One reason Blu-ray prices will drop

[Johnd]

Now, with end of life pricing, things are well out of line of typical HD DVD pricing on products.

Well, semantics again. It's not end of life, it's the end of proliferation for HD. Big difference. I have yet to buy any player that only lasted me two years (as some have suggested elsewhere). So I will scoop up those desirable titles that I want at sub $10 prices...great deal.

Now it isn't a sale for HD DVD though - it's a clearing of inventory.

Yes.

As a matter of courtesy, I think at the very least people should back up claims when they say things which are argued at least at some level, so here it is:

I don't know what courstesy you're referring to, but I was just at CC, BB and Walmart, and almost every BD title is at full msrp. And that's a fact. How do I prove it? Go look for yourself. You think they're really gonna advertise that fact?

I'm not trying to irritate you, but I just don't know where you are getting your disc pricing from which leads you to believe that your arguement is correct since the actual numbers don't reflect it.

Don't worry BMXTRIX, it takes a lot more than banter and words to irritate me. So no offense taken. As stated above, my disc pricing is via B&M stores (where the vast majority of the mass market makes their purchases...I am not referring to folks like us), not the internet. Also, I was not referring to combo discs...of the 45-50 HD discs I have, I think only 4 are combo. Cheers.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Fair enough, but up to this point - that is, prior to stores clearing their inventory, pricing between the two formats has nearly been identical, but Blu-ray has had far more sales. B&M stores have pretty consistently used MSRP, which is nearly identical between the two formats, except for a few new releases (from both sides) which can be a bit higher in price.

End Of Life is an industry term. It doesn't refer to product failure, it means end of model production. HD DVD as a format, due to lack of solid industry support and no major studios commited to the format for the future, has reached End Of Life. Doesn't mean any movies you buy won't work though... Never said, or meant that.

Really though, apples to apples - up to this clearing of inventory, it has been Blu-ray in 2007 which has had more sales in B&M stores, and pricing that has generally been lower, or the same as HD DVD on most titles - on average. It's been very much the talk of active HD forums such as HighDefDigest.com and others.

 

[Alamar]

FYI: The Sony CEO is saying that he doesn't expect to see 300$ players until the end of the year. At the end of 2009 he expects to see 200$ players.

From Sony's position and the CEO's statement that he hasn't licensed BD to anyone but the "larger electronics companies" I wouldn't expect there to be real price competitiion forcing prices below 200$ [and certainly not 100$] for quite a while.

 

[Johnd]

FYI: The Sony CEO is saying that he doesn't expect to see 300$ players until the end of the year. At the end of 2009 he expects to see 200$ players.

From Sony's position and the CEO's statement that he hasn't licensed BD to anyone but the "larger electronics companies" I wouldn't expect there to be real price competitiion forcing prices below 200$ [and certainly not 100$] for quite a while.

Hmm. Makes me all the more pleased with my HD bargains. Funny thing is, I wasn't even in the market til they slashed their prices just recently (and back on 11-1). Time will tell if this holds true. Still didn't see any BD title sales at BB today...just HD.

 

[stratman]

FYI: The Sony CEO is saying that he doesn't expect to see 300$ players until the end of the year. At the end of 2009 he expects to see 200$ players.

From Sony's position and the CEO's statement that he hasn't licensed BD to anyone but the "larger electronics companies" I wouldn't expect there to be real price competitiion forcing prices below 200$ [and certainly not 100$] for quite a while.

I'm always cautious and curious about corporate "positions" and CEO statements. Oppo isn't a "larger" electronics company and they say they'll have unit out this year, what comes out of a ceo's pie-hole and market realities change on a daily basis. I'll say it again BD can't afford to screw around with the public right now, so the market will determine the time table.

 

[Audioholics]

Damn it! You write like a good professional journalist.

We're actually hiring stratman as a freelance news reporter to keep me out of trouble with the fanboys... lol.

 

[MUDSHARK]

He deserves a title of some kind. How about staff instigator?

 

[dobyblue]

At the risk of appearing infinitely and incorrigibly pugnacious : that's precisely what HD did. They've had $150 players "forever."

Unless "forever" means as of January 2008, the Black Friday week-end notwithstanding, I think you're incorrect. That was well over a year after the format launched with its $500 player.

It should also be noted that "they" = Toshiba; no other company made their own player under their own R&D for this sort of price. The Venturer was an HD-A3 (Toshiba) and the Onkyo was an HD-XA2 (Toshiba)

There is no reason to think that this represented anything other than MSRP's set in desperation by Toshiba in a last ditch attempt to sway the retailer and studio's favour.

 

[dobyblue]

You guys are way off base. John Q. Public doesn't buy dvds.

So the 8 million plus people that bought Transformers in its FIRST WEEK of release were all early DVD adopters?

 

[dobyblue]

He does. Moreover, he buys those "foolscreen" movies so he won't have them there black bahs on his screen.

It should be noted that all 6 million buyers of Spider-man 3 on DVD all have Widescreen copies, they did not release a Full Screen edition of this title.

It's a shame there aren't more studios doing this. I have noted over the last two years or so that nearly all movies stocked at my local Blockbuster for new releases are all Widescreen.

 

[dobyblue]

No it's not. It's not hard to establish that BD prices are higher than HD prices. This is a known fact to any shopping consumer. And a combo disc is not a fair analogy...that is two movies...not one. I'm not going to try to prove to you the price discrepancies between BD and HD in hardware and software...this is not a little known fact. And the discrepancies have grown to be quite substantial now. Nevermind that immediately upon Toshiba's announcement a couple of weeks ago, B&M stores (and most internet sites) have jacked most of their BD discs to msrp, and the discounts are minimal (as we speak).

I haven't seen any increase in pricing at the B&M stores, where I often shop but rarely purchase. They have almost always been at MSRP.

Fox just recently dropped their MSRP's on a number of catalogue titles by $5, so in fact at B&M's, unless they're now charging MORE than MSRP, the prices have dropped.

Amazon still has a minimum of 30% of all Blu-ray Disc titles and there are still numerous titles at 50% off, where they have been ALL YEAR.

The Fifth Element - $14.95
Hellboy - $14.95
Black Hawk Down - $14.95
The Patriot - $14.95
Donnie Brasco - $14.95
Invincible - $14.95
Big Fish - $14.95
Memento - $14.95
Layer Cake - $16.95
Cars - $19.95
Cast Away - $19.95
Unbreakable - $19.95

Not to mention a few titles where previous DVD ownership will get you a $10 rebate when sending in the POP of the DVD, like with The Rock.

Combo disc is one movie, not two.

The Blu-ray Discs have on average been cheaper to acquire the big name titles than the HD DVD's have been. You just choose to continue to ignore this fact.

And yes, clearance sales hardly prove a point.

 

[Alamar]

FYI: While the data is obviously not official I'm glad to see that the laws of supply & demand are holding true to form. Right now for players the supply is relatively fixed while demand has increased [slightly]. Therefore prices go up until a new balance point or other factors come into play ....

BD player prices increase

NOTE: When there is more competition with other manufactureres coming in this should increase supply which would tend to drive prices down all other things being equal. Also the BD group may put pressure on manufacturers to artificially increase supply which hopefully will also drive prices down.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I haven't seen any increase in pricing at the B&M stores, where I often shop but rarely purchase. They have almost always been at MSRP.

Any news on the Panasonic DMP-BD50?

The waiting really sucks!!!