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Why are blu-rays still so expensive?

38K views 479 replies 99 participants last post by  LosMagandos 
#1 ·
Blu-ray has been around for a long time now. I remember when they first came out the talk was that after the manufacturing equipment cost was re-couped the prices would drop quite a bit. Looking at the new releases coming out over the next few weeks they are still on sale for $22-$24 and retailing for $39. Now I'm all for making a reasonable profit but I think we're being ripped off. Many said this is exactly what would happen when blu-ray out muscled HDDVD. Good old Sony.
 
#227 ·
What if they had both survived and all studios allowed their movies to be distributed by both formats? Probably wouldn't matter as long as regular dvd's continued to be in demand as they still are. HD DVD and BD didn't offer enough wow if you didn't have the equipment to appreciate it. Most still don't.
 
#230 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by JukeBox360  /t/1460692/why-are-blu-rays-still-so-expensive/210#post_23085625


I don't know how a blu ray would fail exactly..

Disc "rot." Sometimes it happens in a few months, sometimes over a few years. Usually due to contaminants like dust but especially moisture getting laminated into the metal-based data layer or just a bad mix of the plastic compound coating during pressing resulting in actual corrosion and deterioration of the data over time. Besides the fact the disc may at some point either pixelate and/or freeze midway through play or just not load at all, often, the effects can be seen by the naked eye on the data side of a disc as either speckling or even a general copper colored discoloration that may appear to radiate from the outside towards the center of the disc. Some cds pressed in Europe in the early 80's suffered from it, a number of laserdiscs especially from a particular plant suffered from it in the mid 90's and various dvd titles have suffered from it over the years.


There was an old thread here about a few Fox titles going "bad" that appeared to be limited to particular pressings so it has happened with a very small number of Blu-ray discs as well but certainly nowhere near the extent of especially laserdiscs.
 
#231 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by andy sullivan  /t/1460692/why-are-blu-rays-still-so-expensive/180_60#post_23085887


What if they had both survived and all studios allowed their movies to be distributed by both formats?
Most of the studios didn't want 2 different HD disk formats.

There is more cost in terms of having to deal with 2 dissimilar storage platforms.


The difference in storage capacity of the 2 formats: BD max = 50gb versus HD-DVD max = 30gb.

This is a considerable technical difference and made the argument for HD-DVD on merits a difficult one.


There was other considerations too:

The studios wanted more advanced copy protection.

The stranglehold WB had on DVD royalties played a part as well...

And there are lots of other reasons why the BD Consortium won The War, but I don't want to go into that on this thread.
 
#232 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Partyslammer  /t/1460692/why-are-blu-rays-still-so-expensive/210#post_23085941


Disc "rot." Sometimes it happens in a few months, sometimes over a few years. Usually due to contaminants like dust but especially moisture getting laminated into the metal-based data layer or just a bad mix of the plastic compound coating during pressing resulting in actual corrosion and deterioration of the data over time. Besides the fact the disc may at some point either pixelate and/or freeze midway through play or just not load at all, often, the effects can be seen by the naked eye on the data side of a disc as either speckling or even a general copper colored discoloration that may appear to radiate from the outside towards the center of the disc. Some cds pressed in Europe in the early 80's suffered from it, a number of laserdiscs especially from a particular plant suffered from it in the mid 90's and various dvd titles have suffered from it over the years.


There was an old thread here about a few Fox titles going "bad" that appeared to be limited to particular pressings so it has happened with a very small number of Blu-ray discs as well but certainly nowhere near the extent of especially laserdiscs.
Wow. I didn't know they could fail. I knew VHS could. That's about it. I've literally never had a single product fail on me. (Knock on wood!)
 
#233 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Partyslammer  /t/1460692/why-are-blu-rays-still-so-expensive/180_60#post_23085941


a number of laserdiscs especially from a particular plant suffered from it in the mid 90's and various dvd titles have suffered from it over the years.

I had a few Pioneer pressings go bad on me but they always replaced them. Had a few LaserDisc that would "warp" out of tolerance so had a glass shop cut me two 12 x 12 x 1/2 glass plates. The warped disc were warmed then placed between the glass plates and allowed to sit for several days. Several pounds of weight was added to the top plate.


Never had a CD, DVD or Blu-ray go bad on me. Occasionally I get rental (Netflix or Blockbuster by mail) disc that has a problem playing. Sometimes you can see physical damage, other times not. I can image some of the abuse these disc must receive.
 
#234 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland  /t/1460692/why-are-blu-rays-still-so-expensive/210#post_23086502


I had a few Pioneer pressings go bad on me but they always replaced them. Had a few LaserDisc that would "warp" out of tolerance so had a glass shop cut me two 12 x 12 x 1/2 glass plates. The warped disc were warmed then placed between the glass plates and allowed to sit for several days. Several pounds of weight was added to the top plate.


Never had a CD, DVD or Blu-ray go bad on me. Occasionally I get rental (Netflix or Blockbuster by mail) disc that has a problem playing. Sometimes you can see physical damage, other times not. I can image some of the abuse these disc must receive.

I've had about half a dozen dvds go bad out of probably 500+ titles I've owned - not a bad percentage of discs. One title that rotted on me really quickly really bugged me, "Kentucky Fried Movie." It took me a while to find another dvd of that movie.


Probably the worst case of laser rot I've ever seen or experienced was my original full screen LD of "Greystoke" The Legend of Tarzan Lord of The Apes." I bought it around the time it was origionally released in the mid 80's and about 2 years after I bought it, I went to watch it one night and noticed one of the discs had pretty speckles that appeared to be under the plastic laminate on the metal data surface on both sides. I go to play it and the disc played alright for about 15 minutes before the image quality started degrading to the point it looked like a very poor, almost scrambled over-the-air broadcast at which point the player couldn't read the disc and playback froze. As months wore on, I'd pull out the disc and notice the speckling looked worse and now there was an odd "hazing" or fogging of the disc itself that grew more pronounced as time went on. At some point, my LD player wouldn't even load the disc to play, I'd just hear it spin and display an error message. So I gave it to my dog.....

 
#236 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by andy sullivan  /t/1460692/why-are-blu-rays-still-so-expensive/210#post_23085887


What if they had both survived and all studios allowed their movies to be distributed by both formats? Probably wouldn't matter as long as regular dvd's continued to be in demand as they still are. HD DVD and BD didn't offer enough wow if you didn't have the equipment to appreciate it. Most still don't.
HD DVD is dead.

The what if questions won't help bring down blu-ray prices.
 
#238 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by 42Plasmaman  /t/1460692/why-are-blu-rays-still-so-expensive/210#post_23087606


HD DVD is dead.

The what if questions won't help bring down blu-ray prices.
I know HD DVD is dead. Blu-ray has the same problem in that you need up graded equipment to enjoy all of the benefits. The same can be said and is being said about 4K right now. Great potential but no content. We still don't have 1080P broadcast content. I live in a 35,000+ retirement community and constantly am asked to recommend equipment from TV's to BR players, to DVD players to DVR's. Most can see the PQ difference between BR and SD but without the sound advantage it's not a big deal to most. Especially since many of the current big box office releases will be available in HD on many channels within 18-24 months.
 
#240 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steeb  /t/1460692/why-are-blu-rays-still-so-expensive/210#post_23088580


Yeah, I was totally out of line when I suggested this thread was a thinly-veiled attempt to rehash all of the old format war BS....
Not out of line, just my lack of explaining myself properly. When I asked why blu-rays were still so expensive I attempted to throw out a possible answer in referring to HD DVD. That old format obviously has nothing to do with today's Blu-ray pricing. I agree that's it's primarily the result of regular DVD's remaining in the $14-$17 range.
 
#242 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by JukeBox360  /t/1460692/why-are-blu-rays-still-so-expensive/210#post_23087729


HD DVD was a pure joke.

Both were viable options when they started, one of them won so case closed...


Should this thread remain unlocked, maybe it would be better to focus on something else than the format war... just sayin'
 
#243 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Morpheo  /t/1460692/why-are-blu-rays-still-so-expensive/240#post_23088980


Both were viable options when they started, one of them won so case closed...


Should this thread remain unlocked, maybe it would be better to focus on something else than the format war... just sayin'
Agreed. Anybody remember the first Blu-ray you ever bought and how impressed were you when you watched it?
 
#244 ·
I remember paying $35-$50 a pop for laserdisc releases almost 20 years ago, so today's blu-ray prices don't seem all that unreasonable to me. CD prices otoh, always seemed high to me.
 
#246 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by andy sullivan  /t/1460692/why-are-blu-rays-still-so-expensive/240#post_23089122


Agreed. Anybody remember the first Blu-ray you ever bought and how impressed were you when you watched it?

To be honest, I was not that impressed vs. the hype around the new format.

Sure it was hi-def and had all the sound perks, but at the time I had a pretty decent set-up at home with a well built, quality progressive scan DVD player.

I would see demo's of BR and just didn't see the benefits of buying another piece of eqmt then spending $20.00/30.00+ for a film I could get all day for lots less. The upgrade didn't justify the investment - especially when some of the demo's I saw were not at all hi-def, but looked more like re-purposed A/V onto a BR disc.

Now that all price areas have come down I've joined the 'revolution'.

Sometimes I still wonder if I should have jumped....
 
#248 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by JukeBox360  /t/1460692/why-are-blu-rays-still-so-expensive/240#post_23089480


Well worth it imo.

It is now...I paid less for my BRDVD player than any other piece of eqmt I've ever had and it definitely improved my SDVD discs.

I'm still skeptical about BR movies....maybe I need a different player.

But for now I'll wear this one out and wait like I always have.

It pays to be patient
 
#249 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by andy sullivan  /t/1460692/why-are-blu-rays-still-so-expensive/240#post_23089122


Agreed. Anybody remember the first Blu-ray you ever bought and how impressed were you when you watched it?

I sat out the first year or two of the HD format war until the holiday season of 2007 when several of my favorite films including Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Blade Runner and 2001: A Space Odyssey among others were released on Blu-ray. I think I blew about $350+ on a armful of titles and spent a weekend combing through everything. I initially had mixed reactions to this format - image quality was almost always a huge improvement over previous dvd, LD etc releases but it was more the uptick in sound that really impressed me. On the other hand, I was very annoyed (and still am) over the long load times and forced trailers.
 
#250 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by hifiHigh  /t/1460692/why-are-blu-rays-still-so-expensive/240#post_23089491


It is now...I paid less for my BRDVD player than any other piece of eqmt I've ever had and it definitely improved my SDVD discs.

I'm still skeptical about BR movies....maybe I need a different player.

But for now I'll wear this one out and wait like I always have.
It pays to be patient

Wish I could be!
 
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