Who wants a cheap Blu-ray player? That’s a dumb question. No one wants a cheap Blu-ray player, but rather a low-price, high quality player. This $99 Magnavox is unfortunately cheap. It’s only Profile 1.1, doesn’t haven’t have analog audio out, or anything that would get videophiles excited. But it’s only $99.
We’re just glad to see more Blu-ray players reach the sub-$100 mark. Hopefully soon we’ll see similarly priced units that also feature the latest and greatest Blu-ray has to offer. But until then, we’ll take what we can get.
I would snatch this up in a minute IF Funai would give it some support and firmware updates.
I’d be more excited if the average price of BD discs dropped. Of course, just like when CDs became ubiquitous and the cost of their production became less than a cent, the record companies just kept the prices the same and pocketed the extra cash. The TV / Movie suits will do the same scummy thing with Blu-ray.
I was in Wal-Mart this morning, and the Magnavox Blu-Ray disc player is $168.00.
The price on this unit seems to vary depending upon what part of the country you are in. Here in AZ the player is $98. I picked one up yesterday and it works great so far. If you have a second TV that supports HDCP, then this is a good option. I don’t know yet whether I would recommend it as a player for a primary TV. It is a 1.1 profile player with no ethernet port, so forget about updating it to 2.0.
This is $148 now at Walmart. Refurbs can be had at Sears for $99.