• On CBSSports.com: Mike Tyson's daughter dies in accident
November 20, 2008 10:34 AM PST

Fully Equipped: When will we see the $99 Blu-ray player?

by David Carnoy

Memorex: Leading the cheap Blu-ray charge.

(Credit: Buy.com)

We've been keeping an eye on prices for Blu-ray players and it appears that a handful of budget brand models are starting to crack the $150 barrier. The other day Woot.com had the Memorex MVBD2510 player at $139.99 for a one-day sale and now TheNerds.net is selling it for $146.99 (shipping included) and Buy.com has it at $149.99. That's on top of both the Samsung BD-P1500 and the Sony BDP-S300 slipping in and out of sub-$200 territory at Amazon and other outlets.

While $150 isn't bad, I think we're going to see $99 fairly soon, with a couple of stops at $129.99. As we found out with HD-DVD players, $99 really is a magic price point, though it is worth pointing out that these budget Blu-ray players are only profile 1.1 while the $99 HD DVD players were fully up to spec and allowed for firmware upgrades via Ethernet (the cheap Blu-ray players can't be updated and sometimes simply can't play certain movies). Profile 1.1 players aren't BD-Live enabled, which means you won't be able to access certain interactive features--for better or worse.

Read the full column.

Hunkered down in New York City, Executive Editor David Carnoy covers the gamut of gadgets and writes his Fully Equipped column, which carries the tag line "The electronics you lust for." He's also the author of "Knife Music," a novel. E-mail David. Follow David on Twitter.
Recent posts from Crave
Ramen robots invade Japanese restaurant
Poll: Why don't you have an iPod or MP3 player?
Oppo's affordabe high-end Blu-ray player is here
iPhone 3GS jailbreak, 'purplera1n,' hits Web
Apple patents point to haptics, fingerprints, RFID
Friday Poll: We the ppl--imagining a digital 1776
Gadgettes 144: The Childhood Nostalgia Episode
Duet D8 is no iPhone clone
Add a Comment (Log in or register)
by celticbrewer November 21, 2008 8:42 AM PST
Memorex BR player for $150 at buy.com. (At least it's a semi-decent brand name).

And of all the BR movies I've seen (many dozens), I've never used BD-Live features. I just want to watch the damn movie and maybe some cut scenes.
Reply to this comment
by bob1xxxx December 14, 2008 11:24 AM PST
Look if blue ray going to every be truely sucessful and not fail like hd dvd the player price has to come way way down, like under 100.00 bucks, 150.00 is a good start but not enough for blue ray survial, the fast the player drop the better.
Reply to this comment
advertisement

About Crave

The name says it all. Crave is our blog about gorgeous gadgets and other crushworthy stuff. If you would like to contact Crave with a tip or comment, please write to: crave@cnet.com

Add this feed to your online news reader

Crave topics

Making sense of Windows 7 upgrades

faq The basics and the fine print on Microsoft's options for those eyeing the next operating system from Redmond.
• Full Windows 7 coverage

Road Trip 2009: Big Sky Country

CNET News reporter Daniel Terdiman takes his car full of gadgets to the Rockies and the Great Plains in search of tech, science, nature, and more.
• America's Fortress: Cheyenne Mountain

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right