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The Era of "You Want Extras Ya Gotta Pay For 'Em" Is In Full Swing (1 Viewer)

Simon Howson

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I consider $25 a fortune for a DVD or Blu-ray! The average price I have paid this year per film is $13 (that is film's bought individually or by dividing the cost of multi-film sets by the number of films).

Blu-rays are currently about ~US$25 each here, or AUD$20 each if you buy 2 and get 1 free (deals of this sort are quite common). So that is 50% more than the average price I pay for DVDs. That's too much to tempt me to buy into a new format at this stage.

FWIW, I have bought about 120 films on DVD this year, which is roughly half what I bought last year.
 

Joe Karlosi

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The words "at this stage" being key here. Let's not forget that DVD itself cost a hell of a lot more when it was new, too. $25 - $30.
 

Simon Howson

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True. I feel no need to go back to paying those prices.

My position is simple, companies should price DVDs and Blu-rays exactly the same. That would be the easiest way to speed up uptake when consumers see no downside to paying for the better format.
 

Corey3rd

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Why should they cost the same? Why do Supermarkets charge more for whole milk versus skim milk? Why does Dom cost more than Cold Duck? A Blu-ray is giving you 10 times the info on the disc. Why should it cost exactly the same? You getting a much better picture. Blu-rays should be reasonable in pricing - not reverting to rental price VHS. But people act like somehow Blu-rays are completely overpriced. The SRP on the Dark Knight is a buck more than the 2 DVD version. Is that dollar really going to kill anyone's dream of going for the upgrade? The 2 Disc Iron Man is the same SRP as the Blu-ray. Now stores aren't giving the same discount. But that's there's policy.

Remember that when the record companies killed vinyl to push compact disc, they didn't make price an issue.
 

RickER

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If DVD had it to do over again, you wouldnt see the $5 bin. How many times do you see something come out on DVD, and you say, i will pick that up once its cheap.
Sure they make money on DVD, but not like they used to. Its only because of the shear number of discs being sold. You still have enough people on release week who will buy no matter the price.

Blu-ray has deals too. I never pay "those prices" on a disc.

But tell me why a new format should sell out its tech for the same price as one that has been around for 10 years.

Myself, if i think a BMW should be the same price as a Ford.

Shoot, i wish i could of bought my Plasma for the same price as my tube set.
 

TravisR

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Ok but it's still nowhere near the $40 to $100 (in 1990's dollars) that you'd pay for a laserdisc.

And like Corey and Rick, I don't think or understand why people think a better product should cost the same as the lesser one.
 

RickER

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No need to. I could go out today, and buy a top of the line tube TV for $800...top of the line! But a cheap, cheap, cheap plasma will cost me $1500 or $2000.
Seeing as a TV is just a TV, just as DVD and Blu ray are just movies on disc, it should all cost the same. Right? Forget about the R&D and all the other start up cost for a new technology.

Also, people dont expect progress over time (what does that mean?). They expect old tech to be cheaper than new. Whats hot, cutting edge today, is cheap for the masses tomorrow.
They also expect expensive cars to have all the bells and whistles. Your not gonna get the same cool stuff in a Corolla as what they put in a Lexus!
 

rich_d

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Some of the posts have been far, far afield from reality. Technology products for years now have been about giving significantly more for less.

Digital changed everything for media such as films and music. Studios not happy with the $5 dollar bins? Sorry, that ship has sailed by. No way to get the genie back in that bottle.

So, content providers can move to inventory free distribution such as digital downloads. Better price it right because broadband also allows for free downloads from servers in nations that the MPAA is never going to control.

Obviously many HTF's are early adopters who struggle with having much patience around purchases. That's their business though. But rationalizing those purchases away with poor analogies is what it is. As others have pointed out Studios have been mastering (even catalogue titles) for years and years knowing HD was coming. This is not reinventing the wheel, just a consumer offering that is up against significant initial and second hand competitive pressures along with fierce economic realities.
 

RickER

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Yea, well, i guess we are all just going to belive what we want.
And we are getting more for less rich, that why you can buy a Blu-ray player for $200 after only 3 years! I paid $1000 for my first DVD player (still have it) in 98, and my first Blu-ray player was $500. Yep, more for less.

How long did it take VCRs to get that cheap? A long time.

If anyone is rationalizing anything, its the guys who dont own a Blu-ray player, saying its no different, its should be the same price as DVD, its as expensive as LD, its gonna fail, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Anyway, this thread is about crappy extras on DVD, and we all must be in agreement with that. So i am done, for now.
htf_images_smilies_smile.gif
 

cineMANIAC

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Ladies and Gentleman, I am the originator of this thread and I'm certainly glad that everybody is still interested in and still talking about DVDs and movies. Thats the point of this forum, isn't it? Everyone has an opinion-that's cool. I have yet to upgrade to hi-def so I can't really say one way or another if I'm in love with the format or even if I'm going to buy into it. I suppose eventually I will but for now I am sufficiently satisfied with SD to tide me over for a good while. I like all kinds of movies; my main passion, however, remains with the horror genre: Cult, Underground, forgotten stuff. A movie like Shock Waves (1977), shot on 16mm, is simply not going to look any better on blu-ray that it does on SD. I can live with that. I actually prefer the rough look these flicks have, scratches and all. Blue Underground's DVD is very nice-it has some interviews, a commentary and is in widescreen. Thats really all I need for a movie like this. If it came with a 2 hr making-of, 4 commentaries and coffee-table book it would've been even nicer but it doesn't need all that. I got the DVD on street date and paid less that fifteen bucks (minus tax) for it, a very reasonable price. Since I like this movie so much if BU decided to charge $30 i would've gladly bought it anyway because thats the beauty of living in a democracy-we can each decide whats best for us. I saw The Dark Knight out early and made a decision to pick it up on the spot even though they were charging $32 plus tax for the 2-disc edition. I didn't even bother to look at the back cover. When I took it home it felt like I had gotten ripped off-there were a couple of short featurettes and the trailer. So why am I paying premium prices just to have nicer cover art and lackluster extras? I made a choice to pay more for a DVD for the priviledge of getting it early and got burnt. I'll be more patient in the future and just get the no-frills version but I'm not gonna double-dip for the uber-edition 6 months down the road to get some postcards and a fancy box. In the end its the movie we all want, not the extras.
 

Corey3rd

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DVD at this point can't be wiped out because people have DVD players in their cars. They have them in their laptops. They have them on their old tube sets (since they haven't upgraded). There is still a need for the format. It's not ready to be shuffled off to the side like 8-Tracks and wire audio.

In America, it's whole milk more than Skim milk. Maybe they actually have the same thing going with milk in Australia like the wine industry. Isn't a bottle of wine cheaper than a can of beer?

People don't merely buy the film. Otherwise they'd all be happy with EP speed VHS. They want the home theater experience. They want to not only see the film, but be dazzled by it. Get lost in the image. They want to feel like this was better than paying for tickets.

I do feel that when it comes to Blu-ray, people will upgrade the films they really love to see that next level of detail. I sit back watching From Russia With Love and it feels like watching a pal's 35mm print. I know he paid close to $4,000 for his Tech print. So having to pay $25 is nothing. Watching the Blu-ray of Dark Knight was better than the theatrical presentation I received on opening weekend.

The studios should be happy the rate of Blu-ray growth. Just call up a record company that banked on DVD audio to see the bad side of "upgrading."
 

Simon Howson

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I definately won't replace my entire DVD collection for a long time. But I look forward to buying Blu-rays of some of my favourite films (if and when they are released), as well as films that I think are good, but think will look great in HD.
 

TravisR

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It doesn't make sense that a better product costs more than a lesser one? I'm sure you're right in saying that they're gouging early adapters but I haven't paid than $25 for a movie on Blu-ray and I'm perfectly fine with paying that amount as now. Over time, prices will most likely drop but even if they don't, I'm still getting a product that I feel is much better than what I get with a DVD for about $10 more than I would pay for the DVD.
 

Tarkin The Ewok

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That's a bad analogy. Laserdiscs have always been a niche product. If they had become the mainstream format, then they would have been priced much differently due to economies of scale.
 

rich_d

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Nope, It's a pretty good analogy. If it was all about economies of scale, how were the first DVDs still priced lower than Laserdiscs? Clearly pricing was a big factor in DVD's success and Laserdiscs' failure. Smarter pricing allowed DVDs to be palatable when compared to VHS tape while providing significant advantages.

Laserdiscs' other dumb move was not being a factor in porn. All successful formats have had that in common. But that's another discussion.
 

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