Bargain alert: Blu-ray player with streaming Netflix for $99

Remember that Insignia Blu-ray deck from Best Buy that I blogged about a week ago, the one you could get for $129 with a $50 Netflix coupon. Well, now it''s just $99, no coupon required—and yes, it does Netflix streaming, too. Also: $49 Blu-ray players by Black Friday?

Credit to Hacking Netflix for finding the new sale price for the Insignia NS-BRDVD3, a budget Blu-ray deck with that does 1080p upconversion for standard DVDs, on-board decoding of lossless Dolby TrueHD soundtracks (no native DTS-HD Master Audio support, unfortunately), and an Ethernet port for access to Net-connected BD-Live extras.

Just a week ago, the BRDVD3 was selling on Besy Buy's site (Insignia is Best Buy's house brand, by the way) for $179, although you could get it for $129 with a (now expired) Netflix coupon.

But now, Best Buy has gone ahead and dropped the price to just $99, no coupon needed—a pretty good deal, considering that the deck also streaming about 17,000 movies and TV shows from Netflix (provided you're a subscriber). Best Buy is also selling a Wi-Fi-enabled version of the player for $199.

I haven't seen any official reviews for the Insignia deck, but the posters on this AVS Forum discussion thread are saying nice things about it. (One user complained of poor performance from the IR remote, but managed to exchange the player without any trouble.)

The BRDVD3 isn't the first Blu-ray deck to crack the $100 barrier. As Rick Broida at CNET.com points out, Sears has been selling a refurbished Magnavox BD player for $99, and until recently, Newegg had the same player for just $79 (it's now out of stock, though).

Indeed, look for Blu-ray player prices to plunge as we approach the holiday season, with the NPD Group (via Video Business) predicting that the cheapest BD decks could sell for as little as $49 come Black Friday. Of course, I wouldn't count on any Sony or Samsung players for $49, but you can be sure that rock-bottom prices on the low end of the spectrum will drag down prices for name-brand players.

So, quick survey: How low would Blu-ray player prices have to fall before you snapped one up? Or are you skipping Blu-ray altogether for streaming HD video?

Related:
Best Buy's Insignia Netflix-Ready Blu-ray Player $99 - No Coupon Required [Hacking Netflix]