Are we in Europe paying the subsidy for you lucky US Panasonic Blu Ray fans

[paul623]

Are we in Europe paying the subsidy for you lucky US Panasonic Blu Ray fans

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Panasonic DMP-BD10A
USA Model Street price $599 + sales tax.
Inc. 5 Free BD Movies + 5 Free on mail in offer conservative value $200

Real world cost $399 + tax


Panasonic DMP-BD10AEGK
Euro model street price
Lowest online availability $991. ! + tax = $1164 ! lowest retail

Not even 1 BD title

Now the bottom line

Contained within this great player is the following drive,
Mfrg: Panasonic SKU: PAN-SW-5582-C
Mfrg Code: SW-5582-C
available in the US here
http://www.shop4tech.com/item5909.htmlItem SKU: PAN-SW-5582-C

Retail (wait for it) $799 + tax

So we must ask are we in Europe paying the subsidy for you lucky US Blu Ray fans

Paul

[WickyWoo]

Things in Europe are more expensive in general, and the Euro is worth a lot more than the US dollar. The yen is tied to the US$, and thanks to all of our wonderful free trade deals(take that as you may) there aren't the huge import duties, plus the reduced cost of doing business because they don't have to have an office in what would be the equivalent of every state in the US.

Combine that with the lower expected sales at this time in Europe, and that the average salary is quite a bit more than people in the US (exchange rate, not buying power) and there you go.

[Blue]

Well Oz is subsidising all of you. We still only have the BD10 however had just dropped from approx $US2,200 to US$1,200 - nothing free, not even delivery or (not positive) a HDMI cable.

[jubaiweaponx]

touche

[paul623]

Originally Posted by Blue

Well Oz is subsidising all of you. We still only have the BD10 however had just dropped from approx $US2,200 to US$1,200 - nothing f
ree, not even delivery or (not positive) a HDMI cable.

I see from the Pana Aus site that you have the same "list price" as us in the UK RRP: $1,649 [GST Inc.] = £700 inc vat bu this appears to be for the 10 not the 10A so will Aus be getting the 10A presumably at a lower price?
Paul

[GasCat]

Is the Panasonic DMP-BD10A capable of writing to a Blu disc?

Your standalone drive is a BD writer. (SW-5582-C) I would expect it to cost a bit more.

[paul623]

Originally Posted by GasCat

Is the Panasonic DMP-BD10A capable of writing to a Blu disc?

Your standalone drive is a BD writer. (SW-5582-C) I would expect it to cost a bit more.

did you go to the site and look at the spec? do you mean "a bit more than the horrendous $799, it is believed that the write aspect been disabled!

Paul

[WickyWoo]

Standard procedure to disable features like that when it's easier to just crank out one drive.

The only difference between a 486SX and DX back in the day was a pin on the chip being present. Supposedly you could do some surgery and voila, re-enabled

Since the Panasonic deck lacks the software for writing, doesn't seem like thta's much of a threat though

[Chris Gerhard]

I don't believe Europeans are subsidizing anything, not many players are being sold. The Blu-ray manufacturers will have to lower prices or that never changes. I do agree the prices are outrageous comparatively based on prices mentioned here. It sure seems to me both groups are selling players at a loss in the US.

Chris

[GasCat]

Yes, I went to the link you provided. Where are you picking up this story from AVS, Gizmodo or is it your own?

1. First you show a US unit for 599 which includes free discs and then deduct 200 dollars from the cost so that it is 399. I'm paying 600 dollars. The store won't give it to me for 200 less. There are many who bought Blu players at over 1000 in the US and didn't get any free discs.

They sell at the highest price to the fewest people, that dries up so companies then lower the price. They find more buyers at that price point. This is simple economics. If you do not like the price then wait, the prices will go down. If you can't wait and want a player now then you'll have to pay for the lowest price you can find.

2. You add tax to the EU model number but don't do this to the one selling in the states. Is this just to make the difference in price seem larger than it is?

3. As for your last point, the players do not have the same functionality. You link to that model is meaningless.