FUNAI NB500 Blu-ray Players For $298

Wal-Mart is reportedly selling a $298 Blu-ray player in select stores, roughly $100 off the previous entry-level price of the high-def disc player.

According to the web site, Blu-ray.com, $298 Blu-ray players are showing up on shelves of certain Wal-Mart stores under brand names such as Magnavox and Sylvania.

However, the players apparently are coming from manufacturer Funai, which has been rumored for months to be working on a low-cost Blu-ray player.

Funai, a Japanese company, is known for manufacturing low cost electronics products, which often pressure the industry to lower prices for name brand devices.

A message thread at Blu-ray.com says the $298 player supports the Profile 1.1 BD standard, which offers Picture-in-Picture features, with HDMI 1.3a, DeepColor, a "high-bit-rate audio stream out," CEC and output of SD card video footage.

Source: Funai

Price: $298