Back in May, Toshiba lowered the price on select HD DVD players as part of a limited-time offer, bringing its entry-level player to a $299 price-point. The electronics giant claims it sold 100,000 set-top players in their first year on the market, with around 50,000 of them sold after the company began lowering prices. Recently, during a press event in New York, Toshiba announced its lower-priced players would go into permanent effect July 1.
"We know that price is a powerful driver for consumers to adopt new technology, which is why our rebate promotion is a great incentive to bring cinema-quality, high definition movies into your home today," said Jodi Sally, vice president of marketing at Toshiba America Consumer Products company.
The entry-level Toshiba HD-A2 player will stay at $299 and the HD-A20 at $399, while the top-line HD-XA2 will remain $799. Although prices are still to reach a mainstream price point, the reduced price is likely to attract early adopters and video enthusiasts. The Blu-ray Disc camp, on the other hand, has also been dropping prices on its entry-level players, bringing BDP-S300 to the $499 price-point and offering free movies with all new Blu-ray players.