Cheap 199usd Blu-ray Player Announced ... for the PC Posted by XanTium | 14-11-2007 0:39 EST

From gearlog.com: [QUOTE] If price is the battleground where the war between Blu-ray and HD DVD will be fought, then Philips and Lite-On Digital Solutions fired a new salvo on Tuesday, with the announcement of a $199 drive. Unfortunately, the internal PLDS DH-4O1S drive is not the official answer to the $99 Toshiba HD DVD player that went on sale at Wal-mart last week. The DH-401S is an internal drive for the PC that simply plays back Blu-ray, DVD, and CD discs, although the manufacturers noted that a PC equipped with the drive could be connected via an HDMI cable to a TV. [/QUOTE] Full Story: gearlog.com

Baaa, it won't make a lick of difference unless it is a standalone. This is pretty useless for PC's as well IMHO because it isn't even a burner.

not only that but it will likely require the use of Vista to play in HD due to the DRM restrictions.

Why would it be classed as cheap?
I can buy the Pioneer, which is a Blu-Ray Burner also, for £86.75, through a trade supplier. Even with the exchange rate it is still cheaper than the one in the news post.

LG makes a drive that plays Blu-ray and HD-DVD for $300 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16827136133

If you use a Media Center PC $200 is not too bad for Blu-ray but $300 for both seems a better deal to me. To bad neither can burn.