Chicago (IL) - Average retail prices of the entry-level HD DVD player price saw a big drop on Thursday: First stores are selling the HD-A3 for less than $60. Data collected from Pricegrabber.com also suggests that inventories are declining quickly, with less stores carrying HD DVD players every day.

It appears that Toshiba's estimate that channel supplies of HD DVD players will gone by the end of this month could be about right. Pricegrabber.com showed a huge drop of average retail prices for the entry-level HD-A3 model. The availability of all three HD DVD models declines quickly and the high-end HD-35 has virtually disappeared from the market, TG Daily found.

According to the price comparison service, the average retail price of HD-A3 model dropped to a new low of $64.89 on Friday. The price was led by TigerDirect.com and CompUSA: Both stores dropped the price of the player to $59.99.

Pricegrabber.com data is updated twice a day and shows a certain amount of fluctuation in the number of retailers that are offering the HD-A3 model. The numbers are currently in the range between 11 and 50, while about half of these stores claim to actually have the HD-A3 in stock. At the beginning of this month, 302 online stores carried this player and on February 19, when Toshiba announced the shutdown of HD DVD, there were 1064 retailers selling the HD-A3.

Similar declines can be seen with the 1080p capable HD-A30 model. 141 retailers in Pricegrabber.com's list were offering the player today, with an average price of $120.56 (as low as $99.95 and as high as 129.99), which is a new record low for this model. 362 retailers sold the HD-A30 on February 19.

If you are interested in purchasing the flagship model HD-A35, you will have to scour the market and you are likely to see a steep price: One month ago, the HD-A35 was sold by 267 retailers. Now there are only eight retailers offering the player, according to Pricegrabber.com, while only six have the device actually in stock. The average retail price is currently $466.62, with a low of $239.95 and a high of $499.

Of course, these numbers have to be taken with a grain of salt. But if Pricegrabber.com in fact reflects true market conditions and you are still interested in buying one of those HD DVD players, you may want to start looking rather sooner than later.