PS3-Still #399.

That's unfortunate. However, one thing to keep in mind is that the arguably best Blu-ray player (the PS3) looks to be going down in price soon, maybe.

You get the most value for your money and it's still a great player. Only Microsoft Zealots will disagree and think it's a bad thing for PS3 to be the cheapest BD player.

Sure, some people want standalones, but again, is there a reasonable argument against owning a console that also plays BD players? "I don't want to have a game console" isn't a valid one. Those kinds of consumers shouldn't complain about Blu-ray prices, they should instead question their preferences.

In the end Blu-ray is being adopted faster than DVD ever was, and Blu-ray is dropping in price faster than DVD even after its recent price increases. Not only that, but considering inflation, BD is very cheap compared to what DVD cost when it launched.

And thats why competition is good...

...for months now, that Blu-ray winning the format war was not necessarily the best thing for consumers, at least not in the short-run. Prices were falling but had not yet reached the magic numbers of under $199 for Blu-ray players and under $20 for BR discs. A few months more of competition would have done it... Instead, we're left with climbing prices in Blu-ray hardware AND software. Blu-ray is the successor to DVD, but even with no competition, I'm afraid it is going to be a slower and more painful transition than we all hoped for....

prices continued to soar, even though it was the standard, with no competition.

*rolls eyes*

look, this format war was a costly one. for consumers, for the manufacturers, and it dragged on unnecessarily for too long, due to the stubornness, and foolishness of certain companies *cough*Paramount*cough*

this war would have been decided long ago if certain people understood that, from the beginning, Blu Ray had the support from the studios, the support from the various computer manufacturers, and the support of the world-reknowned Playstation brand. basically, the cards were *ALWAYS in Blu Ray's hands. it was inevitable that it would win, especially once Sony announced that it going to be included in the Playstation 3, which was as far back as 2006, if not before then.

so, basically, we've known, for damn near two years, that Blu Ray was going to win.

only the most stalwart of Sony haters felt that Blu Ray didn't have a chance, even though the odds were in Sony's favor for a very, very long time.

i don't *CARE that stand alone Blu Ray prices have begun to climb.

i already have a Blu Ray player. i bought it with my PS3 back in February 2007.

i spent $600, but it basically equated to $400 for my gaming machine (ie, the equivalent of a 360 at the time), $100 for the built in Wi Fi router, and $100 for the Blu Ray functionality.

the PS3 is $400 now, still one of the cheapest Blu Ray players on the market, and i can get Blu Ray movies for $24.99 at the game/movie store across the street. which is only about $5 more than the DVD counterpart.

last i checked, DVDs, back when the PS2 launched, were pushing $30 or more, and it took time for those costs to drop.

the BD camp has to recoup the massive amounts of money they spent battling HD DVD.

former HD DVD player manufacturers have to, basically, *START OVER, converting their production facilities to Blu Ray facilities. consolidating the hundreds of thousands of now useless HD DVD players that are sitting in warehouses and store shelves, not being purchased.

this is not a cheap maneuver.

so while this whole mess is being sorted out, and HD DVD is getting slowly pushed out of existence, prices will be a little high.

if VHS and DVD have taught us ANYTHING, is that those high prices won't last forever (DVD = $30 movies, and $500-$600 players back in the day. 8 years later, you can get DVD players for $30, and movies for less than $10).

in either case, like i said before, i already made my Blu Ray investment over a year ago, and i haven't regretted the decision yet. i got my gaming fix, and my HD movie fix, in one sweet, fell swoop.

note that the companies who's players have climbed, are generally the companies that supported BOTH formats, and thus have some amortizing to do.

Sony's products have ALWAYS been more expensive than anybody elses, and it's almost at a whim that they decide to raise and lower their prices. *shrugs* i don't understand it, but why complain? just don't buy the product until it drops to a price that you're comfortable with. i don't understand the whole "b*tching for b*tching's sake" mentality that seems to ravage the net. it's pointless, and a waste of energy, really.

Standalone players are essentially mid-range PCs, and have 512MB of ram, a fast processor to handle 1080p video, etc, etc. It's the reason Toshiba lost so much money on its players sold at $300 and below.

The LG Blu-ray player actually dropped about $400 in MSRP, and the prices haven't actually fluctuated very much on the 5 players shown. Three went up, two went down.

I'm guessing the rising prices are somewhat because of no competition, but to most likely push PS3 sales through too. That price doesn't budge.

with companies trying to re-coupe R&D cost. Blu-Ray is a great storage medium. I currently own 36 Blu-Ray movies and 14 PS3 games. I would love to have a stand alone player and will get one when prices drop.

I is a damn good thing the PS3 was built so solid, with all the game playing/ movie watching/ listing to music/ photo, personal video viewing/ web browsing that goes on in my house hold the PS3 is on and stays on, (F@H when not is use) its been running strong since Nov 17 2006.

While if I only wanted High Def. movie access the stand alone player would have been purchased over the Playstation but then again I would not have even bought a HDTV yet if it was not for the PS3 that I bought.

Without competition...Looks like blind loyalty gets you nothing.

Prices on BRD discs are not increasing. Retailers are discontinuing BRD sale prices to liquidate HD-DVD. This hump was bound to happen to the winner. The PS3 will only come down in price and it's by far the overall best deal of the bunch.

There will be $199 players by the end of 2008.

There's a way to keep the prices from spiraling out of control. The higher the price, the lower the demand will be. The market will only bear just so much.

I work at a Best Buy and the Blu-Ray player prices HAVE NOT BUDGED!!! They will occasionaly go on sale BUT NEVER UP!! Where the hell are they getting this ridiculous information!! The Panasonic Blu-Ray player was 449 on sale a few weeks ago and now is back up to 499 and the other players have been at a solid 399. Stop being so blind and listening to what these idiots have to say and go to Bestbuy.com or Circuitcity.com and see that the damn prices HAVE STAYED THE SAME!!

I think everyone should take a moment to tip their hat towards HD-DVD for providing a long enough stalemate for prices to be somewhat reasonable. Lord knows Sony makes some quality goods, but they love to charge high dollar for it.

mmm... I wonder if Sony is also planning to raise the price of the PS3... as long as the PS3 is out there are the best blu-ray player... Sony nor other stand alone blu-ray player makers will be able to profit from it.

Everything costs more, not just blu-ray players.. Its called economics.

Look at these links....,

http://www.cdfreaks.com/new...

http://gizmodo.com/363092/n...

This is some Bulls**t!! HD-DVD is gone. If Blu-Ray want to end the reign of DVD9, they need to make movies affordible. I remember Spiderman Trilogy was around $45.00 new, now it's $60.00?!!

Terrible!!!!

Still optical Blu-Ray drive for the PC is bloody expensive, disgusting tbh. Good thing I got a PS3.

Easy Ps3 prices wont go up they will drop.. So just buy a PS3

It's a no-brainer to just get a PS3 instead of a blu-ray player. Almost the same price. But I'm still not persuaded to switch over to blu-ray. DVD is still fine.

It's been proven that the PS3 is the best, and most affordable Blu-Ray purchase to date.

I bet your boyfriend would get jealous. You are the dumbest bot on n4g. I thought avatars were to get attention? Funny concept. Yours sucks balls. You are pathetic, but not as much as your 3shi&&y. All your other ugly bot friend's are just as bad.

oldbox 3history :)