Re: Sony: $200 Blu-ray player in 2009

Quote:
FUNAI '$300' Blu-ray player by Q2

Woo hoo. Until they decent players stay under $200 it can't even compete with DVD. And the main thing is the software. It needs to drop quite a bit, and not just on sale. I know lots of people who own HD DVD and Blu-ray and most of them have very small HD disc collection. They just don't see to point in spending upwards of $40 per title.

My point is from what I'm hearing in the industry, HD DVD's manufacturing processes had a lot of room to drop as there was more demand. Blu-ray however has a lot of serious manufacturing issues at least on the disc side of things, meaning prices won't be able to drop as easily even with increased demand.

It may seem on the surface that the studios execs made a stupid decision backing a format that some of them have admitted is more costly to manufacture. Well I've dealt with these people before and they have a very distorted view of consumers. I think a lot of them genuinely believe that they can keep prices high and people will just shell out. But really it will probably just push people away towards regular DVD and legal/illegal downloading.

Factor in the now inevitable slow-down in the US economy and the possibility that it could turn in to another depression and HD is as good as dead. There was a chance of getting out ahead and getting prices down with HD DVD, but Blu-ray doesn't stand a chance.

Think I'm wrong? Just wait and see.

[Post edited by the_dvd_chef on Mar 8, 2008]

Thanks for the follow-up DVDChef - some valid points and better clarification. And I appreciate your experience in the 'production' side of DVD (HD-DVD etc) content, having read your posts here the last few months. Keep us up to date on the 'politics' and related costs from your perspective 'behind the scenes' - as you're in an industry that most of us know little about (the actual mastering/replications etc). Again, thanks.

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)

FYI...

> 'Father of JAVA' talks Blu-ray 2.0

Sun Microsystems VP and fellow James Gosling calls it "mind-blowing" and we should see demonstrations of developers have achieved at the JavaOne conference in May.

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)