lOW PRICE (NOT CHEAP) BLU PLAYERS

[almy]

In the wake of Toshiba's "fire sale" of an early generation HD deck, there have been many statements made (here and elswhere) that the Blu supporters have to counter Tosh' move somehow. I could swear that earlier this year I read that some company (Chinese?? Funai??) said that they would be marketing a low-priced Bly player in '08. I believe they mentioned about 200.00. Am I dreaming or do any of you recall seeing something about this?

[Porscheman]

well, to be honest, if blu doesn't have a $200 blu player at some point in 2008 then this race is over.....

[Ascended_Saiyan]

^^ How so? Do you always buy the cheapest of whatever product you wish to purchase? If not, why?

How can something be all over when the competition is WAY behind (1.2 million discs sales behind)? Don't they, AT LEAST, have to catch up first before winning something? Did some new ways of winning come into exist that I didn't read about?

Just some things to think about.

[monkyman]

Now that we have the Panny 1.1 BD30 out, priced @ $499., I think you will see the 1.0 panny (BD10) along with the samsung and Sony S300 come down in price. I can't see how they would sell well at the same price.

C.C. has the Samsung BD-P1400 on sale this week for $399., along with discounts on most BD players.

[Spider1981]

Originally Posted by Ascended_Saiyan

^^ How so? Do you always buy the cheapest of whatever product you wish to purchase? If not, why?

I think what most people are afraid of is that while I don't buy the cheapest thing, and you don't buy the cheapest thing, and most of us here probably don't buy the cheapest thing, I know a lot of people in real life who do. I still thinnk High def discs and cheap consumers don't mesh well, but you have to admit that is it just a little unsettling to see the competition hanging out within thrifty shoppers reach.

[oscar_in_fw]

I don't know if Toshiba can sustain $99 or even $199 prices. If they cannot, Blu-ray could win quickly with a Warner defection. If they can, I'd expect the weight of numbers of Wal-Mart HD DVD standalone sales would eventually swing HD media software sales in HD DVD's favor.

The fear is Toshiba beating the Blu-ray CEs to mass market pricing because of economies of scale can pre-emptively win it for HD DVD or at least prolong the war indefinitely. Blu-ray seems to be a year behind getting Blu-ray off the ground and Toshiba could be taking advantage of it. I certainly hope this is a last gasp effort by Toshiba but time will tell how sustainable their current business model is.

Even $199 HD-A3s are going to provide formidable opposition to whatever Blu-ray can put on in the near-term and that includes Funai in the Spring.

[beavis667]

Yeah, as the 1.1 players come out the 1.0 players will drop in price by alot. I don't think BD has to match HD-DVD in terms of player price, it would be bad if they did. The reason BD has a variety of good player choices right now is because they aren't forced to compete with 98 dollar players.

[blitz6speed]

Originally Posted by Porscheman

well, to be honest, if blu doesn't have a $200 blu player at some point in 2008 then this race is over.....

There has to be a demand for a product for it to be worth something. People like the IPhone. People bought it at 600 bux. Once it hit 400, A LOT more people bought it. Thats because its a hot item and has a lot of demand. If it hit 199 tomorrow, you would be they'd sell out of whatever stock they had.

HD Movie players are not there yet and wont be for another 2 years IMHO. You cant just lower a price of something and hope that there was a demand. There is NO huge demand for cheap HD movie players. Mostly because the public is still too confused, doesnt have a HDTV, doesnt care and there is a war going on. Lets not mention that movies cost a arm and a leg. So really, you can put a turd in a box and price it at $0.99, that doesnt mean its gonna sell more if you priced it that way after it was $99.99.

Race is over? Dont be silly, captain sillycakes.