I have had enough - blu-ray discs are artificially expensive

[drmemnok]

I will no longer be buying Blu-ray discs until the price comes down. A new release on DVD is $19.99, on blu-ray it is $34.99 at most discount retail stores.

This is ridiculous to me. As a consumer I purchase anywhere from 3 to 7 movies a week depending upon what is released. This past Tuesday I finally came to my senses and decided that I am no longer going to buy a blu-ray disc until the price is the same as the DVD. I don't mean on a few old titles, I mean each and every title.

I have thrown down the gauntlet... my blu-ray collection will remain at 124 movies until the price adjusts to where it truly should be.

Why post this, because I want everyone to do this. Once the studios feel the pinch the prices will adjust.

[AppleCrumbDlite]

Shop at amazon, theyre usually much cheaper there. $34.99 is msrp which stores like BB and CC WILL charge. Amazon usually has new release blu's anywhere from $19.99-$24.99 depending on the discs and studios. But they are significantly cheaper there. Sorry you'll not be buying bd's anymore

[Siri]

Good luck on getting 'everyone' to do this. Dont pay MSRP, find sales, or go to Costco/Sam's club where new releases are $25-26

You will mostly only find catalog titles under $20 anyway unless there is a sale.

[My_Two_Cents]

Yeah....right...Just where are you buying your movies? I bought about a dozen BDs today at an average price <$11 each! Okay, today was special, but outside of BF deals, I don't spend more than $15-17 per title unless it is something I absolutely can't wait for a sale.

Get yourself a Netflix or BB online account and start renting those titles you want to watch but aren't on sale yet. Oh, and adjusted for inflation, the price of BDs today is right in line with the prices of DVDs when they first hit the streets. Actually, the prices are a lot better with all of the sales and special promotions going on with BDs.

[guitarist155]

blu-ray new releases for me at amazon range from 20-24$ and back catalog blu (if you can call it that) has been as low as 8-10$ and i would never pay over 15 for a dvd

[Johnny Vinyl]

I'm in Canada where the MSRP of BD's is higher than in the U.S., but I've still never paid more than $25 for any BD. You just have to shop around. The vast majority of my collection was purchased for $20 or less.

[Afrobean]

Originally Posted by AppleCrumbDlite

Shop at amazon, theyre usually much cheaper there. $34.99 is msrp which stores like BB and CC WILL charge. Amazon usually has new release blu's anywhere from $19.99-$24.99 depending on the discs and studios. But they are significantly cheaper there. Sorry you'll not be buying bd's anymore

My local Best Buy isn't that high. It's higher than Amazon, I'd say, but still noticeably below MSRP.

But yeah, definitely Amazon is a good way to go. Whenever people talk about how expensive BDs are, I like to use Amazon's pricing on The Dark Knight as an example. The fully featured (including digital copy) two disc BD is 23.99, the two disc DVD is 20.99 and has apparently all of the extras the BD has (including the digital copy), and the bottom-of-the-barrel no frills single disc DVD is 15.99. Notice that the BD is 3 dollars more than the comparable DVD, and also notice that the cheaper DVD is a full 4 dollars less than the 2 disc. In essence, you're paying more for the special features than you are for getting it in 1080p versus 480i, and that's with part of the "special features" being a digital copy.

BD is more expensive and deservedly so. It's a far greater product, and even if not proportionally, the media is more costly to physically produce (and likely has a lower profit margin for the producer due to lower install base*). The MSRP is absurd, but you can get fair prices if you look around. If you have a good eye, you can probably even find a brick-and-mortar store near you with decent prices too. You'd have a hard time beating places like Amazon, but sometimes it can be totally worth it to not have to wait for your shipment to arrive.

*The lower profit margins are why the prices are so high. It's not that they're gauging or anything, it's just that the install base is so low compared to DVD that BD sales are a rather small cut of the pie (at least looking at new releases), yet much more expensive to produce. Thus, they charge more for them to recoup the difference. If you think it's wrong for the producer to pass along their added expense to the consumer, I just want to know what sort of world you think you're living in. Do you think companies should just eat the cost of production and sell you discs at cost? No, they do this to make a profit, and it's this profit that keeps them making more movies.

[GGX]

Who in their right mind would purchase a Blu-ray for $35!? I don't think I've ever done this and I buy movies the day they are released.

[JJ]

Ok, so who wants to knock some sense into this chap? GGX? Please?

[My_Two_Cents]

Originally Posted by JJxiv1215

Ok, so who wants to knock some sense into this chap? GGX? Please?

Like this?

[Sussudio]

you can't be looking in all the right places, because no bluray ive purchased (including brand new) has ever been 34.99. look for the deals and promos (the hot deals section helps ), or just try and order a couple at a time on amazon or a website where you get free shipping and no tax. amazon marketplace is also a great place to buy blurays. ive bought many for under 15 including shipping after they've been out for only a few days.

but if you're still convinced you won't find any good prices, sorry to see you go. i can just tell you (as will many others on this site) that this is most definitely not the case.

[AppleCrumbDlite]

I wouldnt expect the price to go down ever really. Even as the technology and production becomes cheaper to make bd's, DVD's will remain the same because they CAN. When a new movie comes out on DVD its usually about say $15.99 or so the first week. and people WILL pay this. and then rightfully so, a high definition disc with 6 times more storage is more expensive. Just dont get your hopes up for prices dropping any lower than they are now just because people will pay the prices they're at now. kinda sucks but $19-$25 for the quality we're getting is a good deal to me

[Sussudio]

Originally Posted by AppleCrumbDlite

I wouldnt expect the price to go down ever really.

i definitely think they will go down. blurays already have since they came out. did you ever find 8.99 bluays the first year they came out? what about $130 players? as the old technology becomes phased out the new technology will start to go down in price. that's how new technology is eventually adopted. dont you remember vhs movies occasionally being discounted to as low as 1.99 as they were starting to dissipate from the consumer market? what did you see this past friday? 1.99 dvds.....it has begun!

[hoju3508]

I picked up a bunch of older movies on Black Friday with prices ranging from $8.99 - $14.99. Too bad it's not like that all of the time.

[Sussudio]

Originally Posted by hoju3508

I picked up a bunch of older movies on Black Friday with prices ranging from $8.99 - $14.99. Too bad it's not like that all of the time.

in time......

[Trekker4Life]

Originally Posted by drmemnok

I will no longer be buying Blu-ray discs until the price comes down. A new release on DVD is $19.99, on blu-ray it is $34.99 at most discount retail stores.

This is ridiculous to me. As a consumer I purchase anywhere from 3 to 7 movies a week depending upon what is released. This past Tuesday I finally came to my senses and decided that I am no longer going to buy a blu-ray disc until the price is the same as the DVD. I don't mean on a few old titles, I mean each and every title.

I have thrown down the gauntlet... my blu-ray collection will remain at 124 movies until the price adjusts to where it truly should be.

Why post this, because I want everyone to do this. Once the studios feel the pinch the prices will adjust.

I refuse to pay those prices myself, that's why I've implemented a $25.00 rule. I will never pay anymore than that for a BD. Unfortunately, it's a waste of time for me to walk into Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. to buy a BD on a whim because of those $30.00+ prices. I have to stick with the online retailers and wait until they come in.

I'm not going to stop buying Blu-ray discs though! I would like to see a significant boycott of the walk-in retailers.

[Sussudio]

Originally Posted by Trekker4Life

I refuse to pay those prices myself, that's why I've implemented a $25.00 rule. I will never pay anymore than that for a BD. Unfortunately, it's a waste of time for me to walk into Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. to buy a BD on a whim because of those $30.00+ prices. I have to stick with the online retailers and wait until they come in.

I'm not going to stop buy Blu-ray discs though. I would like to see a significant boycott of the walk-in retailers.

i've done the same thing, but mine is $20. i generally have to wait a few extra days or sometimes 1-2 weeks to buy new releases (generally on amazon marketplace), but i save some money so i feel better about it. this past week ive done well though, bought brand new from amazon untouchables for 8.99, flags of our fathers for 8.99, planet of the apes '68 for 17.49, and 310 to yuma for 15.49. keep in mind planet was a newly released bluray originally $25. within a week on amazon (thanks to black friday i'd say) it dropped nearly $8. not bad, not bad. just gotta wait for the deals.

[JimShaw]

I just purchased Hancock, Narnia, X Files, The Day The Earth Stood Still and Wanted for $19.99 each + tax. No shipping because I got them from a retail store.

Get Smart was about $14.99 and TBD is on it's way for 21.99 which includes shipping.

One does not have to spend $30 for a Blu.

[PanasonicPlasmaMan]

or you can just shop around and get it for $20 same price as DVD

[Marquoz]

I've had a limit of $20 and only a couple times have I broken it and that was for $25 or box sets. I don't know where you could have been shopping that's $34.99 unless you are going to Barnes and Nobles or something.