Sony, Pioneer Announce Pricey New Blu-ray Players
Sony, Pioneer and other manufacturers are expected to announce new Blu-ray DVD players for the U.S. market over the next few weeks. Sony, announcing new players and recorders in Japan this week, is expected to make a $2,000 Blu-ray player available for the upcoming holiday season in the U.S. Pioneer is expected to ship a similar model as well — but many believe the price tags will doom their sales.
Sony Models
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Sony’s $2,000 Blu-ray player will include a special chip designed to give viewers an even clearer high-definition picture. Sony’s next-cheapest model will cost $499 and includes High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) as well as DVD and CD support. Whether a chip to enhance high definition is worth $1,500, the market will soon determine.
Sony also released new Blu-ray recorders in Japan, where the recordable format is highly popular. Sony could not be reached for comment on its new players.
Blu-ray Player Market Uncertainties
Since Toshiba surrendered the high-definition format war last spring and buried HD DVD, Sony and its Blu-ray technology licensees have had an open field with the winning Blu-ray format. But sales, as tracked by market analysts, appear to be totally stagnant. A recent search of Blu-ray sites reveals that more than 50 models have shipped this year, with prices in the $300-$2,000 price range. Most players offering HDMI 1.3 interfaces are going at a premium — usually more than $1,000.
The HDMI 1.3 specification gives customers greater speed, eliminating many lip-sync problems found in earlier implementations, as well as deep color and broad color space. Deep color, with increased pixel depth, supposedly supports billions of colors, eliminates color banding, and provides a nearly infinite array of shades, according to the HDMI standards organization. Broad color space enables HDMI-compliant devices to more accurately display such colors.
But is it worth the price? HDMI 1.1 Blu-ray devices sell for far less — in the $300-$500 price range. Some HDMI 1.3 models by Korean manufacturers are attempting to break the barrier, offering models in the $500-$600 price range. And many consumers are perfectly happy with DVD upconverters that deliver near 1080p performance to flat-screen TVs for $100 or less. Regular reviewers of upconverting DVD players note little difference between full-fledged Blu-ray and upconverted images.
Add the Internet to the mix. HD video delivery via download is expected to be a huge market, and sites such as Netflix are poised to take advantage. Network broadcasters with Internet sites can easily convert to 1080p formats for download as well. Multimedia PCs equipped with Blu-ray drives give consumers yet another option.
Regardless, analysts don’t foresee a cheery holiday sales season for Blu-ray manufacturers unless features settle and prices come way down. Just as with the adoption of vanilla DVD players replacing old VCR players, the sub-$300 price point seems to be the ticket for widespread adoption. And according to a report on Blu-ray.com, an undisclosed manufacturer is about to deliver a player for less than $200 this fall.