Ok, so the prices vary, but generally why is the cost of these so much more expensive than DVD films? Is it due to the cost of producing them, or simply an opportunity to try and rip us off? I've seen things like Heroes S1 on BR for £50 - I wonder who actually pays this...
Blue Ray Movies +cost
- Thread starter oldbag
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The disks cost more to make, but we're talking an extra couple of pence. The extra cost is because you're paying for extra image and sound quality. Quality has always been a price-distinguishing factor. They're also currently trying to make the huge amounts of money they spent on BR research back - something that happened for DVD a long time ago.
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* Blu.
I think it is a combination of factors, really.
But it'll end up the same price as DVD as and when.
I think it is a combination of factors, really.
But it'll end up the same price as DVD as and when.
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they cost more because the high street shops can charge that price for them lol. try buying them online - they are much more similar in price to new dvd's.
well, i saw it for £44 in the local place that everybody knows the name of, which tbh is quite reasonable for the entire season. the hd-dvd release was almost double that in store when it was first released.
well, i saw it for £44 in the local place that everybody knows the name of, which tbh is quite reasonable for the entire season. the hd-dvd release was almost double that in store when it was first released.
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New hardware is required to make em, they have to pay for all the money they used inventing it and ofcourse all the advertising used to make sure they pwned HDDVD and finally sum bubbly for the shareholders.
Bit of both.
I like HD but it isn't worth the price currently, now you can get DVDs for like £10 it just seems so expensive. Happy to wait.
Bit of both.
I like HD but it isn't worth the price currently, now you can get DVDs for like £10 it just seems so expensive. Happy to wait.
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PS3 , extra value i believe
PS3.
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if you want more for your dollar, ps3 no question.
Just had a look now and Season 1 & 2 are available on blu ray for £63 which works out to about £7 a blu ray disk, considering empty ones cost approx £5 (cheapest I've seen but there maybe cheaper stuff) I don't think that is too unreasonable.
At the moment I don't think a lot of Blu-ray releases have an RRP that is hugely higher than the DVD releases (generally it seems to be 10-20%), however I do think they don't get discounted nearly as much from most retailers, hence the apparent difference in price.
I've been looking at some of the blu-ray stuff for a bit now as i'm debating getting a player in the near future, and have noticed that like DVD's the retailer makes a huge difference in the price, but that the average price of a new blu-ray isn't too bad (DVD version of transformers was about £14 when new, blu-ray is about £18 from one retailer for example).
Give it a year or so and I suspect the price will drop further
I've been looking at some of the blu-ray stuff for a bit now as i'm debating getting a player in the near future, and have noticed that like DVD's the retailer makes a huge difference in the price, but that the average price of a new blu-ray isn't too bad (DVD version of transformers was about £14 when new, blu-ray is about £18 from one retailer for example).
Give it a year or so and I suspect the price will drop further
DVDs where the same. It's new technology and the demand isn't there at the moment.
The difference is with the switch to dvd, you didn't need a new tv and the price of the players fell quickly. Which is why it's going to take longer for blu-ray to become main stream. Then the prices will fall as there will be huge demand.
The difference is with the switch to dvd, you didn't need a new tv and the price of the players fell quickly. Which is why it's going to take longer for blu-ray to become main stream. Then the prices will fall as there will be huge demand.
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the price of dvd players never really fell that quickly. my old toshiba was a 'budget' player and that was still £230 or so. that was released in 2001 - 3 years or so after dvd's first started appearing.
we already have ps3's available for £299 and less.
we already have ps3's available for £299 and less.
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From my amazing memeory I remember it was Supermarkets that helped DVDs get to where they are, you could go into Asda and buy one for less than £100 which was cheaper than VHS.
The problem is until cheapy companies start making players you are stuck with Sony, Pioneer, Samsung and a few others who likely price fix or atleast have a mutual intrest in higher prices.
The problem is until cheapy companies start making players you are stuck with Sony, Pioneer, Samsung and a few others who likely price fix or atleast have a mutual intrest in higher prices.
I don't think they are price fixing or anything like that, just that at the moment the parts cost is still rather high, and the end price is determined by that.
IIRC what helped DVD hardware prices fall was when the cost of the lasers and digital to analogue chips dropped (for a long time the lasers were expensive, and there was a massive shortage of DA converters which kept even the price of a dvd drive very high*, when you could get one), and the "all in one" decoding chips started to become available in bulk and cheap (so rather than 10 or more IC's doing parts of the job, they could use one or two).
That meant that they could be bought into supermarkets, some of whom were selling them at a loss to get people into the store, and to get people to start buying dvd's.
Blu-ray at the moment is using lasers that are expensive to make, and in short supply (compared to dvd lasers
), and the decoding hardware is still expensive, and in multiple parts (I don't think there is a single chip decoder/output chip for blu-ray decoding etc).
*I think at the time there were only two or three suppliers worldwide of a certain type, that were used in dvd devices and mobile phones, and it took about a year or more for them to get the supply up (i believe most of the available parts were going into digital mobile phones at the time)
IIRC what helped DVD hardware prices fall was when the cost of the lasers and digital to analogue chips dropped (for a long time the lasers were expensive, and there was a massive shortage of DA converters which kept even the price of a dvd drive very high*, when you could get one), and the "all in one" decoding chips started to become available in bulk and cheap (so rather than 10 or more IC's doing parts of the job, they could use one or two).
That meant that they could be bought into supermarkets, some of whom were selling them at a loss to get people into the store, and to get people to start buying dvd's.
Blu-ray at the moment is using lasers that are expensive to make, and in short supply (compared to dvd lasers
), and the decoding hardware is still expensive, and in multiple parts (I don't think there is a single chip decoder/output chip for blu-ray decoding etc).*I think at the time there were only two or three suppliers worldwide of a certain type, that were used in dvd devices and mobile phones, and it took about a year or more for them to get the supply up (i believe most of the available parts were going into digital mobile phones at the time)
Price difference is too great to warrant the extra cost for a little more detail. The extra detail is only noticeable on certain kinds of slow moving or static scenes. My PS3 upscales DVD's rather nicely, and I am hard pressed to notice the difference the majority of the time.
Sure, its great to see all the detail on Will Smiths whiskers in I am Legend, but on the action scenes you don't really notice the difference.
As for the price. When you can buy Kung Fu Hustle on DVD for £4 or £17 on Blu-ray, pretty much answers the question that Blu-Ray is currently over-priced.
Sure, its great to see all the detail on Will Smiths whiskers in I am Legend, but on the action scenes you don't really notice the difference.
As for the price. When you can buy Kung Fu Hustle on DVD for £4 or £17 on Blu-ray, pretty much answers the question that Blu-Ray is currently over-priced.
I've been buying Bluray for quite some time now - to the point where I am reluctant to actually buy DVDs.
I know Bluray is more expensive but it just feels like the technology I've now moved onto and I don't want to be spending any more money on the technology I've moved away from.
I've just got to the point where I just don't look at DVD releases any more as I just want HD!
It is like all things new, the technology is new and so we pay for it - well you have the choice, pay for it or don't.
Personally I'm happy to pay the premium for the amazing viewing experience I get from a Bluray.
All I've basically done is limited my purchases.
So whereas I might buy a load of DVDs over a 2-3 month period I'll now buy maybe only two thirds as many Bluray instead, less physical purchases but spend about the same amount.
I know Bluray is more expensive but it just feels like the technology I've now moved onto and I don't want to be spending any more money on the technology I've moved away from.
I've just got to the point where I just don't look at DVD releases any more as I just want HD!
It is like all things new, the technology is new and so we pay for it - well you have the choice, pay for it or don't.
Personally I'm happy to pay the premium for the amazing viewing experience I get from a Bluray.
All I've basically done is limited my purchases.
So whereas I might buy a load of DVDs over a 2-3 month period I'll now buy maybe only two thirds as many Bluray instead, less physical purchases but spend about the same amount.