Why are blu-rays still so expensive? - Page 2

Hey! They have to be able to cover the 400 million dollar Avatar World being built at Animal Kingdom!

That horse is not only dead, it's dust.

lol! My HD-DVDs still work fine...and some of them are superior to the versions released on BD. Not dust yet!
But I do wish it were still around.

You americans make me laugh, want to see high prices? Go look at amazon.ca which only lowers prices to match Canadian b&m retailers, online savings indeed. New BD prices can be over twice the US price in Canada although the price is lowered a lot a year later for the mainstream titles.

It's funny how some write as if all HD-DVD players have self-destructed, I am keeping my Apollo 13 HD-DVD.

I also have a player and HD-DVDs. I was referring to the DEBATE, not whatever discs and players are still around.
Edited by RobertR - 2/28/13 at 8:54pm

I wish some movies were cheaper, to be sure... but when you can buy a movie forever for $20 or less, and that same movie costs you $10 to see one time in the movie theater... Any movie worth buying is worth $15-$20... IF it isn't worth that, then it probably isn't worth any price.

Blu-ray cost won't come down until they are made obsolete by a newer technology like 4k, or streaming 1080p at a lower cost. DVD prices dropped after Blu-ray became mainstream for that same reason.

Agree.

+1

Emphasis added.

I agree. I dont visit the movie theatre often but if i had to pay 2 tickets and sometimes 4 ( if we had to see a kids film ) Im still better off buying a Blu ray at retail price. Most times there on special when theyre released anyway but I least I can watch it more than once.

But when they do have multiple versions for sale, the version that includes the BD and DVD is typically $5 more than the BD only version. How much it costs them to press the disc is not the issue, it's what they charge for the product. That is just more profit for them if they include the DVD and charge $5 more.

How's the English Dolby Digital-Plus 5.1 on the HD DVD version treating you?

btw:
I have Apollo 13 on all 3 formats and the BD AQ is well, awesome.
PQ between BD and HD DVD is negligible.
Also, I dread the 60 boot up of my HD DVD players these days but still do use them (yes, I own an A20 and A35).

Prices were high($30-50) for a single catalog release during the format war.
With DVD staying around the $15-20 for new releases, I doubt the studios would allow any HD format version to be at the same cost. A $5 premium seems acceptable.

As for the PS3 winning the war for blu-ray, it's Toshiba's fault for being the exclusive HD DVD player manufacturer and not letting anyone else join to make players.

I have DVDs that I've owned for over 10 years that cost $20. I agree its worth $20 to own a favorite film forever.

Downloaded UHD media won't have any packaging costs associated with them... but I'd bet you each movie will cost a bundle anyway.

Why do hospitals charge you a 10,000% mark up using a "charge master" sheet on many low cost items?

Simple, naked greed.

Yeah when it's the blu-ray version that's bad it always 'negligible' plus the minimum audio for the format was DD+, so much for hd-dvd expertise. Getting off-topic anyway...

OP,

Check out the prices of the UK boxsets and you will change your opinion.
www.thehut.com/blu-ray/blu-ray-starter-pack-gladiator/-the-bourne-ultimatum/-wanted/-fast-and-furious/-the-mummy-tomb-of-the-dragon-emperor/10553113.html?affil=awin&awc=2547_1362314908_a8dd12c8ca275f4eb8312f48e81ccced&utm_source=AWin-47868&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=AffiliateWin
Example

Can't answer that, as I usually select the Dolby TrueHD audio option on HD-DVDs.

On Apollo 13, I don't think so.

The price of new-release BDs likely serves a number of purposes -- including (of course) profit maximization, but also to appease movie theater owners who fear their customers leaving in preference to low-priced BD/DVD releases. The studios still need the theater owners on their side. Besides, if new-release BDs sold for $10 that wouldn't stop the complaints. We'd simply start hearing that they should be $8, or $7.

It seemed like the price was dropping fast and then boom it went back up to the nasty old prices. Yeah I don't.

This is an expensive hobby. To be honest, I find the prices of blu-rays to be shockingly cheap. Often times they're only a few dollars more than the dvd counterpart. Compared to the past formats, blu-ray disks are extremely cheap.

Does anyone not remember that the movie studios had a monopoly on the VHS and rental industry? Back in the 90s most new release VHS titles would sell for $20. There were those obnoxious releases that would retail between $90-$100, and that's for one VHS tape. This is why Blockbuster was a big business back in the day.

When DVDs started popping up back in 1997, I certainly remember new releases being sold for $20, the same price as their VHS counterpart; Disney DVDs were the exception to this and were as high as $35. It is no wonder that DVD vanquished VHS in less than 3 years. When Bluray and HD-DVD came out, Bluray was higher priced as well. Sony's launch player was $1,000 where Toshiba's was $500. People might choose to forget that HD-DVD was the superior format to Bluray when they both launched. Sony eventually caught up and the rest is history.

Bottom line, until the prices of Bluray match DVD, Bluray will not be replacing the DVD format anytime soon. The studios need to go back to memory lane and look at how fast DVD was adopted over VHS. Price played a major role in this. We are already at the $50 player mark. It's time for discs to follow suit.

By the way, format wars suck. I still have my trusty old CED videodisc player which lost out to VHS, Betamax, and Laserdisc back in 1983. Besides, discs are old hat now. Media servers are the way of the future now.

My biggest problem with Blu-ray right now is that prices are going *up*. For a good while, I was getting new release films at less than $20 and now it seems almost nothing releases at less than $22-23. It's also taking longer for catalog titles to drop in price.

I blame most of it on the failing brick and mortar retail business. Amazon has no interest in driving prices down without competition and as that competition dries up, their prices have risen.

I've found Blu-rays at The Dollar [US] Store!
THERE'S NO CRYING IN HD!

Outside of "release week pricing" (Tuesday through Sunday), It takes several months to find a new release on sale. During initial release, your typical BD will be $5 off retail price. 3D discs are the worst, and never seem to go down in price.

I have to admit, I have seen these too. Granted they are not necessarily blue chip discs like Dark Knight, more like a bare bones disc of Gigli. I have seen $5 BDs flooding Best Buy and Walmart for awhile now. I was tempted to get Devil's Rejects when I saw that for $5 at Best Buy though.