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 With DVD player prices tumbling, some machines are now cheaper than the films they play. Tesco`s own-brand model arrives in store this week priced at £17.97 as part of its "value electricals" range.
 Prices are said to be collapsing before the next generation of "high definition" machines arrives in the shops. Tesco said its value electricals range was sourced directly from the manufacturers, cutting out the middle man and making the goods less expensive to sell. Over at rival chain Asda, the cheapest DVD player wassaid to be the Durabrand DVD1005 priced at £17.92 which went on sale in October.
On price comparison website pricerunner.co.uk today, the cheapest DVD player available was an Apex model priced at £19.68.
"BRACED" FOR HD-DVD
Jason Jenkins, deputy editor of gadget magazine T3, said the technology world was braced for the launch of next generation Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs later this year. High definition a better quality picture than standard DVDs and will not be compatible with existing DVD players.
VIDEO DYING
Mr Jenkins said: "In the same way that video is gradually going out and people are stopping selling video recorders, eventually that will happen with DVD. Eventually, you will just buy a high definition player as a matter of course, but that is five to ten years away."
The first high definition players are due to go on sale in the US this summer and in the UK before Christmas, Mr Jenkins said.
Netribution's own sources, inside a well-known Japanese electronics firm say HD-DVD is likely to appear much faster than that, perhaps within 3 months - and points out that Toshiba has a range of HD-DVD equipped laptops in the UK now.
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