AfterDawn: News

Sony to offer more affordable Blu-ray player

Sony has announced that the company will offer a new, cheaper Blu-ray Disc player to consumers this summer. The player will cost $400 less than Sony's BDP-S1 Blu-ray player, which sells for $999. The new BDP-S300, will be priced at $599, bringing the price of the stand-alone Blu-ray equipment to the PS3 60Gb model price. While it will be the cheapest stand-alone for Blu-ray, consumers can still choose a 20GB PS3 for $100 less.

The BDP-S300 will also be much smaller and more compact and will support playback of CDs. The price is still too high for most consumers when DVD players sell for $50, but any price cuts are great news for users hoping to invest in high-definition content.



On the other side of the format war, HD DVD stand-alone players can be found for $400, or a consumer can pick up an Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on drive to use with the console or a Windows XP/Vista operating system for $200. Blu-ray managed to outsell HD DVD titles in January, helped by the PS3 consoles that have been sold.

According to Sony VP Randy Waynick, "Eighty percent of people who buy a PS3 also buy Blu-ray movies to go with it."

Source:
DailyTech

Written by: James Delahunty @ 27 Feb 2007 7:48

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• 9 comments

• ZippyDSM

  I wonder how this will effect their stock if they have to sale more than the game console for near half price.....can some one give some details at what they are doing and if it will hurt them more?
  
  BTW how bad off is sony I have heard mixed reports.

  27.2.2007 08:56 #1

• eatsushi

  http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9691343-1.html?tag=nefd.aof
  
  On the plus side:
  1080p/24 support for BD
  Upconversion of standard DVD's to 1080p
  
  On the minus side:
  No Dolby TruHD
  No DTS Master Audio

  27.2.2007 09:13 #2

• oofRome

  Originally posted by ZIppyDSM:
  BTW how bad off is sony I have heard mixed reports.
  Stock prices seem solid enough in the 5 year span of things.
  http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=SNY&t=5y
  The ratio of current asset to current liability for Sony wasn't looking too hot in 05:
  http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bs?s=SNY&annual
  I'd imagine it couldn't be too much better for 2006.
  Net sales for 2006 are probably going to be lackluster too.
  Still, analysts are pretty confident Sony is going to recover.
  
  Back on topic, does anyone see this model competing as much with the ps3 as it will with the cheap HD-DVD models?

  27.2.2007 09:45 #3

• ZippyDSM

  Quote:Originally posted by ZIppyDSM:
  BTW how bad off is sony I have heard mixed reports.Stock prices seem solid enough in the 5 year span of things.
  http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=SNY&t=5y
  
  The ratio of current asset to current liability for Sony wasn't looking too hot in 05:
  http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bs?s=SNY&annual
  I'd imagine it couldn't be too much better for 2006.
  
  Net sales for 2006 are probably going to be lackluster too.
  
  ah ,well sadly the PS3 will sale on name power alone thus Sony will never learn.
  
  Still, analysts are pretty confident Sony is going to recover.

  27.2.2007 09:49 #4

• BobbyBlu

  Quote:According to Sony VP Randy Waynick, "Eighty percent of people who buy a PS3 also buy Blu-ray movies to go with it."Thats true because i wasn't going to buy many Blu-ray movie's but since launch i have over 35 Blu-ray movies i was not going to get this many movies but i really enjoy the quality Blu-ray offers.To be honest with you i don't go to Theaters anymore i got my own Theater in my very home.Due to price & kids kicking the back of your seat you can't enjoy the theater today like you could years ago.

  27.2.2007 12:16 #5

• hughjars

  The $600 Blu-ray player is out already, it's the PS3.
  
  There are undoubtedly some a/v guys who will never buy a games console as their player but it's already clear from the avforums and the avsforums that those guys are in the minority, plenty of people have bought the PS3 as the least expensive (and best spec'd of) the currently available BD players.
  
  I really don't see this making too much odds to anyone.....but it does at least show the message about BD's ludicrous pricing is at least getting through.
  
  This is an interesting way to kill off their BDP-S1 player tho.

  27.2.2007 12:54 #6

• tabletpc

  so this means we are finally going to get a cheaper ps3
  
  yeah right sony wont allow that we all know this

  27.2.2007 14:35 #7

• MarcioAB

  Sony (and many) strategy:
  - Very large video file is difficult to handle including upload/download in internet (read: difficult piracy).
  - High definition MPG2 video (DVD) generate very large video file.
  
  Sony will provide a media (Blu-ray) to easy fit (but not handle) very large video file.
  
  Counter-strategy: Compress HD video using very efficient codecs (like DivX for example) generating file size that can be handled by current applications and bandwidth.

  3.3.2007 04:11 #8

• ZippyDSM

  hughjars
  thats because the BR player department has smarter people running it.

  3.3.2007 05:34 #9