Blu-ray Disc players could be priced below $40 this year, with 42-inch LCD HDTVs coming in under $300, according to DealNews.com.
“Our price trend data shows how prices dropped on 12 popular items from 2009 to 2010, based on the individual deals we list on our site,” writes Beth Pinsker, editorial director of the site. “Then we keyed up our DealNews experts to find out what low price points you'll likely see in 2011.”
After coming in as low as $79 in 2009 and $50 in 2010, Pinkser’s research has Blu-ray players available for as low as $39 this year.
“You'll probably see a lot of Blu-Ray players bundled as extras with TVs, but you’ll also see them as doorbusters and priced like crockpots,” the article reads.
The waning market for 32-inch HDTVs and smaller will continue once 42-inch HDTVs come in at $299 this year ($490 in 2009, $370 in 2010), according to the report.
The article also has Nintendo’s Wii gaming system priced at $99 before 2012 ($170 in 2009, $150 in 2010).
This should finish any remaining fence sitters off this year especially when a little something called Star Wars hits September 27.
You're starting to see it with some of the big ticket titles.
SOCIAL NETWORK is still $16.99 on Amazon and it's the 2-disc set.
We're also starting to see single-disc versions like RED, which is only $12.99 (though has no supplements and for some odd reason only has 5.1 DD audio and not the DTS-MA of the Special Edition).
Catalog titles are very reasonably priced, at least most of them, from $10-$15 as well.
Hmmm...I'm still skeptical. Blu-ray's been around for years now but still has yet to dominate the market. I see the inroads made by Netflix streaming and more download options, and I still wonder if physical media has a future beyond a niche market.
Don't get me wrong, I WANT want Blu-ray to thrive -- I own two players and a fair number of discs by now. But having owned Beta, Minidisc, HD-DVD, etc...
BD is healthy and here to stay Paul. It's not going to achieve DVD mass-market type of numbers from that format's heyday, but many of the big-ticket titles have been selling really well on BD.
Besides, you can't get 1080p video and high-def audio streaming from Netflix and may never be able to do that
AndyDursin wrote:BD is healthy and here to stay Paul. It's not going to achieve DVD mass-market type of numbers from that format's heyday, but many of the big-ticket titles have been selling really well on BD.
Besides, you can't get 1080p video and high-def audio streaming from Netflix and may never be able to do that
Exactly. We are many years away from being able to get even near (good-great) BD quality over the Internet and at reasonable cost to boot.
I wouldn't give it a second thought.
Besides: If you buy any BD player it'll play all your DVDs, too, so you lose nothing and you gain a whole lot in the end.
