Washington, D.C. (January 7, 2009) -- Vizio said today that it's introducing a $199 Blu-ray player designed to attract the mass audience.
The player, model VBR100, will be on exhibit this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It will be the first Blu-ray player from Vizio, a Southern California-based company best known for manufacturing low-cost flat-screen HDTVs.
At $199, the Vizio Blu-ray player will be less expensive than most Blu-ray players, although some are available for under $200 at select retail stores. The company said the $199 player will be available at retail in April.
When it's released, it could give the Blu-ray industry a major boost. Vizio's low-cost HDTVs have become hugely popular with consumers with the company occasionally leading in overall LCD sales in North America.
The introduction of a $199 Blu-ray player in April could also suggest that Vizio has plans for an even cheaper one during the 2009 holiday season.
In a press release, Vizio said the player would be equipped with a 108MHz/11-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC) as well as provide built-in audio decoding for uncompressed audio formats such as Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, and multi-channel PCM.
The company did not state whether the player will be compatible with Blu-ray's latest interactive features, known as BD-Live.
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The player, model VBR100, will be on exhibit this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It will be the first Blu-ray player from Vizio, a Southern California-based company best known for manufacturing low-cost flat-screen HDTVs.
At $199, the Vizio Blu-ray player will be less expensive than most Blu-ray players, although some are available for under $200 at select retail stores. The company said the $199 player will be available at retail in April.
When it's released, it could give the Blu-ray industry a major boost. Vizio's low-cost HDTVs have become hugely popular with consumers with the company occasionally leading in overall LCD sales in North America.
The introduction of a $199 Blu-ray player in April could also suggest that Vizio has plans for an even cheaper one during the 2009 holiday season.
In a press release, Vizio said the player would be equipped with a 108MHz/11-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC) as well as provide built-in audio decoding for uncompressed audio formats such as Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, and multi-channel PCM.
The company did not state whether the player will be compatible with Blu-ray's latest interactive features, known as BD-Live.
Comment on this article!
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