New Lowest Bar for BD Cost

[GreatGreg]

Don't know about you guys, but lately my lowest bar for buying a BD is $5.00 (3 for $15).

I'm no rabbit but I'll buy almost anything at $5.00 as it is my rock-bottom price for new BDs.

For used BDs, it's probably $4.00.

I keep a list of my collection and what I paid and looking back it wasn't long ago when I was scooping up tons of stuff at $10.00 each.

However, I don't see BDs going for much less than $5.00 as that is roughly the cost of the blank media (50 GB Blu-ray disc) right now when you pay retail.

I also started digging back and buying a few DVDs lately because there are some movies which haven't (may never) made the jump to Blu.

[cfraser]

^ Yes to both of what you said.

Years ago I waited for a mainstream/catalog BD to drop to $20. Then it was $15, then $10, where it pretty much remains now. I'll buy just about any half-decent (IMO...) BD at $10, and I'll re-buy a DVD title I have a middling interest in on BD for $5, as well as just about any BD title I have a vague interest in.

I also still buy a lot of DVDs. A couple weeks ago I bought >30 DVD titles, it's the only way to get hard copies of most of the films. Many actually just became available for the first time in anamorphic format last year even! So if they're that late to DVD, getting them on BD doesn't seem a realistic expectation at this point.

I don't get the dissing of DVDs going on in some threads recently. It is the best hard format for a lot of stuff, may be the only hard format for us "ever" for plenty of stuff. Also it's pretty cheap; I can get so-so movies that I'm really on the fence about for ~$3 each, and maybe I'll like enough to get the BD for typically at least 3X the price. Many good movies you'll never find on any streaming service either, because guess what, people want to get paid. I have a pretty decent A/V setup, and I don't feel "deprived" by watching DVDs.

[jcaste]

Amen !

I used to pull the trigger on releases that I was interested when the hit below 15$, but now I very pick, plus my collection is starting to outgrow the office space in my condo.

Nowadays, the only time I pay more then 10$ for anything is basically only steelbooks of new releases or maybe 10-15$ for catalog steelbooks.

Most of the other releases I try to wait for a deal between 4-6$ or when I hit Dollarama, Videotron, Tiger Giant.

I also buy DVD's quite often, mostly obscure titles that (probably) won't ever see get the Blugrade treatment and TV Shows. Last year I was buying all kinds of DVD/Blu-Ray lots on Kijiji, picking out all the stuff I didn't own and reselling them for cheap. I logged every single DVDs/Blu-Rays I bought over that period and I keep around 200 Blu-Rays and 400 DVDs with an average cost of 1.50$ per Blu-Ray and 0.25$ per DVD after I had sold everything off.

Ya....Okay... I admit it, I'm a hoarder. (Damn my girlfriend is right)

Keep On Collecting !!!

[Animatic33]

Originally Posted by cfraser

[...]
I don't get the dissing of DVDs going on in some threads recently. It is the best hard format for a lot of stuff, may be the only hard format for us "ever" for plenty of stuff. Also it's pretty cheap; I can get so-so movies that I'm really on the fence about for ~$3 each, and maybe I'll like enough to get the BD for typically at least 3X the price. Many good movies you'll never find on any streaming service either, because guess what, people want to get paid. I have a pretty decent A/V setup, and I don't feel "deprived" by watching DVDs.

To each his/her own! Price of used or old copies definitely can't be beat.

I do feel sorta responsible for what I mentioned in another thread, but I must say that I think modern films (especially those from Disney) get the short end of the stick when released on DVD alongside their Blu-ray counterparts. Almost as if the downgrade being used for DVDs is some flimsy codec that the studio doesn't pay too much attention to tweaking. I can say that the picture quality is not just degraded, but are a full few steps down with up-scaling thrown on top of the image.

However, as an owner of many TV shows on DVD as well as a fair amount of classics on DVDs, I understand that many catalog releases will never get a BR treatment, and if they do.. then they are at the mercy of their studio's willingness to do a decent scan/restore. I can see as well that digital streaming is creating a lot of strain on studios outlook on whether restoring for BR discs are entirely worth it. There are quite a few blu releases out there that actually look marginally better or the same as their DVD counterparts.

That being said, I also agree with the OP, bluray disc prices are hitting some all-time lows right now. Kind of crazy.

[cfraser]

Originally Posted by Animatic33

There are quite a few blu releases out there that actually look marginally better or the same as their DVD counterparts.

Yes, surprisingly marginally better. BD is just a medium, they can throw any old crap on it, and they sometimes do...it sure is no guarantee of quality. I suspect DVDs will be the cockroaches of the video world.

Those prices I mentioned are for new DVDs. From the UK, so R2, people there will just not pay "as much" for DVD/BD as we will. And that ties into Greg's thing: they price according to the market. Same product, different market, different price. And a steadily decreasing market = good for us.

As for what jcaste talked about: I am not a collector, nor a hoarder. Really just an accumulator with space. If I ran out of space, I could easily get rid of tons of DVDs that I'll never watch again, way too much good stuff to re-watch to bother with the mediocre or worse. My thing is that even at $10/disc, it's pretty cheap entertainment IMO. Games are way better entertainment bang for the buck though, if you're into that. But sometimes I just like to veg and let the machines do all the work = movies.

[sharkattack3000]

Yeah I agree with most of what's been said already.

My "magic number" has always been $10 for movies I have interest in unless I'm certain it's the kind of title that will certainly fall below that price. Then I will wait a bit longer.

At $5 I will grab titles that I have any kind of vague interest in.

I know some that will only wait for $5 mark for all titles. I think that is a bit extreme because a lot of less common films never make it to that mark and you would be missing out on them indefinitely.

[cfraser]

^ Yes, especially if it's kind of niche (e.g. most Criterion/Eureka/Arrow/Shout/Kino), or is evenly remotely connected to The Mouse. I sometimes pay $30-40 for a single BD (basic packaging) if I like/want it enough. And a couple times I got some Twilight Time BDs and let's just say importing those makes the other brands mentioned look like bargain-bin-priced titles...I'll live with the DVDs for their other titles I want until/if they get a general BD release, TTs are kind of bare-bones really.

[GuyIncognito]

You're just now at $5? My price for quite a while has been around $5. $15 and under for 3D although now my 3D price might be lower (not really much I want these days anymore though).

My exception was popular steelbook releases that I wanted or Disney movies which became about $9 or less using DMC