The manufacturer known for low-cost HDTVs now has a $199 Blu-ray player in its arsenal
There were a handful of different Blu-ray players that reached the $200 price point during the holiday shopping season after instant rebates, though many of the players went up in price after the holidays were over. Memorex launched a standalone Blu-ray player for $199, and they'll be joined by at least one more company interested in lowering the price.
Best known for its low-cost HDTVs, Vizio has broken the $200 Blu-ray price point after introducing the VBR100 standalone Blu-ray player.
The specifications obviously aren’t as impressive as higher-priced players, but the VBR100 is Profile 2.0 compatible, has 7.1 analog audio outputs, onboard Dolby TrueHD and DTS-Master Audio, and also has optical and coaxial digital audio outputs.
It's unlikely the drive will have BD-Live 2.0 support, which has been reserved for more expensive Blu-ray players.
The Vizio VBR100 Blu-ray player will be priced at $199, and will be released in April.
Blu-ray player sales have been rather lackluster since Sony and company fended off the Toshiba HD DVD format in early 2008. Even though most of the new Blu-ray players announced during CES have streaming capabilities and other added benefits, Vizio hopes it’s cheaper, lower-end Blu-ray player will convince cost weary consumers to watch HD content.
-dailytech
