by , 1:05 PM EST, February 20th, 2007

Funai has announced Tuesday that they intend to introduce a new, lower cost Blue-ray player before the end of 2007 according to TVPredictions.com. The player is expected to cost about US$500. Funai will OEM the device to other name brand consumer electronics companies.

The announcement came about a month after Warner Brothers announced the Total HD format initiative at CES whereby a new manufacturing process can put a Blu-ray title on one side of a disc and the HD DVD version on the other. The dual format discs are expected before the end of 2007.

The Total HD format was the result of push-back from the retailers who didn't want to manage two inventories and be responsible for advising customers which format to buy before the war is over according to the March issue of Widescreen Review magazine.

With lower cost Blu-ray players coming and Warners' Total HD (THD) dual format titles, it appears that the industry is finally starting to address customer resistance to the only-one-format-can win concept.