The Time has come to say goodbye to Blu-ray… - Blu-ray Forum

Grant Matrix · 10-01-2008, 12:29 PM

Many of you make the very valid point that DVDs were also expensive upon initial release in the mid 90's. However at the same time that DVD came into being, online shopping was taking it's first steps to becoming something big. Amazon was still relatively young, Buy.com was just getting started and Deepdiscount.com didn't even exist back then.

Online sellers had the most incredible deals, buy 2 for $20. Spend $30 get $10 in credit, etc. Shipping prices were insanely cheap. The online retailers in a bid to establish themselves really raised the bar on sales and deals. B&M stores were very very slow to adopt DVD leaving online as the place to turn to build your movie collection. Obviously they were still making profit even while offering these deals and it wasn't until about 3-4 years into the format that B&M stores finally began to competivly match prices with etailers.

The problem is that deals are now few and far between. Last year's BOGOs were awesome, but then again Blu was trying to win a war. There were a couple awesome BOGOs earlier in 2008, but for the most part those days are gone. Now you get B2G1, where the etailers raise their prices for the sale.

The Blu-ray camps thinks that thay have won the war, but they really haven't. They won a single battle in the larger war for our entertainment dollars. VOD and digital downloads are still in it to win. While all of us here have a great appreciation for the physical media and its superior everything, there is a larger segment of society who will be happy with the quality of streaming media, somthing I am vehemently opposed to.

Price is an issue and the way the Blu-ray camp is going I can't help but feel they are pricing themselves in the same direction as the music indisutry. $18-20 CDs is one small reason the recording industry is in such disarry. Movie pirating is on the rise and the stuidos feel it is becomming a bigger and bigger issue. Prices on Blu-ray movies need to decrease and until that happens the adoption rate will remain steady and not at levels that the stuidos and hardware manufactutures would like to see.

I would love to be able to afford the best quality all the time, but given a choice of having 2-3 wants and being able to buy them all vs only being able to buy one, I am going with the more is more option.

Xen · 10-01-2008, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grant Matrix

Movie pirating is on the rise and the stuidos feel it is becomming a bigger and bigger issue.

Mostly because DVD's are so easy to pirate. Blu-ray, at least for now, is significantly more difficult to pirate--and would be a beast to download.

davcole · 10-01-2008, 12:39 PM

I've a sense by the end of the Christmas season you'll see each studio with a budget line. I also think that starting next year you'll see MSRP drop on new releases.

CAB · 10-01-2008, 01:15 PM

So reduction in the volume will drive prices down? I often wonder how people come to the conclusion that businesses are charitable organizations that exist to provide us jobs and give their products away at a loss. I know! We can have the government tell Blu-ray how they should make their products and who they should sell them to and how much they charge! We're seeing how well that works for the US car industry and the home finance markets.

stockstar1138 · 10-01-2008, 01:15 PM

I agree quite a bit with the OP.

It is tougher to find blu-rays cheap now than it was 12 months ago, especially with newer titles.

I don't like paying over $20 for a blu unless it is of exceptional quality (Pixar, Close Encounters, Blade Runner) and on some of these new titles (and even catalogs) they can't be found hardly anywhere for under $25.

I'm certainly willing to pay a premium for blu-ray and don't expect to pay DVD prices. I truly hate DVD and have never found myself saying that DVD is good enough. Im not going to shell out $15, watch a movie thinking to myself the whole time that it looks bad. Im actually more willing to spend a ridiculous price on blu and be a stasfied customer. But Im even more willing to simply wait for the movie and pick it up cheap a year after its come out and thats what ive been doing and rent it if i really got to watch it now.

I got plenty of great movies on blu to watch, Ive got plenty of PS3 games to play if I want, unless I find acceptable prices on blu, which has become hard lately, i simply won't buy it. it saves me money, it sends a message to studios and retailers that were not going to pay out of our butt for a blu-ray.

thats my thoughts. ive only bought 1 blu-ray in the past 8 weeks (The Nightmare Before Xmas), it is of acceptional quality and well worth quite a large premium (found it for $24.95)

bg_nyc · 10-01-2008, 01:26 PM

Is there not an entire section of the forum dedicated to dealz?

Stop buying blu's, and the prices will go up. More volume means more units to spread around their fixed costs. Thats why mass adoption will lead to lower prices.

Monkeyspoons Revenge · 10-01-2008, 01:27 PM

Dont be so silly people. What percentage of the Blu Ray buying public do you think will read this thread. Less than 1%. Studios will not notice any drop in sales caused by this thread. Boycotting buying blu rays will only affect you and make you the losers.

stockstar1138 · 10-01-2008, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Monkeyspoons Revenge

Dont be so silly people. What percentage of the Blu Ray buying public do you think will read this thread. Less than 1%. Studios will not notice any drop in sales caused by this thread. Boycotting buying blu rays will only affect you and make you the losers.

im not really boycotting as much as i want a fair value. if i feel like its worth it, i will gladly pay for it.

i know there are many blu fans who never go on internet forums and whatnot, but i know i can't be the only person who feels this way about the current situation in pricing.

on top of that, i know there are insiders who read these boards and if there is enough grumbling they will talk about it with the head blu honchos. we are probably some of the most hardcore blu fans out there and if were not happy, there is a good chance many, many other customers aren't.

Bolaar · 10-01-2008, 01:48 PM

Sadly I have stopped buying the over priced blu-ray's at this time.

This was something I had been wanting to ask in this forum at some point...just never got around to i.

Sorry but $25+ for a disc...I don't care what "extras" or how "pretty" it is...no worth it.

I would really enjoy seeing the new releases...just not for that price. And they seem to be getting pricier...slowly.

prerich · 10-01-2008, 01:57 PM

I bought LD's for $50+ back in the day - this is nothing compared to that. It's the price of early adoption and being on the cutting edge. The prices of movies will come down eventually - I haven't paid over $29.00 for a movie.

All of my movies have great audio quality. (Lionsgate knows how to do it and so does the early Disney stuff)!!! I only own 2 Warner Brothers Movies on BD
(Blue Planet and I Am Legend). Granted my collection is not huge but its in the 30ish range (2 out of 30 something...that's saying something)

neos_peace · 10-01-2008, 02:24 PM

I can personally say this about my collection. Even though its very small

. I have a wapping 17 titles, of which 15 of them were failry new titles that I got of of ebay (yes I'm an ebayholic

) for $15 and thats including the shipping cost. I agree wiht most on here that you just got to find the deals. I my self are in the middle of converting my ENTIREE collection over to bluray. But what I personally do is this when I get a few titles on blu, I take the DVD titles and trade them into my local FYE and get store creidt and buy another blu title and only end up spending another $5-$10, if that. I persoanlly always look for deals, I'm cheap I know I'm proud of that. I am a hardcore believer in blu and will never go back to DVD. I can remember when DVD came out it was the exact same way that blu is now. No offense but people that go against Blu for cost reasons, and availablity, are exeptecting to much to soon. IS blu costly yes, but not if you look for deals like eveyone else says. Just give it time.dude.

Ernest Rister · 10-01-2008, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stockstar1138

im not really boycotting as much as i want a fair value. if i feel like its worth it, i will gladly pay for it.

The price premium for the ability to see films in High Definition isn't worth it? The extra five to ten dollars over the S-DVD verison isn't a fair value? Are you serious?

Kyo28 · 10-01-2008, 03:08 PM

Regarding the price, I believe that the suggested retail price for a BD is about the same as the suggested retail price for a DVD, taken in the same time-frame after their respective launches and taking into consideration inflation.

So in that regard, I don't see a problem with the price, personally, but I can understand others do. But as Blu-ray gets more and more adopted, prices will drop like it happened with DVD.

The only price-related issue I have is that domestic Japanese releases are too expensive, but that's another story ...

BaronVH · 10-01-2008, 01:28 PM

I paid $67 for the Godfather movies on Blu-ray. I paid well over $100 for them on DVD when they first came out on sale. The prices will come down, but they are not bad. I can remember VHS tapes being over $100 for a single movie when they were first released.

I do think that stores should do first week discounts more. The real problem with the format is the price of stand alone players. That is what needs to change (and 1.1 players need to drop considerably). Of course, DVD players were expensive at this stage in the game, but there needs to be deeper adoption, in my opinion.

obiwopkenobi62 · 10-01-2008, 01:28 PM

Back in the days of Beta and VHS(early days) movies were super expensive. I remember paying 50 to 100 bucks for one movie. Nowadays Blu is cheap in comparison. It's really not any more expensive than when DVD hit the market. Not really high priced considering it's still relatively new tech. I won't stop buying Blu but I will not go back to DVD. If you want sub par quality stick with DVD. I want the best quality and that is Blu......

masob98 · 10-01-2008, 01:40 PM

I love movies and I love bluray. Im patient enough to wait for some of title's prices to drop. There are a few I can name that are coming out these next few months that I will get immediately, but other than that, I wont buy a bluray unless I can get it for less than 20. I want to build my collection as well, but Im not in that much of a hurry and I know as time progresses the prices will drop even more.

sfmarine · 10-01-2008, 01:43 PM

I love movies. Blu-ray is great. For those who are still "in the dvd stage" god bless them. I saw @ Walmart that the 2 disk edition (dvd) of Ironman was $24.96......I got the blu-ray edition @ Best Buy for $2 more. So, the pricing isn't bad when you think about it. WB has come down in price as well as Fox....only a matter of time before Universal does.

Elandyll · 10-01-2008, 01:43 PM

Erm .. why stopping buying now, when the prices -are- going down ?

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/09/30...blu-ray-discs/

SpaceDog · 10-01-2008, 01:43 PM

If you don't think Blu-Ray isn't worth more than DVD, perhaps Blu-Ray isn't the right choice for you.

gtmorgan23 · 10-01-2008, 01:50 PM

I have around 40 blu-rays, i rent the ones that i know i wont watch more than once and I buy ones that i consider to be classics or multi watch movies per say. But with my setup, dvd's and their audio cant shake a stick at a good blu-ray film. There is just no comparison. Funny thing is even my wife can tell a difference in the quality between the two experiences.

10-01-2008, 12:29 PM	#1
Grant Matrix Banned Member since:Dec 2007 Blu-ray reviews:4 Trading Score:1	Many of you make the very valid point that DVDs were also expensive upon initial release in the mid 90's. However at the same time that DVD came into being, online shopping was taking it's first steps to becoming something big. Amazon was still relatively young, Buy.com was just getting started and Deepdiscount.com didn't even exist back then. Online sellers had the most incredible deals, buy 2 for $20. Spend $30 get $10 in credit, etc. Shipping prices were insanely cheap. The online retailers in a bid to establish themselves really raised the bar on sales and deals. B&M stores were very very slow to adopt DVD leaving online as the place to turn to build your movie collection. Obviously they were still making profit even while offering these deals and it wasn't until about 3-4 years into the format that B&M stores finally began to competivly match prices with etailers. The problem is that deals are now few and far between. Last year's BOGOs were awesome, but then again Blu was trying to win a war. There were a couple awesome BOGOs earlier in 2008, but for the most part those days are gone. Now you get B2G1, where the etailers raise their prices for the sale. The Blu-ray camps thinks that thay have won the war, but they really haven't. They won a single battle in the larger war for our entertainment dollars. VOD and digital downloads are still in it to win. While all of us here have a great appreciation for the physical media and its superior everything, there is a larger segment of society who will be happy with the quality of streaming media, somthing I am vehemently opposed to. Price is an issue and the way the Blu-ray camp is going I can't help but feel they are pricing themselves in the same direction as the music indisutry. $18-20 CDs is one small reason the recording industry is in such disarry. Movie pirating is on the rise and the stuidos feel it is becomming a bigger and bigger issue. Prices on Blu-ray movies need to decrease and until that happens the adoption rate will remain steady and not at levels that the stuidos and hardware manufactutures would like to see. I would love to be able to afford the best quality all the time, but given a choice of having 2-3 wants and being able to buy them all vs only being able to buy one, I am going with the more is more option. Last edited by Grant Matrix; 10-01-2008 at 12:34 PM.

10-01-2008, 02:24 PM	#11
neos_peace Special Member Member since:Jul 2008 Location:Shamokin Dam, Pa Home Theater Gallery:14 Blu-ray collection:279 Trading Score:1	make CENTS of the point I can personally say this about my collection. Even though its very small . I have a wapping 17 titles, of which 15 of them were failry new titles that I got of of ebay (yes I'm an ebayholic ) for $15 and thats including the shipping cost. I agree wiht most on here that you just got to find the deals. I my self are in the middle of converting my ENTIREE collection over to bluray. But what I personally do is this when I get a few titles on blu, I take the DVD titles and trade them into my local FYE and get store creidt and buy another blu title and only end up spending another $5-$10, if that. I persoanlly always look for deals, I'm cheap I know I'm proud of that. I am a hardcore believer in blu and will never go back to DVD. I can remember when DVD came out it was the exact same way that blu is now. No offense but people that go against Blu for cost reasons, and availablity, are exeptecting to much to soon. IS blu costly yes, but not if you look for deals like eveyone else says. Just give it time.dude.

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10-01-2008, 12:39 PM	#3
davcole Power Member Member since:Aug 2007 Location:Cincinnati, Oh 4K collection:138 Blu-ray collection:407 Digital collection:25 Blu-ray reviews: 146 Trading Score:9	I've a sense by the end of the Christmas season you'll see each studio with a budget line. I also think that starting next year you'll see MSRP drop on new releases.

10-01-2008, 01:15 PM	#4
CAB Blu-ray Guru Member since:Jul 2007 Location:::1 4K collection:88 Blu-ray collection:1827 Trading Score:4	So reduction in the volume will drive prices down? I often wonder how people come to the conclusion that businesses are charitable organizations that exist to provide us jobs and give their products away at a loss. I know! We can have the government tell Blu-ray how they should make their products and who they should sell them to and how much they charge! We're seeing how well that works for the US car industry and the home finance markets.

10-01-2008, 01:15 PM	#5
stockstar1138 Banned Member since:Apr 2007	I agree quite a bit with the OP. It is tougher to find blu-rays cheap now than it was 12 months ago, especially with newer titles. I don't like paying over $20 for a blu unless it is of exceptional quality (Pixar, Close Encounters, Blade Runner) and on some of these new titles (and even catalogs) they can't be found hardly anywhere for under $25. I'm certainly willing to pay a premium for blu-ray and don't expect to pay DVD prices. I truly hate DVD and have never found myself saying that DVD is good enough. Im not going to shell out $15, watch a movie thinking to myself the whole time that it looks bad. Im actually more willing to spend a ridiculous price on blu and be a stasfied customer. But Im even more willing to simply wait for the movie and pick it up cheap a year after its come out and thats what ive been doing and rent it if i really got to watch it now. I got plenty of great movies on blu to watch, Ive got plenty of PS3 games to play if I want, unless I find acceptable prices on blu, which has become hard lately, i simply won't buy it. it saves me money, it sends a message to studios and retailers that were not going to pay out of our butt for a blu-ray. thats my thoughts. ive only bought 1 blu-ray in the past 8 weeks (The Nightmare Before Xmas), it is of acceptional quality and well worth quite a large premium (found it for $24.95)

10-01-2008, 01:26 PM	#6
bg_nyc Member Member since:Dec 2007 Blu-ray reviews:3	Is there not an entire section of the forum dedicated to dealz? Stop buying blu's, and the prices will go up. More volume means more units to spread around their fixed costs. Thats why mass adoption will lead to lower prices.

10-01-2008, 01:27 PM	#7
Monkeyspoons Revenge Power Member Member since:Oct 2007	Dont be so silly people. What percentage of the Blu Ray buying public do you think will read this thread. Less than 1%. Studios will not notice any drop in sales caused by this thread. Boycotting buying blu rays will only affect you and make you the losers.

10-01-2008, 01:48 PM	#9
Bolaar Expert Member Member since:Jan 2007 Location:Munson, OH Blu-ray collection:111 Trading Score:22	Sadly I have stopped buying the over priced blu-ray's at this time. This was something I had been wanting to ask in this forum at some point...just never got around to i. Sorry but $25+ for a disc...I don't care what "extras" or how "pretty" it is...no worth it. I would really enjoy seeing the new releases...just not for that price. And they seem to be getting pricier...slowly.

10-01-2008, 01:57 PM	#10
prerich Moderator Top ranked HT gallery Top contributor Member since:Dec 2007 Home Theater Gallery:50 Blu-ray reviews:1 Trading Score:2	I bought LD's for $50+ back in the day - this is nothing compared to that. It's the price of early adoption and being on the cutting edge. The prices of movies will come down eventually - I haven't paid over $29.00 for a movie. All of my movies have great audio quality. (Lionsgate knows how to do it and so does the early Disney stuff)!!! I only own 2 Warner Brothers Movies on BD (Blue Planet and I Am Legend). Granted my collection is not huge but its in the 30ish range (2 out of 30 something...that's saying something)

10-01-2008, 03:08 PM	#13
Kyo28 Power Member Member since:Jun 2008 Blu-ray collection:446 Blu-ray reviews:12	Regarding the price, I believe that the suggested retail price for a BD is about the same as the suggested retail price for a DVD, taken in the same time-frame after their respective launches and taking into consideration inflation. So in that regard, I don't see a problem with the price, personally, but I can understand others do. But as Blu-ray gets more and more adopted, prices will drop like it happened with DVD. The only price-related issue I have is that domestic Japanese releases are too expensive, but that's another story ...

10-01-2008, 01:28 PM	#14
BaronVH Power Member Member since:Oct 2007	I paid $67 for the Godfather movies on Blu-ray. I paid well over $100 for them on DVD when they first came out on sale. The prices will come down, but they are not bad. I can remember VHS tapes being over $100 for a single movie when they were first released. I do think that stores should do first week discounts more. The real problem with the format is the price of stand alone players. That is what needs to change (and 1.1 players need to drop considerably). Of course, DVD players were expensive at this stage in the game, but there needs to be deeper adoption, in my opinion.

10-01-2008, 01:28 PM	#15
obiwopkenobi62 Blu-ray Samurai Top ranked HT gallery Member since:Mar 2008 Location:Deatsville, Al Home Theater Gallery:531 Blu-ray collection:1143 DVD collection:62 Blu-ray reviews: 2 Trading Score:6	Back in the days of Beta and VHS(early days) movies were super expensive. I remember paying 50 to 100 bucks for one movie. Nowadays Blu is cheap in comparison. It's really not any more expensive than when DVD hit the market. Not really high priced considering it's still relatively new tech. I won't stop buying Blu but I will not go back to DVD. If you want sub par quality stick with DVD. I want the best quality and that is Blu......

10-01-2008, 01:40 PM	#16
masob98 Power Member Member since:Apr 2008 Home Theater Gallery:15 4K collection:9 Blu-ray collection:384 DVD collection:9 Blu-ray reviews:11	I love movies and I love bluray. Im patient enough to wait for some of title's prices to drop. There are a few I can name that are coming out these next few months that I will get immediately, but other than that, I wont buy a bluray unless I can get it for less than 20. I want to build my collection as well, but Im not in that much of a hurry and I know as time progresses the prices will drop even more.

10-01-2008, 01:43 PM	#17
sfmarine Blu-ray Archduke Top contributor Member since:Apr 2008 Location:The Swan Station aDdIcTeD 2 LOST PSN:U5MC51473 Home Theater Gallery:18 4K collection:938 Blu-ray collection:2319 DVD collection:276 MA collection:461 Digital collection:492 iTunes collection:534 Blu-ray reviews: 7 Trading Score:43	I love movies. Blu-ray is great. For those who are still "in the dvd stage" god bless them. I saw @ Walmart that the 2 disk edition (dvd) of Ironman was $24.96......I got the blu-ray edition @ Best Buy for $2 more. So, the pricing isn't bad when you think about it. WB has come down in price as well as Fox....only a matter of time before Universal does.

10-01-2008, 01:43 PM	#18
Elandyll Blu-ray Knight Member since:Aug 2007 Location:MD Blu-ray collection:188 Trading Score:1	Erm .. why stopping buying now, when the prices -are- going down ? http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/09/30...blu-ray-discs/

10-01-2008, 01:43 PM	#19
SpaceDog Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Jun 2007 Location:Raleigh, NC Blu-ray collection:116	If you don't think Blu-Ray isn't worth more than DVD, perhaps Blu-Ray isn't the right choice for you.

10-01-2008, 01:50 PM	#20
gtmorgan23 Senior Member Member since:Jun 2008 Location:Austin Texas Home Theater Gallery:20 Blu-ray collection:98	I have around 40 blu-rays, i rent the ones that i know i wont watch more than once and I buy ones that i consider to be classics or multi watch movies per say. But with my setup, dvd's and their audio cant shake a stick at a good blu-ray film. There is just no comparison. Funny thing is even my wife can tell a difference in the quality between the two experiences.

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