Sony drops price of its BDP-S300 Blu-ray player

This week marks a substantial move by Sony in the ongoing high-definition war being raged between its Blu-ray drive and the Toshiba-based HD-DVD format. While most Blu-ray hardware thus far available on the market has generally positioned itself as rather steep in terms of consumer-friendly price labels, Sony’s incoming BDP-S300 Blu-ray player has received a whopping price reduction of $100 USD prior to its imminent release.

Moreover, the shift in pricing of the BDP-S300 from its anticipated $599 USD down to $499 USDalso makes it the first Blu-ray player on offer from Sony Corp. that undercuts the Japanese electronics giant’s own PlayStation 3 videogames console, which, until now had been the cheapest Blu-ray-equipped option at retail ($599 USD).

The clear $100 USD price drop will likely come as good news to fans of the burgeoning Blu-ray format, with industry watchers indicating that it has come to fruition before the BDP-S300’s official launch due to progressive production cost reductions and a marked increase in consumer demand. It is also worth noting that the $499 BDP-S300 will arrive at almost half the price of Sony’s original BDP-S1 Blu-ray player, which was released to retail in December of 2006.

However, despite the welcome drop in retail price now attributed to Sony’s newest player, the $499 USD tag is still markedly higher than players presently on offer for the HD-DVD format, which retail for just under $300 USD – though that doesn’t appear to be swaying consumers from investing in Blu-ray over HD-DVD, with Sony’s option the early frontrunner in the high-definition battle.

Although tech analysts have predicted that consumers will, ultimately, adopt the cheaper of the two equally well performing HD formats (namely HD-DVD), it remains to be seen whether movie studio support sways that opinion over time. As things stand, Blu-ray has considerably more support in Hollywood, with the likes of Sony Pictures, Disney, and 20th Century Fox all opting to back Sony’s product. Conversely, Universal is exclusively backing HD-DVD, with Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks, Warner Bros. and New Line are holding firm with non-exclusive deals.

Adding to analyst predictions for the format war, it has also been reported that while the idea of consumers moving to the cheaper format – taking supposedly loyal movie studios to where the money is regardless of current affiliations – is one possible outcome, there are also format-straddling hybrid players that could yet allow both Blu-ray and HD-DVD to co-exist in a semi-peaceful manner.

Case in point, Korean electronics maker LG has a Blu-ray and HD-DVD hybrid player, the BH-100, on offer while Warner Bros. also has hybrid Blu-ray and HD-DVD high-definition disc technology to help facilitate those consumers wishing to take advantage of both HD formats in an attempt at hardware safety. That said, the BH-100’s price tag, which is a whopping $1,200 USD, may leave undecided consumers contemplating the possibility of merely purchasing the BDP-S300 Blu-ray player and Toshiba’s HD-A2 HD-DVD player for a combined price of $898… and maybe investing in a hugely popular Nintendo Wii with the change.

Or they simply may want to wait for hybrid player prices to fall also.

Source : tech.monstersandcritics.com