estimate is likelier, especially since Funai is due to introduce its budget priced Blu-ray player sometime during the summer (it had an announced list price of $500, but with Sony and likely other manufacturers already at that price point, I would expect the Funai player to probably come in somewhere around $400).

Now, it's obvious that Toshiba is accelerating the price drops in a bid to increase HD-DVD's flagging market share. (If Blu-ray had not opened up and maintained a 2-to-1 market share lead, no way that Toshiba would be putting itself in the position of commodifying the HD-DVD format this quickly) No one seems to be talking about that Wal-Mart HD-DVD player order anymore, since Toshiba is already dropping the bottom out of the market before the anticipated flood of off-brand HD-DVD players even starts. At this rate, Toshiba's players will be down to the $200 mark by year's end, and who knows how low those off-brand HD-DVD players will come in once they start hitting stores in the upcoming months.

[Woochifer]

Been awhile since we had the ol' format war update hasn't it?
Who's winning?

Here's the link to the latest Home Media Magazine tracking trend. The Nielsen Videoscan data has pretty much held steady at a 2-to-1 sales lead for Blu-ray.

Week Ended 5/27: Blu-ray 69% HD-DVD 31%
Year-to-Date: Blu-ray 67% HD-DVD 33%
Since Inception: Blu-ray 58% HD-DVD 42%

As far as the tracking trends go, HD-DVD had some strong releases in April and early-May that cut into Blu-ray's lead (March was a disastrous month for HD-DVD), but with the release of the first two Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Blu-ray has pushed back to its YTD average, despite the Matrix trilogy coming out on HD-DVD the same week. Here are the updated charts of the Nielson data.

Definitely neither is winning right now.

See above.

The problem for Sony now is that the PS3 is now MORE expensive than the Blu-Ray players. Consumers who were mainly interested in the Blu-Ray player for less money & a gaming machine to boot are now going to go for the stand alone player.

The advantage of the cheap blu-Ray player and console are gone.

How's it a problem for Sony to finally sell a standalone Blu-ray player that costs less than a gaming console that also plays Blu-ray discs? People interested in buying a PS3 will buy it for the gaming, and people interested in Blu-ray can still choose either a PS3 or a standalone player. It was inevitable that standalone player prices would eventually drop below the PS3. Did you think that Blu-ray players would cost more than PS3 consoles indefinitely?

So, if sales of the PS3 tank further, Sony is going to have some real problems. Current estimates of PS3 sales for the WORLD are about 87,000 units in May. That is the worst showing of any console out in the market. Doesn't bode well for a console that came out only 5 months ago.

Sony's problems on the gaming side don't mean much in the format war with HD-DVD. Despite the PS3's also-ran status on the console gaming side, the hardware sales have still been more than sufficient for the Blu-ray format to produce and maintain a substantial lead over HD-DVD. The PS3 has already done its job for the Blu-ray format by spurring disc sales and keeping the format's studio support advantage intact.

As I've said before, the PS3 can fall off the edge of a cliff tomorrow, and at the end of the day, Blu-ray will still have the upper hand because more of the titles that HD viewers want will continue to be available in Blu-ray. If Blu-ray's fortunes were joined at the hip to the PS3's market share on the gaming side, Toshiba would not be dropping the HD-DVD player prices through the floor, and other major manufacturers would not continue coming out with new Blu-ray models.

[Groundbeef]

How's it a problem for Sony to finally sell a standalone Blu-ray player that costs less than a gaming console that also plays Blu-ray discs? People interested in buying a PS3 will buy it for the gaming, and people interested in Blu-ray can still choose either a PS3 or a standalone player. It was inevitable that standalone player prices would eventually drop below the PS3. Did you think that Blu-ray players would cost more than PS3 consoles indefinitely? .

The problem is, there don't appear to be very many people interested in the gaming side of the PS3. That was the beauty of the pricing structure of the high price stand-alone player, and the less expensive combo game machine/blu-ray player.

I never thought that standalone players would be more expensive than the PS3 indefinitely. But, I seriously doubt that Sony is thrilled that 5 months after release, Blu-Ray players are now priced less expenisvely than their beforementioned "Combo-Deal" PS3 Game/Movie player. Thats the point. Rember how Sony flogged the PS3 as a console with a inexpensive option to HD Movies. Well, now forget the combo, and go with the standalone player.

Sony's problems on the gaming side don't mean much in the format war with HD-DVD. Despite the PS3's also-ran status on the console gaming side, the hardware sales have still been more than sufficient for the Blu-ray format to produce and maintain a substantial lead over HD-DVD. The PS3 has already done its job for the Blu-ray format by spurring disc sales and keeping the format's studio support advantage intact. .

No, but Sony didn't spend several BILLION developing the standalone Blu-Ray player. Remeber, they spent it on the gaming console, that currently is in the crapper sales wise. So every unit they sold as a "movie" player helped prop up the gaming side. With the advent of lower priced stand alone players, this can only further depress sales of the console for conumers who would have bought a PS3 (even if ONLY for movies), and the occasional game.

I think you are right that it spurred the Blu-Ray brand ahead of HD-DVD, but thats not really the point. Sony isn't going to set the world on fire with a commodity product (thats where we are headed with both formats pretty quickly). Margins are depressed, and investments are going to take much longer to recoup than was ever expected. Studio support isn't really going to matter in the long run if Blu-Ray prices reach those of DVD's and the like. At that point most consumers will vote with their wallets. DVD's are cheaper, so they will buy them instead of Blu-Ray OR HD-DVD. Remeber, the HD movement was to SAVE the industry with higher margins, and better return.

As I've said before, the PS3 can fall off the edge of a cliff tomorrow, and at the end of the day, Blu-ray will still have the upper hand because more of the titles that HD viewers want will continue to be available in Blu-ray. If Blu-ray's fortunes were joined at the hip to the PS3's market share on the gaming side, Toshiba would not be dropping the HD-DVD player prices through the floor, and other major manufacturers would not continue coming out with new Blu-ray models.

I can't argue with you that Blu-Ray will probably win. In fact, I have read several articles pointing out that MS has contingencies that will allow for a Blu-Ray Drive in the event of the faliure (probable) of HD-DVD. Hell, I'm even thinking about a Blu-Ray player for my entertainment center. But I can assure you my Blu-Ray player will NOT come encased in a George Foreman Wannabe Grill

Your missing the boat a bit on the Blu-Ray fortune. Sony doesn't need Blu-Ray to maintain its edge in the market place. Yes, it will be a nice feather in their cap, but again, the big money Sony has on the table is the PS3, and it is selling like electric heaters in the height of summer in the Death Valley.

[L.J.]

OK, so Blu-ray is up. But what exactly needs to happen for Blu-ray to win?

I had plans on getting an HD-DVD player but I'm still kinda on the fence with that and will probably hold out until the end of the year to see how things look at that time.

[Rock789]

Will that be the IMAX Super True 3D HD or the Holographic Super True 3D HD?

I'm waiting for holodecks

[Rock789]

No thanks. I'll stick with HD-DVD where you can the the Panasonic player for $299 AND it comes with 7 HD movies.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...d_i=1000089051

sweet
does this unit playback at 1080p?