LG Electronics has lowered the suggested price of its HD DVD/Blu-ray player (BH100) by about $200, bringing it one dollar under the $1,000 level. Its price cut is in response to some new dual-player competition from Samsung, which has announced it will ship a dual Blu-ray Disc-HD DVD player (BDP-UP5000) in the fall that will be in the range of $1,050.
The LG unit has maintained its original price of $1,200 since its introduction a few months ago, according to High-Def Digest.
While lower dual-player prices could go a long way towards slowing, or ending, the current and costly format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray, a couple of standalone players for each format, respectively, still cost at least $100 less than LG’s newly priced single unit. However, any continued down-trending toward lower price points may indicate that dual players could deliver a viable third option to HD consumers who are uncertain over what to buy.
Still, the Samsung unit at $50 more (as of now), could be the better deal, according to High-Def Digest. “Unlike the LG player, the Samsung is slated to include full support of both BD-Java and HDi, as well as Web-enabled features on both formats,” it said.
