Tawainese manufacturers of optical disc drives say that the cost of production for a Blu-ray disc player is set to fall to $50 in the next year.
Digitimes reports, citing industry sources, that the current production cost for Blu-ray players is around $100, with pick-up heads and chipsets accounting for 50 percent and 25 percent respectively. However, the publication says that in response to Sears selling a refurbished Blu-ray player (the Magnavox RNB500MG9) for just $99.99, optical disc drive manufacturers expect the cost to be half that come 2010.
Just last week a Curtis Mathes-branded BD player hit Meijer online at $99.99 as a Father's Day special. Predictably, the player sold out pretty quickly. That said, it looks like we’re now seeing the beginning of low-cost players that could give the Blu-ray format the boost that it needs.
Judging from reader feedback on last week’s piece, it seems consumers would rather have cheaper Blu-ray discs than cheaper players. Is this the reason you haven’t made the switch yet? Let us know!
What is keeping me from migrating to Blu-ray? Lack of a stand-alone recorder for the US market.
Don't care so much about the cost of discs since netflix only charges +$1-$4 per month for Blu-Ray.
When I do get a BD player it will be for my home theater PC.
I can't stand the fact that my dad always watches the stretched 4:3 signal on his TV, its painfully obvious to me. But he doesn't seem to notice and doesn't like having black bars at all.
So he has no appreciation for what he might be missing by not going to blu-ray.
I've been thinking about it, but haven't yet. Maybe when they drop the price on a PS3, but even then I'm not so sure, mostly because I don't play a lot of consoles and I end up watching maybe 3-5 movies a year.
So my reason for not upgrading to blu-ray is simply that there aren't enough movies being made that I want to watch to justify the cost. I wouldn't even have a DVD player if it weren't for my PS2 (which is almost never used either) and the fact that all computers have them.
I think they'll consider that when people stop uploading movies to the internet without their consent ie torrents and file sharing websites.
NETFLIX IT!
soldier37 your a moron !
Not every one is a spoiled little 13 y/o or has a tree growing platinum cards.
I thing over 4/5th of the world cant afford one and that includes the middle and lower class in every western world country.
If your stupid enugh to state that you know people who live on welfare that where able to buy them your even a bigger moron.
At 720p...
While I agree his/her statement was a little short sighted your's is a little exagerated too. The majority of the middle class in the US could easily afford a small HDTV. I can find a 22" for under $200 and a 32" for under $400. The issue here is priorities, many people can't see the difference, especially on said el-cheapo flatscreen TV's. If they can't see a difference (on SD content) then why would they move? We won't see a mass migration to HD until the SD channels go the way of the dodo.
These companies seem to think that they are owed some ungodly large amount of payment for "artistic" works that are basically recycled trash. Even if it was a GOOD movie, it's value to me is significantly less than $49, or $39, or even $15. It is 90 minutes to maybe 3 hours of entertainment, and to me, that is worth maybe $7 and maybe worth watching a couple times, so $14, and that is for a GOOD movie, which only about one in 50 movies ever gets rated at or better. For the rest of the movies, they need to be priced around $8 or less.
Once that is settled, we get into digital rights management, also known to me as Digital Rights Denial. That reduces a DVD/BluRay disc to more or less valueless.