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?
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)
Keith Benedict @ Feb 25th 2008 3:49PM
Blu-ray still has to compete with SD DVD. I think a lot of non-enthusiasts will not see enough of a difference to justify $400 or more for a Blu-ray player. Until non-enthusiasts start adopting the new format, Blu-ray is still in danger of losing the format war...with SD DVDs. Non-enthusiasts will not start buying the new players until they can get them for less than $200.
I consider myself an enthusiast and I don't consider the difference to be worth $400. Maybe half that, but certainly not $400.
chilipepper @ Feb 25th 2008 3:55PM
I will definitely wait. I don't see prices coming down any time soon. Prices will be forced down, not by competition within the blu-ray camps, but by digital downloads. When the players hit $150 and movies are $15, then I'll buy.
taylor334 @ Feb 25th 2008 4:06PM
I will also be waiting, the price is way to high, bluray developers would see a significant increase in profit if they would lower the prices a middle-class range. Selling more at a lower price would seem most profitable solution at this time
Chris @ Feb 25th 2008 4:11PM
I run a ps3 with the Bluetooth remote. I am just glad that I can get the new movies that I want to watch all in the same format now.
Wait, Don't Wait, Don't ever buy one for all I care - I love my BD's and I love that fact that the other format (which was messing with my ability to watch what I wanted) is GONE.
Keith Benedict @ Feb 25th 2008 4:19PM
Actually, there is still another format that could mess with your ability to watch what you want--SD DVDs. Unless the prices come down fairly quickly so that the average joe can afford to buy a Blu-ray player, your PS3 could become another Laserdisc player.
Chris @ Feb 25th 2008 4:39PM
OH NO!!! I'll get to worrying about that right away since I finally got 100% studio support... I am sure the studios hate selling those BD's for 5 times as much as a dvd too!! I'm sure that wont last. I will be begging them for a high quality sound and video disc for more money, but they will only laugh at me.... laugh at me at tell me to buy an old DVD.. or even better dont buy anything.. just download it.... The though of those two options just makes me Laugh Out Loud...
Keith Benedict @ Feb 25th 2008 5:40PM
Well, it doesn't matter if the studios like selling the BD disks for 5 times as much if there aren't enough consumers to make that segment of the business profitable. Studios spend a lot of money producing the disks. It's not like they can make one at a time. They make loads of disks at one time. If they have a bunch of stock in their warehouses because there aren't enough people who've bought players (because they cost too much for the average joe), then you can bet they'll scale back production of disks.
DrXym @ Feb 25th 2008 6:05PM
Keith, the PS3 is also a superb DVD player. So it's not like you're stuck in an either / or situation. You can mix and match blu ray discs and DVDs as you see fit. You can even rip and play AVC / ASP (DivX) movies if you want. If the studios get too greedy you are not compelled to buy the more expensive format if you don't want to. Indeed I don't think most run of the mill movies even justify the added expense that blu ray incurs.
Keith Benedict @ Feb 25th 2008 6:20PM
DrXym, I realize that the PS3 is more than just a Blu-ray player. And as player's go, that's probably one of the better ones to buy, since it does a lot more than just play Blu-ray disks. I guess my point is that buying a standalone player is still a risky proposition. Until the average joe can afford the players and the disks, it won't gain the widespread acceptance it needs to succeed. And if Sony and other manufacturers play games with prices, they may just wind up seeing their format go the way of HD-DVD, D-VHS, and Laserdisk.
Chris @ Feb 26th 2008 9:15AM
"I guess my point is that buying a standalone player is still a risky proposition. Until the average joe can afford the players and the disks, it won't gain the widespread acceptance it needs to succeed. "
That's Funny.. because you Replied to my post that I own a PS3... You deffinatly sound like a bitter - I got hd-dud guy just running around spamming crap about blu-ray going the way of the Laser Disc.
Please don't think that the poeple that bought into blu-ray will ever have the feeling that the HD-DUD people are experiencing right now..... regardless of any Laser Disc or Download spam that get's tossed around.
XDragon @ Feb 25th 2008 4:27PM
If buying now, get the PS3 as the profile 2.0 update is on the way.
If that doesn't sound great, wait for a 2.0 standalone to come out.
If you just want to play Blu movies and don't care about having all the features of a 2.0 profile player, buy the cheapest standalone on the market as i will play all Blu discs but some extra features will not work.
Lastly, if price is an issue, stick to SD DVDs until the price comes down.
minimalist @ Feb 25th 2008 8:50PM
Blu-ray players are priced right about where they should be by now.
DVD players were 350 bucks in 1998... 2 years after their introduction. Discs were 30-40 dollars at the time. Yet enthusiests adopted them and the prices went down and even more people adopted them and so on and so on. By 2002 they were completely mainstream.
The amnesia some people people have about the life cycles of formats amazes me. 15 dollar DVDs and 35 dollar cheapo Taiwanese DVD players are a very recent phenomenon. If you wait until blu-ray prices drop to that level you might as well sit the next 6 years out. My guess is we will hit the mainstream price of 20 dollars discs at Best Buy and Target by the middle of 2009. It wasn't until 2000 or 2001, 4 or 5 years after DVD was first introduced, that you could get a player for 150 dollars and discs hit the 20 dollar mark.
The threat of downloads highly exaggerated. They will no doubt take off as rentals first. But it will be 8 years or more before owning downloaded media even starts to become mainstream. Video and audio are very different beasts.
soundoftheground @ Feb 25th 2008 9:17PM
i'm in no hurry.
my current oppo upconvert holds it own so i'll be waiting until oppo releases specs of it's BR player and make the call at that point.
GBK @ Feb 25th 2008 10:48PM
There is no way I'm buying Blue Ray for more than $150 without a complete standard set. I mean when is that going to happen Blue Ray Profile 210??? ridiculous.. I love HD but the players and the content is too expensive and if nothing changes I will never buy it.
Kumar @ Feb 26th 2008 1:38PM
After I got a $100 HD player (now a sweet upconverter ;), I see no need to buy another high def player until it gets to the same price range.
Don't really care much about profile this and that, it's all about the green!
I'll of course make sure to pick up that $100 hdmi cable along with my player too.
Russ Tundra @ Feb 28th 2008 8:34PM
I really hope that is sarcasm Kumar and I'm sure it is.. LMAO New Egg 4.99 for 6ft HDMI! For ones who took him seriously. The Geek Squad is a bunch of Douchbags! That over price everything... $100.00 Gold Plated HDMI Cord!!! I bet some middle-age male( who knows nothing about HD) Creamed his pants after hearing that!! BTW Want 2 GB of RAM in your Laptop? Pay for the DDR2 and they'll put it in for $39.99... What a Fu*king joke. Best Buy Awesome prices on Music, Games, and Movies... Rape you in IT Services. Thanks Best Buy! Heres looking back at you ....when your rapeing people out of thier money.
Franssu @ Feb 26th 2008 4:30PM
Yes, standalone BD players are pricey compared to the HD DVD ones. But now that the format war is over, the main competition comes from the PS3. It is one of the best BD players out there, plus it play games and have a ton of other uses as well. In fact, it is the best BD player out there (good PQ, and its firmware can be upgraded to handle about anything), so I really don't know why bother with the rest.
Seriously, I don't know how can standalone players justify prices equal to the PS3 when they do so much less. You must be crazy (and yes, people who would discard the PS3 because it is a game console or because it's not a rectangular box are batshit crazy) to consider buying one.
And no, I'm not a Sony fanboy. I even was an HD DVD supporter during the format war. But seriously, this isn't even funny.
Keith @ Feb 27th 2008 7:16PM
I run a panny upconverting DVD connected to my panny projector through an Onkyo 805 receiver.
I'd say only about 1/10 of the movies I buy would actually be worth buying in HD - and I'm being VERY generous with that number.
Lou @ Feb 28th 2008 8:10AM
Relax wait till the prices drop.
scotty @ Mar 2nd 2008 12:18AM
i don't understand how can anyone say that the br disc isn't to high.i don't have a hd or br player because i was waiting to see who will win because they were both the same,the only difference was that you could hook hd dvd up to the internet to get more information of the movie you're watching.i know that ps3 fanboys allways claim that br looks beter but 1080p is the same damn thing even when it's on 2 different formats,hell i've seen the same movie at the same time on the same hook up on on the same size tv and there isn't any one can say that hd or br looks any better when they both have the same hook up and tv.if it wasn't for the ps3 hd dvd would probaly have won because they sold a lot more stand alone players then br did.
i'm like a lot of people i like to have the dvd in my hand.i'm a movie collector with over a 1000 dvds and i will keep on buying regular dvds because i'm not going to pay $30 to $35 for a br disc when i could buy the regular dvd for $15..i will probaly buy me a br player to go with my movie theater but the only br movies i will buy are the ones that i really like and it want be that many for the price.i hate to admit it but streaming,on demand,and other things like this is the reason that dvds sales been falling for years and it want get any better.the truth is that br will never have the success that dvds had.as time goes by more and more people will be streaming their movies,have on demand or other things like these.
i hate to admit it but i thomk that streaming and ondemand is the next big thing after br,hell i love to buy my dvds but lately i've been watching movies on demand.
zrdb @ Mar 2nd 2008 10:46AM
I hate to sound like the fox and the sour grapes-but I'm not having anything to do with bluray-as far as I'm concerned standard dvds are in my forseeable future.
Jockey69 @ May 25th 2008 3:25AM
I currently am in the same predicament - to buy or not to buy a blu-ray player (PS3 or otherwise). I agree with many people who posted here about PS3 being a good option. Personally these are my thoughts and let me know what you feel.
I couple of weeks ago I bought a HDTV (1080p) but all I have are old dvd changers. So I basically am debating on going for a decent upscaling dvd-player (about $70-$90) now and IF prices drop, go for a PS3, maybe a year or so later. Personally I think the price may drop by about $100 in the next year. If the manufacturers drop the price by more than that at this early stage of this technology, they would be shooting themselves in the foot.
So I think that a PS3 may be available for around $300 in about a year and other entry level blu-ray standalone players may be available for, say $275. But as others already pointed out in this thread, the big question is ,at least for people like me, is it worth to wait for an year?