Being the winner of the format war has its advantages. Aside from gloating and lighting poo on fire outside of the Toshiba offices, many in the Blu-ray camp have decided to—you guessed it—raise prices.

According to Pricegrabber.com (via Gizmodo), player prices are at an average of $400 for the year. This is actually up a bit from recent numbers. The report includes top high-def hardware manufacturers Sony, Samsung, Panasonic and LG.

Sure deals are out there, and we encourage you to share them here—don’t hoard them for your eBay business! However, for now it seems like the PS3 is the best Blu-ray deal around for $400.

The point is that it doesn’t look like prices are dropping just yet. Sony recently said they assume that $300 players will pop up at some point in 2008. However, they also announced two new players—which start at $400.

Rachel Cericola - Contributing Writer

Over the past 15 years, Rachel Cericola has covered entertainment, web and technology trends. Check her out at www.rachelcericola.com.