Rob Beschizza
Gear

Let the Price War Begin: Pioneer Announces $300 Blu-Ray Player

Just when Walmart put in an order for two million HD-DVD players to be sold at $300, Blu-Ray’s getting a similar consumer-friendly price point: sort of. The drives in question are internal PC drives, so they only spit out the raw data, lacking signal outputs you could plug into a TV set (and, of course, […]

Pioneerbluraychina
Just when Walmart put in an order for two million HD-DVD players to be sold at $300, Blu-Ray's getting a similar consumer-friendly price point: sort of. The drives in question are internal PC drives, so they only spit out the raw data, lacking signal outputs you could plug into a TV set (and, of course, other useful things like remote controls and mains power adapters)

But $300 is pretty cheap for a high-dollar technology that's only been on the shelves for a matter of months. And unlike Wal-Mart's HD-DVD standalones, you'll can grab the Pioneer BDC-S02 (in China only -- check those grey import sites!) immediately.

"The BDC-S02 can playback high-definition movies on BD-ROM, BD-R (recordable), BD-R DL (single-sided double-layer), BD-RE (rewritable) and BD-RE DL discs as well as common DVD and CD discs, according to Pioneer's Optical Disc Drive Sales general manager Shannon Yu for the Asia-Pacific region."

Pictured is Yu, gently fondling the new drive.

Pioneer unveils Blu-ray Disc Combo drive in Beijing [Digitimes via TGDaily]