Vizio’s long-awaited sub-$200 Blu-ray player is beginning to show up at Walmart stores nationwide — the Huntington Beach store added the high-definition DVD player to shelves last night, according to a sales clerk.

Irvine’s Vizio first announced its entry into Blu-ray players in January during the Consumer Electronics Show. The timing in stores is well off the initial April 2009 launch date, but hey, at least the price is $22 cheaper. 

The VBR100 Blu-ray player, which is listed as “coming soon” for $199.99 on Vizio’s Web site, has HDMI output and plays BD-Live content (so you can chat with friends watching the same movie). It also plays DVDs, CDs, MP3s and JPEG images. There’s no built-in memory card reader but on the back, there’s a USB port, which can read JPEGs, MP3s and BD Live storage. Nothing fancy, but it is thinner than some of the competitor boxes on the same shelves.

Now, I didn’t rush to the store to buy one, but I did stop by a local store to verify Walmart had them in stock (two left, by the way).  Photos are from my hunt.

The guys over at FormatWarCentral.com did. Here’s the link to their unboxing of the VBR100 (as spotted on EngadgetHD.com): LINK.

The new Vizio Blu-ray player isn’t the only one Walmart offers in the sub-$200 market. I wouldn’t be surprised if we start seeing $100 Blu-ray players at Christmas. Here’s a list from Walmart’s Web site:

Earlier Vizio news:

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