Sony announces low-cost version of Blu-ray player

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In order to continue its momentum in format war for next-generation DVDs, Sony on Monday announced its plans to launch a less expensive Blu-ray player this summer that would be significantly cheaper than many current models on the market and will have the "same capabilities" the existing players bear.

The lower-cost version of Blu-ray player, dubbed BDP-S300, will cost US$599, about $400 cheaper than Sony's current BDP-S1 that company sells for US$999, even though it will offer all the functionality of current model.

In a statement yesterday, Sony President Stan Glasgow said that the company will launch a $599 player in mid-summer, and slash Blu-ray HDTV DVD player prices by 50 percent by year's end. He also said that the company expects to sell an estimated 250,000 HDTV DVD players in 2007.

In addition to the lower price, the BDP-S300 comes in a much smaller size and has the capability to play CDs, which the initial model did not. Like the current model, it will be able to output a 1080P signal, which is the highest of several levels of video quality that fall under the high-definition banner.

The unit will also have the capability to upconvert lower quality signals to 1080P for output over the HDMI (high-definition multimedia interface) connector. It can send out video at 24 frames per second, which is the rate used for films.

Indeed Sony’s new player costs almost half the price of current models yet it would be more expensive than Toshiba's HD DVD player that currently sells for US$499.

Blu-ray format, backed by a group led by Sony Corp. and the rival HD DVD format, backed by a consortium headed by Toshiba Corp are two competing successors to the DVD discs commonly used to store movies at the moment. Both groups have been indulged in battle for the $24-billion-a-year home video market share since their launch in Year 2006.

Sony’s Blu-ray format, which has dominated the HD DVD format in terms of storage space capacity, has support of Samsung, Hitachi, and JVC, while Toshiba’s HD DVD format, that allows storage capacities of 15GB and 30GB, is backed by Microsoft, Intel and NEC. The Blu-Ray format currently provides a maximum storage capacity of 50GB.

Both the standards are promising and provide increased data storage on the same disc dimensions to allow higher definition multimedia, but at the same time, they are incompatible, forcing consumers as well as the dealers to choose.

Though the prices of HD-DVD players are now well below Blu-ray, which has been an advantage for the former, but once Sony cuts prices by 50 percent, that advantage will turn into a drawback for HD-DVD.

Recent statistics show that Blu-ray has begun to outsell HD DVD by a two to one margin, mainly due to the release of the PlayStation 3 as the electronics giant claims that four out of every five customers who purchase the console also purchase movies as well.

Sony expects that the prices would further come down. By Christmas 2007, prices for Blu-ray players should be under $500, Glasgow said. However, at the same time, HD DVD could be selling players much below the prices of Blu-rays.

HD DVD format developer Toshiba is scheduled to issue a $399 player, with a $299 player coming shortly after that.