Sony Announces Blu-ray Movie Pricing

Well everyone is the target market, its all going to come down to where they set the price. IF they think they can get away with charging a 50% or more premium on non AAA movies they are going to be very disappointed. If they are willing to push the limits and get the price in line with DVD (dropping the price on DVD slightly), they might speed up acceptance, but I don't see $30 copies of DOOM in HD flying off the shelves this year or next.

 

Yea, AAA titles might be worth $30, maybe and those have to be the ones with lots of special effects and action, rather than the great story/romance movie.

I wonder what the prices would be if they bundle the DVDs in the Blu-Ray package.

Speng.

 

Like shifty said.

If you think of the amount of people who have recently bought plasma tv's or standard CRT tv's, they won't want to buy another TV for at least another 5 years or so.

Buying a TV is a pretty big deal for most people.

Blu-ray's target resolution is 1080p isn't it ? and there are barely any TV's which currently support this resolution.

I have no idea.. but if PS3 is the tool they are going to use to get Blu-ray into a large amount of homes then i would say 2 years.

The thing with Blu-ray is that it is ahead of the technology to display it, unlike DVD was.

Anyone could get a DVD player and use it out the box regardless of what kind of TV you had.

 

I'd only buy the LoTOR trilogy and the first Matrix at those prices in the back catalog.

 

Part of the problem is that yoiu are going to be attempting to resell a lot of titles to people. While I might be willing to pay a few $ more for an HD version of T2, would I pay $30 for a movie of which I already own 2 copies? So I think that narrows the range considerably.

 

You mean a BluRay/DVD hybrid disc, right?

I'm pretty sure it'll be the same price.

 

I seriously think by the time Blu-ray has the ability to reach the amount of consumers that can take advantage of the media, there will be some other form of data storage or possibly movie-on-demand service.

I don't buy DVD's anymore because i generally only watch a film once or twice, Blu-ray interests me as data storage (PS3 games)format more than it does a movie format.

Sound has always been more important to me when it comes to movies.

 

So you think it's going to be 4-6 years until BD is widely accepted?

 

If BR has the capacity to fully deliver HD soon, then I can't see how another format can just arrive 4-5 years down the line to deplace it. I mean what would it have that would make it so much more appealing that people would abandon BR? Larger capacity? .. Yeah, but I don't think BR movies would have hit a ceiling at that point. Larger capacity would be good for archiving, but with PS3 delivering BR players by the millions, and a whole store full of movies, I can't envision such BR getting dumped so easily if it takes hold at all.

As for movies, if I have a BR player and an HD tv, then I would definitely buy the AAA movies (by my own standards) in BR format, and what I consider lower tier movies in DVD simply because they will be cheaper. Over time, I did replace my favorite movies in VHS with DVD versions (even some laserdisc). I could see myself doing the same for BR. That's how I approached the last format change from VHS to DVD.

 

I can't answer that, because i have no idea how people will respond to blu-ray or HD movies in general.

 

Another MAJOR issue that everyone seems to forget is that these new Blue-ray and HD DVD formats >require< HDMI for HD quality. If you do not have HDMI then it automatically down-shifts quality to 540p.

Estimates have it that over 50% of the HD TVs in homes do NOT have HDMI. Worse, those that don't have HDMI are probably the same "early adopter" group that historically these vendors have needed to be "experts" that help move the standard foward--but in this case 50% of their early adopters are being left in the cold due to draconian copy protection schemes.

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6300812.html


So, take into account:
1 - Higher prices for movies
2 - HDTV required
3 - HDMI required
4 - Very High prices for the players

Regardng the draconian copy protection, there are issues that many don't know of... For example, your hardware player could be black-listed on future DVDs if a crack is made against your model. Suddenly your $900 player doesn't work on future discs.

 

This predicament has already been addressed. That 50% will also be the group to "early adopt" the newest generation hdtv's that will come with HDMI (and most likely display 1080p). The early ones they bought were already intended as a "transition" model (Why would you expect the 1st gen hdtv's to be the "best" or a "keeper", in the first place? This was all part of the "big plan" from the start.). So the "predicament" is really a non-issue.

 

Wow, I kneel at your amazing statement! Not!

We're not talking about the "first generation" that you state so simply. Try the first several generations. Major manufacturers were on their 3rd (or more) generation models that still didn't have HDMI.

You are being naive to state this same crowd will simply buy another $1000-$2000 investment. Perhaps you should read up on enthusiast DVD sites that carry this news and see how much your idea pans out.

Whatever.

 

If they bought "cheap", then they weren't to become part of the expanding hdtv market, anyway. If they bought early, then the very nature of their buying habits suggests they will buy again when the uber hdtv's arrive on scene. Sure there will be a lot of bitching along the way, but this means little to whether they eventually upgrade...and they will. It's just the way things are, the way they have always been...

 

Walk into any Best Buy or even Costco, and see the kinds of televisions in the showroon, and I would find it inconceivable that the people's expectations would be to wait for HD content on a format that does not exist for maybe 5 or 6 years if at all, to enjoy the full capabilities of their expensive purchase. BR is arriving immenently, and they will be on the store shelves, and people WILL buy them. Once the format is entrenched, a "better" format may not necessarily be able to dislodge it.

 

You mean like DVD?