How much do you think Total HD hybrid discs will cost?

To frickin much thats how much. A universal player would be a much cheaper idea in the long run than a universal disc.

Warner will have to let us know what the process is for pressing but I think they should be able to deliver Total HD product for under $30


Cheaper for US but studios are worried about their costs as well. We need to find a balance that is mutually acceptable.

Definition of Several

Being of a number more than two or three but not many: several miles away.

source. Answers.com

probably more than the current HD DVD / DVD combos to produce, and they don't even have to pay a royalty fee on those...

I wonder what combos cost to produce honestly. I've never seen any pricing. I just assume the studios are gouging on the disc pricing.

They will be $99.99 each.

So that puts them squarely in the mid-$30's if not approaching $40, IMHO. I think it will be less than the sum of the individual HD/BD titles MSRP or else it doesn't make business sense. As posted above, we don't know the process or costs to produce, but it seems that something with TWO high def sides would cost as much as a product with one standard/one HD side, but even if not, studios have established their MSRP with the current combos and will likely match or exceed that MSRP with Total HD (i.e., why not continue gouging us?).

Can I supersize that combo?

I can't get over how incredibly stupid this idea is. It's going to prolong the format war, keep fence sitters out longer, confuse customers and retailers, and we -- the early adopters -- literally pay the price in terms of higher cost discs.

I reject this idea fully. If those discs are even $1 more retail, I'm going to have to think long and hard about future Warner purchases. No more automatic preorders like I'm doing now. I'm not going to subsidize this stupidity.

I don't think it's important for me to say how much I THINK they will sell for, just that if they are any higher than $30 once I get them to pricematch Target, or use the Amazon discount, then I am not interested, save for the 5-10 titles i consider MUST HAVES, and that is IF and WHEN those are released...

Well if it's any higher than $30 a disk why bother spending the money making them when really the only point to the disk is to save WB money by only having to ship out one disk and case per movie.

If it's more than $30 a movie who would care to buy them? HELLO no one it can't be more than $30.

It's mute anyway, The Dual Format Players are the obvious way to go. This concept potentially may not even make it to the shleves after LG's announcement.

"moot"

and another poll? Is this really necessary, I mean seriously.

I voted $19-29... because that's the only way it could succeed.

I dont trust it. HD and BD and still trying to improve alot on there iHD and BDj so... I don't like thia at all.

Copied from another post... but now I see why Warner started the dual format releases. I read they put a patent on those dual format HD DVD / BD discs, so in that case it's a big cash grab for them if both formats flourish.

Right now this looks like potentially good news, but I'm seeing it as a just another HD DVD "Combo Disk" in the long term. One feature or the other will be useless in the future and we'll be paying more for it forever.

This is not the answer we want. It fixes problems now but encourages a dual format market to survive. Similar to the DVD and RW forum battle over recordable media (+R vs -R), both have been made compatible for nearly all players, but this doesn't mean the disks are the same. Nor is their compatibility in all set-top DVD players. I do wish that one of them would just die off, but the market has ensured that this will never happen.

What we should do is force one format (either one) to die to encourage a single standard. This reduces complexity of discs and lowers long term costs to the consumer and manufacturer.

I'd rather buy a separate disk since I own and welcomingly support both formats. I'd only buy a combo disk if it were the only option. Hopefully they are DL for both formats. Luckily, I'd assume they would need to be given Warner's HD history.

Warner uses the same transfer process for both formats, so no extra effort really needs to go into it. As a result, I don't think the price will be any higher than the current price for combo discs.

Which are already about $5 more than regular discs.

So, ultimately, everyone has to pay $5 more for a feature that NO CUSTOMER can use.

If you just have one format (HD or BD), you don't need the other on the disc.
If you have both formats, you don't need *both* on the disc.


Creation of this product seems to have absolutely nothing to do with the actual customers. To make a customer unfriendly move like charging extra for something that no one wants or needs this early in a format launch seems counterproductive to me.

I'm not sure this is true. When I read the press article it mentioned the discs using new techniques to put the two layers (BR and HD DVD) on the same side of the disc. It uses a mirror layer that would allow enough light through that an HD DVD laser that's reading deeper into the disc could read the right layer, and the BR laser reading right at the surface would not see the deeper layer. I may have bungled that, but its something to this effect. This, to me, sounds like a whole new manufacturing process, and probably a good deal more expensive than even a simple dual sided HD DVD combo disk.

Before you know it, we are going to have threads and "stickys" dedicated to people giving their opinion on "which version of a movie is better" when being viewed from the SAME disc!

If the pricing for the combo DVD/HD DVD is any indication, I CAN'T IMAGINE them coming in at under $34.99 retail, and most likely at $39.99. This is because they have found out that we are willing to pay that much for the DVD/HD DVD combo if we like the movie enough. Just remember that video stores (in some cases) still have to pay "rental pricing" for a good number of "low production" titles, so it COULD theoretically be even WORSE.

As an aside, DO NOT attempt to play a DVD/HD DVD combo disc on a "slot loading" DVD player. I found this out the hard way. Aparently they are "thicker" than a standard DVD and can get stuck in the drive. I had to take apart a DVD player at my parent's house just because I wanted to try out the "DVD" portion of a combo disc that my mom gave me for Christmas. This simply added another reason for me to not think to highly of them...

Lee

I'm not sure how to vote, because prices vary based on whether it's list price or street price, and/or catalog title price or new release price.

I'll be optimistic and say they will price them the same as combos are now. Depending on whether it's a catalog or new release title, that's about $35-40 list ($24-28 on Amazon). They did say they wanted to please the consumer first and the retailer second, so we'll see. However, I wouldn't be surprised if that was a load of bull and they turn out to be higher though.

I am hoping they will limit it to new releases only and continue to make the catalog titles in separate formats. That wouldn't be too bad for me, because over 90% of my purchases are catalog titles.

Can't a man have a misspelling from time to time? Regardless, my point is still valid.

I bet they'll be around $39.95 just like a bare bones CVL LD used to be and High Def will be a niche market...we've come full circle!!!

$50 MSRP. Heck, Superman Returns is a combo disc at $40 MSRP, why would it be cheaper?

-John