How important is the cost of the Blu-Ray player to you?

[BigMESA]

I see a lot of posts talking about how Blu-Ray really needs to drop the price of the player to compete with the HD-DVD player in the eyes of the consumer. Don't get me wrong I would love to see someone put out a very affordable BR player and drive another nail in to the HD-DVD coffin, but I ask myself this question. How important is the cost of the player really?

I look around me and I see people spending thousands of dollars on a HDTV, a hundred on a HDMI cable, $600 on an iPhone, $200-$300 on iPods, and over $1000 on a quality surround sound like Bose. Now I know the all mighty dollar controls us all in one way or another and we are always looking for a great deal to save some coin. But it seems to me in this age of technology that people are not only willing to spend the extra money to get the best, but they want to. To me I feel that it is more important to educate people on which format has the more promise now and down the road, than to try and knock a few bucks off the price.

This is a war and war isn't pretty. I would like to see some ads that show why Blu-Ray is superior to HD-DVD. Let's get dirty, let's sling some mud, and let's inform people that if they want all the bells and whistles out of their hard earned purchases which format they need to side with. Years ago people weren't as techy as they are now and they wanted something cheap that got the job done. Now people want the best, and obviously by looking at what consumers are buying across the market, they are willing to pay for it.

Thoughts?

[kowhite]

I think cost is important. Now, at this point, is it important for reaching the mainstream? I'm not sure HDM is ready to hit the mainstream, so with that regard, it's not. With this format war I think more people than not will disregard the price anyway. But given HD-DVD's price advantage, and the recent Paramount defection, it does become more relevant...if you're interested in seeing this format war over. I don't think those HD-DVD prices are going to drive millions upon millions of unit sales...but it will help make it so the absolute smackdown I was expecting prior to the Paramount news...not happen quite to the degree I was expecting.

I think we're still looking at moderate gains on standalones this year...so in that regard BD will be ok. The PS3 will just be very relevant this year again. So is it important? Yes...is it a BD killer this year? No, it's not in my mind. It becomes more important in future years...and is certainly a disadvantage this year. If BD had equivalent player prices in 2007...even with the Paramount defection, I'd go back to predicting the HD-DVD smackdown I was expecting before that news...I can say that.

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Bottom line though, most unknowledgeable shoppers will be in the store and will look at the two formats. If they are looking to upgrade and judge their decision based solely on the in-store demo of the two formats, they will undoubtedly choose the HD DVD because of the pricepoint/quality comparison behind the players. And, considering how many people out there don't research before these types of purchases, that can be devastating to us Blu-Bloods and our cause.

Now, to answer your question... Me, personally, I don't care about pricing. I'm a firm believer that when it comes to technology you get what you pay for. However, my opinion for the sake of the format is that the players need to catch up to HD DVD by mid 2008. Otherwise, the bonehead masses will unknowingly tilt the scales in the direction of mediocrity!

[bmr76]

I work in electronics, and blu sells better at 499.99 than the hddvd does, but sales could be better. The number one thing said to me is "whos going to win?", I obviously state why I think blu ray, but customers just want one format. I dont see hd dvd giving in, but I think at a certain price point its no longer a risk for the person who watches an occasional movie to buy a player. I love movies, so 500 dollars to me was worth it. I think a cheap player could help, but it will be at wal mart, not at bestbuy or Ultimate. That will muck up the situation worse. People who are in the market for hd sets probably dont go to walmart first. I think when blu hits 250 or less for the Sony and namebrands- mass adoption will start to happen. People wont buy until their is a clear winner and MORE movies. Thats another thing people ask, what movies can I get? Then the split in studio support comes up and the consumer does not want to become a soldier in a war, they just sit on the sidelines and tell themselves dvd looks just fine. Its gotta get to the point where its to hard to resist. I think incentives on a new set, like buy a 1080p lcd get a blu for 100 bucks might do it. Just my thoughts.

[jermwhl]

It's not us that are worried about prices. We are the early adopters. We (some) will pay almost anything for new technology. My wife claims its an addiction (she's probably right). It's the mainstream consumers. They won't adapt to either side until the price becomes right. They less tech savvy people don't care about Gigabytes and studio support and quality. All they see is price tags. Its up to us to weed out the bad technology (or lesser of the two..not saying HD-DVD is 'bad'..only that blu is better) and then the mainstream consumers will come along and buy according to word of mouth, popularity and the 'oh so popular' price tag!

[Maxell]

It's important because lower priced players will get people to buy them, especially in the holiday shopping season. We are still in the early stages of the bluray/hddvd war. It would be much easier to score a knockout blow now than to wait till a few million Toshiba hd-dvd players make their way to households, thus making this "war" harder to win.

Blu-Ray needs to do what's necessary to win now or else this "war" will drag on for years.

[LynxFX]

Not that important at all. Players are already dropping faster than any other electronic in history, plus I already have a player so what do I care about the cost anymore. What really matters now is the cost of the media which for the most part is too high. In the beginning, you only buy one player, but the media is what you will spend 90% of your money on. I think the low media sales compared to the large hardware install base already shows just how little people are willing to spend on the media.

[jdc115]

I think it is important over here (Asia). A lot of people have different priorities and what is important to me seems like a complete waste to others.

I have a 42" HD plasma that is only 1080i (at the time the 1080p was a big premium here) which probably 1/4 the cost of my audio setup.

But I have other friends that can not believe what I have spent on speakers (which are only really entry level for anybody into "high end") but at the same time have a spent 2 or 3 times my TV price yet have free Home Theatre in a box system that came with the TV.

The funny thing is they may have a 1080P LCD 50" HDTV, but never seen any HD content yet as the cable only has 2 channels which they charge $16 per month for. Not that I don't like Discovery and Natural Geographic, most people don't want to spend $16 for for that.

So, having a cheap Blu-ray player (or HD-DVD) could really sell well to those friends of mine that spent $6000 on a TV yet have what is probably about $300 worth of DVD, receiver and speakers combined.

[JadedRaverLA]

I spent many years selling mid-to-high end electronics. Even in that market, price matters... to an extent.

People usually have an "idea" of what they'd like to spend. Good sales people try to get a feel for that budget and what the customer is looking for, and then offering options at the top and somewhat above that budget plan.

To understand how Blu-ray player prices effect sales, you need to look at the three main customers for the players:

1) Playstation 3 gamers -- they're getting a Blu-ray player for free, and aren't really the concern here

2) Customers with a HDTV -- At this point these are mainly at least fairly knowledgeable people who are aware that something better than DVD exists (or they wouldn't be in the market). They likely have heard of both Blu-ray and HD DVD, but may not know much about them. Price matters here. But the lowest priced player doesn't necessarily win. Comparing the Toshiba A2 at $299 against a $1,000 Blu-ray player, and it's no contest. But when people in stores are comparing the A20 (you know, with real 1080p output) at $399 against the Sony S300 at $499. Blu-ray is selling better, has more studio support, and has better press. And comparing Sony vs. Toshiba it's no contest. The prices are "close enough" for other factors to sway customers to Blu-ray. So, for these customers, the important thing is that Blu-ray stay within about 30% over the cost of similar-speced HD DVD players to be competitive, as that seems to be about the value customers place on the other factors that favor Blu-ray.

3) Customers buying an HDTV -- the Blu-ray player or HD DVD player is an "add-on" to their primary purpose. Pricing compared to HD DVD doesn't matter here much at all... but pricing in general does. The price needs to be low enough (compared to the cost of the set) for the additional expense to make sense, and for people to be able to extend their budget to afford it. For these customers, most don't even know there is a format war, and few salespeople would bring it up. This is why it's so important to have players from a wide variety of manufacturers. A Sony HDTV will have a Sony Blu-ray player connected to it, a Samsung TV, a Samsung player... etc. For HDTV, this is a HUGE problem. Toshiba does not have a great marketshare in the HDTV world, and those will be the only sets with HD DVD players be demoed on them. This is the big reason why all the Blu-ray manufacturers are working so hard to get a lot of second/third gen players out for the fourth quarter--especially in the $400 price range. At those prices, a good salesperson can convince a lot of people to buy the add-on on higher-end sets. The real sweet-spot for "add-on" sales would be around $300... though, as Toshiba has shown, if you're not selling TVs, and people think you have a failed format, no enough people will buy even then.


So, yeah, price matters, but I don't buy into the who "magic number" theory that HD DVD proponents keep stating. First it was $299, when that didn't work, they decided it would be $199. At the end of the day, other factors matter a lot as well.

[MOONPHASE]

I say the more expensive blu-ray players are the better its going to be my motto is you get what you pay for thats why Hd-Dvd players are cheaper because they are cheaper quality

[aristotles]

I agree that the price of players is not as important as the HD DVD promotional group makes it out to be. Blu-ray is perceived to be the better choice partly because the it does cost a bit more for the hardware but also because there is a lot of hardware choice for BD players.

Eventually, I want to by a standalone BD player and I'm glad to see that I will have a lot of different products/brands to choose from.

The BDA needs to concentrate on bringing down the cost of the production of the discs and subsequently the price of individual titles towards the same level as DVD titles while keeping up quality.

I believe what turns most non-adopters off HD media is the price. I have to say that most of the time the Blu-ray versions of titles from neutral studios like Warner had a price advantage over their HD DVD counterparts but we can do better by either meeting or beating the price of the DVD releases.

[MouseRider]

Cost is not high on the list of factors for me.

[monkyman]

Cost is obviously not a factor for me if I bought one. It would have been nice if it were $200.00, but It was something I wanted and could pay for. Again, cost is relivant to what your buying. I never buy the cheapest item, and I rarely buy the most expensive.