Good news Blu-Ray fans. Sony released the wholesale prices on their Blu-Ray discs today and it sounds reasonable.
Quote:
Catalog Blu-ray disc titles will wholesale for $17.95, about the same as DVDs when that format hit the market in 1997. New-release Blu-ray discs will wholesale for $23.45, a premium of 15%-20% over what suppliers were charging for new theatrical DVDs.
The only thing is question is does this include packaging and everything. If wholesale prices are $23.50, consumer prices should be $25 or $26. Though, I'm guessing MSRP is going to end up being $29.99 which is what DVD came out at.
Another interesting move from the article is the UMD combo pack concept at an MSRP of $28.95 per pack.
Quote:
Starting March 28, consumers can buy DVD-UMD combo packs of "The Grudge," "Resident Evil," "Underworld," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and MGM's "The Terminator" for just pennies more than Sony typically charges for a new DVD.
All right, finally a reason to get UMD's. I was checking out the local UMD video fare at a local retailer and they were charging $30 for two episodes of Tengo something or other anime i'll never watch. Wow. And I thought DVD 4-ep discs were hideously overpriced.
So, it's going to be 2 or 3 regular DVD's (or 4 or 5 if you don't mind Previously Viewed) for the price of a single Blu-Ray DVD? I hope the flashy more powerful menus that can run while the movie is playing (though who would want the movie to keep playing while messing with the menu escapes me) are worth that buying ratio.
That DVD/UMD combo is a great idea! Quick, somebody tell me how this is good for Microsoft!
Quick, somebody tell me how this is bad for Microsoft!
Really, MS doesnt give a shit about UMD's and frankly already supports DVD. Now, if it was a BluRay/UMD bundle, MS might care... a very very tiny amount.
I think UMD's are doing just fine, but of course you have to be a PSP owner to use them. For now.
How many more UMDs would have been sold if they'd had a bundle pack like this for all their new releases in the past year? I don't know very many people that would buy two boxes for $40 but I know a lot that would buy one copy of a movie in two formats for $30.
No thanks... my upscaling DVD player will suit me just fine.
Well upscalers aren't sufficient for thos of us with HD displays. I have a BenQ 8700+ DLP projector that creates a 120" image and upscaling, although better than nothing, pales in comparison to native HD content.
I will be jumping on the BluRay/HDDVD bandwagon day one...my projector demands this of me!
Now, I'm certainly no expert in this area so feel free to correct me. From what I've read it seems like holographic discs are in a reletively late stage of developement, that is, the discs and players will be ready for consumer use in less than five years. Again, if I'm wrong on that, feel free to correct me. I'm certainly not going to upgrade to either BR or HD-DVD if something better will come along that quickly. By the time Blu Ray comes out I will have been using DVDs for close to a decade and I don't think many people, including myself, will be willing to switch over to something if it's not going to last at least close to that long.
While I don't have an HD display yet, I know plenty of people who do, and DVDs look good enough on there for me to skip this gen.
I think the pricing seems a little high, but am sure that eventually it will come down. I remember paying $30/DVD for the Columbia Tri-Star DVDs when they first came out. New Line and Warner were cheaper, but they had that crappy cardboard case. And aren't FOX and Disney DVDs priced that high right now? No biggie.
The biggest thing I got from the article was this tid-bit:
Quote:
"With the launch of Blu-ray, we're going to try to introduce the managed-copy concept, where if you buy Blu-ray you'll be able to get additional versions (of the same title) to use in your home," Feingold said. "Ultimately, we might even get to the point where we'll offer consumers the ability to have different versions of the same movie on different devices in the home -- that's something we're working on."
So I buy a Blu-ray disc, and get the DVD, UMD, and a version for my IPOD all for one low price? Fuckin' Awesome!
Well upscalers aren't sufficient for thos of us with HD displays.
That sentence doesn't even make sense. Someone WITHOUT an HD display wouldn't be using an upscaler, genius.
To respond to Ke: I bought my HDTV and Xbox 360 at the same time, so yeah, 360 was the tipping point for my entry into HD. HOWEVER, my OPPO 1080i DVD player is more than sufficient for me to watch movies in HD with. I'm certainly not going to drop the 1800 dollars on a could-be-worthless-in-a-year Blu Ray player and 30 bucks a movie just to see a bump in native res for SOME movies.
That sentence doesn't even make sense. Someone WITHOUT an HD display wouldn't be using an upscaler, genius.
To respond to Ke: I bought my HDTV and Xbox 360 at the same time, so yeah, 360 was the tipping point for my entry into HD. HOWEVER, my OPPO 1080i DVD player is more than sufficient for me to watch movies in HD with. I'm certainly not going to drop the 1800 dollars on a could-be-worthless-in-a-year Blu Ray player and 30 bucks a movie just to see a bump in native res for SOME movies.
People with smaller HDTVs see little benefit because of the seating distance to screen size ratio. DVDs looked fine on my older HDTV where as on the new projector you see the limits and my PCs attempts at upscaling dont help much.
Plus a PC would have to upscale for 800x600 or 1024x768 and that IS NOT HD.
BTW..dont get smart with me you condescending prick. Show some respect to people who know shit that you dont....now whos the GENIUS dumbass?!?!?
Holy crap, I believe I uttered those very same words to my little brother on more than one occasion. When I was 15 and he was 12.
I edited my post already...its just annoying when you have to deal with fools here who don't take the time to try and clearly understand your post and then they respond with arrogance...I can't help but bite them back.
BTW...Reanimated you're now on my ignore list so talk away I'm free of your ignorance.
