Does Blu-ray's future have a new threat?

[Deane Johnson]

Now that HD-DVD is taking it's final gasps of air on life support, I think Blu-ray has a new enemy, and it's Blu-ray pricing.

With the war ending, the BOGOs are gone. As I glance at the street price of new releases, they seem to be around $28 and higher. Guess what, I'm not going to pay that much for a movie that often times isn't worth watching a second time, and J6P wondering thru Wal-mart damn well isn't going to.

Around $20 is enough to pay for a new release. I don't care if it's Blu-ray or whatever. $20 is enough.

Fact of the matter is, upscaling regular DVDs that I buy for $15 is so close to Blu-ray that I don't need to pay a super premium. I'm discontinuing purchasing Blu-ray. It's back to SD for me. The good thing about that is that I already own 1800 SD movies, so the studios are actually going to save me a bunch of money with their pricing structure. No replacing the old ones at these prices.

[dobyblue]

There are loads of Blu-ray disc avaliable new from $14.95.

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/top.php?show=bargains

[blu-backer]

My eyes must be bad, but I have not found a single SD DVD that upscales "close enough" to the BD titles that I have. I have two SD versions of Blackhawk Down, one for POTC The Cuse of the Black Pearl, Tears of the Sun, SWAT, 300, and The Phantom of the Opera. None of the SD versions I could honestly say are close enough to the BD that I would have been happy with just the SD versions. And that's not even taking into account the sound quality.

Yes, there are BDs with poor transfers that I probably wouldn't be as ecstatic about, but for me, the choice is really easy. BD is worth the premium over SD DVD, no question.

Just my $0.02.

[Blu As Hell]

Originally Posted by Deane Johnson

Now that HD-DVD is taking it's final gasps of air on life support, I think Blu-ray has a new enemy, and it's Blu-ray pricing.

With the war ending, the BOGOs are gone. As I glance at the street price of new releases, they seem to be around $28 and higher. Guess what, I'm not going to pay that much for a movie that often times isn't worth watching a second time, and J6P wondering thru Wal-mart damn well isn't going to.

Around $20 is enough to pay for a new release. I don't care if it's Blu-ray or whatever. $20 is enough.

Fact of the matter is, upscaling regular DVDs that I buy for $15 is so close to Blu-ray that I don't need to pay a super premium. I'm discontinuing purchasing Blu-ray. It's back to SD for me. The good thing about that is that I already own 1800 SD movies, so the studios are actually going to save me a bunch of money with their pricing structure. No replacing the old ones at these prices.

It's obvious to me that you didn't buy a DVD player until about 6-7 years in to the format. When DVD's first appeared on store shelves ( I was working at a store called Media Play at the time) their prices were about 25-30 dollars, sometimes 35-40 dollars depending on the studio. Prices for Blu-Ray will come down as with all new technology. New production lines will open up, the time for recouping R&D will pass and the prices will come down. As for upscaling being "so close" to Blu-Ray...I don't know about that you might want to check the settings for your tv, upscaling is nice but it doesn't come anywhere near a 1080p Blu-Ray picture.

"COOOBRAAA!!!"

[bajor27]

Originally Posted by Deane Johnson

Fact of the matter is, upscaling regular DVDs that I buy for $15 is so close to Blu-ray that I don't need to pay a super premium. I'm discontinuing purchasing Blu-ray.

I guess the blind are a bit of a threat, but I don't see why you had to bring them up. That's just unnecessary IMO

[mdm1699]

Originally Posted by Deane Johnson

Now that HD-DVD is taking it's final gasps of air on life support, I think Blu-ray has a new enemy, and it's Blu-ray pricing.

With the war ending, the BOGOs are gone. As I glance at the street price of new releases, they seem to be around $28 and higher. Guess what, I'm not going to pay that much for a movie that often times isn't worth watching a second time, and J6P wondering thru Wal-mart damn well isn't going to.

Around $20 is enough to pay for a new release. I don't care if it's Blu-ray or whatever. $20 is enough.

Fact of the matter is, upscaling regular DVDs that I buy for $15 is so close to Blu-ray that I don't need to pay a super premium. I'm discontinuing purchasing Blu-ray. It's back to SD for me. The good thing about that is that I already own 1800 SD movies, so the studios are actually going to save me a bunch of money with their pricing structure. No replacing the old ones at these prices.

I was with you until that crazy part that I bolded. I can't stand regular dvds and haven't watched one in months.

[Deane Johnson]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

There are loads of Blu-ray disc avaliable new from $14.95.

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/top.php?show=bargains

New releases perhaps, but old movies. I got most of those listed during the BOGOs.

$14.95 is enough for an old movie on Blu-ray.

$20-$21 is enough for a new release.

My point is, that without more competitive prices, Blu-ray is not going mainstream. J6p, who is used to paying prices like $4.99, $9.99 and $14.99 and $19.99 for a hot item, is not going to pay close to $30+ for a new release on Blu-ray. I'm not exactly J6P, I have a dedicated front projection theater with a huge library of movies, and I'm not going to pay those kind of prices.

New release to me is something coming out of the theaters in the past few months being available on home video for the first time, not something that's been released to the home video market for about the 7th time.

[tiger roach]

It keeps amazing me how all these people in internetland can afford HDTVs and cable/satellite bills, but claim they can't afford HD players or media.

[Bizdady]

Dont buy retail, your best bet is always online. Even without BOGOS prices are still better than walking into best buy.

[jadedeath]

Originally Posted by bajor27

I guess the blind are a bit of a threat, but I don't see why you had to bring them up. That's just unnecessary IMO

ZING!

Some folks just don't understand pricing with regards to new equipment.

R&D costs do have to be take care of, we can't just immediately drop the price to $5 for new releases just because some hack wannabe retards want them to be dropped that low so they can convince themselves that they can pay the price instead of downloading 8 second clips of porn from the internet between stealing from movies in hollywood and *****ing about bandwidth.

In short, I apologize to the mods by having to say to those who have no idea about pricing to get F_ _ ked, yes it's hangman time and if you can't figure out what I have just said head back to DVD.

Logan

[Luis_A51]

Im tired of hearing "Joe-six-pack at walmart sure isnt going to pay these prices!"

WHO-THE-F-CARES? Do you really think J6P at walmart has a big screen HDTV and a bluray player to begin with?

These products are NOT meant to compete with the $5-DVD-bin crowd over at walmart. Eventually, yes bluray will have to compete to get this clientele, and lower prices. But not now. Price reductions will come naturally in the next few years.

[ikbradley]

To be fair, and giving the OP a break, one cannot state emphatically that an upconverted SD on a tuned 32" or smaller flat planel doesn't produce a pretty good picture.

Blu-ray is best partnered with a 40+" flat panel. Can you see a difference with small sizes? Sure. But the smaller the TV (or lesser quality), the less you get out of your Blu-ray. In contrast, I would hate to watch anything but HDM on a TV 50" or larger.

P.S. Prices will come down once BD+ is thoroughly compromised.

[Deane Johnson]

Originally Posted by Blu As Hell

It's obvious to me that you didn't buy a DVD player until about 6-7 years in to the format. When DVD's first appeared on store shelves ( I was working at a store called Media Play at the time) their prices were about 25-30 dollars, sometimes 35-40 dollars depending on the studio. Prices for Blu-Ray will come down as with all new technology. New production lines will open up, the time for recouping R&D will pass and the prices will come down. As for upscaling being "so close" to Blu-Ray...I don't know about that you might want to check the settings for your tv, upscaling is nice but it doesn't come anywhere near a 1080p Blu-Ray picture.

"COOOBRAAA!!!"

Actually, I was pretty early. There were some crazy sales going on. Remember Buy.com's 3 for $1. They used your email address to keep you at 1 deal per customer. I had 25 email addresses.

There were many more on-line crazy deals. I was getting DVDs in faster than I could open them and put them on the shelf.

So far as upscaling is concerned, of course it's not the equivalent of Blu-ray. No way it could be. You can't put something on the screen that doesn't exist. But, it's very acceptable.

[Blu As Hell]

Originally Posted by Deane Johnson

My point is, that without more competitive prices, Blu-ray is not going mainstream. J6p, who is used to paying prices like $4.99, $9.99 and $14.99 and $19.99 for a hot item, is not going to pay close to $30+ for a new release on Blu-ray. I'm not exactly J6P, I have a dedicated front projection theater with a huge library of movies, and I'm not going to pay those kind of prices.

New release to me is something coming out of the theaters in the past few months being available on home video for the first time, not something that's been released to the home video market for about the 7th time.

Of course Blu-Ray isn't going mainstream...Yet. The format is still in the early adopter phase. It usually takes about 2-3 years to get out of early adopter stage, but this format war was different because HD DVD kept sticking it's nose where it wasn't wanted or needed and slowed the process down. So now there is a clear winner, the BDA can now work towards mainstream adoption since they don't have to put themselves in to a pissing contest with a "Redheaded stepchild" that shouldn't have started in the first place.


"COOOBRAAA!!!"

[mtl007]

Originally Posted by Deane Johnson

Fact of the matter is, upscaling regular DVDs that I buy for $15 is so close to Blu-ray that I don't need to pay a super premium.

New releases for SDDVD(non-catalogue) are usually $20-$25. New BD releases are within $5+ range of SD. (Take Yuma as example, $20 versus $25 at Amazon.) If you have patience, both price of SD DVD and BD come down in price over time.

If price is the only consideration, renting only cost $5 (blu or SD) why buy?

[FW585C]

I can remember the day when Paramount (long time ago) put out thier first titles on SD DVD. I bought Star Trek First contact...that disc was 36$ plus the taxes...so 32$ for a new, beautiful format is not really a big deal....yet. When the market has more comsumers with blu ray players and volumes of titles increase, the prices will eventually level off to where SD DVD is today.

[mdm1699]

Originally Posted by Deane Johnson

New releases perhaps, but old movies. I got most of those listed during the BOGOs.

$14.95 is enough for an old movie on Blu-ray.

$20-$21 is enough for a new release.

My point is, that without more competitive prices, Blu-ray is not going mainstream. J6p, who is used to paying prices like $4.99, $9.99 and $14.99 and $19.99 for a hot item, is not going to pay close to $30+ for a new release on Blu-ray. I'm not exactly J6P, I have a dedicated front projection theater with a huge library of movies, and I'm not going to pay those kind of prices.

New release to me is something coming out of the theaters in the past few months being available on home video for the first time, not something that's been released to the home video market for about the 7th time.

I am a J6P. It used to cost me $100+ to take the kids to the movies with nieces/nephews and snacks . NO MORE. Smelly theaters, filthy seats, yada yada yada.

[jadedeath]

Originally Posted by Deane Johnson

Actually, I was pretty early. There were some crazy sales going on. Remember Buy.com's 3 for $1. They used your email address to keep you at 1 deal per customer. I had 25 email addresses.

So, is that an admission of fraud?

So far as upscaling is concerned, of course it's not the equivalent of Blu-ray. No way it could be. You can't put something on the screen that doesn't exist. But, it's very acceptable.

Very acceptable?

Are you in-fact blind?

Logan

[Troy J B]

Originally Posted by Deane Johnson

$14.95 is enough for an old movie on Blu-ray.

$20-$21 is enough for a new release.

The funny thing is, those prices are reversed. The old movie that has to have a n expensive restoration to clean it up costs the studio more to bring to Blu-ray.

[camper]

Originally Posted by tiger roach

It keeps amazing me how all these people in internetland can afford HDTVs and cable/satellite bills, but claim they can't afford HD players or media.

It's not a matter of affording or not. I could afford to pay suggested retail for any of the Blu's I've bought, but why would I want to? I spend quite a bit on Blu rays (previously DVD) so when if I save $5 a film that means I can buy more movies.

Prices do need to come down, I agree with that. But to say that there is no difference in quality...the only way I would agree wiht that is if you're watching them on a non-HDTV.

~Camper