Chinese companies authorized to produce Blu-ray products

[Bobby Henderson]

I have mixed feelings about the BDA allowing these Chinese manufacturers to get involved with making their old brands of Blu-ray Disc players. On one hand, it should be a goal to get Blu-ray players into the marketplace at or below the $199 price level to attract a greater degree of mainstream customers. The downside is if prices get too cheap then the market is poisoned and unprofitable.

Look at the DVD player market now. I feel sorry for any electronics salesperson who has to waste more than a couple of breaths selling one of those things to someone. The players are so cheap they're not worth spending effort to sell them. What kind of commission are you going to get from a $50 player? Some pocket change for the Coke machine? DVD players are now loss leader items designed to get people into stores and enticed to buy a TV or something else of real value.

Like it or not, Blu-ray is still a very young format that has not reached full maturity. Some players still have various glitches. Content creators (the movie studios) sometimes have glitches in their products. That situation requires manufacturers, movie studios and even the people who sell the product to make themselves available to provide help in case of any problems. That's what customer service is all about.

But customer service and technical support turn into luxury items when that electronics product suddenly costs less than a tank of gasoline for an ordinary car.