Where Have All The Blue-ray Players Gone?

[wulf109]

Anyone notice the lack of Blue-ray players at retail and on-line store? newegg has only one high priced model and my local Sam's and Best Buy have none.

[cal_tony]

My overall opinion about the Bluray, HdDVD and Dvd rivalry. Is still that the HD war was a good thing for Hi Def. Without it, out of sight out of mind.

But, for the first time this past Saturday, I did notice that my local Walmart was finally carrying Bluray players. Seems like one brand was the Samsung for $350 and the other was the Sony for $399. They also still carried the PS3s. 80 GB $499 and in my opinion, the overall winner and best value, the 40GB unit for $399.


Tony

[jagabo]

Where Have All The Blue-ray Players Gone?

They're inside the PS3.

[wulf109]

PS3 explains the lack of Sony Blue-ray players,unless they also supply drives for Samsung and others.

[FulciLives]

My guess ... the various companies are holding back for when they can release Profile 2.0 stand alone BD players. The current lack or small supply is probably due to the shift from pre-profile 2.0 to profile 2.0

I'm sure by the end of the year when the holiday season "kicks in" that profile 2.0 BD players will be more prevalent.

I have a PS3 and right now for the price it is hard to beat. Even if you aren't a "hardcore" gamer you will no doubt find at least a couple of games worth playing + you get a great BD player + a decent media server to boot.

Although if anyone is considering buying a PS3 I would wait because the currently discontinued 80GB model (which not only has a bigger HDD but also other nice stuff like more USB ports etc.) is set to re-emerge in June or July ... most likely with the new rumble/vibration controller and possibly a 120GB HDD instead of the 80GB HDD it sported earlier when available last year. The extra USB ports are nice if you want to hook up a keyboard and mouse without unplugging your controllers. Plus if you intend to hook up an external HDD the added USB ports are "key". Last but not least it is backwards compatible whereas the current 40GB model is not ... nice to have one unit for PSOne and PS2 games.

For the record I have the 80GB model which I purchased in December 2007 before it went bye bye.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman