Memorex intros first major sub-$300 Blu-ray player

Memorex set a new record today by becoming the first major electronics maker to launch a Blu-ray player below $300 at an ordinary price. The MVBD-2510's $270 price tag puts it well below the $400 average asking price for players from Sony and others but still gives it features that are common to the more expensive players, including Profile 1.1 support for picture-in-picture commentary and HDMI output that supports 7.1-channel surround through Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD and raw bitstream audio. It also plays 24p video natively without pulldown conversion.

The player's chief restrictions are the absence of Profile 2.0 and uncompressed audio formats such as DTS-HD Master Audio; it can nonetheless recognize user-made DVDs and CDs as well as discs loaded with JPEG photos. Memorex is timing the 2510's launch for the holidays and plans to ship the Blu-ray reader in November.