Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

A lower priced Blu-ray player is coming this November from Sherwood America for under $300.  Expect the usual BD features like 1080p video, upscales DVDs, and supports BD Profile 1.1.  With the holidays coming, expect more news like this.

I have never heard of this particular company, so I did some digging.  Don’t expect any exotic styling here.  Their other devices feature pretty conservative design.  Where can you expect to find this player?  We don’t know yet, but when we do, we’ll let you know.

Will this low cost player help spur adoption of Blu-ray in the homes of the general public?  I’m not sure.  The big down side to BD is it actually requires educating the consumer to a whole new level.  In the past, just showing a person a DVD explained the virtues of DVD over VHS.  Plus, DVDs were smaller, did not require rewinding, and did not suffer from the same wear and tear of VHS tapes. 

HD content on Blu-ray discs is fantastic.  However, if you don’t have a television that can show off the added resolution, then the improvements are not self evident.  The discs are not any smaller and don’t add any particular extra features that significantly differentiates BD from DVD.  We’ll be keeping an eye out on BD player sales to see how this holiday season goes.