Funai getting into the Blu-ray player game, courting the budget set

You know those cheaper-than-a-DVD players (pictured) that hit England recently? Well, we're waiting for the HD disc equivalent, and you know Sony, LG and Toshiba aren't about to deliver such base "budget friendly" action. Obviously we're a long ways away from anything near that $18 price point, but a tiny little step was just taken in that direction with the announcement that Funai is going to be building a new Blu-ray player for OEM rebadge action. Analysts are pegging the initial offering at around $500, and it should be available before the end of 2007. Funai isn't ruling out an HD DVD player either, but the Blu-ray player will come first, and most likely will hit a near bottom pricepoint for its category, at least if Funai's LCD methods are any indication.

[weirdlookinguy @ Feb 16th 2007 6:59PM]

Funai makes TRASH, absolute TRASH! Stay AWAY from Funai! They piss me off because they completely took over the market for Tube-TV's, I am a hardcore fan of CRT's and Funai is the only maker left, and Funai is nothing but garbage. I'd keep my $18 and save it towards a decent player, maybe something in the $50-60 range.

[weirdlookinguy @ Feb 16th 2007 7:05PM]

oops, I was thinking about the $18 dollar dvd player. I would not invest more than $30 in something Funai, it will NOT last! My parents have gone through 3 of their TV's (CRT TV's) in two years. They have spent more money replacing them than they would have spent if they had bought a decent Sony, or a nice Philips, or at least something that was worth it.

[LTM @ Feb 16th 2007 8:33PM]

isn't funai also sylvania?

[sm007h @ Feb 16th 2007 8:39PM]

License charges will prohibit the cost to go down any time. Just off the top of my head, we are looking at:-
* BD licensing to all parties
* DRM licensing
* DVD license charges
* MP3
* HDMI
* Macrovision
* Dolby Digital Labs

And thats just off the top of my head - I am sure I missed quite a few others.

[BrettB @ Feb 16th 2007 11:31PM]

Can someone explain why anyone would pay $500 for a crappy knock-off Blu-Ray player when for just $100 more you can get a 60gig PS3.
Even if you never wanted to play a game, at least you have a sony player.

[August @ Feb 17th 2007 12:24PM]

Well, then that really begs the questions:

"Who would want to drop $600 on a ps3 when you can drop $700 on a 360, the HD-DVD add-on, and you'd have a superior console and "next-gen" video format?"

[KC @ Feb 16th 2007 11:39PM]

$500 is a little steep for a Funai BD player if you ask me.

So, lets see... hard choice... 20GB Playstation 3 or cheap ass OEM BD Player...

You can already get the Samsung BD player for $679 at Target

and you can easily get a Toshiba HD-DVD player for $378 at Wal-Mart

Cheap ass OEM Funai is going to have to do ALOT better then a 20GB PS3 if they hope to sell this thing to anyone interested in branding it and selling a few truckloads to Wal-Mart and Costco....

if they can get it to market between $250-$299 then it'll be a hot seller but not $500.

[ryan @ Feb 17th 2007 12:23AM]

im just glad to see more companies realizing that the blu-ray/hd dvd war is all over and forgetten...right?

[Darren Tilley @ Feb 17th 2007 1:58AM]

Hmmm... Funai Blu-Ray player or a 20GB PS3... I just can't make up my mind.

It's just pointless for anyone to make a "budget" Blu-Ray player until they can offer it for much less than a PS3. Even the biggest anti-sony fanboy there is would pick up a PS3 over paying the same price for a plastiky Funai turd.

[Dan @ Feb 17th 2007 8:53AM]

The Wal-Mart shoppers have something to look forward to, now.

[Rick Lyon @ Feb 17th 2007 9:48AM]

$500 for that tiny crap? I'd be much happier spending less than that for a Toshiba A2 which upconverts SD DVDs superbly as well so I don't feel obliged to run out and replace my DVD collection.