Go to Windows 7 Insider Guide
Home audio & video: Are blu-ray player prices ever going to drop?
Are blu-ray player prices ever going to drop?
by GinoShea - 7/31/08 9:49 AMI know a lot of us sat on the sidelines during the blu-ray HD-DVD war. In fact C/NET suggested we wait the war out. Now that the smoke has cleared does anyone have any idea when the price of blu-ray players will decline or will they remain the same?
I spent about $200 on my OPPO upscaling DVD player. It works just fine. I'd be willing to spend the same or a little more for blu-ray.
Maybe Sony figures it has the market cornered and can keep the prices high.
What do you think?
I think it will still be a while before
by jostenmeat - 7/31/08 10:16 AM In reply to: Are blu-ray player prices ever going to drop? by GinoSheait drops to $200 for a desirable player. I believe players are being had for $300, however. Also, sometimes if you are lucky, you hit up good sales. I think, maybe a month ago, Walmart was giving away $100 gift certificates with any bluray purchase. So $400 gets you a 40g PS3 or something, but at least you get $100 worth of free stuff from the store. Blow it on titles I suppose. My friend did that.
FWIW, the new Oppo 983 is $400. It will be a while before Oppo releases bluray player, and my advice to you is to not pay any attn to the hoopla that will build up 1 yr in advance, 1 month in advance, 1 week in advance. It will be 99.9% speculation till it arrives.
So.. I guess my advice is to sit tight, pay attn to sales/promotions, and jump on when you see a desirable player for about $300. $200 for a worthy player will be a while, that's my guess.
Magnavox may not be everyones' choice, but...
by ahtoi - 7/31/08 10:53 AM In reply to: Are blu-ray player prices ever going to drop? by GinoSheait can be had for $280 at Samsclub.
It may be relative
by Dan Filice - 7/31/08 11:59 AM In reply to: Are blu-ray player prices ever going to drop? by GinoSheaAs another mentioned, it may be awhile before a "desireable" BD player sells for $200. Just look at current standard or upconverting DVD players. You can get one for $80. Is it as good or better than your OPPO? You be the judge, but I don't think so. You will need to ask the same question when BD players start selling for $200, $175, $100, $85 and so on.
well prices have drop
by givemeaname - 7/31/08 8:04 PM In reply to: Are blu-ray player prices ever going to drop? by GinoSheaThe 1st gen Bluray players were like $1k+ & that was just about 2 years ago, now you can get a New BD player for $400 or less. I got my BD player in August or September of last year for $525 (from an atherized online dealer) & that was a deal then, everywhere else was selling the same model player for $150-200 more!!!
If you look around on the net you can get a refurbished Gen. 3 BD player that includes a manufacturer warranty for $240.
I'd say another year
by bevillan - 8/1/08 6:52 AM In reply to: Are blu-ray player prices ever going to drop? by GinoSheaI had high hopes for the Panasonic BD50 Blu-ray player since it is the only one aside from the PS3 that can internally decode DTS-MA and TrueHD, but it turned out to be $700.
I think I'm just going to buy a PS3 around Xmas time if I can find a good sale or promo deal because I am tired of waiting.
I have the HD-DVD player for my 360 and about 20 HD-DVD movies so at least I can just watch those over and over till then lol.
PANASONIC BD50K....
by ctuy - 8/1/08 8:51 AM In reply to: I'd say another year by bevillanIs now $599.99...
ctuy
With all respect
by GinoShea - 8/1/08 9:46 AM In reply to: PANASONIC BD50K.... by ctuyI wouldn't call $599 a bargain.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is that a lot more Blu-ray players and blu-ray movies would be sold if the technology was more readily available for the masses.
When the time is right I'll be willing to shell out $300 for a decent blu-ray player. Not some has-been generation, old technology.
A lot of us waited on the sidelines for the dust to settle during their marketing war. Now it's settled and the prices are still ridiculous in my opinion. How does Sony hope to make any headway into the market by keeping these players cost prohibitive, especially in these economic times?
I'll get off my soap box. Thanks for the opinions.
It's just a matter of time
by Dan Filice - 8/1/08 10:12 AM In reply to: With all respect by GinoSheaBD technology is still fairly new, and with any technology that's new, the initial high prices help pay for the R&D that's required and some initial profits for the companies who dared make the first players. Just give it time. Prices will drop when the low-end companies get their cheap-o players available, which will cause the high-end players to drop in price. But don't expect this to happend overnight. Look at how long the prices of the Sony PS2 stayed relatively high. It wasn't until the PS3 was being introduced that the PS2 dropped significantly. And look at the prices of Plasma TVs. The good ones from Panasonic, Pioneer, etc are still fairly expensive, but there are cheap-o brands that are less, like Vizio.
My random guess for your wish to come true
by jostenmeat - 8/1/08 12:59 PM In reply to: With all respect by GinoSheais two years. We will see.
BTW, its not really Sony's thing 100%. AFAIK, Panasonic owns the majority of existing bluray patents.
OTOH, an extremely knowledgable source I know says that Sony has designed the PS3 to cheat by ignoring the increasingly stringent DRM flags. OTOH, that gives PS3 owners a better chance for smoother operation, but its, according to him, cheating in order to increase PS3 sales.
So, lets say you save $200 by waiting a couple of years. If you spend $200 on DVDs in the same time period, then in my opinion you haven't done any better in saving your money. JMO.
While you wait, please don't waste money on DVDs. The audio differences are subtle on average, the colors can be more variated and deeper, but as far as pure resolution/sharpness/3D effect, its really a very big jump in technology. 480 to 1080 with incomparable video bitrates.
DVDs
by bevillan - 8/1/08 1:28 PM In reply to: My random guess for your wish to come true by jostenmeatYeah I haven't purchased a DVD in a long time either. I'm just using Netflix to watch newer movies.
LG Blu-Ray Burner Good Player Option
by kwilsonjr - 8/1/08 8:09 PM In reply to: Are blu-ray player prices ever going to drop? by GinoSheaI bought an LG Blu-Ray External Burner (actually a combo Blu-Ray/HD-DVD burner) for $379. My laptop has HDMI out so I just plug it into the laptop via USB 2.0 and watch Blu-Ray on my Samsung 52" 1080p over HDMI.
I now have not only the BR player but can burn those $9 25GB BR discs (Fry's Electronics) for Backup purposes.
I also have a Sony HD camcorder so I am ready to burn those Blu-Ray home movies. Disneyland never looked better on TV 
LG External Blu-Ray Burner Model: BE06LU10 $379.99
http://ae.lge.com/products/model/detail/be06lu10.jhtml
In-Store only. Does not appear to be available at Frys online.
LG Internal Blu-Ray Burner $279.99 (Frys # 5360008 ON SALE this weekend for $239.99 in store only, sold out online)
http://shop2.frys.com/product/5360008?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
Memorex Blu-Ray 25GB BD-R (Fry's Product number 4921341) $8.99
In-Store only. Does not appear to be available at Frys online.
Just FYI. If you plan on buying the LG External, make sure if you order online that they actually have it in stock and ready to ship. This item is out of stock nearly everywhere. Don't get stuck letting some unscrupulous seller or drop shipper hold onto your money for 3 weeks before they tell you they can't get it.
Best bet is to go to Frys and get it off the shelf when they come in. Good luck though as they sell as fast as they can stock them.
Ken Wilson
San Diego, CA
Maybe soon, maybe not
by 3rdalbum - 8/2/08 4:02 AM In reply to: Are blu-ray player prices ever going to drop? by GinoSheaRight now, Blu-ray players are thin on the ground here in Australia. Sony hasn't had any available for months, Samsung are the same story, Panasonic's are too expensive, and Sharp have cheaper models that are currently available.
Either the shortage will continue and prices will remain high, or store owners will pump out Sharp players before Sony and Samsung's models come in; and Sony and Samsung will reduce the prices of their players to catch up.
I bought my first DVD player when they were about $400, so this could be the tipping point for Blu-ray too. I do think that DVD stores could do more to push the advantages of Blu-ray, but they need help from the movie distributors; we need popular big-name movies on Blu-ray, not box-office flops!
well, there are over 700 titles available today
by jostenmeat - 8/2/08 10:10 AM In reply to: Maybe soon, maybe not by 3rdalbumon bluray, and it seems like there are new releases all the darn time. I can't keep up with them in fact.
Sony lowering prices?
by Texashiyall - 8/2/08 5:58 AM In reply to: Are blu-ray player prices ever going to drop? by GinoSheaSony has always priced their products higher than necessary. When other manufacturers start making quality blu-ray players Sony will lower their prices. Remember that Sony has a poor quality record for many of their products lately. Waiting for a year or so for the price to go down is one's own choice. Pay more now, or wait.
| Forum legend: | |
 |
Locked thread |
 |
Moderator |
 |
CNET staff |
 |
Samsung staff |
 |
Norton Authorized Support team |
 |
AVG staff |
 |
Windows Outreach team |
 |
Dell staff |
 |
Intel staff |
