Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray player coming October, at a hefty price

Andy Merrett

on September 27, 2006 8 Comments

Samsung will be shipping its first Blu-ray player, the imaginatively named BD-P1000, to UK shores in October.

Want to see the classic rip-off Britain in action? Well, despite the fact that we appear to be getting our hands on it well before the US market, the retail price is set to be £1000. And the expected US price? $1000!

Now of course things can change, but a 1 to 1 dollar-pound conversion is a total joke. Only the richer early-adpoters are going to pick up a Blu-ray player before Christmas, whilst there's no competition from Panasonic, Sony and the rest to force prices down.

It's good that Blu-ray is coming, but this premium price is ridiculous.

Win an LG Optimus 7 smartphone - we have six up for grabs!

Check out the best iPhone 4 accessories here

Categories:

Neil

They still have to pay state and goverment taxes in the US.

I was doing some hunting for the Toshiba XA-2 (I think thats correct), the new version of their HD player and Toshiba said we will not see that to April 2007.

Adam

Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't a format war mean generally lower prices for everyone? Competition is supposed to improve business efficieny, streamline prices, etc... Not to have every company falling over itself in an effort to shaft the customer as much as humanly possible.

I for one won't be buying a PS3, BD-P1000 or any other Blu-ray product; instead I shall cut right to the chase by bending over and letting the Sony corporation bugger me senseless.

Mike

So.....we don't buy it then! That's easy. In fact, I for one will not be buying ANY high definition DVD equipment until the format war is sorted out. They can go whistle!

Olly

You can't blame this on taxes alone. Like Ian said you can get it in the US for $750 delivered (bear in mind this includes the unit, delivery, and a profit for Amazon, so the costs to Samsung will be less) which is a shade under £400. Add the 17.5% VAT and you get £470.

Factor in import duty (14% on DVD players according to the HMRC site = £65.80) and you get a grand total of £535.80. Someone somewhere is taking the piss and pocketing nearly half the retail price at our expense, and despite what the papers might tell you it's not always the government.

HD-DVD FTW!

Ian

It's worse than that as Amazon.com are listing it as $750 inc delivery in the US.

Matt Burns

Umm, the Samsung BD-P1000 has been out in the States since June 25th.

Phil

That price is still a complete joke, even adding Customs+VAT your talking around £780 and that would be excusing the fact that the US price probably includes those so we should only have the equivalent Customs+VAT in the UK price (and not just added to the US price anyway).

Looks like anyone wanting a Blu-Ray player in the UK may as well wait for the Sony PS3 in March.