Audio Video News

Will the list prices of Blu-ray player prices drop from current levels in time for the holidays? Yes, says one struggling brand. No, says the standard bearer.

The no is from Sony, which will not drop PS3 pricing from its current $399 list. Both Sony and Samsung recently dropped their lowest-priced players to $299 list but will go no further.

The yes is from Olevia, which will sell the BD-110 Blu-ray player for $229, undercutting everyone else. That's the list price, so street prices may well be lower. You'll remember Olevia as an LCD TV brand owned by Syntax Brillian. The latter went into bankruptcy, with the former re-emerging under the ownership of Fuse101 Brands America. Be warned that the BD-110 is a Profile 1.1 (Bonus View) player, so it may not work with the latest interactive features accessible via Profile 2.0 (BD Live). And how fast it loads a disc is something I'd like to see for myself.

If you're looking for a Blu-ray player priced below $300, choices abound. A recent price check on Amazon found the Sony BDP-S350 selling for $279.87, the Sony BDP-S300 for $249.99, the Samsung BD-P1500 for $222.25, the Panasonic DMP-BD30K for $259.99, and the Sharp BDHP20U for $287.72.

Whether the desperate state of the economy will push any of those brands below $200 before year-end remains to be seen. But with the Olevia listing for $229, that barrier may well be broken, one way or another.

Update: The $199 barrier has been broken by the Insignia NS-BRDVD, at $199.99 on the Best Buy site. Also, the Sony BDP-S300 has been spotted on Amazon for $199.98, though not lately and not by me. Finally, if you bend the rules a little and look at used and/or demo models, the Sony goes as low as $167 on sites listed by the Google shopping engine. Proceed, of course, at your own risk.