How Much are Blu-ray Disc Players and are HD-DVD Players Still Available?

Question: How Much are Blu-ray Disc Players and are HD-DVD Players Still Available?

NOTICE: HD-DVD is now officially discontinued. However, information on HD-DVD, and its comparison to Blu-ray, is still contained in this article for historical purposes, as well as the fact that there are still many HD-DVD player owners, and HD-DVD players and discs will continue to be sold and traded on the secondary market for some time.

Answer: The Cost of Getting Into Blu-ray and HD-DVD

You may be able to find HD-DVD players (mostly all used at this point) priced as low $99 or less and up to $500 for high-end units, at some clearance outlets, or on eBay. However, as of February 19, 2008, Toshiba has discontinued the production and market of HD-DVD players, so no new models are forthcoming. On the other hand, Blu-ray Players officially start at about $299(check dealers for lower prices - sometimes as low as $200) and can go up to $1,500, or more, for high-end models.

Despite all the benefits of Blu-ray and the capabilities of Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD, the decision as to whether to jump in is up to you, as Blu-ray is now the format that has won the Blu-ray/HD-DVD War.

Blu-ray Viability

Questions, such as software availability and format viability over the long term, are not as much of a concern at this point as the studios are releasing both recent and catalogue titles at a faster rate each month. However, keep in mind that Blu-ray Disc movie titles are usually priced at $5 to $10 more than their DVD counterparts.

Also, both Blu-ray and HD-DVD players are totally compatible with the standard DVD format, and most are compatible with CDs. However, those consumers that invested heavily into the HD-DVD format are somewhat out of luck now as HD-DVDs cannot be played on a Blu-ray Disc player...Unless you own one of the three Blu-ray/HD-DVD combo players (LG BH100, LG BH200, and Samsung BD-UP5000) that were released before the discontinuation of HD-DVD.

The Choice is Yours

New tech toys are hard to resist, and if you are willing to take the plunge into high definition DVD, Blu-ray is now the only choice for future consideration.

On the other hand, if you are on a limited budget or do not wish to take the Blu-ray plunge at this time, for less than $150 there are a variety good DVD players with 720p/1080i/1080p upscaling capability that can narrow the gap between standard DVD and Blu-ray or HD-DVD, and you don't have worry about your current DVD library becoming obsolete - standard DVDs, and players to play them, will be around for some time.

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