Sony, Sharp offer free Blu-ray players, sorta PDF
Consumer Electronics
By Wolfgang Gruener
Sunday, January 20, 2008 21:39
Chicago (IL) – The Blu-ray camp has responded to the rather dramatic HD
DVD player price cut from last week this weekend: If you purchase
certain LCD TV models, Sony and Sharp are throwing in a “free” Blu-ray
player.

Price has not been one of the advantages of Blu-ray players so far, but
it appears that Sony & Co are beginning to take first shots at Toshiba
on this battlefield as well. The ad package in your Sunday newspaper
brought two especially interesting flyers – one from Sony and one from
Best Buy.

Sony is offering a $400 rebate on the purchase of a LCD TV/Blu-ray
player package, which essentially gets you the BDP-S300 for free (we’ll
forget the sales tax here). Qualifying TVs are the 46” KDL-46V3000, the
46” KDL-46W3000 and the 52” KDL-52W3000, which carry MSRPs of $2300,
$2500 and $3000, respectively. The instant rebate can be used for all of
Sony’s current Blu-ray players (excluding the Playstation 3) and is
apparently available through all retailers that offer these products.

BestBuy not only advertises this Sony program, but also a similar and
time-limited promotion for Sharp TVs and Blu-ray players. Purchasing an
Aquos D64-series LCD TV (for prices between $1700 and $3000) allows
customers to bag a Sharp BD-HP20U Blu-ray player free of charge. The
player usually retails for $500.

Of course, if you own an HDTV and simply want a cheap high-def player,
the Toshiba HD DVD units are still the most attractive devices. But
you’ll have to be careful what and where you buy: For example, Best Buy
offers the entry-level HD-A3 (whose MSRP was dropped to $150 by Toshiba
last week) for $300. Most online shops are currently selling this player
for about $125.

The Blu-ray promotion includes five free movies; the HD-A3 HD DVD player
includes seven or nine free movies, depending on the retailer.