Monopolys. God they're great!!!!

It has been five months since HD DVD lost the format war. Prices of BluRay discs at the retail stores (Best Buy, etc) are $30+ still, (I.E. Rocky I was $34.99 at Best Buy and Circuit City. Who the fuck is going to pay $36 for frickin Rocky?

I really want to get on the BluRay wagon b/c I am starving for new material, but I refuse to pay those prices. Yes, I know I can get them cheaper online or on ebay, but that's not the point.

Sony is bitching that the hi def movement isn't increasing. Why? Those damn communists are charging an arm and a leg. BRING THE PRICE DOWN YOU GREEDY BASTARDS!!!

Well, I think if you really look for a good deal (online sites of course), just about ANY title can be found at a much lower-than-retail price. Only recently has the discounts started showing up at local brick and mortar stores, with some good deals appearing the past month at Fry's, Best Buy, Target, even Circuit City, and now Wal-mart between June 6 to 15th (their Father's Day promotion <INFO).

And believe it or not(!), occasionally an HD release will be LOWER than the SD equivalent (I Am Legend for instance). I agree that the MSRP of Blu-ray movies is higher usually, but you don't have to pay this amount, since it's so convenient to purchase on the internet - where many dealers offer -

FREE SHIPPING
NO SALES TAX
LARGE SELECTION (more complete availability from online sites)

Plus you save on not having to spend on GAS to visit a local store. And I'm helping here to locate some deals for everyone, and others post links and sale news too.

> Check out the Amazon Blu-ray Sale! - see list of titles and prices posted on ^this thread (and sale-link to Amazon's site)

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-JIMI McLovin (the Voodoo Child)

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[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on May 29, 2008 - CDT 12:09 AM]

By the way, I don't know where you live but BD RENTALS are an option as well. Here's a post I made on another site recently...

Like others, I only buy discs when on sale (Amazon, Deepdiscount, Walmart, BB, CC, Target etc), but also am a heavy renter with both Blockbuster TOTAL ACCESS and Netflix < 3 out-at-a-time plan each ($19.99 and $16.99 a month), and rent DVD, HD-DVD, and Blu-ray.



Both services work well, I have few complaints. Netflix does seem to be more sensitive to the # of titles rented a month, and you'll soon notice that a disc is mailed from a warehouse out-of-state and across the country. But Netflix does have the best website organization, and I usually receive the discs in a timely manner. Any damaged or unplayable discs can be reported (online) for replacements that are mailed immediately (you still return the 'problem' disc).



Blockbuster's TA plan works real well (IMO), since you can choose to return your online discs locally (in-store) and walk out with a free rental (or video game rental) - and they also give one extra FREE rental coupon (or video game rental) every month (print out coupon from the website).

Blockbuster's Blu-ray selection in my area (Houston) is now on the rise, as tonight my local store had 5 BDs of RAMBO available for rent - 2 were gone when I arrived, so I was the 3rd to get one - which was a FREE rental since I was returning one of my recently-viewed online rentals (for exchange). Of course, the store had gobs of the SD-DVD available for rent.



I plan to buy this RAMBO BD anyway, but FREE LOCAL RENTALS via Total Access is something Netflix just can't offer. Both services online have some titles listed as "short wait", "long wait", or "very long wait", but I've never had to wait more than a few weeks for one of the "very long wait" titles.

If the studios would lower ALL BDs to $24.95 MSRP, then the street discounted price (and Amazon etc) would be about $15, and then we would buy more discs. Until then, while I do buy some favorites on BD (movies, concerts, TV shows), and now own almost 100 titles, I still regularly rent more than buy.

This spew-salad 'shill' promo sponsored by... (kidding)


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-JIMI McLovin (the Voodoo Child)

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[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on May 29, 2008 - CDT 12:05 AM]

And don't forget that BIG BAD Walmart is also getting in on the game. Always a good way to reach Joe Blow. And their prices, atleast in Dayton ,are very good for older titles. Dvd was expensive too in the begining, let's not forget that.

It wouldnt hurt though if Sony made a few commercials to promote their format...

I also have this very strange feeling that when the broadcast system switches over next year, people will start looking at their dvd's a little differently....

As mentioned, look back at the beginning of DVD and the prices were the same. Even in todays econemy the prices are identical to what SD DVDs were in the late 90s. Hell, I remember when Disney got on the DVD bandwagon in 97-98, prices on their DVDs were almost double compared to other studios.

Give it time and prices will eventually even out, especially if demand stays low, and that will probably happen since Blu is only capturing a small share of the market at the time. Also, as mentioned, older Blu's do sale at resonable retail prices, but let's not forget the Blu library is limited compared to the SD market and probably will be over the next year or longer.

Overall, I don't see this entire debacle as anything any different from DVDs in the late 90s. Prices were high then and people were bitching about jumping on the bandwagon even in those days. To be honest, I've found prices on SDs have gone up over the past couple years, and most likely because SD has a strong demand on the market. The average price on DVDs just a few years ago was about $15 at its highest, but don't think I haven't noticed that the average price on DVDs has hit $20 or higher these days.

As it has been mentioned, your best bet is shopping online for the best deals. I've actually purchased Blus & HD DVDs cheaper than the SD versions buy shopping online. I'm also one of those people that will take the risk of buying the cheaper open package Blu's or almost like new (used) for an even lower price. I've bought most of my Blu's this way on Amazon and have never had a problem. Everything I've purchased there used has been flawless and free of any blemishes, and you just can't beat the price going that route. The only way I buy anything at BB or WM is if they're running a sale on something I might want.

I will say the only thing that irks me about Blu is how there is never a decent sale price on release day. Most SDs sale for around $15 on the first week of release and then go up after the opening release sale. However, Blu's stick it to right out of the gate, so that would really be my only complaint at the moment.

Shop smart is the best advice any of us can give, but I will say, don't give up because it really is just like it was in the old days of SD, it will all come down in due time.

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[Post edited by Tim Raynor on May 29, 2008 - CDT 3:12 AM]

You said everything I wanted to say^^^but was too lazy to type it.

The part I agree with the most is the "first week of release price." since this is when a majority of any given title is sold. And surely recoups it's production cost. People cannot wait for fat tuesday.

And if the studios were smart like us, they would also do this with their Blu Ray titles. They would certainly sell alot more. If these dumbasses had any brains at all, and stopped trying to recoup their production costs on BR by charging a "premium", this thing would takeoff like crazy. I always looked at them cute little UMD's and said.."God, I would totally buy this if they cost 9.99.". But no, the powers at be tried to compete with dvd, and charged an arm and a leg for a product that could only be played on the PSP. "See ya lil' UMD!!!"

This is the only time I will EVER say this...AHEM...CHOKE..."Cmon Walmart,(gag)...we need you to set the price,(hurl).......forbluraydiscs..."

Quote:
You said everything I wanted to say^^^but was too lazy to type it.

Then there are those times I'm too drunk to type it! lol

imgreenlantern2 you can always check online sites like craigslist.com which you can find people in your city/town selling new/used copies of movies.

I scored 4 blurays yesterday for $80 (no tax of course) off craigslist and they were like new.

You can start here and find people in your area selling anything...

http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites.html

Quote:
It has been five months since HD DVD lost the format war. Prices of BluRay discs at the retail stores (Best Buy, etc) are $30+ still, (I.E. Rocky I was $34.99 at Best Buy and Circuit City. Who the fuck is going to pay $36 for frickin Rocky?

I really want to get on the BluRay wagon b/c I am starving for new material, but I refuse to pay those prices. Yes, I know I can get them cheaper online or on ebay, but that's not the point.

Sony is bitching that the hi def movement isn't increasing. Why? Those damn communists are charging an arm and a leg. BRING THE PRICE DOWN YOU GREEDY BASTARDS!!!

Maybe I'm just in a really bad mood today, but please stop being...unreasonable. Rocky is first and foremost a Fox distributed title. Everyone involved in new formats and with half a brain knows they charge much, much more for titles than every other studio. From Fantastic Four 2 to I, Robot to Ice Age and beyond FOX TITLES COST MORE THAN THOSE FROM EVERY OTHER STUDIO.

Therefore, putting on my thinking cap, dear sweet consumers have two choices. Number one is simply not to buy it and continue to whine about Sony and Blu Ray instead of their beloved HD DVD. Number two is equally simple: GO ONLINE AND GET THE DAMN THING IF YOU HAVE TO HAVE IT SO DAMN BADLY. Right now, this very moment, Amazon has Rocky Blu Ray listed for $20.95. In fact, all eight of the online stores surveyed by DVD Price Search show a price under $28.50...including shipping and such.

Moreover, if you're so damn desperate for cheap BD's, take a look around. National Treasure 1 and 2 are a combined $40. There was a 2/$15 sale last week, IIRC, at Best Buy. The Warner online store has fasntastically quick shipping and a 25% or 30% off code you can use. Stop the freaking whining. HD DVD is gone. End of story. No amount of bellyaching is going to bring it back.

Jason, ticked with the world

PS-where is the newest article which says Sony is upset at the slow adoption of Blu Ray? Is there one from this week I'm not aware of?

I just got an AppleTV. The HD online isn't bad, altough I'm watching on a 720p set. The selection is pretty good, and I'm not supporting Sony. Seemed like as good of a solution as I could hope for.