Price range

[wouse101]

I heard through a good friend who works in a video shop about this new blu ray format. I have read the theory behind it and its very clever but, me being an electronics student and currently helping a friend set up a comupter business, that this is going to be expensive.

So maybe some of you could answer a few questions for me:

1. is it going to be expensive? whats the price range?
2. how soon is it going to be?

Also being and avid PC user, there is one important question I'd like to ask:

AMD and Intel have released, a while ago now, there 64-bit processors, and my colleuge has run into some problems with installing optical drivers under windows x64 (64-bit version of windows that allows to take full advantage of 64-bit processors). The main problem is.......THERE AREN'T ANY 64-BIT DRIVERS!

He's been trying to install the damn thing for weeks and scowered the internet and rung all the technical support lines. Eventually he gave up and installed windows XP (32-bit) sacrificing most of the potential useage of his processor.

I mentioned to him that Blu ray technology was just around the corner, he asked me to research into it (hence why im here asking these quetions).

So the other big question is:

When blu ray optical drives comes out for the PC market, are they going to be able to be installed onto 64-bit systems under 64-bit OS's?

'cos to be honest, I think everything needs to catch up with this amount of processing power.

[thunderhawk]

are they going to be able to be installed onto 64-bit systems under 64-bit OS's?

As Blu-ray Disc is the next-generation and 64bit is also the next-generation, I believe we can expect BD drives on 64-bit Windows

1. is it going to be expensive? whats the price range?
2. how soon is it going to be?

1. For the discs, I expect € 20 to € 30 for a prerecorded BD disc at launch.
Prices will fall ofcourse like they did with DVD.

2. The Blu-ray Disc devices will launch late 2005, spring 2006.
The PS3, a device that supports Blu-ray Disc technology will be lauched +- Christmas 2005 if I'm correct...

Welcome to the board and I hope you'll enjoy the BD technology

[wouse101]

thank you

[zombie]

Originally Posted by thunderhawk

The PS3, a device that supports Blu-ray Disc technology will be lauched +- Christmas 2005 if I'm correct...

The PS3 is planned for release in May 2006 now. Originally it was expected in fall 2005. I just hope that when it comes out there's a better selection of games available than when PS2 first arrived.

[erdega79]

This is what I gathered
blu ray writers will be around 450$
blu ray computer players will be around 200$ when released. Standalone players and recorders will be double that in the beginning.PS3 will be around 400$.
Individual discs will be no more than 5$ in the beginning.

64 bit processors don't really have much to do with disc drives or hardware in general. 64 bit is all about supporting large amounts of memory more than 4GB. Windows should support that without problems.

[zombie]

Originally Posted by erdega79

Individual discs will be no more than 5$ in the beginning.

If recordable Blu-ray discs will be as little as $5 at launch I'll be happy. I was expecting quite a larger asking price.

[Gorkab]

Originally Posted by n2blu

If recordable Blu-ray discs will be as little as $5 at launch I'll be happy. I was expecting quite a larger asking price.

In France we have a f*****g tax on medias, when it's huge the price is huge ! :x

[Rob]

Originally Posted by erdega79

This is what I gathered
blu ray writers will be around 450$
blu ray computer players will be around 200$ when released. Standalone players and recorders will be double that in the beginning.PS3 will be around 400$.
Individual discs will be no more than 5$ in the beginning.

64 bit processors don't really have much to do with disc drives or hardware in general. 64 bit is all about supporting large amounts of memory more than 4GB. Windows should support that without problems.

Where did you get your info from for recordable Blu-Ray discs being $5? Just when new technology is released it always comes at a premium. Personally I think $20 per disc is more likely.

[thunderhawk]

Personally I think $20 per disc is more likely.

:shock: Thats much :?

[Gorkab]

Originally Posted by thunderhawk

:shock: Thats much :?

You think ? That would be great for us if it was the price but unfortunately it will be more and more expansive than 20 $

[Rob]

I bought a dvd recorder first in March 2004. The cheapest I could find a dvd ram disc at the time was for around £7 each, (roughly $12.50), and this was online. I'm pretty sure the original rrp (recommended retail price) ws more like £20 per disc ($38/) when the discs were first released. I may be wrong, but I could have sworn the first 23GB Sony single layered Blu-Ray discs were £30 ($54) in Japan when the format released in 2003, perhaps more!? Anyway, won't disc manufacturers have to pay a hefty liscensing fee to Sony on each disc sold?

[zombie]

Originally Posted by Rob

Where did you get your info from for recordable Blu-Ray discs being $5? Just when new technology is released it always comes at a premium. Personally I think $20 per disc is more likely.

I wouldn't mind seeing a source on the $5 figure too. Your $20 figure sounds much more "reasonable" for a launch price.

[erdega79]

I should have mentioned that I was talking about single layer discs. They are already in production by sony and panasonic and probably others too. The yields for these discs are already on par with dvd. Dual layer blu ray disc won't start mass production 'till december.

Now consider the fact single layer dvd is much less than 1$ while dual layer dvd is around 5$ .Considering that production for single layer BD has been perfected for years now and is economically feasible now, why would they charge more than 5$ for it, a single 25GB disc?
Most consumers will stick with dvd's for data backup if the price is an issue.
Remember, more than anything else blu ray is competing with dvd. It has to have an argument for consumers to embrace it and reasonable pricing is a major concern. Pricing single discs beyond 5$ would be a business suicide.

[thunderhawk]

And yet, they probably will ask more than $ 5 for a disc...
A new technology costs money, like the beginning of DVD.

The argument of discspace is still fulfilled by current DVDs but they won't fill this desire any longer untill HD content is spread further.

And yes, this will give HD-DVD a lead in this issue.
But BD discs are cheap to manufactuer. So I hope you're right, maybe for the survival of BD in the first years...

[erdega79]

Originally Posted by n2blu

I wouldn't mind seeing a source on the $5 figure too. Your $20 figure sounds much more "reasonable" for a launch price.

Sorry I don't have a source on this, just common sense. The rest of my price predictions were mentioned in the media at various times. I think it being more expensive more than 10 of dvd is enough of a premium.


You know I could easily see them trying to set up a price of let's say 10$ early to try to recoup investments early but it wouldn't last long. Let's remember that 50 gb disc is to follow by couple of months and even 100gb is slated for early 2007.

[erdega79]

Originally Posted by Rob

I bought a dvd recorder first in March 2004. The cheapest I could find a dvd ram disc at the time was for around £7 each, (roughly $12.50), and this was online. I'm pretty sure the original rrp (recommended retail price) ws more like £20 per disc ($38/) when the discs were first released.

I don't remember dvd's ever costing close to 10$. There is dual layer which is even now at 5$ but that's related to manufacturing issues and adoption has been slow even when most of the players can read/write it. Granted , I know that in europe , taxes and import tariffs on media are much higher than in north america but that's beside the point. Last week I bought 100 dvd's for 55$ can, which is around 40$US.

Originally Posted by Rob

I may be wrong, but I could have sworn the first 23GB Sony single layered Blu-Ray discs were £30 ($54) in Japan when the format released in 2003, perhaps more!?

That's correct but that's more by design than by economics. Then , blu ray was very much experimental format with very limited production and appeal. Certainly there was no reason for it to be cost effective.
Now we are coming into the timeframe where it's becoming a real product and given the competition and mass production that's bound to happen, cost effectivness becomes a big issue. Making it appealing for the wide variety of consumers is another similar issue.

Originally Posted by Rob

Anyway, won't disc manufacturers have to pay a hefty liscensing fee to Sony on each disc sold?

Well, the so called blu ray founders (13 companies:
Dell Inc.
Hewlett Packard
Hitachi, Ltd.
LG Electronics Inc.
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
Panasonic (Matsushita Electric)
Pioneer Corporation
Royal Philips Electronics
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd
Sharp Corporation
Sony Corporation
TDK Corporation
Thomson ) won't pay royalties but to themselves which is really the mainstream of companies and obviously a huge chunk of A/V and media companies. Then there are so called board members which I assume they would pay some royalties but not many are big on manufacturing discs.

[thunderhawk]

The payment of royalties is also one of the reasons of the existence of the BDF.

Also, look at this:
https://www.blu-ray.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=94

DVD price ~~ Blu-ray Disc price. So... We might go to the $5 disc or less

[Rob]

While the mass production of Blu-Ray discs may be similar to that of dvd discs that is not the only consideration when companies determine the final price. For a start, you have the huge R&D costs to recoup. Then, with this being a new product, the companies behind it will be looking to maximise profits over it's life cycle. In the initial period, technology enthusiasts will be prepared to pay a premium for the latest technology. In order to maximise revenue and profits companies will look to cream off this group before reducing prices and targeting the next and so on. Small sales, but high profit margins. There's no way that recordable BR discs will be the same price as current dvd discs.

[erdega79]

Yes, I agree. I admit I was a bit too optimistic in my initial post. What I forgot to take into consideration is that hardware makers will probably make disc drives cheaper but make money on the media. Of course new technology always takes exhorbitant prices. However I do see them falling exponentially as higher versions start coming out. Remember, they will first release 1 layer, then 2 and then 4 layers as time goes by. I think fair price would be 10$ at the very launch. 5$ would not produce much return while 20$ would be simply too much for a format that they want to establish early.

[erdega79]

Originally Posted by john_1958

For a blu-ray disc when it comes out i wouldn't be surprise if its $20 per disc
for all the amount of data it can hold. All new products cost quite alot when introduced anybody remember how much DVD-r cost when they were first on the market :?:

1 layer blu ray is 25gb compared to 5gb dvd. 1 layer dvd has 5gb and costs less than 50 cents while dual layer dvd is 8.5gb and costs 5$ so you make the math.