Is Bluray pricing hurting movie sales in general?

[Jrecee]

I've gone back and forth on buying a bluray player for a while. I just couldn't do it. Every time a big movie would come out I'd say "maybe I'll get one now". I had one in my hands when The Dark Knight came out, but couldn't go through with it. I thought I'd get one in september when Iron man 2 came out. Couldn't do it. But then my birthday came up and I couldn't think of anything else I wanted, so I just said LG BD550.

Then I went out to pick up some movies.

I know prices on the discs have come down, which is part of the reason I wanted one. I often see movies I want pretty cheap. But I think the pricing on new releases and movies that aren't on sale (Not talking about MSRP vs. Street price, I'm talking about Street Price Vs. Sale Price) is hurting movie sales in general.

I often pick up new releases on DVD during their initial sale. They're usually about $16 at Best Buy or Target. But the Blurays are $9-$10 more!

I saw that Predators came out yesterday, usually that would be a no brainer purchase for me. But not now that I have a bluray player. I want it in HD, but I'm not willing to spend 24.99 to get it. And I'm not going to buy the DVD because I've been spoiled now and I'll end up wanting the bluray down the road anyway.

So I left Wal-mart and Best Buy without Predators, a movie I usually would have bought on day one.

[Niode]

Bluray is just ridiculous. It's not worth the extra money at all. Especially since all you're getting is a higher quality print of the original film. If they bundled more extras then maybe I could justify the price. There is absolutely no chance in hell that I'm paying £24.99 for a bluray. That is just ridiculously overpriced. I wait until they become £10 or less and even then I'll only buy them if I'm getting a substantially better experience than I would on DVD via my upscaling DVD player. The price needs to drop otherwise people just won't adopt the format.

[AppleQueso]

The problem with blu ray I think is that it's a format that pretty much only appeals to home theater enthusiasts. Average Joe Schmoe who just plugs his DVD player into his HD TV with RCA cables isn't going to be too concerned about picture quality, he just wants to watch his movies. The folks you see who buy HDTVs only to watch broadcast TV on it and have it stretch the image... there's just so very little benefit in the format for them.

DVDs were an easy sell to these folks. No more rewinding? Lots of cool extras? slimmer, sleeker packaging that takes up way less space and is easier to store? It's easy to see the benefit beyond simply a video quality upgrade.

Hell, even quality conscious folks have trouble justifying the high premium, as Niode and Jrecee have pointed out. The format has been around for well over 5 years and STILL hasn't really displaced regular 'ol DVDs, I think that might be a sign...

Oh and only vaguely related, but I've been seeing these combo packs that offer a given movie on both Blu Ray and DVD bundled together. ...What's the point of that?

[dsheinem]

Bluray is just ridiculous. It's not worth the extra money at all. Especially since all you're getting is a higher quality print of the original film. If they bundled more extras then maybe I could justify the price. There is absolutely no chance in hell that I'm paying £24.99 for a bluray. That is just ridiculously overpriced. I wait until they become £10 or less and even then I'll only buy them if I'm getting a substantially better experience than I would on DVD via my upscaling DVD player. The price needs to drop otherwise people just won't adopt the format.

As usually seems to be the case, I disagree with Niode.

I think Blu-Ray is ridiculously awesome and absolutely love the format and what it offers and provides in terms of picture quality and sound. I was never one to watch a ton of special features on DVDs, so for me the price is all about A/V quality. Any extras are just a nice bonus. I don't think I have ever spent more than $20 on a Blu-Ray, including new releases. I don't buy all new releases, though - I usually wait until they go on sale a few months later. Most Blu-Rays I buy for between $10-15 a pop, almost always online or in the bragain bin or on sale at Wal-Mart/Best Buy/etc. It took much longer for DVDs to be that cheap after that format was released, so I expect Blu-Ray prices will keep dropping even faster than DVD prices did.

On Amazon, they have started pricing DVDs of many newer releases at higher prices than the Blu-ray. This didn't happen with Predators and I agree that $25 for Predators is too much - $15 would be a much better deal. I bet you'll see it for around that price point near the holidays, though. Keep an eye on Amazon, which is my main place for buying them.

[Pulsar_t]

What bothers me personally is that DVD transfers might be suffering due to emphasis on BD transfers, both for marketing and budget considerations. I disagree with the opinion that the jump in resolution has minimal impact. The jump from MPEG1 (typically 240-288p) to MPEG2 (480-576p) was significant, and likewise bumping the resolution to 1080p via AVCHD allows for much more detail (sometimes even unasked for) along with 'genuine' grain that is missing from smoothed MPEG2 transfers.

Oh, and screw the MPAA.

[gtmtnbiker]

I plan to get into bluray soon now that redbox and blockbuster express have them as an option. I was never into buying movies since I will just watch it once. I also prefer on-demand movies since I don't have to deal with any returns.

[Jrecee]

I've bought 5 blurays so far. None of them new releases, and they were all under $15.00. I even saw The Dark Knight for $10. . . but already have it on DVD and my max is $5 for upgrading movies I already have to HD.

Amazon is ok but you have to factor in shipping and not having it immediately. $20 is my max for new releases.

I agree that DVDs have been suffering, obviously to push people to Bluray. Even the bargain versions of DVDs used to have a few features and a good transfer, now you get a trailer for the movie at best. The transfer for Sherlock holmes was HORRIBLE. I have never seen a transfer that terrible before.

I haven't gotten screwed over that badly on any of my other 150 or so dvds.

But studios will be losing a lot of new release sales from me. Looking on Amazon Toy Story 3 will be 19.99 so that may be an exception. Apparently scott pilgrim will be 26.99. . . uh, no.

[Ziggy]

My only BD player is my PS3. I'd be more inclined to pick up Blu Ray movies but my TV is only 720p, so they don't even look that great. The only BD I have is Terminator 2 ($10 on Amazon). Some parts were noticeably clearer, but other than that, couldn't really tell it apart from my DVD player with component cables. I rented Casino Royale on Blu Ray (back when there wasn't an extra charge to rent Blu Ray from Net Flix) and wasn't impressed by it either. Again, because my TV is 720p. If I had a 1080p TV, I'd have a lot more Blu Ray movies.

[dsheinem]

My only BD player is my PS3. I'd be more inclined to pick up Blu Ray movies but my TV is only 720p, so they don't even look that great. The only BD I have is Terminator 2 ($10 on Amazon). Some parts were noticeably clearer, but other than that, couldn't really tell it apart from my DVD player with component cables. I rented Casino Royale on Blu Ray (back when there wasn't an extra charge to rent Blu Ray from Net Flix) and wasn't impressed by it either. Again, because my TV is 720p. If I had a 1080p TV, I'd have a lot more Blu Ray movies.

Good point. You need 40" or bigger (50" or bigger really) and 1080p via HDMI to really appreciate the full extent of the upgraded visuals. It is slightly noticeable on a 720p or on a smaller set, but not drastically so.

[CRTGAMER]

I don't think its just the pricing.

If only every BlueRay release included a DVD, then it would be worth that extra price. Until BlueRay takes over, still need the DVD for the bedroom and portable units. BlueRay players have come down in price, so probably will eventually make the DVD obsolete. For now I'll stick with DVD upscaling.