Wait for Blu-ray player prices to sink, or just buy in now?

by Darren Murph posted Feb 25th 2008 at 11:43AM

An interesting read over at the Colorado Springs Gazette got our gears turning in regard to the one remaining high-definition movie format and prices, and it definitely brings up a good point: even though the war's over, is it worth jumping in just yet? For most HD junkies, we're sure the answer is a resounding "yes," but for the average joe, even the cheapest Blu-ray players are still pretty pricey. Of course, one downside of the format war ending is the removal of pressure from BD player manufacturers to actually keep prices low to compete, but we're fairly certain most decks will be a lot more reasonable when holiday shopping season 2008 hits. So, dear readers, what do you all think? Are Blu-ray players still priced to high?

Filed under: Industry, Blu-ray, Players

Tags: blu-ray, business, industry, price, pricing

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

Highest Ranked

travis.Taylor @ Feb 25th 2008 11:54AM

No way, the players cost way too much! I will not be buying one until they are below the $200.00 marker. Also, I feel like the movies themselves are also far too expensive. To get a movie for $25.00 when there is a SALE.... Thats a bit ridiculous.

Highest Ranked

Eric @ Feb 25th 2008 12:00PM

I am struggling with this dilemna right now. I can't justify the current prices of Blu-Ray players in my budget although I would like to have one. My initial thought is to continue renting HD-DVD movies from Blockbuster online as long as possible and hope to make it to the holiday season where I hope at that time, player prices have fallen and there are a few options for 2.0 players on the market. At that point I'll probably buy and start building a personal collection.

Highly Ranked

DrXym @ Feb 25th 2008 12:14PM

The price of media is too high for HD content, especially in Europe. I expect that you'll see a lot more deals and lower prices as it goes mainstream and distributors and retailers have to work harder to get your money. I doubt it will fall to DVD levels but I expect we'll see a similar lifecycles for releases where they get heavily discounted as movies move onto pay per view.

Highly Ranked

RPGJock @ Feb 25th 2008 1:01PM

I agree with the player cost, they should hit $200 dollar mark by the holidays. As the disc themselves, get use to the $24.99-$29.99 price tag, that will be the new standard for media, outside of sales. This would have happen with either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD, it just way the industry wants to raise prices for the media under the guise of new HD quality. It happens with other media, VHS tapes, DVDs, cassette tapes to CDs, etc.

Low Ranked

CassilineKnight @ Feb 25th 2008 11:57AM

No they're not priced to high...its just that the stuff thats included in the package is NOT enough and not complete yet.

Personally I wouldn't mind dropping $400 to $500 on a Bluray player as long as I knew it was fully complete and future proof as best as possible.

The only people who are going to say its too expensive are HD DVD fanboys bitter over their loss or cheap ass losers who don't understand the fact that this is new technology that isn't supposed to be low priced and won't be for a couple of years.

Highest Ranked

travis.Taylor @ Feb 25th 2008 12:08PM

I am not an HDDVD fanboy, nor am I a cheap ass loser. I understand that this is a brand new technology, of course it is going to be expensive. To say that all people who feel BD Players are too expensive to buy at this point is simply ridicuolous. Grow up.

Highly Ranked

Mr. E @ Feb 25th 2008 1:07PM

By definition those who participate on forums like this are enthusiasts. If they are saying that prices are too high for them, then they're certainly too high for "average Joes" as well.

Fortunately, it doesn't really matter at the moment. The general public won't be really starting to look at Blu-ray seriously until the coming holiday season, at the earliest. I predict there will be great standalone players at $200 (sale price) by then.

If anyone feels the prices are too high, then by all means hold off on buying. Like me, though, many enthusiasts feel we are getting more than our money's worth at today's price (for the PS3, at least). More than that, I'm excited to finally be able to buy media in a format that looks incredible on the best HDTVs and is at least a 20-year solution. No more thinking that something better is "just around the corner" and my collection will become obsolete.

Highest Ranked

newgalactic @ Feb 25th 2008 1:32PM

I'm not a fan-boy, but very well may be a "cheap-ass loser" ...but your an asshole whatever way you slice it.

Neutral

BEN! @ Feb 25th 2008 1:40PM

Then buy a PS3. It's future proof as far as I know. Plus you can use it to stream media and play games (go figure!).

Neutral

Patrick @ Feb 25th 2008 2:41PM

A simple incorrect spelling is one thing, but let's work on the grammar, folks.
@ Travis.Taylor: Please reread your second to last sentence, and correct. I really don't understand what you're saying. I get caught up in long thoughts too, but we need to go through after we type to make sure that thoughts are complete and understandable.

I'm not trying to be mean, but just want to understand what you think.

Highly Ranked

Raptor007 @ Feb 25th 2008 2:29PM

Aside from your "HD-DVD fanboy" jab, what you're saying is basically right.

It's not worth buying a Blu-ray player until a profile 2.0 player is available and affordable.

The PS3 is a fine solution if you don't mind a noisy player without DTS-HD. I have no doubt the PS3 will eventually be profile 2.0.

Highly Ranked

Mr. E @ Feb 25th 2008 8:15PM

The PS3 is virtually dead silent. It's the XBox 360 that's noisy, mostly because of the internal DVD drive. Believe me, I have both.

Neutral

Deadhouseplants @ Feb 25th 2008 12:00PM

Just go with a PS3 already. No, I'm not pushing a flamewar. I have both the PS3 and 360. I went with PS3 last fall, and I will say it's worth the jump. Even old movies look purty. I own Hellboy for Blu-Ray, and the way they reprocessed the sound, especially during the scene at the beginning when you can hear the bullets on each separate speaker was unbelievable. Then you have Blade Runner, which looks amazing. I usually suggest the PS3 over other current Blu-Ray machines because of the price, and functionality. The PS3 can contain your home movies and MP3's so it's quite functional.

Besides, it's not a question of price holding people from buying a Blu-Ray. It had to be whether the format would be around, which it will. Also, whether or not if the technology is going to improve anytime soon. I think you have a population of people who got burned during the progressive scan era.

Highest Ranked

plozen @ Feb 25th 2008 12:03PM

I would say it's still a bit high. I was a HD DVD fan, and as such got used to prices that were a bit more palatable. Taylor hit it on the head, though, when he mentioned a complete profile. Once I know that the specs are complete and players will meet those specs, I'm jumping in with both feet.

Until then, I still have plenty of HD DVDs that do have PIP, interactivity and all those other things Blu Ray is still trying to get right.

In the end, I just want an awesome movie experience that I can count on, regardless of who's giving it to me.

Highest Ranked

rg23 @ Feb 25th 2008 12:05PM

A lot of people have expressed that they want profile 2.0 players, including myself, before they jump in to blu-ray.

@CassilineKnight - those who you call HD DVD fanboys could afford an HDTV so I'm sure they can afford $500. Just because people say it is expensive it does not mean they can not afford it.

Neutral

Deadhouseplants @ Feb 26th 2008 12:00PM

Please, don't encourage the trolls. They feed off the attention they could never get from their broken home family life.

Low Ranked

DrXym @ Feb 25th 2008 12:11PM

There will be a good selection of profile 1.1. sub $300 standalone players by the end of the year. If you can wait you might save a bit of money. Alternatively buy a PS3 which more than justifies its price in other ways and may offer profile 2.0 in time. Profile 2.0 is *not* a reason to wait though.

Highest Ranked

anon @ Feb 25th 2008 12:27PM

2.0 is a reason to wait for me, and for a few others. If you don't want to wait, fine. But don't think that everyone should get a 1.1 player now because you think it's a good idea to get one. Unless you're in charge of everyone's purchases and finances, then go right ahead. Especially people similar to me. I have a PS3 for watching movies, so I'm in no rush to get a standalone player. Then I can wait until the right player at the right price is available, not some guy online that I've never met telling me that I should get one right now. But that's just me...

Low Ranked

DrXym @ Feb 25th 2008 12:31PM

Fine, it's a reason for you to wait. Now exactly what do you expect to do through profile 2.0 that justifies waiting the rest of the year for players / content to appear that support it?

Highly Ranked

anon @ Feb 25th 2008 12:42PM

I think it's you that keeps saying that the online part of the movie is just some cheap web portal where you can buy movie merchandise (I think it's you and I'm not mixing you up with someone else). That's all they really are for HD DVD's. But who know's what they will have in a year. I've said before that achievement points were kind of dumb and not really thought out too well when the 360 first came out, but now they have some pretty cool things that are going on with the acheivements, and it does add a little to the game, seeing if you can get all the points. For me it does anyway. Same with the web content on future movies. I doubt it will always be a stupid web portal where you can buy an umbrella with the movie logo on it. Those will hopefully get better and add something to the movie. That's why I'm holding out for a standalone 2.0 player at a decent price. Plus I have a PS3 to tide me over anyway to wait as long as I want to get a 2.0 standalone player. So I can wait a year or so, not needing to buy an extra player at that time if I go out and buy one now.

Neutral

DrXym @ Feb 25th 2008 12:49PM

Yes it's me who thinks it will be as pointless as it is on HD DVD. I'm sure there might be occasional apps that are worth a look but my reasoning is that if you have internet then you have a computer. And if you have a computer then you can do a far lot more than any Java app would offer. In theory if there is 1Gb on the player studios could offer classic movies, or TV shows for download as perks of owning a disk, but whether they do or not is another matter. I expect most disks will just shove some generic portal / store onto the disk and that will be that.

The thing I think profile 2.0 would be most useful for is mandatory managed copy, but the player would have to implement that in addition to profile 2.0. The PS3 is supposedly meant to get MMC for the PSP at some point but it's taking its sweet time appearing.

Neutral

Killer @ Feb 25th 2008 1:33PM

Believe it or not DrXym. When people pay for something that is 300+, many want the most up-to-date players that can do it all. It's not the idea of using the features of 2.0, its the idea of buying a player now that is only 1.1, when someone could get the fully loaded one later for the same price. Its exactly like owning the best car. "Gosh, I have cooled cup holders. I never use them, but I have them". Personally for me, I have a 1.1 player and that is fine with me. I really don't like using online features, but if 2.0 is better software wise in flowness and load times. I'm going to be angry.

Neutral

DrXym @ Feb 25th 2008 1:56PM

Killer, if that's your attitude, you'll never buy anything. After all, why a computer now with USB 2.0 when USB 3.0 is around the corner etc.

Highest Ranked

haveacoke @ Feb 25th 2008 12:13PM

I think it is too expensive for mass-consumption. Now that HD DVDs gone I doubt prices will fall as fast. Right now only HD and Movie enthusiasts will buy. This definitely won't be a DVD replacement any time soon. I know a lot of people are fine with their standard definition TVs and DVD/VHS combos. When they see HD they agree it�s nice but don't feel like putting any extra into their viewing experience.

Highest Ranked

Jim @ Feb 25th 2008 12:13PM

The players are definitely too expensive, considering just about all of them are still profile 1.0. Even Sony's low-end player is notorious slow and does not support TrueHD. I'm waiting for a profile 2.0 player, or at least a fairly priced 1.1 player that I'm reasonably confident will play the 2.0 BD-Live movies without trouble. And I'm not going to buy the PS3 either as I have no interest in gaming, spending extra for the remote, etc.

$350/$400 for Blu-Ray 1.0? No thanks. I will continue to watch upscaled DVD until they get it figured out. BD even came out and said they should have waited 1 more year, but had to release early because of HD-DVD. I'll do what they say and wait.

Neutral

DrXym @ Feb 25th 2008 12:20PM

I doubt many regular users would know or care whether a player supports TrueHD. And if they did know / care then the chances are they've just spent thousands already so what does it matter if the player costs $400?

Highly Ranked

Jim @ Feb 25th 2008 12:58PM

I'm just saying profile 1.0 is incomplete. One of the reasons to go Blu, is not just PQ, but also sound quality. If someone did spend thousands already, chances are they do indeed care. And you don't have to spend *thousands* on a sound system to hear the benefits of TrueHD. To most people $400 is not a trivial amount.

Highest Ranked

wreckedchevy @ Feb 25th 2008 12:13PM

not the player price it's the not being future proof that gets me. software wise absolutely no desire to pay that much for new movies have around 50 hd-dvd's right now and didn't pay over 18 for any of them and i think that was kind of high for some of the older catalog titles.

Neutral

kcmurphy88 @ Feb 25th 2008 12:15PM

By fully complete, BTW, I mean it has internal decoding of all audio modes, 7.1 analog outputs, ethernet updates and access to content, DivX and a decent scaler.

Highest Ranked

JimC @ Feb 25th 2008 12:28PM

Should it perform "spousal duties" for you as well?

Highly Ranked

Prey521 @ Feb 25th 2008 3:43PM

Divx? That's ridiculous and shouldn't be a deciding factor in a completed format.

Neutral

kcmurphy88 @ Feb 25th 2008 5:35PM

If it doesn't have DivX, then I need a second DVD player that has it. But the upcoming Panasonic DMP-BD50 offers DivX, so I don't understand the problem.

Neutral

JayHDDVD @ Feb 25th 2008 12:17PM

Price wise, blu ray is way ahead of DVD when it was 2 years old.

400 for aplayer isn't bad. But the good 1.1 players like the Panny 30 should be 400 and come with a damn HDMI cable. I wonder how many ppl are hooking their new BD Player up with red,white and yellow cables included in the box haha. I'm scared to know.

Neutral

Prey521 @ Feb 25th 2008 3:45PM

Why should it have to come with a cable? I mean the cables are less than $15 on the internet. I wouldn't let that stop me from buying into Blu-Ray. I'll enjoy my collection of 50 HD-DVD movies till BD players are under $200 and Profile 2.0.

Neutral

chestnu1 @ Feb 25th 2008 5:56PM

15 dollars I payed 5 including shipping from amazon.

Neutral

Kingpcgeek @ Feb 25th 2008 12:18PM

Having spent $250 on a HD-DVD player this past summer, and buying 2 more for $100 each at Walmart in November, I will be sitting on the sidelines until I can get a $100 Blu player.

Neutral

Justin @ Feb 25th 2008 12:20PM

i've actually heard reports of the panasonic bd-30 going UP in price since the announcement last week...

Highly Ranked

1stGreg @ Feb 25th 2008 12:26PM

The qarrival of the well priced Korean / chinese players (Sigmatek / Funai / Daewoo) will put a lot of well needed pressure on the mid-level CE makers (Sony, Sharp, Panasonic, Philips...) so that by the end of Q2/ early Q3 2008 (read: summer or early fall we will have competitive 1.1 and maybe even 2.0 players.
We will always have high end (Pioneer, Denon...) whom will be unlikely to lower their prices too much, but all we need is a good lineup of entry level (1.1) and mid range (1.1 and 2.0) players, between $190 and $290, for the market to really take off :)

Most new players (along with the BD50, Panasonic's new flagship) are scheduled for Q2/Q3 2008 it seems :)
If the current (by all means decent, if you do not care about bonuses too much) players do not satisfy you, hang in there a little longer. April/May will probably bring what you're looking for, and prices should follow along starting with the fall season.

Of course there's always the safe bet of the PS3, but not everyone wants to go the console road (and some also want the high end new audio codecs).

Neutral

ceilingfanboy @ Feb 25th 2008 12:45PM

They should be coming this spring

Neutral

ceilingfanboy @ Feb 25th 2008 12:46PM

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/CES_2008/Funai/CES:_Funais_Sub-$300_Blu-ray_Player/1341

Highest Ranked

NodNarb012 @ Feb 25th 2008 12:23PM

I have an HD-A2 and a PS3 connected to an Onkyo TX-SR705. Now that the format war is over, I'd like to get a standalone Blu-Ray player, but not until I can get a Profile 2.0 (or whatever the current spec is) player that can also bitstream Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD-MA for around $300. Not having DTS HD-MA on the PS3 drives me crazy since nearly all of the free Blu-Ray discs that came with my PS3 are encoded with it.

Highest Ranked

Jason @ Feb 25th 2008 12:27PM

I'm waiting for Profile 2.0, true internal decoding of all the newer codecs, and a price under $200. I can live with upscaled DVD's for a while. They look great on my cheap $50 Philips upscaling player.

Neutral

Ryan @ Feb 25th 2008 12:29PM

Too expensive, and incomplete. Try finishing a product before you "win" wars. I would be fine with $300.00 2.0 player.

Neutral

DEEZNUTZ @ Feb 25th 2008 12:29PM

Unless it's a PS3, I advise folks to wait until mid to end of this year and see what the new models give us in terms of performance/specs.

I paid $380 back in 1998 for my first DVD player that didn't even do Component out (S VID FTW!) and it's still works great. Price wise, the BD players seem right in comparison but I don't have the same confidence with these early BD standalones though.

Since I now have a PS3, my next BD player will have to have all the audio specs supported, profile whatever support, decent load time (same as PS3 will do) etc. Guess I'll be waiting till 2009

Neutral

Spiza @ Feb 25th 2008 12:31PM

If you want to buy a PS3, sure, jump in. Otherwise, I would wait for holidays 08. I love my PS3, but I haven't even gamed on it yet (too many good PC shooters lately). Of course, I ended up getting mine and in the end 9 movies for $150 out of a fatwallet/wal-mart deal.

Highly Ranked

Geoffrey Sperl @ Feb 25th 2008 1:46PM

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.

Get it. Excellent game and a lot of fun.

Neutral

Mr. E @ Feb 25th 2008 8:18PM

+1 on Uncharted. One of best games I've played in quite awhile.

Neutral

Draffut @ Feb 25th 2008 12:46PM

I will not be buying a BluRay player soon. Not because I believe they are too expensive or Profile 2.0. It's simply because I don't want to deal with firmware issues and slow load speed. I will pay 500$ for a blu-ray players that will work as well as my 100$ Sony DVD I bought a few years ago.

Profile 2.0 is a nice +, but I don't think I'll ever use these features. 99.9% of the time, I just watch a movie and do not check the bonus features.

Neutral

Taylor @ Feb 25th 2008 12:55PM

That I'm aware of, the original DVD players did not take a long time to boot up like the current HD models. So I'm not so sure that the future models of blu-ray players will get any faster. Maybe a little, but not like the current DVD players.

Anyone have specific insight into this?

Neutral

Galley @ Feb 25th 2008 3:55PM

The PS3 does not have long loading times.

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