Sony's Blu-ray movies - $30 each!

[zombie]

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6305651.html

Sony prices Blu-ray discs at $30
Format's new release cost will be similar to HD DVD

By Paul Sweeting 2/7/2006

FEB. 7 | Although Blu-ray Disc players might cost more than HD DVD players when the two high-definition formats launch later this year, movie prices are likely to be similar. YEAH BABY!!

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment president Benjamin Feingold said Tuesday that new release Blu-ray titles from the studio will carry a wholesale price to retailers of $23.45 while catalog titles will be priced at $17.95.

That should put the top cash register prices at about $34.95 and $29.95, respectively.

No other studio has yet announced retail prices for new releases, but Warner Home Video said recently that catalog prices for rival HD DVD releases also would be $29.95.

At one time, the new high-def formats were expected to command premium prices, but as the battle between the contending format camps has heated up, neither has wanted to give the other an edge in the marketplace.

The price ranges targeted by Sony and Warner are 15% to 20% higher than today’s DVD prices but comparable to movie prices at the time the current DVD format launched in 1997.

An announcement on street dates for the first wave of Blu-ray catalog releases is expected later this week.

Titles in the first wave include The Fifth Element, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Desperado, For a Few Dollars More (MGM), Hitch, House of Flying Daggers, A Knight’s Tale, Kung Fu Hustle, The Last Waltz (MGM), Legends of the Fall, Resident Evil Apocalypse, Robocop (MGM), Sense and Sensibility, Stealth, Species (MGM), SWAT, Terminator (MGM) and XXX.

Among the first new releases from Sony will be Underworld: Evolution, which is expected to hit DVD and Blu-ray in early summer.

The first HD DVD titles are slated to arrive on store shelves on March 28.

In an effort to ensure a strong impression at retail, availability of the first Blu-ray discs will be restricted to retail outlets that also carry Blu-ray hardware, Feingold said, a decision that could anger some video specialty retailers if the policy remains in place for long.

In recent weeks, prominent software retailers such as Netflix and Movie Gallery have issued statements saying they expect the new formats to give the rental market a shot in the arm and are looking forward to stocking both Blu-ray and HD DVD movies as soon as they’re available.

“Our intent is to create a critical mass of movies and displays at retail that will showcase the escalating availability and abundance of both [Blu-ray Disc] software and hardware in the marketplace,” Feingold said. “There’s no point in putting software into outlets that don’t carry the hardware in the beginning.”

The strategy is similar to the launch of DVD, although plans to limit software availability to hardware outlets quickly broke down as video retailers found ways to stock the new format.

Feingold said Sony would not rule out working with software retailers “who want to be strategically involved in the [high-def] format,” but added, “there needs to be a plan that will work economically for all parties.”

Hardware supplies also are expected to be tight at first.

“I think the biggest challenge will actually be hardware supply, because of the tight availability of lasers and chipsets,” Feingold said. “I think the hardware is likely to be on allocation in the beginning.”

[Marwin]

That sounds great

[Marwin]

Here's another source with some more information:
http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/new...archived=False

Sony sets price for Blu-ray discs

By Thomas K. Arnold 2/8/2006

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Sony Pictures on Tuesday became the first major studio to put a price tag on Blu-ray discs when they become available in U.S. stores this year.

At the same time, the studio unveiled what many observers believe will be a key component of the next-generation, high-definition optical disc's marketing strategy: bundling various formats together to give consumers more flexibility and mobility.

Catalog Blu-ray disc titles will wholesale for $17.95, about the same as DVDs when that format hit the market in 1997. New-release Blu-ray discs will wholesale for $23.45, a premium of 15%-20% over what suppliers were charging for new theatrical DVDs.

The higher pricing structure for new releases is meant to accommodate the sell-through and rental markets, said Benjamin Feingold, president of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. He noted that in at the dawn of DVD in 1997, most movies initially were released on rental-priced videocassettes.

"The premium is for a way better format and to remind retailers that at the time we launched DVD, VHS was selling for $55 wholesale in the first window," Feingold said.

He added that Sony will not attach any suggested list prices to its Blu-ray discs, at least not at this time.

"From the retail perspective, this is going to be a hot product, and retailers will no doubt determine their own margin structure," he said. "We believe in a free market."

Blu-ray discs likely will start showing up in stores by early summer, sources say. In advance of that, Sony is bowing a bundling concept to DVD and the Universal Media Disc (UMD) that it may migrate to Blu-ray.

Starting March 28, consumers can buy DVD-UMD combo packs of "The Grudge," "Resident Evil," "Underworld," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and MGM's "The Terminator" for just pennies more than Sony typically charges for a new DVD.

A second batch of DVD-UMD combos -- "Ghostbusters," "Mad Max," "The Fifth Element" and "Snatch" -- arrives April 25, with a third wave is slated to come on the market in May.

Each combo is priced at $28.95. Sony typically charges $24.96-$26.96 for new DVD releases, while titles new to UMD generally list for $19.95.

Feingold said that is a taste of what consumers can expect when Blu-ray discs appear in stores.

"With the launch of Blu-ray, we're going to try to introduce the managed-copy concept, where if you buy Blu-ray you'll be able to get additional versions (of the same title) to use in your home," Feingold said. "Ultimately, we might even get to the point where we'll offer consumers the ability to have different versions of the same movie on different devices in the home -- that's something we're working on."

For now, Feingold said, "we're experimenting with UMD," the tiny optical-disc format playable only on Sony's handheld PlayStation Portable (PSP).

"A lot of people have DVD players and also have PSPs, and this way for one price they can get one movie and play it back on both formats," Feingold said.

Feingold would not specify whether future Blu-ray bundling would be electronic or physical, as is the case with the DVD-UMD combo packs.

[Gorkab]

For UMD & DVD cases (as BD + UMD), it's good because buying the movie a second time is expensive and we have to think twice before buying it

[phloyd]

For the most part I would gladly pay a little more and have UMDs in my Bluray boxes as well

[speleofool]

From Marwin's post:

Feingold said....
"With the launch of Blu-ray, we're going to try to introduce the managed-copy concept, where if you buy Blu-ray you'll be able to get additional versions (of the same title) to use in your home," Feingold said. "Ultimately, we might even get to the point where we'll offer consumers the ability to have different versions of the same movie on different devices in the home -- that's something we're working on."

That's interesting news. I hope it develops. Here's how I'd like "Fair Use" to work:

If buy one copy of a movie at HD resolution--be it a Blu-Ray disc, an HD-DVD, a download or whatever, I'd like to be able to (1) make a full-quality archive copy of that movie to protect against loss or damage of the copy I purchased, and (2) make full-quality or downscaled copies to any other movie-playing devices I own--especially a media-server PC.

Cheers!
Speleo.