Why the extremely high price?

[Grand Bob]

Originally Posted by Zten

Back to you original question on why does Blu Ray cost so much? Blu Ray requires re-investment in new production equiment. Manufacturers have to re-coop that cost. As time passes and the production equipment depreciates, costs passed on to the consumer will go down.

Also, the way it works in hi tech is you make the best margin on your best stuff. So the overall business plan is to make maybe $0.50 on DVDs, and $5 on DVD players. Q: How will business survive given all the overhead costs??? A: By making $5.00 on BDs and $50 on Blu Ray players. Then the overall business can survive and make the profit it needs. BDs and BD players will come down in price slowly as investment costs are re-cooped (this will be especially slow in the near future since the competing technology has given up the fight!!!), then they will come down in price dramatically when there is a new Margin Leader product the manufacturers can rely on -- What's next after BD? Prices will plummet once everyone has fibre to their homes and can watch 1080p and uncompressed 7.1 audio on pay-per-view for $3.99.... )

That's fine for us, the enthusiasts. What blu-ray has to do, to keep it from going the way of HD-DVD (and apparently CD in the music world), is make products embraced by a large portion of the general public. The half-speed mastered Original Master Recordings (records) I own are audibly superior to normal records, and most people who have listened to them agree, to CD's. That company (and most of the Hi-Fi industry of the 80's) is now dead, while low-fi MP3's and iPods prevail. Everyone that comes to my house tells me how amazing blu-rays look on my Sony 70" XBR2 tv. Then they go buy $5 to $10 DVD's and watch them on their standard DVD players. To keep blu-ray alive, it must NOT become a niche product. TV's have become more affordable, but $30 movies and $400 players aren't helping, especially while Microsoft, Comcast, and others are certainly trying to kill blu-ray by accelerating implementation of Hi-Def downloads via cable and the internet. I hope the major hardware and software manufacturers make blu-ray affordable quickly.