Source: Tom's Guide | Keywords: samsung, blu-ray, bluray, player | Themes: Home Theater, Digital Entertainment
Even after the dust has settled between Blu-ray and HD-DVD, the prices for Blu-ray players and movies in particular, haven’t gone down. Most decent Blu-ray players cost upwards of $500 and higher. Thankfully, Samsung may be coming to the rescue with its BD-P1500 Blu-ray player.
The BP-P1500, which usually sells for $400, is reported to go on sale on Black Friday at a nice price point of $149.
According to Gizmodo, news of the sale hit consumer electronics retailer Ultimate Electronics.
Up until now, most consumers who opted to jump on the Blu-ray bandwagon went and bought Sony’s PlayStation 3 console. With the PS3, not only could you play games and surf the Internet, you were able to rest at ease knowing that the PS3 was actually one of the best — if not the best — Blu-ray player on the market.
Now that console prices are dropping and more movies hitting the Blu-ray format, like Iron Man, expect to see better embrace of the sole high-def format.
In related news, rumors about Microsoft introducing a Blu-ray addon to its Xbox 360 console hit the wires last week. Earlier this year, Microsoft stated that it wouldn’t be introducing Blu-ray for the Xbox 360. Due to popular demand however, Microsoft may be changing its game plan to meet customer expectations. Microsoft may also be considering offering high-def streaming of full length movies through its online services as well.
High-def streaming isn’t a new concept either. Apple has done well with its iTunes service, which allows customers to rent high-def content and stream it to their computers or their Apple TV boxes. Apple’s push into using streaming is no surprise, as none of its Macs have Blu-ray drives in them.
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Microsoft is NOT going to be introducing Blujunk player and it has been offering streaming HD service for the last 2 years. Quit making your own news. Also get the facts straight or don't say a damn thing at all.
Dude you have some serious issues.
it has been offering streaming HD service for the last 2 years.
Nothing that Blu-ray is offering. I don't think HD trailers count as anything significant.
In this day and age Digital Distribution for Blu-Ray equivalent quality is not feasible. I have a 10Mb connection (certainly better than average) and large games and mods off steam can be quite a hassle, and they're usually 1 or 2 gigs. There is no way in hell most people will jump at the idea to spend all that time and money to download 30 gig files, making them unable to use their computer for most things internet related for a few days, when they can simply go down to the store and buy a movie for the same price. They always have a hard copy, if their computer crashes, or if something happens to it, they always have a copy.
don't get me wrong with this, but i've heard plenty of things about the bluray capabilities on the ps3 being sub-par
and i've been holding on my money for a deal like this for quite some time...
The article is indeed wrong on many accounts, but not the ones "GBK" is complaining about.
Tuan Nguyen, you should get your "facts" straight.
Blu Ray discs have been going down in price (you can commonly find, e.g. Amazon.com, movies for $19 now), and players even more so. The average price for a BR player used to be $400-$500 price at the end of 07, now Sony is proposing their S350 at $299, and Panasonic their BD35 at also $299 (both excellent profile 2.0 players).
The low end players by Magnavox/Insignia/Sylvania can be had even cheaper, and recently the Sony S300 was being sold (until end of inventory) at $199.
Let's get some facts right, should we?
I predict the next 3 to 5 years blu-ray will take a hike especially with the price of memory going to cheap. I just download the full version of Iron Man IN 1080p at 10GB and it plays through my 360 just fine.
As of right now every 8 dvd's sold equals 1 blu-ray sold. As times get harder on people with the WORLD economy in the dumps, that ratio is only going to get bigger. Prices at retail are still 21.99 CHEAPEST and most $29.99 which is pratically the price of 2 movies. And with upconversion being as it is, that doesnt justify the price to the common consumer, which is the real decision maker, not the tech heads.
While it's great to see Blu-ray players finally becoming cheap, I already own a PS3 and could not see myself wanting to invest in a standalone player. With the PS3 you can stream videos, music, and pictures from a PC, you get free access to the Playstation store so movies and shows can be rented and purchased without leaving your house, and the firmware is upgradable so you don't have to worry about your player becoming obsolete.
You couldn't pay me enough to buy this piece of junk. Let anyone who buys a Blu-ray player get screwed buy Sony.
Blue Ray is a dying new tech. IMHO, Sony had a window to actually make a move on the market vs DVD and HDDVD but it was way too greedy. Now with the economy issues, people are not going to invest in this nice to have niche tech. Online streaming will eventually be the choice for Hi Def. In the mean time, average users will just use there DVD's and upconverting players.