In a bid to fight competing HD DVD, Sony Corp. announced on Monday plans to sell this summer its new Blu-ray disc (BD) player for nearly two times lower price compared to its current product. The device will still be more expensive compared to HD DVD players available today, but more affordable BD offering is still likely to face strong demand.
At a press conference in the U.S. Sony, the main driving force behind the Blu-ray disc format, which already sells BD-equipped PlayStation 3 game consoles for $499 and $599, disclosed plans to release BDP-S300 player, which will be smaller compared to the currently sold BDP-S1 and will be available at $599 price-point, $400 less than the recommended price of the model BDP-S1.
Earlier this year Samsung disclosed plans to market its new BD-P1200 player for $799, down from recommended price of $999 for the BD-P1000 last year. Considering the two announcements, there is a clear trend towards more affordable Blu-ray disc players, which will definitely help to popularize the standard.
The actual prices on the Blu-ray disc players are much lower than those announced as manufacturers’ suggested recommended prices (MSRPs). According to Blu-ray.com web-site, Samsung BD-P1000 can be purchased for $559 from Amazon, Philips BDP9000 costs $549 and Sony BDP-S1 available for $829.At the same time, competing HD DVD offerings from Toshiba start at $345 for HD-A2 and at $449 for premium-class HD-XA1.
Stan Glasgow, president of Sony Electronics, told reporters at the meeting that by Christmas, prices for Blu-ray players should be down below $500, reports Associated Press news-agency.
Sony has previously complained that DVD players became a commodity product too soon, and that it was hard to make a profit in a market dominated by $50 units. Mr. Glasgow predicted that Blu-ray players would take the same route.
“Over time, I think it will be just like DVD,” he said.
Comments currently: 5
Discussion started: 02/27/07 08:38:29 AM
Latest comment: 02/28/07 08:51:38 AM
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Where exactly does the 'low cost' come in again?
More like 'lower than extremely high' cost, sorry $ony. (
[Posted by: OAKside | Date: 02/27/07 08:38:29 AM]
+ expand thread (4 answers)
- collapse thread
x2
i was thinking the same
[Posted by: !!! | Date: 02/27/07 11:38:19 PM]
$599 still extremely high price? U guys are too poor? Back to 1997, how much a DVD Player cost? Over $1k USD!
In AV or HiFi world, $599 is not even enough to buy a quality HDMI or RCA cable!
If u think tht a cheapie 360 USB HD-DVD drive is the cheapest solution, think again! Look at the spec requirement for CyberLink PowerDVD HD-DVD/BluRay version!
http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/products/require_112_ENU.htm l
Processor
Intel (Minimum):
Pentium 4 541 3.2 GHz, Pentium D 840 3.2 GHz, Pentium D 930 3.0 GHz or 940 3.2 GHz, Core Duo T2400 1.83 GHz, Pentium M 755 2.0 GHz
Intel (Recommended):
Pentium EE 840 3.2 GHz or 955 3.4 GHz, Pentium D 945 3.4 GHz, 950 3.4 GHz or 960 3.6 GHz, Core Duo T2500 2.0 GHz, T2600 2.16 GHz or T2700 2.33 GHz, Core 2 Duo E6300 1.8 GHz, E6400 2.13 GHz, E6600 2.4 GHz, E6700 2.66 GHZ or X6800 2.93 GHz
AMD (Minimum):
Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 2.0 GHz or 4000+ 2.0 GHz, Turion 64 X2 TL-50 1.6 GHz, TL-52 1.6 GHz or TL-56 1.8 GHz
AMD (Recommended):
Athlon 64 FX FX-60 2.6 GHz or FX-62 2.8 GHz, Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 2.2 GHz, 4400+ 2.2 GHz, 4600+ 2.4 GHz, 4800+ 2.4 GHz or 5000+ 2.6 GHz, Turion 64 X2 TL-60 2.0 GHz
Graphics Card
nVidia: GeForce 7600 GT, GeForce 7800 GTX 512, GeForce 7900 GX2, GeForce 7900 GTX, GeForce 7950 GX2
ATI: X1600 series, X1800 series, X1900 series
Video RAM: Graphics card memory requires 256 MB or above
We strongly recommend that you update your graphics card driver to the latest version.
Display Devices
HDCP (High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection) compliant display for digital output
TV or computer monitor for analog output
Memory
1 GB and above is recommended
Disc Drive
Blu-ray Disc drive or HD DVD drive (refer to list below)
Notice that minium requirement is not fast enough to smoothy view BluRay/HD-DVD contents with all the features on. For example, a BluRay or HD-DVD with DTS-HD/DolbyPlus will require a "recommended" hardware in order to decode without lagging.
I don't think u can build up a system with above spec + HD-DVD/BluRay drive at $599 only. Not mentioning that u need another $500+ for a quality LCD-TV or mon to deliver acceptable HD quality.
BTW, a $599 *DVD PLAYER* is considered as a mid-range product only.
[Posted by: poor guy | Date: 02/28/07 08:40:12 AM]
Agree.
In fact, many people don't know that HDDVD or BR do require a HDA Content Protection audio codec in order to decode the HD audio in the disc, or the audio resolution will be dropped back to CD quality at 16bit/44.1KHz
Currently the only HDA Content Protection HD audio codec is RealTek ALC885. And so far it is only used in serveral top end $400+ 975X motherboard only.
[Posted by: Eclipsed Aurora | Date: 02/28/07 08:49:20 AM]
Simply saying, HDA Content Protection is vy similar with HDCP, but it works on audio instead of video only.
More information, see also
http://www.realtek.com.tw/products/productsView.aspx?Langid =2&PNid=24&PFid=28&Level=5&Conn=4&ProdI D=138
The ALC885 is a high-performance 7.1+2 Channel High Definition Audio Codec with advanced lossless content protection technology that protects pre-recorded content while still allowing full-rate audio enjoyment from DVD audio, Blu-ray DVD, or HD DVD discs.
[Posted by: Eclipsed Aurora | Date: 02/28/07 08:51:38 AM]
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