DVD's Overpriced? (2 Viewers)

[bobraleigh]

Am I the only one that thinks old series would sell better if they weren't, what I consider to be in some cases overpriced? I just saw where Fugitive s1v2 is coming out at around $43.00 for 13 episodes, same with Love Boat s1v1.

I think Flipper came out overpriced a long time ago so I waited till I saw it on sale for $19.99. If a lot of people like me wait for these shows to go on sale, usually long after their release, the studios prolly take that as a sign of them not being wanted. Just a thought.

 

[Radioman970]

DVDs are priced too high. I was going to buy A Christmas Story standard DVD version and it's over $20. My limit for most movies is $15 for standard and it better be something good! For TV shows I'll pay up to $30 per season. More than that it better be something good. With full season sets coming out I see no reason to blow over $30 on one season. Won't do it!

 

[Corey3rd]

What's the point of buying A Christmas Story since it will be repeated on cable at least 50 times in the next month?

If I think a show is too overpriced, I just get it from netflix to see if it's really worth the money.

 

[Tory]

On the same channel, back to back to back to back. They ruined that movie for me.

These things should be cheaper and generally are given the prices you all give but you need to look around and wait for the right time to strike.

 

[TravisR]

No one pays the MSRP for a DVD. And like you said, if it's too expensive, just wait for a sale.

 

[Regulus]

"Tar-jhee" will have A Christmas Story and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation for $5.98 this Friday!

 

[Hank Dearborn]

I think DVDs are incredibly cheap. Anybody who thinks DVDs are expensive must not have been collecting for very long. To get a full (or even half) season of a TV show for about the price of 1 episode on 16mm or about the cost of 2 blank tapes back then is amazing. How about people who collected in the 3/4 Umatic days, with 1 hour costing about $30? You think DVDs are expensive to them? Or how about Beta One? One hour tapes were about what, $20-$25? And VHS movies cost up to $100 as did Laser Discs. No, I think this stuff is so cheap now it's laughable. As are these types of threads.

 

[Scott_F_S]

We want our favorite TV shows on DVD. And we want them with sparkling new transfers from the original masters no matter how much it costs. And we want the original music no matter how much clearance rights cost. And we want commentaries and documentaries and other special features. And put it in packaging that is attractive and nice -- none of that cheap crap. And make sure you market it properly so people will know it's available. And we want you to give it to us for free because it's our birthright to have it.

 

[Bob Hug]

. . . . or use one of the online search tools that can save you money like:

DVDPriceSearch.com

or

PriceGrabber.com

 

[Alfonso_M]

exactly! My first ever Beta movie was "The wild geese" and I paid $80.00 for it.

If anything DVDs are so inexpensive now that any future market "value" gains of my collection has been completly wiped out..

Right now CC is selling titles I paid top dollar for $2.99

 

[Doug^Ch]

The only thing that upsets me about DVD price is when I pay top dollar for a set, and less than a year later it is available for less than half what I paid for it. I can't tell you how many sets I've bought that retail for $60; I pay $40, and two years later are selling for $20. This is happening more and more frequently to me, which is making me hold off on some newer sets, because I know that if I wait, I know in time I will get a real deal.

 

[TravisR]

Yup. Every Criterion laserdisc that I ever bought ran from $100 to $125 but there were some movie only CLV titles or titles with only a few extras that were $50. Most studio special editions were about $100 (Alien, Aliens, The Abyss, Terminator 2, Toy Story) and the Star Wars laserdisc box was $250 MSRP.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Scott, that's classic

I agree with almost all of your post. I guess my birthright will have to go out the window

I agree with some of Hank's post. I'm a late-comer collector having started well after the DVD format entered the home video mkt. I did own one of the early VHS Recorders but 99% of what I recorded was to time-shift for one-time viewing purposes and re-record over the same tape. I own a few sports events on VHS and a handfull of movies but the vast majority of my collection was purchased after ~00-01. I started collecting TV/DVD's in '04.

I'd bet that Scott's post says a lot of what we want here at HTF. I don't mind paying what a lot would consider a higher price for, say, the Fugitive or the Untouchables, etc, a series that's xferr'ed to (IMO) near-perfection.

It comes down to content, as I'd guess most here are the same. For example, I'd have bought the entire DVD release of "Combat!" regardless of the less than stellar xfrs from Image, even if the price had been 25% higher than they were selling for at their release, since that series is one of my "Grails" on TV/DVD. On the other hand, I've balked on "Happy Days" S2 due to the feedbacks here regarding the xfrs of that set.

I have, as most here probably do, a "line in the sand" regarding xfr Q that I won't cross with some sets. I think that my "line" is reasonable but some probably would disagree with it. A recent example for me is the Route 66 set. I've just started viewing the set but it was a fairly tough "road" for me watching the 1st episode due to the xfr Q. I'm hoping that, as I get further along into the set, the content will overtake/overcome the (xfr Q) difficulty viewing the set. I know that this series is a big one with a lot of guys here. It all comes down to what's considererd a "Grail" set to the individual.

I'm just thankful that the recent Paramout releases, 2 of which are big-time first-view's for me, Fugitive and Untouchables, are awesome releases with incredible xfr Q's.

I've become more and more selective on TV/DVD purchases for some of the same reasons posted here. It's a little tough when, after being an early buyer of a series, it's marked down significantly in cost a year later.

IMO, but the 1/2-season release marketing strategy is a tough one to swallow for me. Maybe it's due to a "wait & see approach pending sales" reasoning by the studios but I'm not certain that's the case. If that's true, then I'd have an easier time buying into the idea, and the 1/2-season sets.

The hardest part for me, as a collector, is the waiting and not knowing the status of some of these series, ie Big Valley. We don't know when or if it's off the release loop for good.

Of course, after that surprising "Barney Miller S2" news at TSoD, it's another reminder that anything's possible in this market.

 

[Gary OS]

The only real concern I have about some recent price increases [see "The Fugitive: Season 1, Vol. 2 for a perfect example] is that it might bring the sales down, which in turn might threaten future releases. I myself don't mind the increases because if I want the show bad enough I'll pay for it. The recent news about "The Fugitive" price hike, while alarming to me, isn't going to stop me from buying. It's just too important a series. But I am worried that other people might not buy it because of the price hike. Look at "Big Valley" as a perfect example. Even though I thought the first season price was insanely low (I picked it up at WalMart for $19.99), a lot of people were upset that the second season was split and then they were charged the same amount. Just take a look at some of the early Amazon.com reviews to see what I mean. Again, I personally had no problem paying the same price for only half of season 2, but I'm in the minority. And obviously that hurt sales to the point where now it looks like Fox may have abandoned the series.

So the bottom line for me is that I am concerned with some of the recent price hikes, especially in light of what looks like an economic recession on the horizon. People will very likely have less discretionary income, so I can only imagine sales of dvds in general may slip. Frankly, I'm not positive we aren't already seeing the beginnings of a slow down in the TVonDVD market. It's not real obvious at this point, but I think we might be headed in that direction. And I want to see my favorites (like "The Fugitive") run their full course and get released.

Gary "just my two cents" O.

 

[whisperintherain]

I absolutely loathe the half-season thing. Out of all the TV-on-DVD I collect, I have been lucky enough never to have to resort to buying a half-season set.

This particular trend of half-seasons has always been popular here in France. Warner used to take us French people for cash cows,and only release half-seasons while releasing complete seasons in the UK. They even went as far as releasing not two, but three different sets to divide the content of the first Dallas set as follows - Season 1, Season 2 Part 1 and Season 2 Part 2, charging 40€ for each, which I find appalling. I never warmed up to that show (I much prefer Knots Landing), so I didn't buy those, but I can't imagine the fans being happy to pay three times what foreigners did for the same product.

Now, this trend is getting so ridiculous that they are starting to re-release shows that had complete season sets as half-season sets (they've done it for Desperate Housewives, Lost and 24 in the last couple of years). The worst part of it is they seriously take consumers for idiots, as the half-seasons are priced in a way that will make buying two half-seasons more expensive than buying a complete season.

My "price limit" rules as far as DVDs are concerned are quite simple. 15€ is the maximum I will pay for a brand new sealed copy of a single-disc release. When trying to buy anything off eBay, I won't raise over 70% of the retail price for it.

As for TV shows, it all depends on the number of discs, episodes and running length of the release. I will not pay as much for a show like Friends or Will & Grace, which has 24 half-hour episodes, as I would for a complete season of 24, which has the hour-long format. I know that quality is supposed to matter more than quantity, but as far as my TV-on-DVD is concerned, I want both for as little money as possible.

 

[FrankT]

I agree about the 1/2 season thing. I will not buy them at all. Vote with dollars!

 

[Tory]

I too agree about half seasons, it seems to drive up the price but I have purchased Fugitive, Route 66 and the 2 Time Tunnels (but only when they were super cheap)

 

[LCD22]

The only half-seasons I have bought are for "Touched by an Angel", and where a half-season is needed if you factor in the crossover episodes with "Promised Land". There's only one more crossover with "Touched by an Angel" and that's on a yet-to-be-announced Season 5. And it is my hope that CBS/Paramount will release all three seasons of the spin-off complete and unedited in the future, which is another reason why I'm been buying these. Otherwise, I'll normally buy complete season sets.

 

[Bonedwarf]

I think it varies from the disk to disk whether it's overpriced.

For example I found the Jazz Singer, the recent three disker, for $30 today. Given the content, I consider that a MASSIVE bargain. Film history class in a box IMO.

Then I see stuff like "Deadwood" going for $90 for one 13 episode season. That is a gigantic rip off. I even consider $60 for mainstream shows like "Lost" etc... overpriced. And when there's sales, I think that pretty much backs up the theory that they're overpriced. I got the first seasons of "Lost" and "24" for $30 each. Now I am EXTREMELY doubtful these were being sold at a loss.

Of course I found another bargain today. "Grosse Pointe Blank" and "High Fidelity", one package, $15. I'd have paid that just for the former. The latter is frosting.

And how much things used to cost has no relevance. All new technology is more expensive when it first comes out. Hell, I remember my Dad buying the Neil Diamond version of "The Jazz Singer" on VHS for my Mum, before sell-through took off, and he had to pay 90 pounds for it!

 

[Brian GT]

I'm no fan of the half season set either.
Bought the first "Streets of San Francisco" set without noticing that it was Vol. 1. Haven't got around to picking up vol.2, and if season two is done in the same split season format, I may skip it entirely.