Ask questions to The Digital Bits team (Bill Hunt, Jeff Kleist et.al.)

[dakota81]

Originally Posted by coolmilo

Which is better, to make $5 profit per unit on selling 10,000 copies of a Blu-ray movie or to make $2 profit per unit on selling 10,000,000 copies?

That's too exaggerated an example. A difference of $3 will not increase sales 1000%. The BOGO sales last fall dropped prices by $10-$15 per unit, and we're still not even close to a 1m seller. A more accurate example might be a $10 drop in price, to generate a 20% increase in sales.

[Nick Graham]

I think a big problem (and this is not meant to be a shot at Bill) is that Fox has always kept a good relationship with many of the prominent AV websites, which makes it more uncomfortable than it normally would be for those sites to take Fox to task for their pricing. I'd like to see a lot of the prominent sites out their work together on a respectful but outspoken campaign on this. It's not like it's doing anything other than hindering Blu-Ray adoption, which is our primary cause now that the format war is over.

[marine92104]

Bill can you find out from Fox how long it is going to take to get a replacement copy of Die Hard 2.

It won't play the DTS-HD MA soundtrack. I contacted them by email a couple of months ago on their site as they suggested but it just said I was added to their list with no information on how long it is going to take to get a corrected copy.

It is listed on their website as having a defective DTS-HD MA soundtrack.

I have tried contacting them since then but no one seems to know how or when this will be replaced.

Thanks.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by 1974

So you're stating with your "grateful" comment that Blu-ray is not ready to go mass market quite yet? SD DVD didn't take off until such high pricing came down.

Actually, SDVD started moving towards mass market mode precisely when DVD players reached 349-399$ and Fox was pricing their discs at 29.99$ (to be exact 349$ was a price point which occurred before Paramount and Fox, the two most expensive distribs, adjusted their software tags to 29.99$). The last title, as far as I can recall, Fox produced at the 34.99 price point was Brokedown Palace...the Fight Club SE release was when Fox became a notable force on the market.

I don't recall what was the "breaking point" for Paramount, as they kept the 34.99$ price tag longer than Fox did, but I believe it was in and around Event Horizon, the-non SE.

With this being said, given that there are two distribs that are yet to enter the market to balance pricing out I very much believe that BR is progressing just as well if not better than SDVD.

Ciao,
Pro-B

[bajor27]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

With this being said, given that there are two distribs that are yet to enter the market to balance pricing out

This is a great point, and one I hadn't really thought of. It's hard to say where Universal will price their Blus (and to a lesser extent where Paramount will price theirs). Fox may be forced to finally lower their MSRPs once they have more competition.

Fox titles already fall behind Disney on my purchase priority simply because of price, but I still manage to pick them up eventually because releases aren't in huge amounts so I usually have time to catch up, but if Paramount and Uni were to enter the equation and both were priced below Fox, than it would be harder and harder for me to keep up with the Fox titles.

I imagine I'm not alone in this as it's hard to justify only buying 6 Fox titles, when you could be buying at least 7 titles from other studios for the same total price.

I know I mentioned this in another forum, but I wouldn't have even bought I am Legend if it were a Fox title. Only reason I bought it was because of it's low price.

[garytma]

Hi Bill,

First off, I wanted to add my voice, to all those who have stated their appreciation for your contributions to this site. And for my money, I must say that the Digital Bits weighed heavily, in my decision to take the Blu-ray plunge last summer. And that was a decision that I am glad I made!

I have followed your writing since your time with Widescreen Review. I've long been a fan of that magazine, but have been surprised to see that Gary Reber, and other writers for WSR, seemed to have been advocates of HD-DVD, from the get go. And even now, though fully acknowledging Blu-ray's win of the HD disc format war, seem to be saddened by that fact.

Goodness, is WSR partially owned by Microsoft? And is the magazine's hiring of Amir Maiidimehr, as a columnist, perhaps some kind of telling action on WSR's part?

I guess I have been surprised by the tone of the last year of WSR issues, that have seemed to take a certain side, in the format war, favoring HD-DVD. In the past, WSR has always appeared to stand for fair reporting, and insisting on presenting a stand that underlined their notion that home theater should be the "best that it can be".

Perhaps it is my imagination that the reporting, on this format war, has been slightly to one side. At any rate I will continue, for now, to be a loyal reader of Widescreen Review.

[milou6]

After the holidays when BD has reached a lot more homes, market forces will drive prices down. The first drop will be that studios will have to compete with each other on MSRP pricing for J6P who shops at BB and CC: why pick up a movie you want for $39 if next to it is another movie you want for $29?

In the meantime we are still early adopters. Personally I am renting BD via netflix for most of my content and waiting for prices to improve before growing my measly collection.

Incidentally, I am an example of someone who spent $3k on a set but doesn't want to shell out big bucks for BDs. But I will pay a lot for a movie I truly love, and if Batman: The Movie were one of those I would buy it (through Amazon).

So *if* I'm right, or at least in the right ballpark, we only have to wait out the holidays for prices to become more reasonable as we at least reach pricing parity among studio offerings.

Sorry Bill for taking up space on your thread -- your time here (and The Bits) is much appreciated.

[TheRealBob]

Originally Posted by Slec

The beauty of a free market is, if you think its too expensive....don't buy it. If you want to send a message, that's how you do it...

Not to get off of blu-ray discussion, but Bill, do you think there is a situation that would make the networks rethink their approach to television shows? Your point about them chasing the next great reality show and that X-Files would never last today are spot on! It's just a sad affair at the moment and many, many people don't like it (and following my point above, are turning off network tv and going elsewhere)

That's the beauty of the free market. If you want to send a message, don't watch it.

(Sorry, Slec, I couldn't resist.)

[TheRealBob]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

Not exactly. Fox is charging prices on some of their catalog BDs that we *never* saw with DVD even in its early days. That's not criticizing one studio for charging slightly more than another, that's basically asking why Fox is charching laserdisc-price-levels for a product when DVD never commanded such high prices at any point during its life cycle.

I have to disagree with that one, as the Criterion collection DVDs were $60 or $70 in the early days of DVD. That's how much I paid for This Is Spinal Tap on DVD in 1998 (although it's going for $140 now, so that was apparently a good investment).

There's also inflation. DVDs were typically $25 - $30 during the first few years, which is $32.18 to $38.62 in 2007 dollars.

[TheRealBob]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

Fox charged $34.95 for all their discs (with inflation, that's basically $39.99) for about the first 2 years of DVD.

$34.95 in 1998 dollars is $44.99 in 2007 dollars.

Source: http://www.westegg.com/inflation/

So it's actually lower in real dollars.

[WickyWoo]

have to disagree with that one, as the Criterion collection DVDs were $60 or $70 in the early days of DVD.

Maybe that's what you were paying for the OOP ones. $39.99 was typical, $49.99 for Armageddon (2-disc when that was a new thing), and i think Brazil was $69.99 (3 discs, tons of extras)

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by garytma

Hi Bill,

First off, I wanted to add my voice, to all those who have stated their appreciation for your contributions to this site. And for my money, I must say that the Digital Bits weighed heavily, in my decision to take the Blu-ray plunge last summer. And that was a decision that I am glad I made!

I have followed your writing since your time with Widescreen Review. I've long been a fan of that magazine, but have been surprised to see that Gary Reber, and other writers for WSR, seemed to have been advocates of HD-DVD, from the get go. And even now, though fully acknowledging Blu-ray's win of the HD disc format war, seem to be saddened by that fact.

Goodness, is WSR partially owned by Microsoft? And is the magazine's hiring of Amir Maiidimehr, as a columnist, perhaps some kind of telling action on WSR's part?

I guess I have been surprised by the tone of the last year of WSR issues, that have seemed to take a certain side, in the format war, favoring HD-DVD. In the past, WSR has always appeared to stand for fair reporting, and insisting on presenting a stand that underlined their notion that home theater should be the "best that it can be".

Perhaps it is my imagination that the reporting, on this format war, has been slightly to one side. At any rate I will continue, for now, to be a loyal reader of Widescreen Review.

I’ll take this one for Bill as he’s answered some for me on my thread…..plus I’m always a glass half full person anyway

I feel that WSR got themselves a Grade A-1 spin-miester (as we all know from past history) so this is good……meaning –
Gary, in case there is further reluctance on Greg Rogers or Bill Cushman’s part to *evaluate* speakers, I think that WSR has just found themselves the perfect man for the job…..Amir should make a lot of manufacturers very happy if he takes up speaker duties as a “contributing” editor.

And Amir, I hope that you are truly enjoying your *retirement* status, as I’ll inform you that some of the smartest and the sagest MS employees (considered by you yourself as well as forum readers) are happy they no longer have to worry about being thoroughly *reprimanded* by you for buying future Blu-ray players like they did when they bought the PS3 and you were still at the software company…..which was their own personal business over which you had no authority.

P.S.
In regards to your query about Gary, he’s been described as an “agenda-driven moderator* in the past anyway, so this is nothing new…………………

http://www.audioholics.com/news/on-l...sound-standard

[dialog_gvf]

A different moderator Gary.

[PaulGo]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

And Amir, I hope that you are truly enjoying your *retirement* status, as I’ll inform you that some of the smartest and the sagest MS employees (considered by you yourself as well as forum readers) are happy they no longer have to worry about being thoroughly *reprimanded* by you for buying future Blu-ray players like they did when they bought the PS3 and you were still at the software company…..which was their own personal business over which you had no authority.

That is totally off the wall! From my disputes with Amir on the AVS forum I knew he had some problems but from what you just stated he really is a control freak (although he did state he had a PS3 for "evaluation" purposes ). I remember the You Tube video of Hitler with the subtitles of Toshiba conceding defeat - perhaps Amir could have been cast in that role - from a personality standpoint he would have been a natural!

Also in most large corporations employees give feedback and rate their supervisors, with his attitude I wonder if his employees did not contribute to his "retirement".

[thebluemax]

Bill

I just bought the Pioneer Elite Pro150FD through the Digital Bits Power Buy replacing a Samsung 61" DLP. Do you feel that this was a wise decision?


Thanks

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by PaulGo

That is totally off the wall! From my disputes with Amir on the AVS forum I knew he had some problems but from what you just stated he really is a control freak......

It’s the bomb when one has the PM’s from said employees to prove it…..if necessary.

[GreenScar]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

It’s the bomb when one has the PM’s from said employees to prove it…..if necessary.

"With great power comes great responsibility"

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by jasonbird

"With great power comes great responsibility"

I never draw First Blood but alas, I’m too weak to turn the other cheek.

[PeterTHX]

I dumped WSR when it became the DTS Newsletter. I no longer wanted to suffer through articles reprinting his letter to the FCC demanding they replace DD with DTS (even though DTS had no working product at lower bitrates) and an entire article on his car with DTS sound system, and articles slamming the upcoming DVD standard and lamenting in (a diner interview with Joe Kane) on how LD was going to lose it's high-end niche status. It was no surprise to me he embraced HD DVD.

[JackStraw]

I'm going to have to post some of their quotes from their big DVD issue from the 90's. It's the one with Mars Attacks on the cover. It wound up being one lie after another after another with Gary Reber at the helm. That magazine lost it's credibility after that issue with me.