$270 Blu-ray player

[navychop]

Blu-ray dot com announces the following "Go Well" BD player to be available at $270:
Link.

No availability date. Supports Divx, Xvid & others, but unclear on DVD +/- R/RW. States "·Building in HDD"
Also:
"·Support Blu-ray driver
·USB 2.0 interface(high speed) & card reader
·Support SD/MMC/MS/XD card"
Supports ethernet and wireless home networking.

SO- anybody think it will:
A) Actually come out at $270, or at least under $300?
B) Be available for sale in the U.S. this year?
C) Figure that if this is true, plus Blockbuster, plus Starz, plus BD+ being released to studios, that HD DVD is in it's death spiral in the U.S.?

 

[Jimzo]

Blu-ray dot com announces the following "Go Well" BD player to be available at $270:
Link.

No availability date. Supports Divx, Xvid & others, but unclear on DVD +/- R/RW. States "·Building in HDD"
Also:
"·Support Blu-ray driver
·USB 2.0 interface(high speed) & card reader
·Support SD/MMC/MS/XD card"
Supports ethernet and wireless home networking.

SO- anybody think it will:
A) Actually come out at $270, or at least under $300?
B) Be available for sale in the U.S. this year?
C) Figure that if this is true, plus Blockbuster, plus Starz, plus BD+ being released to studios, that HD DVD is in it's death spiral in the U.S.?

I am guessing that it won't hit the U.S. this year. I don't know anything about Go Well other than briefly going through their website, but it seems unlikely we will see it this year.

However if it were to come out this year at under $300 with all these features, I think it would be the first player besides the PS3 to appeal to the masses and could lead to HD DVD's death.

 

[griz_fan]

SO- anybody think it will:
A) Actually come out at $270, or at least under $300?
B) Be available for sale in the U.S. this year?
C) Figure that if this is true, plus Blockbuster, plus Starz, plus BD+ being released to studios, that HD DVD is in it's death spiral in the U.S.?

I'm going to answer no on all 3 counts.

First, the pricing. I guess they could announce it at under $300, but i doubt it will be available in any significant quantities, if at all. Or, it won't come out until well after the rest of the market has crossed the $300 line anyway.

Will it be available for sale in the U.S. this year? almost certainly not. The picture on their website is computer generated, so the product doesn't actually exist yet. Also, I doubt this company has any distribution set up here in the states, and I doubt that they will be able to assemble in any volume to get it to market by the end of the year, any way.

As far as HD-DVD being in a death spiral, I don't see that as the case. Sure, BR-DVD has scored a few victories lately, but HD-DVD players are a lot less expensive, and looks to maintain that price advantage into the holiday shopping season. I think this Fall will be critical, though. With the right combination of available movie titles and price, one of the two could establish a significant enough lead.

 

[JoeSp]

By Xmas you will be able to by the older BD players at discount below $500 and possibly $400. Expecially with the drop in price of Blu diodes and drives. I think this war is really going to heat up over the summer and into the fall.