Home Theater Forum › Home Theater Forum › Blu-ray, DVD, Streaming Video and Digital Downloads › Blu-ray › BD pricing - stabilizing, or going lower?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

BD pricing - stabilizing, or going lower?

post #1 of 10
1/4/08 at 4:23pm
Thread Starter 
With the news of Warners going Blu-ray, starting in May of this year, the competitive pricing situation is going away, and that's probably not going to be good for the consumer of HDM.

Do you expect the pricing of BDs to stabilize or continue to be offered at the BOGO pricing levels? I fear prices will remain high with less BOGO promotions now, and that will curtail some spending on HDM (at least by me, for one). I know they will have to make some headway against SD DVD, but I can't see the studios willing to giving away their HDMs if the incentive to do so has been diminished now.

Also, will the opportunity for the studios to produce double-dip situations by leading out with barebones BDs (and re-releasing a more feature-packed edition later) be a purchasing turn-off for you? I guess if we don't learn from history, we are doomed to get dipped doubly once again.
Reply
post #2 of 10
1/4/08 at 4:34pm

Re: BD pricing - stabilizing, or going lower?

I think that nearly all of the BOGO action was intended to drive up their numbers during the lead-up to a Warner decision. There's very little incentive for the BOGO's to continue...or for player prices to keep dropping. Both parties must have been bummed, cutting so deeply into what they originally envisioned as an extended period of higher profit during the public's "gee whiz" phase. I think the price gouging and slashing is over, and Sony will settle into an accepted phase of slower mass adoption and higher profits.
Reply
post #3 of 10
1/4/08 at 4:36pm

Re: BD pricing - stabilizing, or going lower?

Quote:
With the news of Warners going Blu-ray, starting in May of this year, the competitive pricing situation is going away, and that's probably not going to be good for the consumer of HDM.

I think prices will stabilize in the near-term, but lest we forget that even if HD DVD does go away, Blu-ray Disc will still have to compete with DVD. That competition will be just as good for the HDM consumer as BD vs. HD.
Reply
post #4 of 10
1/4/08 at 5:03pm

Re: BD pricing - stabilizing, or going lower?

I think have one faster adopting standardized format will drive retailers like Wal-Mart and Best Buy to be more bullish on HDM and in the end you'll see cheaper movie prices.

The format war I think primarily benefitted hardware costs (the players were slashed left right and center), not so much the disc costs. And yes, there will always be competition from the DVD format.
Reply
post #5 of 10
1/4/08 at 5:06pm

Re: BD pricing - stabilizing, or going lower?

There's the potential for future competition between the studios - I mean, if Warner really opens the floodgates on their catalog titles on BD, can Fox/MGM continue to have such high prices? They'll eventually have to be competitive within the BD market as compared to the other studios.

If I recall, Fox did the same thing on DVD.
Reply
post #6 of 10
1/4/08 at 5:48pm

Re: BD pricing - stabilizing, or going lower?

The prices certainly need to go down or there'll be very few movies I buy in Hi-Def. I went into this assuming the prices would be dropping over time.
Reply
post #7 of 10
1/4/08 at 6:02pm

Re: BD pricing - stabilizing, or going lower?

Seems obvious that prices will remain the same for the short term and fall once the flood gates open with more content and players in 1 HD format.

That said, there was always a cap on new SD release. Seemed to hover around 16-17 for years and settle at 18-20 just before HDM.

Amazon loves the high priced B&M prices right now. Perhaps we'll get lucky and watch it balance down.
Reply
post #8 of 10
1/4/08 at 7:34pm

Re: BD pricing - stabilizing, or going lower?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Arnette
I think prices will stabilize in the near-term, but lest we forget that even if HD DVD does go away, Blu-ray Disc will still have to compete with DVD.
Nail meet head.
Reply
post #9 of 10
1/4/08 at 7:44pm

Re: BD pricing - stabilizing, or going lower?

prices will stabilize and go lower

don't forget companies like Sony have HD TVs they are looking to sell as well with their brand name on them

competition doesn't go away it just goes from 1 main format of standard def to 1 main format of hi def
Reply
post #10 of 10
1/4/08 at 11:07pm

Re: BD pricing - stabilizing, or going lower?

If the studios and manufacturers truly want mass adoption of HDM then the prices have to go lower. Too many people have the conception that upconverted 480p discs look as good as native 1080p ones. AFAIAC, they don't, but the vast majority of average consumers do. Those are the ones the studios have to convince to make the switch. The only way to do that is to price HD media at a level that is competitive with SD DVD.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Blu-ray
Home Theater Forum › Home Theater Forum › Blu-ray, DVD, Streaming Video and Digital Downloads › Blu-ray › BD pricing - stabilizing, or going lower?