Blu-ray Price Drop Conspiracy

[admin]

What do Panasonic, Philips and Sony have in common? The companies are all Blu-ray patent-holders and now they want to pimp the format by dropping cost and simplifying licensing. But they need other patent holders on board to create a one-stop shopping experience for any company that wants to license all the patents required to manufacture Blu-ray products. They hope the results will be price reductions for players and discs not to mention a renewed consumer boom to the format.

Discuss "Blu-ray Price Drop Conspiracy" here. Read the article.

 

[smurphy522]

Not mentioned but understood is the fact this pimping out and cheapening of the BR license is mostly due to the global economic downturn. In many other developed countries you don't even see any BR players on display. When or if you do, it is a single LG or Samsung unit or maybe even a Sony PS3.

Two things are an obstacle now:
1) knowing the benefits of the upgrade
2) actually being able to afford it!

Of course thse are always obstacles for new emerging technologies but even more so this day and age.

 

[wiyosaya]

I want my stand-alone BR recorder

IMHO, the licensing scheme and reduced costs for BR licenses will help in general; however, I am encouraged by the mention of licensing for a recorder even at $14 a pop.

I, for one, am waiting to adopt the format until there is a stand-alone BR recorder with an HDMI input that is available in the US. IMHO, it is hampering adoption in the US. Stand-alone recorders are the only thing that you can get in Japan, however, they are nowhere to be seen in the US. It is time they got over content protection fears as stand-alone recorders would be virtually useless for someone wanting to do any kind of volume pirating.

If they want to give the format a boost in the US, I think they need to introduce stand-alone BR recorders to the US market.

Some day!

 

[CraigV]

I entered the fray at the height of the Hi-Def war between BD & HD-DVD. Most people were leaning towards the benefits of BD, so I took the plunge with the Panny BD30.
I for one am really tired of all the nay-sayer whiners that promote & write about the downfall of the format, jut because (likely) their format of choice went belly up.
Like any consumer product, a reduction in price is always a good thing if it will bring more sales.

I wonder if Netflix will stop charging the extra $1.00 per month “premium” for the BD format if prices do come down?

 

[CraigV]

I would also like to add…do you think actors will take less pay to lower the price of movies in these difficult economic times?

 

[brianapp]

$5 drop?

So the cost of licensing a blu-ray player will go down about $5. Who really thinks that a player dropping in price from $250 to $245 will get the consumer adoption going? These players need to drop $100 to see any significant market share gains. A $5 drop will not change anything. They are still no where close to the entry price of what a full featured HD DVD player was years ago.

 

[skizzerflake]

"Blu-ray Price Drop Conspiracy" - Makes it sound like this is bad. Lowering the prices sounds good to me. Blue Ray will be the new normal when you can get one for $40 in Walmart and will get more compelling as HD Tv's become universal.

 

[JLMEMT]

I would also like to add…do you think actors will take less pay to lower the price of movies in these difficult economic times?

My guess, not a chance! I am afraid that most actors are not hurting or that in touch with reality.

 

[Wayde Robson]

My guess, not a chance! I am afraid that most actors are not hurting or that in touch with reality.

I don't know about that. I think most highly successful actors (actresses) would work for a huge pay-cut for the right projects. They consider themselves artists and if they get to do art they'd probably take a pay cut.

If you're talking about much of the Hollywood garbage - yeah, they would probably go for the big paycheck. Wouldn't you?

People gave Batman star Christian Bale such a hard time about his "Bale Out" rant against a set worker. I don't think anyone should treat anyone that way. But take an arrogant *** who has worked in some great films - true art if I do say so... and put him to work doing a tired sequel to the long-dead Terminator series?!? It's a bit like taking a successful professional and making work a few days at a fast-food drive-thru. So, yeah - I agree that project was beneath him. No excuse but you can't argue that the new T-4 is probably going to suck worse than T-3 did. And I loved T-1 and T-2.

I think agree we overvalue acting and entertainment in general. As a movie junkie and admitted purveyor of lightweight entertainment, they just don't provide much social value.

Not like a good parent or a the guy that keeps the lights on at the skating rink, or the shop-keeper that really values his customers and is willing to put in an extra few minutes to make sure his customers understand the product line. Those are real people fulfilling real social needs.

Actors are just clowns. They make us laugh and put on shows. Sing and dance for me clowns! I don't see their craft as glamorous. Why does our society pay so much for such a lowly social skill?

 

[jonnythan]

Actors are just clowns. They make us laugh and put on shows. Sing and dance for me clowns! I don't see their craft as glamorous. Why does our society pay so much for such a lowly social skill?

Lowly skill?

Let's see you perform a scene in front of 1000 people in a packed theater and manage to have them laugh, cry, get angry, or shout with joy.

It's not a lowly skill. It's an incredibly, incredibly difficult skill that surprisingly few people can excel at.

How many people, really, could have done the 'you talkin to me' scene in Taxi Driver? How many people, really, could have actually managed to make us root for a self-centered jerk like Sam Spade?

We pay money for movies because we enjoy them - and we enjoy them most when the actors and screen disappear, drawing us into the world the filmmaker has created. It takes a fine actor to maintain that.

 

[Wayde Robson]

Lowly skill?

You're right Johnny. I didn't mean to put it that way. As a skill I'm sure it's very high. When it's elevated to true 'art' it's beyond reproach.

Many of them, like DiNiro have definitely earned their pay.

I'm sure there is more to it than just being a clown. I'm sure any of them spend time in trenches so deep we can't imagine. Waiting on tables, commited to following a niaeve dream when they could just give up and go make a middle class wage.

In those instances where percevierience and the true skill of an artist is involved, they have probably deserved all that pay and that wealth. They were bold and did what not many of us would not.

But I guess I had a different caliber in mind when I wrote that initial post. Many of them have opportunity handed to them and they're just not that great.

Tell me this ... is a popular actor that is loved by millions... but always plays the 'same role'... plays basically the same guy (girl) in every movie... still a great actor?

I think sometimes we overvalue their ability. I see likable actors who have charisma but no range.

Some of the great character actors come to mind.

 

[jonnythan]

Tell me this ... is a popular actor that is loved by millions... but always plays the 'same role'... plays basically the same guy (girl) in every movie... still a great actor?

I think sometimes we overvalue their ability. I see likable actors who have charisma but no range.

Some of the great character actors come to mind.

That depends on how you define great actor. Doesn't matter though, that's not the debate.

You insulted the entire art of acting, and I just thought that was horribly unfair. That's all.

 

[jliedeka]

I think there are different kinds of actors and it doesn't mean one is better than another. Consider Gary Oldman who can disappear into a character and is considered a great actor. On the other side is Jack Nicholson who has a very strong personality that comes through no matter who he is portraying. Is Nicholson a lesser actor than Oldman?

I admit I'm more impressed by actors who show range but I'm still a fan of Nicholson.

I've seen very few bad actors but I usually don't watch the sorts of movies they would be in.

Jim

 

[CraigV]

But haven’t we all seen good actors in bad movies? Just like we can see talented (and also over-paid) athletes have a bad game. And what makes a good actor/performance/movie is still a very subjective thing. I like what I like, and don’t like what I don’t. I wouldn’t tell someone they’re wrong for liking a movie I hated, just like I won’t allow someone to tell me I’m wrong for hating said film.

 

[Wayde Robson]

That depends on how you define great actor. Doesn't matter though, that's not the debate.

You insulted the entire art of acting, and I just thought that was horribly unfair. That's all.

No debate here Jonny, I was wrong to insult the craft of acting.

However, I do stand behind that entertainment (acting and sports) are overvalued in modern society. But I certainly can't say that either are not difficult crafts to ply.

 

[Wayde Robson]

Consider Gary Oldman

I love Gary Oldman, he's played an original Dracula that didn't resort to camp, the best since Christopher Lee. He played Sid Vicious and then Beethoven and was believable in both. Then he played a black Rasta drug dealer that movie with Christian Slater. He has amazing range.

I don't take those awards seriously but if he's never won an academy award it's kind of a sin.

 

[jostenmeat]

Agreed, Oldman is incredible. Is that True Romance you're thinking of Wadye? He plays great villains in Besson's movies, and he played this really messed up gay playwright, the movie I can't remember, but I do remember Alfred Molina was acting opposite him, and that guy has incredible range too.

Anyhoo, one of my few small regrets in life is not ever trying my hand at acting. I wouldn't be surprised if I sucked, but I think it would be a lot of fun to try, and very eye opening.

In musical performances, a good performer would be inviting the audience to momentarily join in some other/foreign world. I always thought that a good performing musician had some similarities with a good actor. At the very least, pretending to be confident when you were actually skerred sheetless.

 

[saint11]

What do Panasonic, Philips and Sony have in common? The companies are all Blu-ray patent-holders and now they want to pimp the format by dropping cost and simplifying licensing. But they need other patent holders on board to create a one-stop shopping experience for any company that wants to license all the patents required to manufacture Blu-ray products. They hope the results will be price reductions for players and discs not to mention a renewed consumer boom to the format.

Discuss "Blu-ray Price Drop Conspiracy" here. Read the article.

This corporations making money at the highest levels.

Saint

 

[Seth=L]

I entered the fray at the height of the Hi-Def war between BD & HD-DVD. Most people were leaning towards the benefits of BD, so I took the plunge with the Panny BD30.
I for one am really tired of all the nay-sayer whiners that promote & write about the downfall of the format, jut because (likely) their format of choice went belly up.
Like any consumer product, a reduction in price is always a good thing if it will bring more sales.

I wonder if Netflix will stop charging the extra $1.00 per month “premium” for the BD format if prices do come down?

This is why I have both formats.

 

[Seth=L]

I would also like to add…do you think actors will take less pay to lower the price of movies in these difficult economic times?

Since actors don't have pesky wages and the economy dictates pretty much everything I'm sure they will get paid whatever they can be paid based on a profit analysis. Actors and actresses are not immune to economic changes. If they are to get paid the same as they would if the economy wasn't in the stink they media/box office sales would have to be on the incline. Remember that a lot of people watch movies in times of financial distress since many other luxuries are more expensive (such as traveling). I migh speculate that box office sales and media sales will increase if gas prices continue to rise, but I'm not an economic analyst and I know there are far more factors at play than I could possibly extrapolate.