With HD DVD gone, will Sony increase price of Blu-ray?

[FormallyHDDVD]

Now that there is NO competition for BluRay, anyone think they'll begin increasing the price of the discs?

Or, do you think the price will stop coming down?

I remember when DVD's first came out in 1998, they were the prices of the HD materials now, but by 2000 they were pretty much around the price they are now ($15-20).

Any predicitions?

[Jiffylush]

Prices of media will stay about the same, with specials and bogos continuing periodically online and in certain stores.

[ckenisell]

I think pricing will increase until they figure out that media won't sell at prices that high. Just take a look at Close Encounters of a Third Kind. Paidgeek says it's an excellent value at its current price, but value to someone at the studio and value to someone shelling out their own cash are two very different things. He may be trying to look at it from a consumer standpoint, but this is one case where I think he's wrong.

[glenn-bob]

i don't see why they would change.

[CptGreedle]

No. Sony and the BDA have to target on DVD, and already said they are focusing on it. DVD has much more of the Home Media market than HD (aka BD) and with DVD sales starting to decline, HD/BD sales are going to have to take over. So they will HAVE to drop the prices a lot more to get the prices of BD players in homes where only DVD players were before.
And the movies will have to go down too or people will not be likely to buy any of them since DVDs are that much cheaper.

[whoelse]

no as consumers will see this and be very angry. But the new 2.0 players probably will start high and wont go down in price very quickly.

[owa]

Like everything else, I'd expect them to fall eventually. Especially so if the plan is to overtake DVD at some point.

Edit: Also, Sony doesn't control the price, the studios do.

[Jazar]

Of course not Blu-ray is still very much in competition with DVD.

[tron3]

It's all supply and demand, dude. As long as they can keep selling $500 BD players briskly, don't expect to see many deals. They were probably loosing their blu-shirts in all the price cuts and BOGO's to stay competitive. They want to earn that back in a hurry, if they can.

[PeteS]

Originally Posted by CptGreedle

No. Sony and the BDA have to target on DVD, and already said they are focusing on it. DVD has much more of the Home Media market than HD (aka BD) and with DVD sales starting to decline, HD/BD sales are going to have to take over. So they will HAVE to drop the prices a lot more to get the prices of BD players in homes where only DVD players were before.

Exactly, the new challenge is for Blu-ray to overtake the regular DVD market.
Prices will come down both because companies want to achieve that and because with increased production economies of scale and efficiencies of production will play a part.

[haushausman]

Originally Posted by Jiffylush

Prices of media will stay about the same, with specials and bogos continuing periodically online and in certain stores.

I don't think we'll ever see another BOGO.

I just got $20 with shipping for an opened Last Samurai Blu-ray on eBay that I accidentally order 2 of during a BOGO frenzy. I paid $10 for it. The demand is too high now, there's no reason for one.

[LordGamer]

If the BDA, studios, and / or industry as a whole, raise the prices of the movies slightly, I for one will not be upset.

All involved needed to give incentives for early adaptors to gain interest; especially, with the Blu-ray vs HD DVD battle. Thus, there were many sale offers and deals that is not the norm with an established product (i.e. DVD). That being said, I expect a company to want and attempt to make a profit off their product. I know it's taboo, but I'm for and love big business.

Also... Toshiba, using its only option to survive, drove down player pricing to ridiculous levels. In turn, many people that normally wouldn't have entered into adopting the early technology, got in. Now, many of these people are upset and appalled by the notion that the BDA, movie studios, and / or retailers may increase pricing back to a normal level.

I won't go into my huge rant about American society and their "buying habits"... I'll just say, if you want a quality product, new technology, expect to pay for it.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by FormallyHDDVD

Now that there is NO competition for BluRay, anyone think they'll begin increasing the price of the discs?

Sony are in competition with the other studios for your Blu-ray dollar. And all the studios would like to ultimately see a transition to Blu-ray from DVD. It simplifies their production efforts, and gives them better protection for their IP.

Gary

[Scorxpion]

Its better to still like it is now,i'm a foreign customer and hardly i keep buying my favorite titles so when i have some opportunity i bought them from Canada or USA because of price.

Titles in my country cost me a fortune,

New titles cost about $45 and catalog titles cost about $37

Still no Disney or Warner Bros titles so i ordered them from Canada through a friend .

Sony did very well till now and if they want a complete dominance of BD its better to lower the cost of titles and keep the hardware as they are now.

Finally Blu-ray player exists in my country like sony BDP-S300 cost around $500 and Panasonic BD-10A Cost around $700.

Today i received my third batch of titles ,My friend comeback from Canada and received them .they are at home joining my another collection,I'm happy especially when i heard the news today about Netflix.

[quaylie]

you cannot and will not go from niche market to mainstream by increasing prices..so no..they will not raise prices..ever..until they have overtaken DVD.

[camper]

Originally Posted by quaylie

you cannot and will not go from niche market to mainstream by increasing prices..so no..they will not raise prices..ever..until they have overtaken DVD.

Agreed. Unless they want to kill the format, that is. BD's need to come down to get wider adoption and acceptance from the masses.

~Camper

[Luis_A51]

Sony is NOT the only company that makes Blu-ray discs. Simple. They have competition from Warner, Disney, Fox and Lionsgate. Not to mention STANDARD DVD.

So no, prices wont go up. They will go down.

[Tok]

In defense of paidgeek, CE3K was a special product and although priced high it offered 3 versions of the film. In contrast thought the Blade Runner set offered 5 versions of the film and sold anywhere from $5 to $15 less depending on the vendor.

I would suspect that Warner sold more Blade Runner sets than Sony sold of CE3K.

From a catalog standpoint, studios are fooling themselves if they think they can charge $35 for a basic barebones release.

As the US economy goes into recession, consumers will be less likely to spend the money that the studios want. I really think they need to look at $20 max for catalog releases. I also think the majority of new releases should not go any higher than $5 more than their DVD counterpart.

I recently conversed with paid on this in his thread. My point to him was when better deals could be found my purchasing increased exponentially in a three month period. I went from purchasing just 12 titles over my first ten months of PS3 ownership to over fifty in the three months that followed.

I think the studios will find if the price per title drops down to an average in between $15 and $20 that their sales will exponentially increase. If the high prices remain considering the recession, BD could just end up as a slightly larger than LD market. In other words still a niche market.

Just to clarify a little futher, I am referring to street price.

[Xerious]

the next time someone refers to the BDA collectively as SONY is going to get a drop kick to the neck...

[mdm1699]

Originally Posted by FormallyHDDVD

Now that there is NO competition for BluRay, anyone think they'll begin increasing the price of the discs?

Or, do you think the price will stop coming down?

I remember when DVD's first came out in 1998, they were the prices of the HD materials now, but by 2000 they were pretty much around the price they are now ($15-20).

Any predicitions?

Blu-Ray is more than Sony. The other studios are Warner, Fox, Disney, and some others. I average about $20 for my blu-rays(Ebay and Amazon). I do not buy new releases until 3-4 weeks later. It is the same for DVD as far as pricing is concerned. I do not buy DVDs but the pricing for new releases is the same.