TV Predictions has been contacted by a local retailer who has indicated that Sony will set the MSRP of their new Blu-ray player, the
BDP-S300, at $499 which is $100 less than originally announced. This will place the player at the same price at its closest HD DVD competition, the Toshiba HD-A20, which effectively negates the cost advantage the format once had.
In combination with Panasonic's pricing of their player, the DMP-BD10A at $599, this shows how strong competition between Blu-ray manufacturers and a unified desire to make Blu-ray the victor is driving costs down for Blu-ray hardware. With Sony's player due out at the end of this month, it shouldn't be long before we see if this rumor is true.