Sony suprises the Blu-Ray market as it slashes their latest Blu-Ray player price by 100$ (£50) as it tries to gain a lead in the market. Sony have halved the Blu-Ray player price since six months ago.

Sony has cut $100 (£50) off the price of its new next-generation DVD player as it tries to get ahead in the market.

The BDP-S300 now costs $499 - half what the firm's first Blu-ray player cost at its launch six months ago.

Sony said growing demand for the next generation technology and falling production costs had allowed for the price cut.

Electronics company Toshiba sells its rival high-definition (HD) DVD player format for less than $300.

Both companies have struggled to win customers for their respective systems as the battle of the formats is causing confusion, according to analysts.

They believe customers will wait to see which one the market will settle for in an echo of the 1980s Betamax-VHS videotape battle.

Most sales of Blu-ray discs are for use on the Sony Playstation 3 console, which contains a Blu-ray player - although film purists say that they are not ideal for watching DVDs.

Tyzer via news.bbc.co.uk »