NEW YORK (AP) -- Sony Corp. said Monday it is bringing out a cheaper player for Blu-ray discs early this summer, a crucial step in its battle to make the high-definition format the replacement for DVDs.

The BDP-S300 will cost $599 (euro455), yet will have the same capabilities as the $999 (euro759) BDP-S1 Sony is currently selling, said Randy Waynick, senior vice president of the home products division of Sony Electronics.

Sony and Samsung Corp., which also makes a Blu-ray player, have been undersold by Toshiba Corp.'s players for the rival HD DVD format. Toshiba has a model on the market for $499 (euro379).

However, sales of players for either format have been tepid, as consumers have stood back, waiting for the market to settle on one of the discs.

Most people buying high-definition discs are apparently doing so to play them on PlayStation 3 game consoles. There are two versions of the console, for $499 (euro379) and $599 (euro455), and Sony sold 1.8 million units last year.

''Eighty percent of people who buy a PS3 also buy Blu-ray movies to go with it,'' Waynick told reporters at a meeting here.

''The consumers have determined that that's the format they're choosing to go with,'' he said, citing retail data from Nielsen VideoScan that showed Blu-ray discs outselling HD DVDs by three to one this year.

The BDP-S300 is a smaller unit than the BDP-S1, and is about the same size as a DVD player. Like the current model, it will be able to output a signal in the highest high-definition format, known as 1080p. It will also be able to play CDs, which the BDP-S1 does not.

Stan Glasgow, president of Sony Electronics, told reporters at a meeting here that by Christmas, prices for Blu-ray players should be down below $500 (euro380).

Sony has previously complained that DVD players became a commodity product too soon, and that it was hard to make a profit in a market dominated by $50 (euro38) units. Glasgow predicted that Blu-ray players would take the same route.

''Over time, I think it will be just like DVD,'' he said

thats cool at least we know that blu ray may not fail unlike umd

well im glad to hear that blu-ray is doing well by sony's standards
the hd-dvd and blu-ray battle is pretty heated

i think blu ray will come out on top rather than hd dvd bcos of they can hold so much more. A dual layer blu ray can hold 50gb whereas a dual layer hd dvd can hold 25gb

I think with an even competing price to HD-DVD's it can topple them bc of the shear number of people with PS3's or Blue Ray discs compared to total HD Players sold.

wow, technology sure really grows fast... i wonder what would be next of blue ray??? can't wait to see that one...

Its good to see Blu-ray is doing well. Although a few weeks ago i got my blu-ray player hopefully Blu-ray will contiune to be successful in the coming months.

It's funny, I remember when DVD's came out and the player was something like $500 and everyone's expectation was that in a year or two the price would come down.

Now, a company has to release a cheaper version as fast as possible just to stay in the game.

Personally, I think Blu-Ray will eventually win this battle. I can't seem to understand why you would want a 30GB HDDVD when you could be having a 50GB Blu-Ray.

This reminds me, I just read an article in Popular Science that was talking about Holographic Disks. Apparently they are a lot faster than all other forms of disks and they fit hundreds of times more data into the disk by shooting a laser at different angles when burning to form a holographic record of data. It said to expect them to be available to consumers within 10 years I think.

Yeah holographic discs will be the next disc format but we'll see when they really get released.

As for the cheaper blu-ray player, I think its gonna help a lot in the war seeing as blu-ray has been doing better already.

Well really 10 years seems pretty soon...i mean developing new products- especially a versatile as a new disk format would make many problems arise; who knows what problems they could run into! Anyway, even if they were commercially available to customers in 10 years i still believe that the average consumer will not be read for them...and who knows what state the market will be in after the Bluray/HDDVD battle?

Oh, sorry I was wrong. I just re-read the article, and it says that 300GB holographic disks made by Maxell are already in use by professional archivers such as TV stations. I was also wrong about the 10 years part. It says consumers should expect to see them in 2 to 3 years.
Also, it says that by 2010 holographic disks should be able to hold 1.6 terabytes and eventually they might reach 100 terabytes. Wow...

i think blu ray will make it. but only if they lower prices

Thanks for posting your opinion. What does everyone else think?