Audio Video News

The bitterly contested race between rival high-def disc formats has heated up with the announcement of the lowest-priced Blu-ray player yet, the Sony BDP-S300 for $499. Though the PS3 had hit the same price, this is a new low for a standalone Blu-ray player.

This announcement closely follows the latest move from the HD DVD team--a marketing campaign that has brought the price of a Toshiba HD-A2 player down to $299 with in-store rebate. Yesterday, I saw Amazon selling it for $250 without rebate via Tiger Direct (though it disappeared the next day), a reburb was available for $199 (I refuse to link to such garbage), and there are whispers of factory-fresh players at $199 to come, possibly, from the demonically disruptive Wal-Mart.

The Sony Blu-ray player is hitting the street for $100 less than previously announced. Other competitive entries in the Blu-ray category include the Panasonic DMP-BD10A ($599) and Samsung BD-P1200 ($799).

Ah, but wouldn't you really rather have a combi player that handles both formats--like the LG BH100 or Samsung BD-UP5000? Price drops in these new formats would have happened anyway, as they leave behind the early-adopter stage of their development, but the presence of combis in the market may be expediting the process. The opportunity to establish one format or the other as the clear winner is quickly evaporating.