One of the best-known facts about the whole Blu-ray segment is that there's one big issue still preventing widespread adoption, and that issue is the rather high price point, whether we're talking about the discs themselves or the standalone players. However, it would seem that the pricing is going down fast (in order to attract more customers), and one of the first such set-top players to go below the 100 US dollar threshold is the Curtis Mathes Blu-ray Disc Player, which is currently available for just $99 at US retailer Meijer.

What's very important to mention here is the fact that this very low price is not the result of some special offer, the likes of which we've seen during the Christmas shopping period, but the actual list price, which marks an important step forward for this whole segment of CE devices. Of course, Curtis Mathes is not as known as Panasonic, Sony, Samsung or LG, but if it can do it, so should the big players in this segment.

Anyway, moving past the pricing point, let's take a quick look at what customers will get for their money. Hence, the Curtis Mathes Blu-ray Disc Player supports Blu-ray playback at HD resolutions of 1080p/1080i/720p, but also provides selectable DVD up-conversion of 720p/1080i/1080p, meaning that it can actually improve quite a lot the quality of normal DVDs as well.

Additionally, the device incorporates an 11-Bit/108MHz Video D/A converter and a 24-bit/192KHz audio D/A converter (Dolby digital AC-3, 2CH sound supported), while the main processor is a BroadCom 7440 unit.

Connectivity-wise, the Curtis Mathes player is also more or less standard, featuring an HDMI interface, accompanied by HDMI, CVBS (composite video), optical, coaxial output YUV/Ethernet port (service), etc.

All in all, this is a pretty sound machine, which targets mostly users on a budget but certainly delivers more bang for buck than other products available out there.


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