> OPPO DIGITAL to produce Blu-ray players

FYI...

> OPPO DIGITAL to produce Blu-ray players.

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)

Thank you Jimi,

That's GREAT news about the OPPO. I would definately be interested in that one. Steve

Oppo makes some great DVD players, so this is a logical move for them to produce Blu Ray players as well, but does anyone have any idea what they will retail for??

The article says they are going to start out with BD Live support from the start, which is great news since the Blu Ray specifications only have BD Live(2.0) as optional, 1.1 becoming mandatory.

This would be perfect for offering TONS of online Live content features to movies, and despite what a lot of people are saying, the online content is a popularly used feature, and will become more popular as time moves on.

My only concern is if they can market an affordable player??

I would hope they find a way that they can they seriously price their offerings well below the $399 P$3, because no other Blu Player has been able to hold a price point below the entry level P$3 so far.

What we don't need here is another manufacturer of $500-$700 Blu Ray players, someone needs to get a $200 or less Blu machine on the market ASAP.

VC... you may have overlooked a 1-week BBuy sale in December for the cheapest Sony Blu-ray player - only $299, before returning back to $399 the next week. I think any of us that can afford an HDTV, and buying hi-def movie discs, can ALSO afford $400 for a Blu-ray player. Still, by the end of the year I'm expecting a low-cost unit for $299 MSRP, and as low as $199 on sale. Remember, there's the Wal-Mart factor to consider, if some company chooses to market a low-cost unit thru them.

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)

That was Sony's cheapest model, a Blu 1.0 profile machine, and was a stunt to sell off their outdated stock.

Remember that Toshiba did the same thing with their 2 day $99 HD DVD blowout.

There have been no Blu Ray players consistently priced below $399, the cost of the entry level P$3.

Sony needs to make a choice here, either drop the price of the P$3 to $200, or allow Blu movie players to be MSRP'd at $200.

One way will probably destroy their Game machine business, the other will probably destroy their Movie Player business.

Problem is that their Top selling Game machine is also now their Top selling Movie machine.

Their new advertising slogan might end up being " Blu Ray Disc, Between a Rock and a Hard place"

FYI JIMMI, the Wal Mart near me (Pittsburgh area) told me on Wednesday, that the only Blu Ray player they are carrying is the PS3. I checked the shelves and the tags have been removed, no more Blu stand alone players to be found.

FYI -

> FUNAI '$300' Blu-ray player by Q2

"The optical head for the unit will be provided by Sony and the core system will be the Matsushita / Panasonic UniPhier chipset."

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)

Quote:
What we don't need here is another manufacturer of $500-$700 Blu Ray players, someone needs to get a $200 or less Blu machine on the market ASAP

That says it all. Yes Jimi, I realize that most of us here have spent big $$ on HDTVs and most probably could afford an overpriced BD player, but we are not representative of the general public. That $200 price point (or lower) is ESSENTIAL for BD to get off the ground and to move into the mainstream. As I said elsewhere, considering all the heat that Toshiba received for selling their players below cost, it would be ironic if the BD ce mfgs had to do the same thing to move their players a year or two from now. I heard on Fox Financial this morning that car sales are down 18% and people just aren't buying non essential stuff. Most people aren't going to see a BD player as being essential.