Price of New TV on DVD (1 Viewer)

[Joe*A]

DavidHAN wrote: For some reason I can only think of per episode price when buying TV product. Two bucks per episode is my limit. In my cheap mind I really like one buck per episode better. So, sales and price drops are greatly anticipated. Must haves are few.

Response: DavidHAN, I had a similar way of determining value for money spent on these shows. I was looking at the cost of an animated short (7 minutes, generally) with a full length episode (24 - 26 minutes) vs an hour long episode (43 - 50 minutes). If the price is comparable per minute, then its worth it. But I started thinking this way because I knew that most sets will be discounted down the line and wanted to make sure that if I do purchase on release date, I get my money's worth. If you do the math, the complete Pink Panther collection cost $0.55 per short compared to $1.05 per short for Looney Tunes. If you compare the cost per minute, a short like Looney Tunes costs $0.15 per minute while a show like Seinfeld will only cost you $0.06 per minute. Are Looney Tunes priced too high - yes. Are they worth more than a minute of Seinfeld - probably. But should I pay 2.5 times more for Looney Tunes than Seinfeld.

GaryOS wrote: I really find myself agreeing with Jeff about having to wait on sales. I've done my job over the last 6+ years and been a good little soldier when it came to buying vintage TV on the release date. I almost never waited for a sale. But my discretionary income simply will not allow me to continue doing that. And even if it did, I still feel like my "day of" purchasing did very little to keep the shows I wanted on the express line. I bought "Big Valley", "Leave it to Beaver", and many more shows on the day of release and it apparently did no good.

Response: You are so right - I feel the same way; I used to buy everything for the last 6 years (started in 2002 with MASH), when they first came out not knowing how prices would be slashed in future years and repackaged as season sets. I'm so much more leary on buying on the day of release unless I find a title to be kind of special and not mass marketed (Popeye is a perfect example because only the animation collector would buy this IMO). New shows like Battlestar Galactica is in my scope to purchase but only when the series is complete AND they come out with the eventual Series Set.

 

[RichieMagoo]

Same here, Jeff. Initially, I'd buy at release, largely because of the fact that there just weren't that many classics out on DVD, and I didn't have a collection to watch. It was like the shows being released at the time of their release were the only things available- but now there are lots of shows out there...and we already own lots of shows, so it's no biggie to sit back and wait for a sale.

I have to echo what others have said too, about the slow sales for classic shows. Case in point, a friend of mine, on hearing that The Odd Couple had just been released, wanted a copy immediately- regardless of the price- so she ran down to the local Wal*Mart...but alas...no Odd Couple DVD's- she had to order it on the inty-net.

I know my local Wally World doesn't even carry the AITF discs- so I'd say that the only people who are reall;y buying these shows, are the die-hard fans who search them out. They are losing out on all the casual/impulse buyers, who may not be thinking about these shows...or who might not know that they are available, but who may well purchase them if they saw them on the shelf at the local B&M.

I know if I wasn't fanatical about the Odd Couple aqnd AITF, I would not know these shows were out there on DVD, because I have yet to see them in a store* or to see any advertising for them.

[*= Bear in mind that I rarely look at DVD's in stores though- because I buy virtually 100% of my sets online...]

....and those darn half-season sets! I REFUSE to purchase DVDs that way!!! It's bad enough having to purchase one season at a time.....but half seasons? Pffftttt!!!! My sentiments on this subject seem to be shared by a lot of others- the studios better get with it and start giving the consumers what they want- I mean, why fight your customers? No one made money doing that! Just once I'd like to see them release a whole "longish" series at once from the git-go! Maybe they'd be p[leasantly surprised and see better sales......

 

[Jonathan Peterson]

I used to get sets on release day. For the past few years I would wait until the Sunday ad to see where the best deal was and I would usually end up at Best Buy on Tuesday morning or I would order from Amazon. Last Christmas though I noticed that Amazon started having these dirt cheap sales on so many sets. I started seeing prices of $14.99-$19.99 becoming much more common. Even after the holidays the sales continued. Prices for sets that were still pretty new would drop really fast as well.

I have gotten to the point now where I will wait until they are at a certain price. Amazon had Babylon 5 for $19.99 each and so I bought the first three seasons. I couldn't afford all of them at once so I will wait until they go that cheap again to finish them up. Same goes for many sets I am collecting. It seems that whenever a new set is released, the previous ones are put on sale. Looney Tunes has done that, Sienfeld did and many others as well.

I watch a few episodes during each week but I still have so many shows to watch, even if I didn't buy any sets for the next two years, I wouldn't be caught up. Luckily too, I am getting to the point where there is not much I am still waiting for. Batman, Wonder Years and finishing up series like Leave It To Beaver and Cheers and I will be happy. Oh yeah, I wish they would release Betty Boop.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Says it all for me as well. I have a backlog big enough for a good long stretch of time before I'd run out of DVD's to watch. That fact has had some bearing on my TV/DVD buys over the last year or so. I'll still get a couple of shows at release but that list is very small now. I wish I could justify getting everything at release that's on my list but I can't do that with a large un-watched inventory on the shelf. I just have to hope that, for certain "wait-for-sale" releases, it doesn't have an impact on future season releases or a show going into the "stalled" hole.

I also don't have a large "want-released" list. I'd like to see several shows out there but I've also been fortunate over the last 4 years that I've seen several "holy grail" shows released, some that I'd never have guessed would have been out on DVD. I bought nearly all of those at their release dates.

 

[Regulus]

Same here! My "Stockpile" has accumulated to the point where I can say this about it. I do not know who will be elected President this November, but if I were to stop buying DVDs today I would know who that President's Successor would be before I would have to watch "Reruns"!

 

[RickER]

I see we are all here now. Good to see you guys, as always.

OK, on to business. I have to say, i am not happy with the Perry Mason price point. I got a whole season of Mission: Impossible for the same price as a 1/2 season of Mason!
I only have so much money to spend on this stuff! Shoot, i am as big a Trek fan as they get, but i didnt even spring on the TOS season sets until Amazon had them for $35 a season. The problem is this, i can afford $35 for the show, but if you figure B&M prices, and the fact its only a 1/2 season, it would work out to almost the $100 for a full season that The X Files and Star Trek went for. I gave up on those prices a LONG time ago!
$40 for the whole season, i wouldnt bat an eye. But you can keep the 1/2 season at that price, i cant do it for everything...not anymore.

 

[Gary OS]

I will not belabor the point, but there's simply no way any of these split-season releases should have MSRP's of more than $29.99. Even that is pushing it when you consider it would make a full season MSRP nearly $60. And yes, I realize CBS/Paramount doesn't necessarily set the MSRP like other studios, but come on... All the online sites are setting the PERRY MASON set at $49.99, and then we are getting the typical 30% discount, bringing it down to around $35. And that's just way, way too much for a split-season set consisting of only 12 hour long episodes. It's insanity as far as I'm concerned, and I fear if that CBS/Paramount is going to choke out it's own "Vintage TVonDVD" line with this pricing structure. Even the more typical $39.99 MSRP's for the split-season releases are way too high and I just can't afford them any more with the economy going the way it is. And obviously I'm not the only one.

Gary "definitely looking to hold off and wait for major price drops and sales with the vast majority of my future purchases" O.

 

[Mike Frezon]

There's lot to discuss here. It is, indeed, an interesting thread.

While I can understand Joe's concern about impacting the release of future seasons...I figure we need to be able to exercise our right as consumers to "not buy" titles if we think the price is too high or are simply aware that the price will drop significantly in a reasonable amount of time.

With an eventual purchase of a title at a reduced price you are letting the company know that you are interested in buying their product...but not at premium prices--a perfectly reasonable message.

 

[David Lambert]

HOW could you guys start without Mike? After all, if ANYone knows about prices, it's "Mr. Weekly Roundup".

And I should know...after all, I passed on that title to him!

 

[Mike Frezon]

And your name again...?



Nothin' better than hearing from my ol' friend, Dave Lambert!

 

[Tim Tucker]

As much as I love Perry Mason, I will not buy S3V1 on release date. Experience has taught me that if I wait a few months, it will show up in a Paramount TV on DVD assortment at Sam's or Costco, or some online retailer will be running a Paramount sale. (For example, I waited on buying Mannix S1, and now I was able to get it from DD for $24.60.)

 

[RickER]

I thought that was him sitting in the back, pulling out his hair , and with calculator in hand. It wasnt him? Next time Mike, get here early!

 

[Mike Frezon]

It was one of those days where I hit every red light...

 

[Joe*A]

I've never understoond the concept of split season sets. Its like buying half a donut because I can't afford the other half. Give me a break. It's a simple way of the studios to make more more more money, period. Was it Battlestar Galactica that started this pattern?

Based on what I've read on this thread thus far, it's no wonder sales of older shows have dipped in the last couple of years - we've got tons of DVDs to watch and could wait for a better price.

Having said that, would you guys buy Beverly Hillbillies Season 2 at $39.99 pretax (Amazon.ca)? I'm not sure if the price is reasonable for the amount of episodes in the season but I heard Paramount has a reputation of editing their shows - is this true?

 

[RichieMagoo]

Hell no!!!!!

That should be one of the cheaper shows. I have a collection of 100 old TV eps that includes a crap-load of Beverly Hillbillies...and the set only cost me $15 at Deepdiscount!

I was glad to watch the eps of thios show that I have....but personally, it is not a show that I would buy the whole series of, and not a show that one can watch over and over again.

The smart move on this show would have been to offer the whole series at one time, for a reasonable price. I really thought they might do that with a lot of these old B&W shows...as clearly, the rights to them are much cheaper than more modern stuff...the audience is primarily a specialty audience (Not like you're gonna have 14 year-olds picking up shows like this down at the local Wal*Mart), and the transfer issues are much less complex.

I would really expect them to put out the whole series in one set for about $75 American. (I might even buy such a set for that price).

 

[Gary OS]

While I don't think $39.99 is a price I'd pay for this set (I'd try and get it for under $30, even if that meant waiting for a sale of some kind), the show is worth it to me. Whether one watches the eps over and over is a matter of personal preference.

And the episodes you bought from DD are probably part of a Mill Creek compilation that are only going to include PD quality episodes. There is something to be said for getting a set that has all the episodes, in order, in pristine quality. That's why I'll definitely be buying both the Henning series from Paramount.

Gary "I doubt I'll buy them on the release day, opting instead to wait for a certain sale in November, but I will be buying them nonetheless" O.

 

[RichieMagoo]

Agreed! There is no substitute for having a show that you love, in all it's glory...all episodes...in order.....

And don't get me wrong- I think Beverly Hillbillies is a darn good show- but it certainly is a matter of personal taste as to whether one could watch it over and over.

And speaking of shows with Buddy Ebson in them...I wonder if they're ever gonna release Banaby Jones? (That's one show I'd definitely buy...and in my opinion, would be a good candidate for release- not having been seen on TV in ages, it'd likely sell quite well, because I'm sure all of it's fans are chomping at the bit to see it again)

 

[Rick Thompson]

Barnaby Jones? I can hear it in the boardroom now:

"It's a QM show! Quick, somebody call Mark Heyes"!

 

[Joe*A]

While I don't think $39.99 is a price I'd pay for this set (I'd try and get it for under $30, even if that meant waiting for a sale of some kind), the show is worth it to me. Whether one watches the eps over and over is a matter of personal preference.

Thanks for the advice. I had a feeling that $39.99 is too pricy considering most of those episodes have been released in the second volume of the Henning issue of a couple of years ago.

As for the show itself, there's some really funny moments in this show especially the early B&W seasons.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Rick, that's good. I hope we don't see a repeat of the Fugitive tragedy anymore.