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

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.

[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.