Sony: $200 Blu-ray players next year
Patience, HD video fans. Those of you hoping that the defeat of HD DVD would usher in a new era of lower-priced Blu-ray players will have to wait at least until the next calendar year.
In comments made to reporters at a New York press gathering Wednesday morning, Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow said, "I don't think $200 is going to happen this year. Next year $200 could happen. We'll be at a $300 rate this year; $299 will happen this year," according to Gizmodo.
There's been quite a bit of media discussion over whether or not Sony and other Blu-ray supporters will start cutting prices on standalone players in the aftermath of HD DVD's death. Seeing as how the answer is "no" from Sony for now, that decreases the likelihood that Blu-ray will make major inroads with mainstream consumers, as a plurality cite price as the biggest barrier to their purchase of an HD video player.
At the same event, Glasgow also dished on other Sony-related news:
• Even in the face of a downturn in the U.S. economy, Glasgow says Sony's electronics sales are still going swimmingly. He said the company expects to sell 5 million Blu-ray players by the end of 2008. The company unveiled two new models last week.
• Sony has no plans to make digital converter boxes for next year's digital TV switchover, and will leave that to the lower-tier CE companies.
Glasgow will be in San Francisco to chat up West Coast reporters Wednesday night. Check back here for updates and additional comments from him.
Erica Ogg is a CNET News reporter who covers Apple, HP, Dell, and other PC makers, as well as the consumer electronics industry. She's also one of the hosts of CNET News' Daily Podcast. In her non-work life, she's a history geek, a loyal Dodgers fan, and a mac-and-cheese connoisseur. E-mail Erica. 
They are working on an add on to turn it into a DVR, like TiVO but without the monthly fees, network for playing games is free, it has a great video camera for video conferencing.
Buy a freaking PS3 and your problems will be over.
also hazard a guess that the majority of people are already very
comfortable ripping DVD content and will expect to at least do
the same on their computers, and international consumers and
travelers are used to code-free players. I imagine the platform
will still be a second-class citizen until gray market players and
ripping software for BD are relatively easy to come by.
Further BD uses quite a bit more energy than HD-DVD did, so,
whereas it would have been practical to put HD-DVD in laptops,
there's some engineering to do before BD is practical for
laptops.
It's kind of a shame. The thing that's really crimping consumer
HD video nowadays is lack of an inexpensive and portable HD
medium for recording and distributing. I can buy a really nice
HD camera for a decent price, but I have to transcode code it
into a DVD to share with friends/family/coworkers/clients.
and implementation and licensing was both simple and
inexpensive. Blu-Ray uses a different laser and recording process
and licensing is more expensive as are the components. Blu-Ray
also uses significantly more power than HD-DVD (which didn't use
any more than regular DVD), meaning lower battery life on battery
powered units (in laptops).
Blu-Ray Drive : $30
Blu-Ray Player and Console : $60~70
This is for HD-DVD Drive.
HD-DVD Drive : $7 net royalty($5 DVD royalty is included in $12 combined royalty)
I sincerely hope that CH-DVD players and dvd's will come out that will make Sony look bad.
And what about high definition recorders?
No mention of a home recorder that can record HD content?? (other than PVRs for temporary).
Sony has a couple of models in Japan but has not released them elsewhere and they cost a fortune.
same sad voices reappear disdaining the process of the ramp-
up and the eventual price-drops.
Grow up children, and quit doing so much dope, it's ruining your
memory. Do you know how long after the format launch it took
to get the prices down to $200 on quality DVD players--exactly.
Not everything should be made in China with cut-rate quality
control, just to placate those w/ no adult sense of delayed
gratification. How are those Xbox failure rates working for you
moaner folks (mine died after 3 weeks)? That was a good
move...cost above, you know, quiet operation and reliability.
If only the rest of our commodities operated like consumer
electronics/computers...did you get a supersonic car for a
fraction of what you paid for you last one you bought. Right.
Why folks are so unrealistic with their expectations in these
things is because they've been irrevocably spoiled by the
insanely fast progress and cost efficiency of the industry for the
past 20+ years.
Smile and enjoy.
This is "Econ 101". Scratch that, this is High School Economics.
People should understand the economic impact of a competitor leaving the market.
Indeed, it reveals the staggering ignorance of Economics which exists in the United States.
marketplace that is 'just fine' w/ upscaled SD DVDs and the
insurgent force of digital downloads (in the rental market, that is).
They've got plenty of reason to bring prices down, even w/ HD-
DVD moving out of the proverbial picture.
- Wow...
- by Heebee Jeebies March 5, 2008 8:28 PM PST
- They expect people to wait a year for the price to drop to what they should have been from day one? Right, I will keep my credit card warm and ready. Sony can bite me!
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