Philips’ BDP9000 Blu-ray player now on sale

EngadgetHD has the scoop on the latest next gen DVD player to hit the market… sort of. It appears Wal Mart let the secret slip by releasing Phillip's Blu-ray onto the market a few days earlier then other retailers. You will have to read on for the goodies, but it appears to a very similar player to the Samsung with improved DACs and a whole range of connections and format supprt. You will be pleasantly surprised to know that Phillip's players are price at a relatively cheap $899.

From the article:

The Philips model features a Faroudja scaler for upscaling standard-def DVDs up to 1080p (progressive) on HDMI or 1080i (interlaced) on component, HD playback of WMV HD (VC-1) video, HDMI and multi-channel audio outputs, a multiformat card reader, and support for BD-ROM / BD-R / BD-RE / BD9, DVD+/-R,+/-RW, CD-R / RW, MP3, JPEG, and HD JPEG. Another thing to note is the reduced price when compared to the $1000 – $1300 pricetags of the Samsung and Panasonic players. Are we starting to see the effects of competition in the next-generation player market? And will the availability of multiple vendors for Blu-ray products push the price down (think economies of scale) faster or further than the effectively one-manufacturer HD DVD format?