Sony Dropping Blu-ray to $300?

[Ty]

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/sony-dropping-bluray-to-300-241349.php

Just last week Sony bigwig Stan Glasgow dropped word that their BDP-S300 Blu-ray player pricing would be getting cut to $600. But TV Week reports that during this announcement, Glasgow also mentioned that he saw Blu-ray dropping as low as $299 this year.

$299 so quickly? Yikes. This year will be interesting for sure.

http://www.tvweek.com/page.cms?pageId=616

The second link shows BR titles continuing to outsell HD-DVD ones as well.

Tracking of sales on Nielsen VideoScan, as well as eproductwars.com, show Blu-ray titles are significantly outpacing the rival format.

Blu-ray DVDs accounted for a 65 percent share of the market for the week ended Feb. 18, according to data from Nielsen. That marks a reversal from late November, when HD-DVD accounted for 63 percent of sales.

Similarly, of the top 10 titles currently available in the formats on Amazon.com, Blu-ray titles averaged a sales rank of 246, while HD DVD titles averaged 763 earlier this week.

 

[Capeta]

And then when there are new releases HD DVD sales grab back the lead, wash, rinse, repeat.

 

[Ty]

And then when there are new releases HD DVD sales grab back the lead, wash, rinse, repeat.

Well we have two types of releases to look at; exclusives and non-exclusive titles.

BR has more of the former so already they'll be ahead by that (though we could argue endlessly about the individual draw power of these exclusive titles; e.g. LoTR vs Spiderman).

A better metric to look at would be the performance of the same title on both platforms. Assuming all else is equal (PQ, extras, etc.) then that should give us a better idea of who is gaining momentum over the other.

 

[Capeta]

A better metric to look at would be the performance of the same title on both platforms. Assuming all else is equal (PQ, extras, etc.) then that should give us a better idea of who is gaining momentum over the other.

Agreed, anyway if SONY could get a standalone BR player out for $300 by the end of 2007, I could see many people owning both BR and HD DVD players.

 

[Arwin]

I found several different BluRay burner PC components in the shop today in the Netherlands (Media Markt), one of them a double layer burner for about 749 euros.

 

[Blazkowicz]

why aren't they selling read-only drives for PC? who cares about spending hours burning expensive discs noone can read.

 

[woundingchaney]

Agreed, anyway if SONY could get a standalone BR player out for $300 by the end of 2007, I could see many people owning both BR and HD DVD players.

I could see people owning considerably more BR players than HD DVD players. With hd dvd already losing momentum and marketshare not only in NA but around the world a 300 usd standalone player could be the nail in the coffin (unless of course there is rumblings of a less expensive HD DVD player that I havent heard about).

 

[Npl]

I guess economies of scale are kicking in, thanks to producing millions of PS3`s.

 

[Capeta]

I could see people owning considerably more BR players than HD DVD players. With hd dvd already losing momentum and marketshare not only in NA but around the world a 300 usd standalone player could be the nail in the coffin (unless of course there is rumblings of a less expensive HD DVD player that I havent heard about).

Huh?

According to a Sony representative, Glasgow was misquoted. What Glasgow said, apparently, was that he felt the $299 price would be the tipping point where the average consumer would start to consider buying a Blu-ray player. Indeed, the Sony spokesman went on to specify that the company has no plans to roll out a Blu-ray player at that price point in 2007.

http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9693527-1.html



http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-HD-D1...?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1173576403&sr=1-10



Soo much for that bit of BR *news*...next time maybe the dirty laundry should be left in the wash cycle a little longer.

 

[Arwin]

Yeah, that's wise sometimes. Still, I predict that by Christmas 2007, you can buy a BluRay player for $300 or less.

 

[Rolf N]

why aren't they selling read-only drives for PC? who cares about spending hours burning expensive discs noone can read.

• Pirates
• Backup operators

It's still expensive as hell though to be either, even though you can do a little better than 750€.

 

[Capeta]

why aren't they selling read-only drives for PC?

You could buy an external HD DVD-ROM drive for PC for about $200.

 

[Random Digital]

Even if Blu-ray players drop to $200, I think I might get a PS3 or a Blu-ray burner instead. Just for the 2-in-1 benefit. However I have the luxury of fence sitting while these formats settle themselves out.