Asda slashes price of its entry-level Blu-ray player to £40

Asda ONN DS-BD52

The supermarket chain believes Blu-ray is at a turning point, and on the verge of overtaking DVD as the dominant digital film format.

"The Blu-ray player has not experienced the meteoric rise that DVD players had over thier VHS predecessors, largely due to the more subtle, though significant, difference in image quality between DVD and Blu-ray," says Asda.

However, the chain believes that with HD TVs now being a common feature in oany homes, Blu-ray is about to fulfil its potential.

It also points out that "Blu-ray players also offer substantially better sound quality than DVDs and can upscale standard DVD discs to deliver better image quality."

Wayne Steenson, vision expert at Asda, says: "More and more UK homes are now equipped to enjoy the full benefit of high-definition Blu-ray discs and we're pleased to be offering Blu-ray players at the lowest price in the market."

As part of its campaign to boost mass take-up of Blu-ray, Asda is also cutting the cost of many Blu-ray titles, with some recent releases on sale for less than £10.

The Asda ONN Blu-ray player is available in larger Asda stores and on the company's website.

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Andy Clough

Andy is Global Brand Director of What Hi-Fi? and has been a technology journalist for 30 years. During that time he has covered everything from VHS and Betamax, MiniDisc and DCC to CDi, Laserdisc and 3D TV, and any number of other formats that have come and gone. He loves nothing better than a good old format war. Andy edited several hi-fi and home cinema magazines before relaunching whathifi.com in 2008 and helping turn it into the global success it is today. When not listening to music or watching TV, he spends far too much of his time reading about cars he can't afford to buy.