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Possible $50 Blu-ray players on Black Friday?

25 October 2009 17:40 by Andre "DVDBack23" Yoskowitz | 16 comments

According to VideoBusiness, Blu-ray Disc set-top players continue to drop in price, and one analyst expects to see at least one $50 USD player on Black Friday.

Last year was dominated by off-brand, cheaper players such as those by Sylvania or Memorex but name brand, Internet-enabled players, most with video streaming from Netflix are becoming to be standard at under $200 USD.

Says Abt Electronics owner Jon Abt: �We are doing better than we initially expected, which is due to the price drops. The price drops were expected, but we didn�t think it would be this deep this quickly. BD Live players [most of which offer streaming movie services] are now available in sub-$200 models.�

Abt also says the company is selling 50 percent more BD units year-on-year.

More notably, NPD Group says 14 percent of all Blu-ray set-top sales this year are for sub-$200 models whereas last year that number was under 1 percent.

A few of the more feature-packed players available right now for under $200 are the Panasonic DMP-BD60 ($150), the Samsung BD-P1600 ($180) and the LG BD370 ($160), all of which offer Netflix, Amazon VOD, CinemaNow or Pandora.

�We�ve seen very strong growth in Blu-ray players this year. It has been a bright spot in a very gloomy industry landscape,� said Ross Rubin, NPD director of industry analysis. �Nearly all other electronics device categories have been down, such as digital cameras and MP3 players.�

As for Black Friday deals on BD players? Rubin says he can see a $50 USD BD player.

�It�s conceivable we could see a $49 Blu-ray player on Black Friday, but I think we�ll see more $99 deals. Anything is possible.�

Permalink to this article | Topic: Blu-ray

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ydkjman (Member) 25 October 2009 18:14
Best Buy has a $99 player in their ad this week and it actually streams Netflix. So if there is someone out there that wants to beat them on that price, then I think there could very well be a lower priced Blu-ray player. $50 ? that's pretty low for a format that's how old? DVD didn't get that treatment did it that early on ? [ + quote]
bomber991 (Junior Member) 25 October 2009 18:37
I wouldn't be too surprised to see a $50 blu-ray player deal on blackfriday. You just gotta remember the stores are only gonna stock 10 or 20 of these, and they will be gone within 15 minutes of them opening up at 5am, meaning you gotta get there way earlier and wait in line for it. [ + quote]
Morreale (Member) 25 October 2009 21:28
Is a $50 Blu-Ray player really worth dying for? lol [ + quote]
wdtv (Newbie) 25 October 2009 23:02
Even at $50 it's not worth it. I mean the movies cost more than half of that $50. I'm happy with my wdtv blu-ray player :-) [ + quote]
ydkjman (Member) 26 October 2009 1:01
*Originally posted by wdtv:* I mean the movies cost more than half of that $50 Well of the ones that I have picked up recently I don't think I have paid over $20 for. I think if you get more players out there, your going to have to drop the price on the movies for people to really be interested in buying them. [ + quote]
atomicxl (Junior Member) 26 October 2009 14:40
*Originally posted by wdtv:* Even at $50 it's not worth it. I mean the movies cost more than half of that $50. I'm happy with my wdtv blu-ray player :-) I've been looking at Blu-Rays and the movies i'm interested retail right around $20. Considering that you're getting double the sound quality (96khz vs 48kHz) and close to triple the image quality, $5 more than a DVD doesn't seem as crazily over priced as you make it out to be. [ + quote]
DVDBack23 (Staff Member) 26 October 2009 17:07
*Quote:* *Originally posted by wdtv:* Even at $50 it's not worth it. I mean the movies cost more than half of that $50. I'm happy with my wdtv blu-ray player :-) I've been looking at Blu-Rays and the movies i'm interested retail right around $20. Considering that you're getting double the sound quality (96khz vs 48kHz) and close to triple the image quality, $5 more than a DVD doesn't seem as crazily over priced as you make it out to be. I just purchased Up and Monsters Inc BDs from Amazon for $46 shipped combined and each is 4-disc with BD, standard DVD, digital copy and extras disc. Judging by all the other Pixar movies I own, the extra few pennies are definitely worth it. And hell, I can sell off the standard DVD of each disc if I want. [ + quote]
Oner (Moderator) 26 October 2009 18:02
*Originally posted by DVDBack23:* *Quote:* *Originally posted by wdtv:* Even at $50 it's not worth it. I mean the movies cost more than half of that $50. I'm happy with my wdtv blu-ray player :-) I've been looking at Blu-Rays and the movies i'm interested retail right around $20. Considering that you're getting double the sound quality (96khz vs 48kHz) and close to triple the image quality, $5 more than a DVD doesn't seem as crazily over priced as you make it out to be. I just purchased Up and Monsters Inc BDs from Amazon for $46 shipped combined and each is 4-disc with BD, standard DVD, digital copy and extras disc. Judging by all the other Pixar movies I own, the extra few pennies are definitely worth it. And hell, I can sell off the standard DVD of each disc if I want. Exactly. The cost difference of BD vs DVD for what you get is well worth the few extra bucks. Especially if you are a savvy shopper and don't buy from retail brick & mortar stores that add their extra cost(s) to the bottom line. Search > http://forums.afterdawn.com/search Rules > http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/2487 Important Rule > http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/380660 [ + quote]
DVDBack23 (Staff Member) 26 October 2009 21:20
*Quote:* Exactly. The cost difference of BD vs DVD for what you get is well worth the few extra bucks. Especially if you are a savvy shopper and don't buy from retail brick & mortar stores that add their extra cost(s) to the bottom line. Oner, have you ever been to a Barnes&Noble or FYE brick and mortar location? They have Blu-rays there for $30-35, even catalog titles, I'm not sure how they expect to make a sale when Amazon and Family Video (among others) online have the same titles for 1/2 the price (or less). [ + quote]
Oner (Moderator) 27 October 2009 8:35
*Originally posted by DVDBack23:* *Quote:* Exactly. The cost difference of BD vs DVD for what you get is well worth the few extra bucks. Especially if you are a savvy shopper and don't buy from retail brick & mortar stores that add their extra cost(s) to the bottom line. Oner, have you ever been to a Barnes&Noble or FYE brick and mortar location? They have Blu-rays there for $30-35, even catalog titles, I'm not sure how they expect to make a sale when Amazon and Family Video (among others) online have the same titles for 1/2 the price (or less). BestBuy and a few more would also fit in there! Walmart can have some good deals along with Fry's, Costco/BJ's etc but even then it's not consistent. What boggles me though is BlockBuster! You would think that since that is all they deal with (Movies/Games) that they would be more competitive...especially with their previously viewed titles! Search > http://forums.afterdawn.com/search Rules > http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/2487 Important Rule > http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/380660 [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 27 October 2009 8:36
Mikiec (Newbie) 29 October 2009 6:44
The problem with Bluray is definitely the price. Ok if you buy on release day then the difference between DVD and Bluray is not too bad for the extra quality that you get. But give it 3 - 6 months and the DVD price will be less than half price, often a quarter of the orginal price, but the blu ray version price will hardly of moved. [ + quote]
Mr-Movies (Member) 29 October 2009 14:05
*Originally posted by Mikiec:* The problem with Bluray is definitely the price. Ok if you buy on release day then the difference between DVD and Bluray is not too bad for the extra quality that you get. But give it 3 - 6 months and the DVD price will be less than half price, often a quarter of the orginal price, but the blu ray version price will hardly of moved. Nope I don't think so! I buy a lot of my BD's for $10 to $15 for older then new release and those same movies cost $5 to $10 on DVD so I would strongly disagree, you need to do your shopping with open eyes. It's a no brainier at this point why buy the same movie twice, or even a third time or more when the difference truly is soooo little. Being cheap, not frugal, costs you more in the long run, but some people never learn that simple lesson. Cheap DVD players these days cost $30 and now BD players are going to be as low as $50 WOW! [ + quote]
blaster4 (Newbie) 3 November 2009 14:43
What is Black Friday? [ + quote]
glassd (Senior Member) 3 November 2009 15:10
Generally considered the day that Retail Stores begin to make a profit. First 10 months pay for inventory etc and they are in the Red (negative cash flow). In the Black = Positive cash flow. [ + quote]
blaster4 (Newbie) 3 November 2009 19:15
OK, thanks for the info. [ + quote]
ydkjman (Member) 3 November 2009 23:11
Look at the common trend that Walmart has had on some of the recent releases on Blu-ray. All around the $19.96 mark. Crap you can pre-order Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince with Blu-ray + Digital Copy + Standard DVD for $16.86 UP is $19.96 and Monster Inc. is $22.86 I am hoping they do with Monster Inc what they did with Snow White. If you had the DVD you can get a $10 off coupon for the purchase on Blu-ray. [ + quote]