This might just be the year to buy a $100 Blu-ray Disc player for Christmas. In one of my previous blogs, I commented that Christmas is coming to be ready.
DVD Format Wars
During the Blu-ray / HD DVD wars. I jumped on the HD DVD bandwagon because the price of the player was a whole lot cheaper than Blu-ray. I thought there would be room enough for both of them. However, that was not the case. Not too long after my purchase a winner was declared in 2008. It was Sony this time. It was a little painful to swallow for a while, picking the wrong technology. Ultimately, I still won as, I saw many popular videos in HD DVD format go on sale for rediculously low prices.
No competition
After the war was over, there wasn’t any healthy competition driving the prices toward affordability. It seemed like the prices hovered in the $200-$400 range. You had two choices, an expensive game console or an expensive stand-alone Blu-ray player. Both were way overpriced. Since the format wars were over I have refused to purchase a Blu-ray player because of price alone. I knew there was no reason why they couldn’t be more affordable. All they had to do, was remove a few expensive options and provide us with a bare-bones model that can play Blu-ray discs.
A miracle happened
I don’t know exactly when it happend, but I heard rumors that Blu-ray players have started selling below $100. I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard this. I had to verify this myself. So, I looked up some major retailers in my area (Fry’s, K-Mart, Target, Sears, Best Buy) At the time of this article I found a refurbished Blu-ray Disc player for $99 and another within $10. Pretty close for my book.
- K-Mart & Sears – Magnavox Blu-ray Disc player, refurbished $99
- BestBuy – Insignia Blu-ray Disc player $119
I hope this trend continues. I’ve seen several Blu-ray Disc players start to drop below the $200 barrier. I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen around Thanksgiving. This should get real interesting. I’m still not planning to brave the crowds on Black Friday. But, with all the money we’ll be saving, maybe we’ll pay someone to buy it for us 😉
Christmas is still coming. Now that Blu-ray Disc players are getting closer to the $100 price-point, we’ll be able to find a deal this year..