http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/ Engadget HD Comments for Studios begin to settle on wholesale Blu-ray Disc prices http://www.engadgethd.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadgethd.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/
Why would that matter.. That one studio would cost less, that doesnt mean all would drop prices.. It would just be a "Budget Studio", thats how it works in gaming world.. A Sony movie is only put out by Sony.. There for you have to pay Sony what ever they want for that movie.. Cant go else where, say like WBros.. Unless your buying a dif movie..


]]>Dec 10th 2008 3:04AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/Dec 10th 2008 3:51AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/
To build more interest in the format, the studios should price the movies on par with DVD's...it's going to happen eventually, just get it done. Also, perhaps the studios should start building a release window that favors bluray, releasing that version of the movie first, then follow up with the DVD version a month or two later. Or even more radical, release some blockbuster content as bluray exclusive.

When DVD's came out the movies were priced to move. I found myself grabbing movies just because they looked interesting. With the advent of bluray, the software prices are outside that impulse buy range, and I find myself being far far more particular about what I buy.]]>Dec 10th 2008 4:40AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/
I have to disagree with the statement "the picture quality is a bit better than DVD" though - it's a lot better ;)]]>Dec 10th 2008 6:52AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/
"At most, the discs should be only a couple bucks higher than standard DVD's, and in reality they should be the same price."

Don't get me wrong, I want prices to come down just as much as everyone else, but what you just said makes no sense. What company, in their right mind, would come out with a new and improved product and price it the same as their existing product that they're still selling? When does that ever happen? Early adopter ALWAYS pay more. It's the way it always has been and will be. Despite how it may seem, since we've been talking about it for so long, we're still early adopters at this point.]]>Dec 10th 2008 8:45AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/
I have well over 150 Blus, nearing 200 if not there already, and my average price is somewhere around $12 for them.

And yes I have all the big ones, Transformers, Iron Man, Dark Knight, 007, Pirates, Spidermans, Harry Potters and so on.

The stores don't offer the deals you get online.

Buy there. I just bought over 25 discs for $7.50 each...including all the 007s. You can't get them on DVD for that price.

]]>Dec 10th 2008 8:48AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/
It should be on par or cheaper than DVD, or it will be another betamax.

It was easy to sell DVDs over VHS (no rewind, much better PQ, extra features), but the difference between upscaled DVD and BD is far less compelling.

With new competition from torrents, Apple TV, streaming Netflix (all of which are DVD quality or lower AND gaining market share), quality has plateaued in the mind of consumers, and price+convenience are king.

Sure, there are always the techies and AV-philes that bought Betamax, Laserdisc, SACD, Mini-disc, etc; but unless BD players and media drop significantly, it will remain a niche format.

Something else to ponder before anyone responds with "OMG 1080P QQ," listen to how terrible a 128k MP3 sound on a good system vs a CD. Then take a look at mp3 player sales vs CD player sales. A majority of consumers care about convenience and price over quality.]]>Dec 10th 2008 10:57AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/
"@ daaper

It should be on par or cheaper than DVD, or it will be another betamax.

It was easy to sell DVDs over VHS (no rewind, much better PQ, extra features), but the difference between upscaled DVD and BD is far less compelling."

Yeah I get that and it's all well and good, but that misses the point of my argument. I wasn't arguing that they shouldn't be cheaper, but that they can't be the same price as DVD and still be considered a meaningful investment for any studio/CE company. If anything, DVDs need to be cheaper. We're still seeing new release DVDs with MSRPs of $35. Don't you think it's about time they come down? Once those come down, then BR can follow to the price that DVDs are right now.

The problem is that people are still buying DVDs at those prices and I believe that's what is artificially holding up the prices of BR. ]]>Dec 10th 2008 1:44PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/
"Something else to ponder before anyone responds with "OMG 1080P QQ,"listen to how terrible a 128k MP3 sound on a good system vs a CD. Then take a look at mp3 player sales vs CD player sales. A majority of consumers care about convenience and price over quality."

For this point I would argue that it's more based on what's being used to play the file. If I have only an mp3 player to listen to my music, then it would make more sense to me to buy the mp3 rather than buy a CD and rip it to the same quality mp3 I could've just bought. Not to mention, that mp3 player isn't exactly the environment to listen to high quality sound files.

On the other hand, if I just bought a decked-out audio system, then I'm not going to go buy a 128kbps mp3 file to play on that system. I'm going to buy at least CD quality or better. I think the same could be said that if I just bought a brand new HDTV, I'm going to want HD media to play on it.]]>Dec 10th 2008 2:01PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/Dec 10th 2008 8:57AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/
Watch the message boards on the HD enthusiast websites and you'll be in the loop.]]>Dec 10th 2008 11:42AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/
Amazon recently ran a sale where you could purchase 10 BD movies and receive $100.00 credit. With sales like these, the average price per movie is brought down. However, you are required to purchase much more than 1 BD movie. Similar sales such as Buy 2 Get 1 Free also come around. Again, the trick is having to be willing to buy more than one movie.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of those kinds of sales. I want to be able to purchase the BD Movie I want (just one!) for $20.00. Of course, it will be a while before that happens. And until then, I will endure and just purchase movies I really want.

I am a recent adopter of Blu Ray, and I own 8 movies already. Transformers ($10.00 BF sale), Rambo, Superbad (both $16.99 at BB on BF), Stepbrothers, Dark Knight (29.99 at Walmart, and I am aware I could have gotten cheaper online... I had a $60.00 gift card), and I have the Rambo trilogy that I snagged from Amazon for $17.99. If you average that out, I actually got those 7 movies for an average price of around $15.00. That's not bad, but you have to remember that's an average price. I still had to pay $30.00 for one movie. My average price is brought down because I got one movie on a great sale, and 3 old movies for a huge discounted price.

The same goes for Dan. He still paid top-dollar for those new releases, he just bought a lot of less-desirable BD Movies and brought his average price down.]]>Dec 10th 2008 9:22AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/
This also goes along with getting your average price down. You may get alot of movies for a good average price, but how many of those are actually that much better on blu ray than dvd?

]]>Dec 10th 2008 12:16PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/
Whether the studios like it or not high def on disc is not the new cash-cow 'premium' product they had hoped it would turn out to be.
Instead it is merely added value that might attract some sales & help sustain movie disc sales, period.

Especially in the current economic climate (which is set to get much owrse next year & be really horrible for quite some time yet).

TBH I expect to see several studios focus back on DVDs & start to back away from Blu-ray due to the higher costs associated with it next year.

]]>Dec 10th 2008 9:24AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/
Thanks for the chuckle.]]>Dec 10th 2008 10:13AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/
The technology owners and the cluster @#$# of the profiles mess (1.0, 1.1, 2.0) along with their scheming to keep the pricing of the players high to extract every dollar of profit have kept many consumers on the HD disc fence for a long time. The prices of 2.0 players are still far higher than they should be.

Studios contribute to the greed fest by jacking the price of the BR content from 5-20 more than the standard DVD version of a movie. Why? The mass replication costs between DVD and BR aren't that different. It's the same movie, just a different format. Usually the same extras, though BR might be jazzed up a bit, but certainly not enough to justify the costs. It's simple, greed, and yes, the early adopter tax.

Yes, those who are Web savvy are aware that you can find some good deals online for BR discs, and if you average it out over time the cost is less. Never ever buy discs at retail unless they have a damn good sale. For BR to ultimately be successful, both the hardware and software have to reach a mass market price. For the hardware, it's finally getting there, though the market is still cluttered with too many older profile players. For the software, it needs to be at the 20-25 (max) at retail, where it becomes a justifiable impulse purchase for the average consumer. ]]>Dec 10th 2008 10:45AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/
But hey, I'm just hoping that all of the most vocal Blu-Ray supporters continue buying discs at these high MSRP prices so the rest of us could "hope" at normal prices in another year (4 years) into the format. :(]]>Dec 10th 2008 1:02PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/
"As the year 2008 draws to a close, we're seeing report after report talking about Blu-ray sales and / or adoption. The latest to focus on the former comes from Pali Research analyst Rich Greenfield, who has reportedly stated that new DVD release sales are down "almost double digits," even despite respectable performance in the first half of the year. Said figure may help explain why the rental business is doing so well, but we digress. Greenfield also notes that DVDs are slowly but surely losing floor space to BDs, and given that not nearly as many folks are buying the high-def format just yet, it's not exactly helping the DVD cause. Beyond all that, he notes that Blu-ray trends are "encouraging," with titles that appeal to gamers (and thus, PS3 owners) doing particularly well. Then again, it's easy to look good during the holidays, but how will things look when everyone's third home equity loan is dried up in March?"]]>Dec 10th 2008 5:51PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/
Can you say price fixing? FTC? Jail time for executives?

I didn't think so.]]>Dec 10th 2008 10:26AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/Dec 10th 2008 10:48AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/It is because studios want to charge a premium and use HD as a way to expand profits for their home video departments. that way of thinking is going to cost the format. movies ought to have a list price of max for most titles of $30 list. they could be cutting costs to keep disc prices lower, instead they add digital copy discs to justify the higher price.

instead of creeping the price up to $35 or $40 list price, movies ought to be priced within $5 of dvd's. If the studios don't start getting it, shortly they will be getting hit hard just like the music business. ]]>Dec 10th 2008 11:33AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/
When the DVD list prices come down, the BR prices can follow. They'll never be the same and you'll never see BR list for less than the DVD list.]]>Dec 10th 2008 4:23PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/
I'd start buying BR's like Crazy if they were priced at $12-15 for 6 month old titles and $18-19 for new ones? What about you guys?]]>Dec 10th 2008 12:30PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/
]]>Dec 10th 2008 12:52PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/Dec 10th 2008 4:31PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/
I'm not sure what DVDs you are paying $25? Recently I bought 3 catalog titles for $6 on DVDs while I paid a similar catalog title on Blu-Ray like $18-$19.

I'm not expecting Blu-Ray to be 3 for $6 but it's completely absurd. Most new DVDs are around $17-$18 and they drop in price within 2 weeks to like $12.. Dark Knight DVD is $14.99 on Amazon and 2-disc special edition is I think $19.99 or something like that.. those who want the movie then either have to pay $15 for just released DVD or $25 for the Blu-Ray version. That's quite a bit of difference.

3 years TODAY in comparison when DVD came out is again not really the same because technology back then and today is not at the same level. Blu-Ray titles should be AT MOST $5 more then DVD and that's pushing it.

So something you pay on DVD $5 you should pay on Blu-Ray at MOST $10. For new release if it's $15 for a title, Blu-Ray shouldn't be more then $20. It's simple as that, especially since they had almost 3 years to expand replication capabilities, and similar.

This is why digital downloads will steam roll over anything optical. No replication, none of those costs, just mastering and publishing on any available service. That's it. This is just a proof how inferior and costly optical media is, especially when Blu-Ray doesn't have mainstream replication solutions.]]>Dec 10th 2008 4:58PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/
First, cost to produce. These discs do cost more than DVD to produce and print, and to add insult to injury they have to be printed at a completely different plant from the DVDs thanks to the fact that most DVD manufacturing plants aren't willing to lay down the 1m+ just to start producing Blu-ray discs, many of these plants were willing to convert to HD DVD if it had gotten more support.

Second, fewer sales. Blu-ray only sells on the high side 10-15% of units as DVD, even if it cost the same to produce as DVD to show a decent profit margin the discs have to be 10-15% higher in price than DVD, the early adopters are being punished because of fewer buyers and a much smaller market.

Third, cost to release. These discs no matter how much people try to disprove it do cost more because they are more costly to make, but they also have less content to choose from than DVD, older titles cost just as much to produce as new titles, but when those old titles cost half as much or less on DVD what is the point of releasing them, if the price to convert the movie over to Blu-ray will require 100k copies to be sold at $20-30 a piece but you only expect to sell 50k copies as any price if the movie gets released the studios will charge the upper range just to try to get their money back on the production and hope that future sales once the price drops makes up the difference.

Forth, and this has been pointed out, why kill the ailing cow for the sake of the malnourished bull. Even with declining sales of DVD, which is going on with Blu-ray also, the studios make more money on the format than Blu-ray likely will ever show, the studios just have to wait out the end of the optical format and strengthening and compleation of Digital Downloads and their profits won't won't suffer major changes, where as killing DVD prematurely in favor of Blu-ray is likely to spurn on piracy and lead to Digital Downloads adoption early before this type of delivery is ready which will cost the consumers and the studios more than just letting DVD be the top dog and Blu-ray be the demanding stray cat.
]]>Dec 10th 2008 1:17PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/
]]>Dec 10th 2008 2:56PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/Top Gear: Polar Special for $24 with shipping from amazon uk.
Why doesn't the BBC capitalize on the international audience? ]]>Dec 10th 2008 7:19PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/10/studios-begin-to-settle-on-wholesale-blu-ray-disc-prices/
I think I'll wait until movies are on average $15-$20 without hunting before buying on impulse. I went to Target today and say Blu-ray movies going for $34.99! That's outrageous. I'll probably just wait on new titles and fill up my catalog of older releases.]]>Dec 10th 2008 10:29PM