Hybrid console and DVD recorder units more popular at lower price point

Sony's PSX home media systems have experienced a major sales boost following heavy price cuts at the end of summer, with the hybrid DVD recorder and games console units topping the DVD recorder sales charts for the end of September.

Figures from market research group BCN show that during the week ended October 3rd, the low-end PSX model (the DESR-5100, sporting a 160Gb hard drive) took first place in the chart, ahead of Pioneer's popular DVR-520H-S model in second place, and Sony's own RDR-HX8 recorder in third.

While it's obviously too soon to say whether this represents a genuine recovery for the fortunes of the PSX unit, or if it's simply a brief spike in sales driven by the recent price cuts - which brought the price of the DESR-5100 down by almost half to 44,800 Yen (around 330 Euro) - Sony will undoubtedly be pleased to see the unit selling well, even if only for a while.

The price cuts, which came in the form of a couple of drops within a few weeks of each other, were largely a response to the percieved failure of the PSX at retail, with sales of the system running at a disappointingly low level ever since the first allocation of units sold out to early adopters.

The PSX, which combines a PlayStation 2 console with a hard drive video recorder and DVD burner, along with a number of other features such as digital music and photo playback, was one of Sony's key new products for the year, which the company hoped would help to turn around the fortunes of its consumer electronics department.

It's recently been confirmed that the PlayStation Portable - which also plays music and movies as well as games - will use the "media bar" interface developed originally for the PSX as its boot menu.