I think they're going to have to do this to appeal to the mainstream. The same happened with DVD too in its day with early disks being substantially more expensive than VHS with few discounts. My feeling is that studios & stores know that early adopters will buy any old crap so they don't bother lowering prices.
Once the format enters the mainstream, the competition starts to heat up. More stores carry the format and more people get to vote with their wallets. Blu Ray also competes with DVD so the prices have to be closer.
I think 2008 is the breakout year and you'll see prices a lot closer to DVD levels for the holiday season.
But, wouldn't it be nice to pick up a new Bluray release for, say, $17.99
Its easy to forget that 17.99 DVDs did not happen on a regular basis until a good 6 or 7 years into the formats life. Blu-ray is all of 2 years old and the discs are more or less what DVDs were priced at when they had been around for 2 years. Besides, you can find most Blu- ray movies for 20-25 dollars on Amazon. But the everyday 20 dollar Blu-ray discs at Wal-Mart and Best Buy probably wont be happen for another 1 to 2 years. I would definitely like to see 20 dolalr discs too but I am not sure higher initial media costs are going to doom Blu-ray if they didnt doom DVD.
Not when the most appropriate player (for me) comes in at $399 for a PS3. Until the prices of the hardware drop to a point where it will be of value to me, BD disc prices are of no concern. I think most people are in the same situation. Lowering the prices of discs should be second to getting more hardware into people's hands.
I've found out since getting my HD-A2 that I have no time to sit and fully enjoy movies anymore, regardless of being HD or SD. I'm not about to pay $399 for a BD player that I also will not have time to properly enjoy. At this point in my life, a $399 dust collector is of no additional value to me. But to all of the people who have said that upconverted DVD is "more than enough", a multi-hundred dollar BD player is generally out of the question.
If Sony -- sorry! -- the BD group want to get BD to take off, they absolutely must focus on player prices before they start considering disc prices so that people who want to replace or augment an existing DVD player will be more likely to consider getting a BD player. Low media prices aren't going to mean a whole hell of a lot when people aren't buying the players because of the high price.
And, no, I'm not using the government one-time refund of taxpayer money back to us just to get a PS3. I have other home improvements that will be of more value than a PS3. :P
Remember when VHS was new? Tapes were $80-120 for a movie, whether it was good or not. It took awhile for VHS tapes to get to $15 before DVD's killed them into being $1 in the bargain bin.
minimalist: it doesn't matter how long it took DVD to drop to $17.99 on a new release. People are used to that price and will not pay $30 for a new release. I am a big time HT junkie and have bought lots of movies in both blu-ray and hd-dvd, but lately I just can't justify $30-35 unless it is a title I'm really looking forward to, and even then it feels like I'm being gouged.
If they can get the new release price to around $20-22, and catalog title price to around $15-18 I think it will start to catch on.
@cclaunch, and people were used to the price of VHS when DVD came out. Yet DVD was very expensive in its day too. The prices will drop as it enters the mainstream. I doubt it will be cheap as the equivalent DVD but I expect it will get close or even match prices in some cases, depending on how bad the studio and stores want people to switch over.
"minimalist: it doesn't matter how long it took DVD to drop to $17.99 on a new release. People are used to that price and will not pay $30 for a new release."
People were also used to cheap VHS prices in 1998 when DVD's went for 30-40 dollars. Same was true when CD's first came out and were twice as expensive as LP's and tapes. Its just a natural part of the early part of a format's life cycle. A few will buy now, manufacturing will ramp up, the prices will come down, more will buy and so on and so on.
"... lately I just can't justify $30-35 unless it is a title I'm really looking forward to, and even then it feels like I'm being gouged."
I feel the same way. That's the beauty of Netflix. For the few movies I jut have to own I use Amazon or find coupons to bring the price down. In a year or so I'm sure we'll be able to walk into Best Buy and get 25 dollar new releases.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
FrankTheCrank @ Mar 19th 2008 9:15AM
Yeah, how about dropping the price of Bluray movies?
I usually don't pay more than $20 for a movie. But that's because I hunt the deals down. Also, you can get some decent used stuff if you look around.
But, wouldn't it be nice to pick up a new Bluray release for, say, $17.99?
DrXym @ Mar 19th 2008 9:35AM
I think they're going to have to do this to appeal to the mainstream. The same happened with DVD too in its day with early disks being substantially more expensive than VHS with few discounts. My feeling is that studios & stores know that early adopters will buy any old crap so they don't bother lowering prices.
Once the format enters the mainstream, the competition starts to heat up. More stores carry the format and more people get to vote with their wallets. Blu Ray also competes with DVD so the prices have to be closer.
I think 2008 is the breakout year and you'll see prices a lot closer to DVD levels for the holiday season.
minimalist @ Mar 19th 2008 10:20AM
But, wouldn't it be nice to pick up a new Bluray release for, say, $17.99
Its easy to forget that 17.99 DVDs did not happen on a regular basis until a good 6 or 7 years into the formats life. Blu-ray is all of 2 years old and the discs are more or less what DVDs were priced at when they had been around for 2 years. Besides, you can find most Blu- ray movies for 20-25 dollars on Amazon. But the everyday 20 dollar Blu-ray discs at Wal-Mart and Best Buy probably wont be happen for another 1 to 2 years. I would definitely like to see 20 dolalr discs too but I am not sure higher initial media costs are going to doom Blu-ray if they didnt doom DVD.
John B @ Mar 19th 2008 10:57AM
Not when the most appropriate player (for me) comes in at $399 for a PS3. Until the prices of the hardware drop to a point where it will be of value to me, BD disc prices are of no concern. I think most people are in the same situation. Lowering the prices of discs should be second to getting more hardware into people's hands.
I've found out since getting my HD-A2 that I have no time to sit and fully enjoy movies anymore, regardless of being HD or SD. I'm not about to pay $399 for a BD player that I also will not have time to properly enjoy. At this point in my life, a $399 dust collector is of no additional value to me. But to all of the people who have said that upconverted DVD is "more than enough", a multi-hundred dollar BD player is generally out of the question.
If Sony -- sorry! -- the BD group want to get BD to take off, they absolutely must focus on player prices before they start considering disc prices so that people who want to replace or augment an existing DVD player will be more likely to consider getting a BD player. Low media prices aren't going to mean a whole hell of a lot when people aren't buying the players because of the high price.
And, no, I'm not using the government one-time refund of taxpayer money back to us just to get a PS3. I have other home improvements that will be of more value than a PS3. :P
Izzy @ Mar 19th 2008 11:01AM
Remember when VHS was new? Tapes were $80-120 for a movie, whether it was good or not. It took awhile for VHS tapes to get to $15 before DVD's killed them into being $1 in the bargain bin.
cclaunch @ Mar 19th 2008 11:02AM
minimalist: it doesn't matter how long it took DVD to drop to $17.99 on a new release. People are used to that price and will not pay $30 for a new release. I am a big time HT junkie and have bought lots of movies in both blu-ray and hd-dvd, but lately I just can't justify $30-35 unless it is a title I'm really looking forward to, and even then it feels like I'm being gouged.
If they can get the new release price to around $20-22, and catalog title price to around $15-18 I think it will start to catch on.
DrXym @ Mar 19th 2008 1:08PM
@cclaunch, and people were used to the price of VHS when DVD came out. Yet DVD was very expensive in its day too. The prices will drop as it enters the mainstream. I doubt it will be cheap as the equivalent DVD but I expect it will get close or even match prices in some cases, depending on how bad the studio and stores want people to switch over.
minimalist @ Mar 19th 2008 10:36PM
"minimalist: it doesn't matter how long it took DVD to drop to $17.99 on a new release. People are used to that price and will not pay $30 for a new release."
People were also used to cheap VHS prices in 1998 when DVD's went for 30-40 dollars. Same was true when CD's first came out and were twice as expensive as LP's and tapes. Its just a natural part of the early part of a format's life cycle. A few will buy now, manufacturing will ramp up, the prices will come down, more will buy and so on and so on.
"... lately I just can't justify $30-35 unless it is a title I'm really looking forward to, and even then it feels like I'm being gouged."
I feel the same way. That's the beauty of Netflix. For the few movies I jut have to own I use Amazon or find coupons to bring the price down. In a year or so I'm sure we'll be able to walk into Best Buy and get 25 dollar new releases.