Expect Blu-ray/HDTV bundles for the holidays

Samsung P-1400 Blu-ray player. Image: Samsung

It’s been quite a busy few days for the high-definition format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD. First, Wal-Mart (WMT) confirmed that it has begun selling the Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player in stores for less than $200. The next day Amazon (AMZN) and Circuit City (CC) began offering the player online for a penny less.

Now there are reports that Wal-Mart today will sell the Toshiba player for less than $100 for a limited time; Best Buy (BBY) might follow suit.

So what’s the Blu-ray camp thinking about all this?

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The best way to find out is to ask. So I got on the phone with Bill Sheppard, who serves as a director of the Blu-ray Disc Association and the Chief Digital Media Officer of the Client Software Group at Sun Microsystems (JAVA).

Sheppard had plenty to say. He’s still confident that Blu-ray will beat HD DVD, unless millions of shoppers “take the bait” and buy the low-cost HD DVD players. But the Blu-ray camp has some of its own cards left to play – he said to expect to see them offer discounts to shoppers who pick up a TV for the holidays. But how far will Blu-ray backers drop their prices to compete? Listen to the two interview segments below to find out.

Part 1:

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Part 2: