Wal-Mart to sell cheap HD-DVD deck

Posted by T3 Online on Fri 20 Apr 2007

Shipment of ultra-affordable Hi-Def players to hit the US store soon.

The format war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray just got a little more interesting, at least for our HD-hungry US brethren. Word has reached the web (the AVS Forum , to be precise) that retailing giant Wal-Mart will soon be selling HD-DVD players for a mere $299 (£150).

While it's still a lot pricier than a regular DVD deck, it's far cheaper than any other HD-DVD or Blu-ray player around. The Blu-ray spinning PS3 costs around $600, while the cheapest HD-DVD player around is Toshiba's $400 HD-A2.

Wal-Mart is sourcing two million of these cut-price players from Taiwan, where they are being built by electronics firm Fuh Yuan.

While $299 would be cheap now, we reckon the price could actually end up being a lot less. These Fuh Yuan-built players probably won't go on sale until next March, by which time the likes of Toshiba will probably be charging less for their own decks. Our prediction: $200 for the Wal-Mart players.