Will the cost of foreign blu ray sets imported soon be impacted? (1 Viewer)

[Nelson Au]

Hey HTF members

Dear moderators, if this is a forbidden question, then by all means close this.

I had a question lingering in the back of my mind that I thought I’d ask. It’s in relation to the tariffs being imposed on foreign goods. I’m not trying to ask a political question, so that is not my intent.

I’m considering purchasing a blu ray set from Via Vision in Australia. I guess I’m wondering if I should pull the trigger right away. I also have bought many discs from the UK from Arrow Films.

I’m also considering a Sony OLED TV for a bedroom. I know this question belongs in the Displays thread, but thought I’d ask it while I'm on the topic. I figure this is also a foreign good.

Does anyone know if there can be impacts in the cost of these kinds of items.

Thanks for your consideration.

 

[jcroy]

(Adding more fuel to the fire, without going heavily into politics).

This might also happen with american domestic released dvd/bluray/4Kbluray titles, which are manufactured at the giant Technicolor/Vantiva plant in Guadalajara, Mexico. For that matter, it might also happen with Paramount american domestic released dvd/bluray/4Kbluray titles which are manufactured at the giant Bertelsmann/Arvato plant in North-Rhine/Westphalia, Germany.

The last giant optical disc manufacturing plant located on american soil, was shut down and sold back in 2021.

Report: Huntsville's Technicolor Plant Sold For $39M - Huntsville Business Journal

An affiliate of a Milwaukee commercial real estate firm bought the Technicolor facility on Moores Mill Road in Huntsville.

huntsvillebusinessjournal.com

 

[Alan Tully]

Ha, I'd think the import/export market of CDs & Blu-rays is so invisibly small as to not attract any tariffs (it's the ever increasing postal costs that worries me).

 

[Nelson Au]

(Adding more fuel to the fire, without going heavily into politics).

This might also happen with american domestic released dvd/bluray/4Kbluray titles, which are manufactured at the giant Technicolor/Vantiva plant in Guadalajara, Mexico. For that matter, it might also happen with Paramount american domestic released dvd/bluray/4Kbluray titles which are manufactured at the giant Bertelsmann/Arvato plant in North-Rhine/Westphalia, Germany.

The last giant optical disc manufacturing plant located on american soil, was shut down and sold back in 2021.

Report: Huntsville's Technicolor Plant Sold For $39M - Huntsville Business Journal

An affiliate of a Milwaukee commercial real estate firm bought the Technicolor facility on Moores Mill Road in Huntsville.

huntsvillebusinessjournal.com

Interesting , I had not considered that the plants who made domestic discs are made overseas. That’s a good point.

Ha, I'd think the import/export market of CDs & Blu-rays is so invisibly small as to not attract any tariffs (it's the ever increasing postal costs that worries me).

I hope you are right!

 

[TravisR]

I hope you are right!

I do my best to tune out the news as much as possible now but my understanding is that tariffs would only be applied to products over the cost of $800.

 

[Douglas R]

I do my best to tune out the news as much as possible now but my understanding is that tariffs would only be applied to products over the cost of $800.

That will apply to some limited collectors editions then

 

[Alan Tully]

That will apply to some limited collectors editions then

Ha, that's the way it seems to be going. As customers dwindle (we're all dying off), these super deluxe sets are getting more & more expensive.

 

[JohnRice]

Ha, I'd think the import/export market of CDs & Blu-rays is so invisibly small as to not attract any tariffs (it's the ever increasing postal costs that worries me).

It doesn't work that way. Every product that comes into the country, even private orders by mail and similar carriers, has to have a value declared. Tariffs will be charged to the US recipient of the product(s).

I do my best to tune out the news as much as possible now but my understanding is that tariffs would only be applied to products over the cost of $800.

Nope. I deal with imports. There is no minimum to the value of the products. Of course, every detail is prone to, and will most likely, change from second to second. I wish that was sarcasm.

However, regarding the cost of discs imported by studios, the import value will in most cases only be the manufacturing cost of the disc itself. Remember, most of the value of the purchase price is the content. That value is not part of the tariff. That does not apply to private individuals ordering foreign releases, where the entire cost of the purchase will be taxed.

 

[Traveling Matt]

(Adding more fuel to the fire, without going heavily into politics).

This might also happen with american domestic released dvd/bluray/4Kbluray titles, which are manufactured at the giant Technicolor/Vantiva plant in Guadalajara, Mexico. For that matter, it might also happen with Paramount american domestic released dvd/bluray/4Kbluray titles which are manufactured at the giant Bertelsmann/Arvato plant in North-Rhine/Westphalia, Germany.

The last giant optical disc manufacturing plant located on american soil, was shut down and sold back in 2021.

Report: Huntsville's Technicolor Plant Sold For $39M - Huntsville Business Journal

An affiliate of a Milwaukee commercial real estate firm bought the Technicolor facility on Moores Mill Road in Huntsville.

huntsvillebusinessjournal.com

I know large major studio runs aren't typically handled by smaller plants but then again what constitutes a large run has and probably will continue to evolve. On that note, there are "mid" companies still based and operating in the US. CD Video Manufacturing in Santa Ana, CA and DiscMakers in New Jersey near Philadelphia are two examples. DiscMakers sometimes handles small run releases like Intrada's film score CDs.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I imported a Blu-ray from an eBay seller based in Canada earlier this year as normal.

 

[titch]

"Even before the new levies landed, a long run of everyday stuff getting cheaper was coming to a close." (WSJ 03.30. 2025)

 

[JoeDoakes]

Tarriff schedules tend to be lengthy and detailed. Foreign physical media production, unlike cars or medicine, is not particularly controversial and lacks strategic implications. It's also not a high profit area likely to be sucked into a trade war by itself. It's possible physical media will be affected, but not certain.

 

[Alan Tully]

Dammit! Just when I've gone & bought an expensive multi-region player.

 

[Bartman]

Tariffs, another nail in the coffin of foreign purchases. The first was when mailing costs exploded in March 2020. Luckily my foreign Blu-ray purchased have dwindled over the years.
More importantly, we need to watch out for tariff price increase excuses where no tariffs are being paid. I bet a lot of businesses will try that on (get well?) until they are called out on it?

 

[Nelson Au]

The future impact of importing goods is still an unknown. I decided to pull the trigger and buy the two Blu Ray sets from ViaVision in Australia. The shipping was free too! It will be interesting to see what happens as the days and weeks pass if there will be increases in costs.

 

[RichMurphy]

Bill Hunt of The Digital Bits weighed in on this topic:

"I’ve spent the last several weeks discussing this subject with our industry sources—at the major studios, at boutique labels, at distributors, and even retailers—and the consensus seems to be that there is likely to be some kind of impact on physical media, specifically disc prices, if the tariffs continue for any significant length of time.

The reason for this is relatively straightforward: About 80-90% of the discs manufactured for release here in the US are replicated in Guadalajara, Mexico, while much of the remainder are replicated in Germany and Poland. (There is a small amount of disc replication still here in the States—and there should certainly be a lot more—but it’s currently nowhere near as much as there was twenty years ago.) What’s more, you may have noticed that more and more 4K titles are being shipped in Steelbook packaging. Well, SteelBooks are produced by a company called Scanavo in Denmark. If each of these faces a 25% import tariff, it’s almost certain that the studios, distributors, and retailers are going to pass at least some of that cost increase on to consumers. But again, it really depends on how long the tariffs last—they could end suddenly tomorrow, or they could last for months or longer. The reality is we just don’t know, and nobody in the industry really knows at the moment. And keep in mind, this is on top of prices that could already be fairly called gouging from some studios.

One other quick point: Nearly all Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD players are manufactured in Asia (China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, etc). Once existing stocks of these players currently on store shelves and sitting in warehouses here in the States sell out, any new units imported from the manufacturers will also be subject to the new tariffs. The point being: If you’re currently in the market for—or downright need—a new Blu-ray or 4K player, now is the time to buy before the prices increase."

 

[Indy Guy]

The largest cost for a disc is the premium assigned for the content value. The replication costs for the plastics and paper are a relatively small portion of the disc's value. I would assume only production costs would be subject to a tariff. The IP value would remain with the studio and not transfered to the disc's manufacturing location.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

I guess i might be lucky. I ordered from Australia a few days ago the German Blu-ray release of I Was A Male War Bride and i should get it by the end of the week. Only paid a total of $17 for it including shipping.

 

[Nelson Au]

Bill Hunt of The Digital Bits weighed in on this topic:

"I’ve spent the last several weeks discussing this subject with our industry sources—at the major studios, at boutique labels, at distributors, and even retailers—and the consensus seems to be that there is likely to be some kind of impact on physical media, specifically disc prices, if the tariffs continue for any significant length of time.

The reason for this is relatively straightforward: About 80-90% of the discs manufactured for release here in the US are replicated in Guadalajara, Mexico, while much of the remainder are replicated in Germany and Poland. (There is a small amount of disc replication still here in the States—and there should certainly be a lot more—but it’s currently nowhere near as much as there was twenty years ago.) What’s more, you may have noticed that more and more 4K titles are being shipped in Steelbook packaging. Well, SteelBooks are produced by a company called Scanavo in Denmark. If each of these faces a 25% import tariff, it’s almost certain that the studios, distributors, and retailers are going to pass at least some of that cost increase on to consumers. But again, it really depends on how long the tariffs last—they could end suddenly tomorrow, or they could last for months or longer. The reality is we just don’t know, and nobody in the industry really knows at the moment. And keep in mind, this is on top of prices that could already be fairly called gouging from some studios.

One other quick point: Nearly all Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD players are manufactured in Asia (China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, etc). Once existing stocks of these players currently on store shelves and sitting in warehouses here in the States sell out, any new units imported from the manufacturers will also be subject to the new tariffs. The point being: If you’re currently in the market for—or downright need—a new Blu-ray or 4K player, now is the time to buy before the prices increase."

Thanks for posting the information that the Digital Bits had reported on this topic. Thats great that Bill Hunt had reached out to the industry to try to gather any answers and information.

 

[Thomas T]

Disc Connected posted this on Facebook today:

Overall heads up to the community at large: Today's tariffs will ABSOLUTELY have an effect on the industry. Multiple boutique labels have confirmed manufacturing costs have immediately increased by as much as 20% just today.
*****
@OrbitDVD has shared plans for handling the tariffs as follows:
10% tariff fees for UK and Australian Items
UK and Australian Pre-orders: Orbit DVD will pay for half the tariff fee, the customer will pay for half the tariff fee
After UK and Australian Pre-orders Release: Customer pays all of the tariff fee
Other Countries: Customer pays all of the tariff fee, pre-order or not, whichever percent that may be
Currently In-Stock Imported Items: Remain unaffected until restocked
Currently, pre-orders are closed but will reopen in the following days.
Pre-Orders made before April 2nd will be unaffected. Orbit DVD will pay all of those tariff fees
*****
Please understand that none of these companies are CHOOSING to do this. Prices will inevitably be increasing across the board. This is not meant to do induce FOMO for anyone or any specific products... but if you are in the US and wanting to import releases from overseas, you may want to purchase them directly asap.
This is also a great time to encourage everyone to purchase directly from small boutique labels. In times like this, their future is absolutely in our hands.