DVD prices too low? (1 Viewer)

[Mitch Stevens]

The fact is that I know people that complain that $10 is too much. These people would not even consider paying close to $20 or more for product.

I think twice on anything over $15 and it has to be something really special to spend over $20 on

You know, I really have to agree with this. A lot of the people I know (in fact all of them) think that any movie over $15 is way too much to buy.

And I also agree that if they were to price DVDs any higher than they are now, there would be a huge loss of sales compared to what we have now. The fact is, that I used to buy tons and tons of DVDs that came out no matter how expensive they were, but there have been some recent releases that are just more than I want to pay for, therefore I have either not bought them at all, or waited until they got a price-cut.

"Red Dragon" immediately comes to mind. Director's Edition costs $25 dollars, so I go the Canadian version (with French writing all over it, but the DVDs are exactly the same) for $15 USD.

"Wrong Turn" can not be had for under $20, so I'm waiting for a price cut so I can get it for $15.

"Legally Blonde 2" also is far more than I'm willing to pay for it.

While it may seem that $20 dollars for a movie that you are going to keep for the rest of your entire life, is a very low price to pay, the fact is that most people don't just buy one movie they like. Whenever I buy movies, I never buy less than 5 at a time, so 5 at $20 would cost me $100 (Plus tax) or I could save over $25 and get a different 5 for $75.

I always buy at least 5 DVDs per week, (sometimes far more than that) so I always make sure to buy the lowest priced movies first. By the time I get to the more expensive releases, they have already had price-cuts so it's keeps on going and going.

I heard that "American Wedding (with the extra bonus disc)" is going to cost over $30. And since it's Universal (they also released Red Dragon) I totally believe they will price it that high. Hopefully there will also be a Canadian version that I could buy for far less than that.

Are DVDs priced TOO LOW? I certainly don't think so.

 

[Parker Clack]

I personally believe that DVD prices being low is what is driving the market in the first place. If they were priced like LD used to be then DVD would be a niche market too and VHS would still dominate.

Part of the reason that CD sales are down is because they are priced too high. It is hard to justify paying as much as you do for a CD when you may have one song on the whole disc that you like.

I personally believe that music sales would go up if they started to come out on the DVD format and were priced the same way as a DVD. The added value of the video to go with the music would justify a higher price.

As it is CD prices are too high and DVD prices are just were they need to be.

 

[BrandonMLR]

Oh Boo-Hoo. The customer is paying in excess of ten dollars for a product that costs less than a nickel to produce and people are bitching because they dont make enough money.

That may be true - but let's not forget the massive costs going into making the content of these discs. I'm not saying there isn't a lot of excess spending on production costs, but when a movie costs tens of millions of dollars to produce, market, and distribute - they need to re-coop the costs somehow - especially if the movie is ignored at the box office

I think the current street prices of DVD's are fair.

 

[george kaplan]

I think the problem with cd sales is twofold - too high prices and too little good music. I don't directly listen to my cds anymore, I put them all on my ipod (well a lot of it, there's not room on my ipod for more than about 1/3 of my cds). Frankly, I find it cheaper to buy songs directly from itunes now, than to buy the cd, so that's what I do with the little music I remain interested in that I don't already have on my 1000+ cds. The only exceptions are the occasional new release I'm really interested in such as Let It Be Naked.

As far as dvds, the only sense in which the prices are too low, is that on very rare occasions I'm tempted to buy a new release I haven't seen because the first week price is so good - case in point Bruce Almighty which I might buy sight unseen (I have a pretty firm rule about not buying sight unseen, but from what I've heard, it sounds like there's a good chance I'd like this). Other than that, are dvd prices too low? Hell no.

 

[Charles M Berry]

Also known as the "RIAA Argument."

These fools are putting themselves out of business, and everybody can see it. They have caused the pre-mature death of the CD format by about 10 years.

The idea that their muscle tactics were going to work in keeping customers lasted for about 1/2 second, and then they realized "oh S*it", we just screwed ourselves by pissing off the only loyal, cash paying customers we had left. But now its too late to pull back from the brink, and even when some labels have half admitted to screwing up by chopping CD prices (too damn late), the RIAA vows to continue to stay the course.

The DVD industry would never make such a spectacular mistake. The RIAA's mess is too fresh in memory.

 

[Craig Thomas]

So when I purhcased Star Wars I at Walmart for $10 on opening day. Who was losing more money? Walmart, or the manufacturer?


Also, prices being low really encourages the average movie watcher to purchase a DVD player...which further drives the technology.