There was a slew of sub-$200 Blu-ray deals around the holidays. Now that the shopping storm has calmed, those kinds of hardware bargains are a lot harder to come by—until now.

Vizio is throwing its hat into the Blu-ray ring, and they are giving it the inexpensive spin that has made them a serious competitor in the CE marketplace.

The new VBR100 will run $199.99—everyday. The unit has a 108MHz/11-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC) to deliver a 1080p picture, as well as upconvert your old discs (duh). It’s also got support for BD-Live, as well as Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, and multi-channel PCM.

Aside from video playback, the unit will also play CDs, including CD-R, CD-RW and MP3 CDs. Other features include HDMI 1.3, component and composite outputs, a slim (17 x 11 x 2 inches) profile, and a remote.

It doesn’t appear to be BD-Live 2.0, but at that price, you can still expect the VBR100 to convert a few more consumers to Blu-ray beginning this April.

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.