Blu-ray hardware still hanging on to higher prices

[D.J. Ammons]

I agree that this long after the format was introduced it is shocking and a shame that both Blu-ray burners and Blu-ray media are so expensive.

Blu-ray media is still around ten bucks per disc although I did see that Amazon or somebody actually had a 10 disc pack for a mere $77.00 the other day.

Considering I can buy regular DVD media for between ten and thirty cents each ten bucks a disc for Blu-ray is just nuts.

I understand that early adopters pay a price for new technology but as Blu-ray home DVD players have seen their prices drop over the last six months you would thing the same thing would be happening for Blu-ray burners and media.

[Shaun Roemich]

To be clear: I'm not disagreeing with the above statement.

I remember 10 years ago paying $25 each for Sony "Premium" DV tapes (DVM60), no IC chip, no plastic case, just the clear acrylic. The LAST time I bought any of these, they were $4 a piece.

The cost of Research and Development "needs" to be borne by someone, and that someone will ALWAYS be the early adopters...

[Ayman Hussein]

ill only get a bluray player once lotr comes out in high def. even then i have a media center, so i really dont need a player. lol

[Harrison Murchison]

Blu-ray is a niche format. Always will be.

Consumers just don't care about the upper echelon of media. CD/SACD have given way to MP3 for convenience and cost.

What has convenience and cost? Downloads and DVD.

I will certainly add a Blu-ray player to my HD DVD player but what I'm going to do is raise the threshold for movie purchases.

What is acceptable to purchase on DVD may not be acceptable on Blu-ray because of the media costs. I will only buy the movies that I think exemplify the quality that HD should offer.

So in the zeal and zest of the media industry to supplant the lovable DVD with a higher margin product the will most likely limit the appeal thus making the whole deal superfluous at some level.

[Tim Polster]

Good point.

At some level I think this is reflected in the apparent lack of push from the Blu-ray camp to get the stuff in the consumers households.

Maybe there is too much margin left in DVD to take it off the table yet?

[Kevin Shaw]

According to industry sales figures available on the Blu-ray forum, blu-ray movie revenue this year is up over 200% from 2007, while DVD revenue is down ~8% for the same period. This past weekend I saw Blu-ray players widely available both standalone and in new computers, including some decent laptops costing under $1000. Blu-ray replication for batches of 1000 or more is available for under $5, and some second-tier Blu-ray titles are selling for as little as $10. This may not mean Blu-ray will become as pervasive as DVDs, but it's a good start in that direction considering how young the format is.

As far as internet downloads are concerned, the emphasis there is more on quick delivery than maximum quality, with HD more of a novelty than with Blu-ray vs DVDs. If you want to deliver or buy HD content today Blu-ray is the most practical answer, and consumers are starting to accept it as such.

[Jon Fairhurst]

According to CEA, 2.2M standalone BD players have been sold so far in 2008 with an estimate of 2.75M to be sold over the entire year. And this is before nominal (non-Black Friday) unit prices fall below $200.

BD player sales continue to accelerate. It's too early to predict when BD sales will hit saturation.

[Gints Klimanis]

Originally Posted by Ayman Hussein

ill only get a bluray player once lotr comes out in high def. even then i have a media center, so i really dont need a player. lol

Beowulf and 300 are "very BluRay" movies.