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HDTV Almanac - $68 Blu-ray Player
By Alfred Poor
HDTV Professor
Posted on February 5, 2010
Category: General Interest


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Walmart is now selling the Magavox NB500MG1F Blu-ray player for $68.

Okay. That’s more like it. Walmart is offering the Magnavox NB500MG1F Blu-ray player for $68. Yes, there are lots of features that you don’t get with this basic model, but it does have an HDMI connection and an SD card slot. And it’s not even Black Friday!

This brings Blu-ray into range for the average buyer. The difference in price between this and a DVD player is about the same as dinner for four at McDonald’s, which means that a lot of people will now be able to afford Blu-ray. Unfortunately, I still think it may be too late; Blockbuster is closing stores and Netflix is streaming movies over the Internet by the boatload. The days of distributing movies on plastic discs are numbered. You’ll probably get at least five years out of a Blu-ray player if you get one now, but I expect it will become a minor component in movie delivery to the home before the end of that period.

Posted by Alfred Poor, February 5, 2010 5:00 AM

Reader Commentary

See Forum Topic: HDTV Almanac - $68 Blu-ray Player (26 replies)
Feb 5, 7:21am
The price on the Walmart website is $78.
Feb 5, 8:03am
Spoirier, you are correct. The link now shows $78 as the price. All I can say is that it was $68 when I wrote the column, and prices can change quickly. I'd still argue that the $78 price still supports my basic conclusion. Instead of being hundreds mo
Feb 5, 9:06am
Where are all the naysayers that said this would never happen?
Feb 5, 9:17am
Hey, I'm standing right here! I chose HD DVD to beat Blu-ray, but I never thought either would get to competitive prices this quickly. I still think that Blu-ray is too little, too late, and will never come close to DVD's success. But I'm ready to be prov
Feb 5, 9:35am
Of course it won't be the great leap that DVD was in comparison to VHS: smaller, lighter, less easily damaged, no rewinding, digital discrete channel full range surround sound, direct chapter access, cheaper to mfr Going from DVD to BD is much less
Feb 5, 11:05am
Years ago I bought a cheap DVD player because it was cheap. I thought digital was digital and the picture and sound would be just fine for me. It was-when it worked. About a third of the discs wouldn't load, and half of the on
Feb 5, 11:16am
I agree that you get what you pay for, but I suspect that the Blu-ray licensing fees are still high enough to keep the rabble out of the market. I don't know who the manufacturer is behind the Magnovox player that I mention here, so there is still plenty
Feb 6, 8:03am
As a person who has had the Magnavox 500MG9 for over a year (got it for $110 when THAT was considered a bargain!), I would say that it is better than many of the higher priced brand-name players. One can check any AV site and find people who are finding
Feb 6, 10:48am
Thanks for sharing your experience with the Magnavox Blu-ray player, film11; I'm sure many people will find it helpful. And thanks for flagging the Shoprite sale information. BTW, Funai makes products for many familiar brands, as they have licensed a l
Feb 6, 4:31pm
Everyone is entitled to opinion but many factors were ignored regarding the comment that Blu-ray will be replaced by streaming in 5 years. Granted, anything is possible in CE, but: 1) Blu-ray has been reported many times as a format that took much l
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About Alfred Poor

Alfred Poor is a well-known display industry expert, who writes the daily HDTV Almanac. He wrote for PC Magazine for more than 20 years, and now is focusing on the home entertainment and home networking markets.