“The (format) wars are continuing to rage, and I’d say we’re in the middle stages of it now,” said Stan Glasgow, Sony president and COO. “I find it odd when you have 177 companies (content providers) for Blu-Ray and two for the other (HD-DVD). There’s some abnormality to that.”
The lowest priced Sony Blu-ray player, the BDPS300, sells for an average of about $450, depending on where you shop, while Samsung’s BD-P1400 typically sells for about $499 at most retailers, but it can be found on Amazon.com for about $400. Glasgow said starting prices for Sony Blu-Ray player prices could drop to about $399 or less before the end of the year. The Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player, however, has just hit the sub-$200 level.
Tim Baxter, Samsung’s executive vice president sales and marketing CE division, also said Samsung has no plans to drastically cut prices of its Blu-ray players. In fact, Samsung plans to launch a new retailer marketing program, the Innovation Campaign, which promotes its $999 Dual Blue-ray/HD-DVD player with high-end displays as part of a full home entertainment solutions.
The target audience for high-definition DVD, Baxter said, is still the early adopter or cinephile who is willing to pay a premium for the experience.
“What we’re not going to do is chase a Black Friday price that’s going to last seven or eight hours,” Baxter said.
Hey Jeff, one thing to keep in mind though is that the HD-A2 will only play 720p/1080i. Most HDTVs sold within the past few years only support this, but the higher priced BDPS300 and BD-P1400 offer 1080p resolution to custoemrs that have bought into the high resolution entertainment market.