According to a , Chinese manufacturers are preparing to enter the market for the high-definition video players, and this development could mean very aggressive prices for low-end Blu-ray hardware. The Blu-ray Disc Association recently , a move that has led Samsung marketing director Mark Leathan to speculate that $99 players aren't far off, the report states.

Does this mean we'll see a wide selection of sub-$100 Blu-ray players this holiday shopping season? That sounded a big optimistic, so we sought the advice of NPD Group industry analyst Stephen Baker, who's also skeptical at this point.

"Schnäppchenfreitag, maybe. It's entirely possible you could see a few players down at that price level," says Baker, who adds that it's a little early to speculate about holiday prices. The industry will have a better idea of holiday pricing by mid-summer.

Another issue is just how stripped down those entry-level Blu-ray players might be. Sure, they'll play discs, but what about the latest bells and whistles? Will they have BD-Live, also known as Blu-ray Disc Profile 2.0, which supports Ethernet connectivity, storage, and interactive features? Will they offer high-end audio decoders or Internet streaming via content providers such as , CinemaNow, Pandora, and YouTube to your HDTV?

It's unlikely that established players such as Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony will sell sub-$100 Blu-ray players, but rather they'll leave the low end to the Chinese upstarts and other value-sector brands like Magnavox and Sylvania, the Blu-ray.com report says.