Reports of Blu-Ray's expensive licensing fees?

[Alan Emery]

Originally Posted by Tim Polster

I would trust that Sony has a strategy.

I asked Sony customer service about playing BD-R discs. Both the telephone response and the e-mail response were the same:

The Sony High Definition camcorders use a the AVCHD format for the videos. The disc recorded with these videos can be played on this Sony Blu-ray player.

I also note that the HDV cameras are not getting much attention from Sony. Is this perhaps their strategy for the home HD enthusiast -- the only major group not covered by the move to Blu-Ray -- that they should only use the AVCHD format discs?

It leaves the HD indie and HD event videographer in the lurch, but they (we) are not a large market just now.

Alan

[Jim Boda]

Originally Posted by Philip Williams

Interesting article about BD replication. I hope Universal and Paramount can find room in there soon, lots of good movies/shows I'd like to see from them :)

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/new...ticle_ID=12404

Very interesting. It certainly points out the cost problem w/ the replication line.

A new replication line will cost between 1.5 million to 2.7 million...and the industry needs 80 more replication lines to meet demand. 250 million of investment needs to be spent just to meet capacity. Those type of costs always get sent back to the consumer.

Sony or any HD company has yet to earn any money w/ there HD format. With Sony just having real losses last year of 1.2 billion dollars in their gaming division...The hope of lower costs getting to the consumers seems to be years away.

It will be years before the format actually becomes a profitable business model. Hence, the licensing fees will stay as high as possible.

The authoring software investment was originally a huge chunk of money. The software was in the range of 75 to 250 thousand. It's gradually coming down to a more pedestrian 50 grand.

[Philip Williams]

Originally Posted by Jim Boda

Very interesting. It certainly points out the cost problem w/ the replication line.

A new replication line will cost between 1.5 million to 2.7 million...and the industry needs 80 more replication lines to meet demand. 250 million of investment needs to be spent just to meet capacity. Those type of costs always get sent back to the consumer.

Interestingly, Warner raised their new release BD prices from MSRP $35 to $36 last year. They're also starting to bundle small books with several catalog releases and pumping those up from their typical $29 to $35. I also noticed that Disney's June release for Signs has jumped from their normal catalog price of $30 to $35. And Sony's 2 disc special editions MSRP for a whopping $44. I've seen folks argue that its just a buck or five or six here and there, but I do wish prices were going down instead of up. I suspect that subsidy deals may be ending or being reduced and the studios do appear to be passing the added expense on.

[Alan Emery]

More from Sony.

I spoke to a very knowledgeable person at Sony. He remarked that with firmware version 2.0, the new BD players from Sony will all play the BD-R/RE discs with either BDAV or BDMV formats. They currently do not have a player like this on the market yet but expect to have one available by late summer.

In the meantime, he suggested that Playstation will play most anything.

He acknowledged that the situation has not stabilized yet but that it should work itself out soon.

Alan