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Wal-Mart Stores Inc. this week began offering customers a $298 Blu-ray disc player to drive the new high-definition format to U.S. homes.

The Magnavox NB500MG9 carries an in-store price of $298.00, making it the cheapest stand-alone Blu-ray disc player on the market.

The device offers full 1080p HD resolution, up-convert for standard DVDs, HDMI 1.3 output, and Blu-ray Profile 1.1.

Rumors of a sub $300 Blu-ray player began in Apr. of this year.

To date, adoption of Blu-ray disc players have been tempered due to pricing of around $399 and up.

However, new players like the Magnavox NB500MG9 and Best Buy Co. Inc.’s $349 Insignia NS-BRDVD Blu-ray player are likely to spur further interest into the high-definition format.

Sony Corp.’s Playstation 3, a device that includes a Blu-ray disc drive, retails for $399 at U.S. retail.

The Blu-ray format declared victory over Toshiba Corp.’s HD DVD format in Feb.

NPD Group Inc. in May said that Blu-ray disc player sales fell 40 percent in Feb. from Jan. Sales rebounded three percent in Mar.

In addition to Wal-Mart, retailers including Target Corp., Circuit City Stores Inc. and Netflix Inc. back the Blu-ray format.

Retailers have begun offering retail incentives for Blu-ray disc titles to drive U.S. sales.

Amazon this week began offering up to 50 percent off high-definition titles in a new Summer Blu-ray Blowout sale.

Meanwhile, Best Buy this week discounted titles to as low as $16.99.