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The Price of High Definition versus SD DVD! (1 Viewer)

Dave Scarpa

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This is regards primarily to TV on Blu Ray.

Just recently announced to Blu from Paramount is the fanastic show Dexter and it's great first season. I bought the first season when it came out so I was primarily waiting for the second season on blu ray and passing on the DVD Set recently released. That set not even 2 weeks after release saw sales on it at $19.99. Still I stood pat. Now Paramount has announced the title for the retail of $69.95 ! For 13 episodes. Discounted will bring it to your house for around $55 bucks or so.

Still an amazing $35 over the cost of the DVD Set.

Now as an aside to this I own an apple TV. Apple has started selling HD versions of their shows on Itunes at $2.99 an episode. For Dexter that works out to $35.88 for the season. Now Itunes version is 720p. I downloaded an episode to check it out. And to be honest it looked pretty darn comparable to what I've seen on Showtime in Hi def. I've gone ahead and bought to episode 5 and will probably add the rest to my collection this way. I'd love to own the Blu ray but the days of me blindly paying Huge prices for releases are gone. Why can I buy a Season of Sarah Conner or Chuck for under $30 on Blu but Dexter is Double the price.
I was waiting On Life on Blu but it looks like Itunes my get my money there as well.

I can understand Dexter is on a premium Network, but for the difference between the Hi Def and SD versions of it I can't justify it.
 

Robert Crawford

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The pricing between BRD and SD DVD has been getting closer for movies with Fox reducing catalog MRSP pricing to 34.99 and studios reducing MSRP pricing for catalog and newer releases. The difference between SE SD DVD releases and BRD is about $5 for most releases so I'm quite happy with that trend.

As far as television shows, I haven't been buying much of that product so I'll leave others to comment on those prices.






Crawdaddy
 

Sam Posten

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The bottom line for me is I won't spend over $20 on a single disk any more. And I'm even more frugal with multi disk sets. I literally have a library of unwatched films I cannot hope to completely get through in any amount of serious watching so it doesn't make sense for me to pay premiums on stuff EXCEPT hot new releases and those are the ones that are usually discounted the most any way. We all know that given enough time every one of these disks will be available in a bargain rack so why drive ourselves to the poor house collecting releases on street date unless we are absolutely sure we are going to watch em that week. Sorry studios, BD is 3 years old now and on the brink of being a mass market item. $35 a disk doesn't work for me and it sure doesn't work for my non hardcore friends and family.
 

Michael Warner

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And this is why I have a mere 18 BRDs at this stage of the game. At this same point in my foray into DVDs I had well over a hundred. I realize that those crazy internet sales are a thing of the past but like Sam I'm just not willing to drop 20 bucks on a BRD unless it's one of the few must-have titles for me. More rentals and almost no impulse purchases don't bode well for a format's long-term future.
 

Aaron Silverman

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Right on, Sam. I just ordered a few BDs from Columbia's latest B1G1 with free shipping promo (under $15/ disc total, including new releases like Iron Man and Speed Racer). I probably won't order any more until the next one (unless I stumble across a used copy of something high on the want list for under $15).

Unless I REALLY want something, I borrow it on SD from the library. Double dips are out of the question -- except maybe Nightmare Before Christmas ;). The extra cash I used to blow on DVDs is now paying for my son's preschool.
 

PaulDA

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Mad Men, on the other hand, is a TV series that I bought on BD that was actually a few dollars cheaper than its SD counterpart (on the day I bought it--that could have changed in the interim). I don't buy a lot of TV series, but I am willing to pay, say, a 5-10$ premium for the BD version. 30-40$, however, either makes for an SD purchase or BD rental/wait for the bargain price next year.

As for movies (single-disc releases--movie sets are another matter), I'm willing to pay a 5$ or so premium--not 10$+. I think the better quality is worth something extra, but not at any price.
 

Dave Scarpa

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Now on top of all this Netflix emails me and informs me I'll be paying an extra $1 a month for Blu Ray Access. Kinda Pricy considering I can't get any Blu Rays from them, every week they go to "Very Long Wait" Are they gonna use my Buck to buy additional copies, probably not.
 

WillG

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I got that e.mail today as well, and this was obviously coming. An extra dollar a month for Blu-Ray is certainly reasonable, but yeah, Nexflix's availbility for Blu-Ray discs is a joke, and if they will be charging a premium, they have to improve that.
 

Loregnum

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Yep, tv shows (most of them) and many catalog titles are the two areas where prices need to drop quite a bit. I don't think new releases are too bad.

I question is will prices drop soon. On one hand people will be even tighter with their money so logic says you'd want to drop prices to entice them to buy. On the other hand studios may feel they do not want to drop prices because of lower sales and that the higher prices help revenue which is much needed now.

It's one of those things that happens everywhere I guess but I personally think dropping prices is better than not. I'm not a huge stickler on prices like many but even I see myself slowing down my buying in the near future (I'm in the financial investment industry so you can guess how business has been lately and projecting to be for a while) with titles all above 20 bucks, catalog or not. I buy a lot of discs so a 5 dollar decrease in a catalog title goes a long way since basically I'd be getting 4 discs for the old price of 3.
 

PaulDA

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No sign of that from zip.ca (the Canadian equivalent)--and I've received both BDs and HD DVDs (they still rent them) in the mix with SD DVDs with no issues.
 

Jeremy

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The minute I got that e-mail I changed plans from "three at a time" to "two at a time" to offset the increase. Since they have problems keeping Blu Rays in stock I don't feel like I'm going to miss much with the smaller plan.
 

Chris Atkins

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Got the same thing. And I promptly told them that unless they reverse course, I will be going from 3 to 2 movies a month.

Blu ray prices HAVE to come down. I'm not paying $30 for new releases.
 

Johnny Angell

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I'm glad I'm not alone. I go into WalMart and see the meager collection of Blu's and many are $29-35. That just won't cut it.

I don't have a BD player yet, but I've got 3 discs: Blade Runner (5 disc set) and Legend of the Waterhorse, both I got on sale for $15. Today I just bought MIB for $20 at Target.

Sure would like to have the Harryhausen collection, but it's just a bit steep for me right now, even though per movie, it's a decent price.
 

Cowbell

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I agree, I have a shade over 700 titles in my SD library. Previous to my switch to BD, I routinely purchased 3 to 4 titles a week. Either on-line or in various barging bins. Since I decided to stitch to BD, my purchasing has fallen way off.
Now when I see a title I’d like to have in my library, like say “The Happening”. I see the SD price of $21, and the BD price around $28/$29.
So I pass on the SD copy because I’d really rather have the BD version, but I find myself passing on the BD version because of the price.
I guess that explains why my BD library has exactly 6 titles, and my SD library hasn’t been added to in three months.
 

Mike Frezon

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Isn't this about the time for some long-standing hobbyists to burst in and tell us about how they had to pay $100+ back in the day for xyz laserdisc? And they were happy, by gum, because it had a DTS track...

Anyway, it seems like that's what always happens when these types of threads get going...and I've never understood it. Because one thing has nothing to do with the other.


THAT is the bottom line. It doesn't matter what premium LDs were going for back in the 80s and 90s. This is the reality. And there is nothing wrong with it.

Like most of the other posters in this thread, my buying habits have changed radically since the advent of Blu-ray. My SD purchases have dropped way down and I have become much more selective about my BD purchases. That could be for any number of reasons (smarter selectivity, my financial situation, the economy, whatever...). But a bottom line is a bottom line. And if the studios want BD to gain mass market acceptance, prices are going to have to drop a bit more.

Everyone might have a different idea of "what's acceptable" based on their own budget or the attractiveness of a particular title...but I think most people are probably able to "ballpark" what they think is reasonable for the value delivered to them on Blu-ray disc.

===========================

Dave: regarding Dexter: S2 on BD...

It probably won't be too long before you'd be able to find it in a "used" bin at a nearby store. It seems to me that TV shows on BD seem to be showing up in the bins faster than popular films. I think people watch them once and figure they might be able to recoup some of their investment by selling it off. Just an idea.
 

PaulDA

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Ok, I'll bite (have a few moments to spare and I'm about to prep a lecture on historical economics ;) ). "Back in the day", I did NOT pay 100$ for a laserdisc--couldn't afford it. So I lived with VHS--knowing that something better was available, but recognizing that I shouldn't distort my budget to get it. I can't speak for others, but my "beef" with complaints about BD prices has nothing to do with people's choices relative to their budgets and what value they ascribe to entertainment. What does bother me is the sense of "entitlement" some (few people here, in my opinion, but more so in other fora I visit) have about new technology. It is all well and good to set a personal threshold for what one is willing to pay for new technology--nothing wrong with that whatsoever. But to expect new and improved technology (of any kind--not just HT gear) to be cheaper than the previous best earlier in the lifecycle of that previous one is, frankly, unrealistic and is likely the source of many comments about "100$ laserdiscs" and so on.

In the hardware section, there is a thread about "your first DVD and your first BD player and costs"--it's anecdotal but the overall trend shows that BD players, at any rate, are cheaper (when adjusted for inflation)--and, I suspect, the same holds true for BDs vs DVDs at the same point in the lifecycle.

So, by all means, respect your personal budgets and thresholds. But some of the complaining (again, much more elsewhere than here) is reminiscent of sour grapes about the "new toys" being too expensive. But we no more have the right to commoditized pricing for what is, essentially, a luxury item in entertainment than we do in cars or homes.
 

Chris Atkins

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And I think the SD is overpriced at $21!

Am I the only one who's noticed that SD prices seem to be flat or rising after BD won the hi-def war?
 

Chris Atkins

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Can't argue with anything you've said. No sense of entitlement here. When BD disc prices come down, I will start buying more. Until then I will rent most.
 

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