Name-brand Blu-ray players break the $200 barrier

EngadgetHD has been keeping a close eye on the prices of Blu-ray players, and recently noticed that both the Samsung BD-P1500 and Sony BDP-S300 have fallen below the $200 mark at certain stores (RadioShack and Amazon, respectively.) This is right in line with previous reports of falling Blu-ray prices, and while the BDP-S300 is pretty old, the BD-P1500 is currently Samsung’s most recent Blu-ray player. In many ways, these cuts are more important that the budget players we’ve seen from Insignia and Memorex, since for many people it’s a lot easier to drop $200 on Blu-ray if they know they’re getting a “Sony”.

EngadgetHD’s link to RadioShack is no longer working and we couldn’t find the BD-P1500 on the site by searching–we’re guessing they’re sold out. But if you can find the BD-P1500 for $200, it’s a much better deal than the BDP-S300. When we tested the BDP-S300, we found it painfully slow and it only supports the older Profile 1.0 standard. The BD-P1500, on the other hand, is currently Profile 1.1 compatible and is upgradeable to Profile 2.0, and considerably faster to use than the BDP-S300. The BD-P1500 is also on deck to get DTS-HD Master Audio decoding in the future, which means you’ll be able to get high resolution soundtracks using most HDMI-equipped AV receivers.

Source: crave.cnet.com

Tags: Sony, BDP-S300, Samsung, BD-P1500, Blu-ray

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