Average Blu-ray Player Price Falls 6% More, PriceSCAN Says

The average price of Blu-ray players dropped another six percent last week, according to PriceSCAN's latest Blu-ray Price Index.

PriceSCAN attributes the drop to "heavy discounting" on the Samsung BD-P1500 that dropped to $199.99, Engadget HD reported.

Electronic House, our sister publication, reported that Sony's BDP-S300 Blu-ray player is selling for $199 on Amazon.

Memorex also plans to release its MVBD-2510 Blu-ray player for $269 in November.

While all help lower the Blu-ray price index, this could also indicate a weakness in the CE market, according to PriceSCAN co-CEO and chief economist Jeff Trester.

"These sharp back-to-back weekly declines in the price of a cutting edge consumer electronics bellwether may speak to the current weakness in technology retail and bode ill for the coming holiday shopping season," Trester says.

"On the other hand, this softness should present significant bargains to those consumers doing well enough to spend."

PriceSCAN says the Blu-ray price index fell 8 percent in the preceding two weeks. Overall, the Blu-ray index has dropped 13 percent in the first three weeks of September, according to PriceSCAN.

The Blu-ray Disc Association, however, doesn't believe prices will drop anytime soon, saying prices won't fall until volume increases.

The Entertainment Merchants Association predicts Blu-ray will outsell DVD in 2012.