Blu-Ray prices down? Don't count on it ( read article)

This was in the business section of the Kansas City Star. As sad as HD-DVD's barbaric death was, this is going to make people wanting blu-ray feel, well, blue.

http://www.kansascity.com/business/story/501421.html

Sorry to say this, but it is simply true.

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[Post edited by MrCzech on Feb 26, 2008]

You know, there's another post exactly like this one already.

WOW, another no brainer. Like did ya think SONY would be anything other than GREEDY. SONY will gouge all it's loyal and new customers to death. And that is a down right shame. I know that HD DVD is in the ground and you can blame whoever you want. But everybody, including Warner Brothers will regret for what they did. But hey it's ok, just go buy a PS3. Makes ya wonder if SONY is not doing what they are doing, just to inflate there DREAM system. You know the ultimate home entertainment unit. What a JOKE!!!!!

I didn't think you guys were so gullible. Don't you realize that with the variety of different companies putting out Blu-Ray players like Panasonic, Sharp, Samsung, Sony, and more, that they are going to have to lower prices to compete with each other?

but one thing is FOR SURE: If you LOSE a FORMAT WAR, your prices will DROP LIKE A ROCK!

A Toshiba A35 was $300+ while HD-DVD was still a viable format, but after the loss of a format war, you can buy those from Amazon via TigerDirect for $99.00

Remember when TigerDirect gets something, it is usually last years junk that didn't sell. Things that make you go Hmmm.

Blu ray standalone players MUST RETAIL FOR around $100 to kill the DVD format. That will take A LOOOOOONG TIME!

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Don't you realize that with the variety of different companies putting out Blu-Ray players like Panasonic, Sharp, Samsung, Sony, and more, that they are going to have to lower prices to compete with each other?

This could go either way, I see your point with the other companies competing but because Sony got their fingers in multiple jars (Panasonic, Pioneer, Sharp and Samsung) they normally like to regulate prices.

... like their own little OIL CARTEL! Oh yeah, a barrel of oil today just SHOT UP A HUNDRED BUX.... and we're not even in the Summer Travels, yet.

It was $101.00 last week.

Hey, I was just adding on to the fact, with an article to back up. I'm not going to like blu-ray until I see the format be more fair to the consumer like it's not being right now.

No Blu for me either Invisible Biker. Not until they at least get down to $150. I bought two HD-A30s. One for $130 and the other for $123. So I'll enjoy high def thru those until prices drop a hell of a lot more than they have. If they actually increase, Blu is gonna be dead as well. Whether people like it or not digital download will take over if Blu doesn't cheapen stuff. Companies will not wait around losing money for a format they cannot sell for.

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[Post edited by wolvinator on Feb 26, 2008]

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Blu ray standalone players MUST RETAIL FOR around $100 to kill the DVD format.

Why would Blu-ray need to "kill" the DVD format? And why would it need to this early in the format's life? Heck, 11 years after DVD's introduction and VHS still isn't completely killed off. They even still make VHS players.

Whether you guys wait a couple years until entry level Blu-ray players are below $150 or not, people continue to buy them and the user base grows - and that growing user base is among the demographic that will actually pay more than $15 for movies.

Guys, guys... what you're forgetting is that these studios will not release much in the Blu-ray format unless they can make money. And CE companies will only create players if they can only sell them at a profit. Blu-ray CE companies are not in the economically unsustainable trap of subsidizing their players in order to win a format war. Unlike Toshiba, they never took this approach to begin with.

I'm sorry, but you'll get have to get used to capitalism now.

W/o capitalism, Probably no blu ray and no dvd, even if they did exist they would be incredibly expensive.

Agree w/ skyhawk. BD doesnt need to kill DVD, last time I checked Blu ray players still play DVDs. As long as more and more movies release on blu ray adoption will occur. People forget how much DVD players were and how long it took to drive the price down.

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I didn't think you guys were so gullible. Don't you realize that with the variety of different companies putting out Blu-Ray players like Panasonic, Sharp, Samsung, Sony, and more, that they are going to have to lower prices to compete with each other?

Finally, someone actually thinks before making a dumb statement. Thanks hoodaguy.

To say that Sony hasn't had some control of prices in the past is just as silly though. Otherwise how can we explain the PS3 being the cheapest blueray player available througjout much of Blus history while yet being one of the most expensive to produce.

lsdarling, Sony is the manufacturer of the PS3. This is why they have control over its price and can subsidize it (which is commonly done in the console market for the first couple years).

I fully understand about taking a loss on consoles it is a practice that everyone but nintendo believes in. But isn't it strange that you couldn't find a profile 1.0 Blu unit for less than the PS3? It also seemed that the players tended to drop with the PS3 price drops.

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But isn't it strange that you couldn't find a profile 1.0 Blu unit for less than the PS3?

Why is it strange? If the costs to manufacture and market a basic 1.0 Blu player total $425 (counting retailer markup), then why would manufacturers sell for $350 and lose $75 on every sale? That would be dumb don't you think? All these other competitors aren't building game consoles, but SA players.

BTW, one component that added substantial cost was the blue laser diodes, which have gradually gone down in price during the last few quarters allowing both the PS3 and SA Blu-ray player cost reductions. (Sony does not make the diodes themselves).

Yes but we waren't talking about selling one for 350 the cheapest PS3 in the begining was 499.

Looking at the report Sony was losing close to 300 dollars on every 40 gig version. Putting the total production price for a 40 gig version under 800.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061116-8239.html

Assuming that since the PS3 was touted as being so much more advanced than the 360 and looking at that price breakdown of parts I have a hard time believing that the Blueray componets cost 500 dollars and the gaming portion with all their built in features cost only 300.

lsdarling, not that it matters, but the cheapest -- and only -- PS3 at launch was $600.

This is yet another FUD thread posted by a biased HD-DVD fanboy... (when will it end?)

FYI -

> FUNAI '$300' Blu-ray player by Q2

"The optical head for the unit will be provided by Sony and the core system will be the Matsushita / Panasonic UniPhier chipset."

So, with MSRP of $300, the online price will end up being lower, and by the end of the year, perhaps as low as $199. Why do people complain about buying a player for a reasonable price, but don't seem to mind paying higher-than-DVD prices for hi-def discs (usually between $15 to $30, also online discounts).

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)

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Yes but we waren't talking about selling one for 350 the cheapest PS3 in the begining was 499.

Unfortunately I paid more than that for my HD DVD player. Since I bought mine before the fire sales... darn why couldn't they make an HD DVD player as cheap as a PS3 before the format was in trouble? I must admit, I was a little jealous of people in the last 6 months buying them for less than $300.

Good point Skyhawk. When I purchased the Toshiba A1 HD-DVD player in July 2006, the retail price was $499, and I saved $60 (or $439 net) by using a 12% discount coupon (BBuy Card member).

If people don't want to pay a reasonable price at this time for adoption in to Blu-ray (or buy any Blu-ray discs), stick with Standard DVD for another year or so, and then see how low Blu-ray prices are then. I doubt they are ever going to be as low as $99 in that money-losing promotion (thru Walmart last November), but definitely down to $250 MSRP by Spring 2009, in my opinion.

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)

Hendrix, you're still lucky because except during the past 6 months or so we Canadians were getting gouged by prices on electronics. 18 months ago I believe the A1 at Future Shop was selling for over $600. The HD-A2 was $499 there at its debut, and managed to get to $299 by last early fall when currency exchanges were first starting to have an effect on Canadian retailers - about 6 months after the fact!

Damn, when was the a35 available for $99?

going down is one thing. how about if they go up? After all, if its not a concern to get everyone into Blu now as Skyhawk has said, why not just raise prices on your base now?

JServo, not sure of what words you're trying to put into my mouth, but nice try.

Anyway, I think we all know that Blu-ray must compete against standard DVD now in any case. Quality will be one factor (HD versus NTSC), although I'm sure the price will always be an average of $5 to $10 dollars more for the media even as both Blu-ray and standard DVD prices drop. I'm sure studios will be monitoring the market closely and adjusting their prices to gain the maximum return in the price versus volume sold ratio. Just as it always has been.