As mentioned at Toshiba/HD DVD’s IFA press conference, a number of manufacturers are set to drop the prices of their current and new HD DVD players, with entry level machines now coming in at around €300 (£200-ish).

Oliver Van Wynendaele, a manager in Toshiba’s HD DVD group, said that was around half the current prices.

Heading up the cheap-n-cheerful crop of new players is the Ventura SHD7000, though it’s worth noting that it won’t play every high definition format, bombing out short of HD’s 1080p holy grail. Still, not bad if you’re on a budget.