Why I'm Not Going With Blu-ray

Sort of like, I'm not going to the Ball unless the Prince asks me. Blu Ray is great, affordable, and at the moment state of the art.

Even my portable notebook has one. My 7 year old son wants to watch Blu ray movies over standard.

 

That may have been true in the past, but prices are dropping now. I just took a quick look at BestBuy.com and they have EIGHT Blu-ray players selling for under $250 (including FOUR that are priced under $210.)

 

Here again, that may have been the case in the past, but Blu-ray disc prices (including catalog titles) are clearly on the way down. On Tuesday, I picked up Ghostbusters at Best Buy for $14.99 ($19.99 plus a "$5 Off" Sony manufacturer's coupon.) Personally, I don't think that's excessive for a 1080p high-def transfer of the film, complete with new lossless audio and virtually every supplement from the 2-disc special edition DVD. In fact, right at this moment, BestBuy.com is still listing the original 1999 DVD on their web site for $17.99.

 

All the examples I cited were for recent Blu-ray catalog releases.

"Ghostbusters" Blu-ray MSRP: $28.95
"Ghostbusters" DVD MSRP: $14.95

"Wayne's World"/"Wayne's World 2" Blu-ray MSRP: $59.98 for the pair
"Wayne's World"/"Wayne's World 2" DVD MSRP: $14.99 (on one disc)
"Wayne's World"/"Wayne's World 2" DVD MSRP: $19.96 (bought separately)

"Predator 2" Blu-ray MSRP: $34.95
"Predator 2" DVD MSRP: $19.98

Do I need to keep going? These are all titles that came to Blu-ray in the last month...

 

You got me there - Best Buy's obviously trying to move a lot of Blu-ray players. They're still a lot pricier than DVD players, but they're moving downward...

 

I think the next "format" to appear after Blu-ray will come quicker than DVD to Blu-ray has done. So titles that I bought on DVD most likely will never appear on Blu-ray. I don't mind the video quality on most of my collection now on my 46" tv and oppo dvd player. But I will be picking up a PS3 for the Beatles rock band game, and I do have a few Blu-ray discs on my wish list. So I'll add another format to the collection....

 

I agree, rarely does a new technology/format benefit the previous state of the art. With Blu-Ray, it does.

 

There is a BIG difference between MSRP and real world prices.

 

And how much were 'Ghostbusters', "Wayne's World' and 'Predator' when they were first issued on DVD? They're new releases again, and the studios had to pay for new hi-def transfers and the cost of building and staffing BD pressing plants. Once they've made their expenses back, the prices will drop.

The cost of brand-new releases on DVD vs. BD seems to be pretty close to me; about $5 more for films and $10 for TV seasons.

 

Sure, but the "real world" prices are all over the place. The only way to compare apples to apples is by using MSRP. In general, the higher the MSRP, the higher the cost. Of course, exceptions occur - like the super-cheap "Song Remains the Same" at Amazon - but MSRP remains the most logical way to compare...

 

Great. Have I argued that catalog Blu-rays shouldn't be more expensive than catalog DVDs? No. I've made no comments on what prices SHOULD be anywhere here.

I've simply stated what prices ARE. Face it: on average, Blu-ray Discs are more expensive than DVDs. Why the hell does this FACT bother so many so much?

This whole denial concept is getting more and more bizarre...

 

Funny, I see the denial going the other way; of the Blu Rays that I've purchased, all were cheaper than their DVD equivalents.

 

Some posts in this thread make it clear that those who embrace technology have their work cut out for them in terms of spreading the word and getting people to have forward thinking. We wonder why SACD never took hold, or why DVD-A is non-existent. It's basically attitudes like these.

The ironic thing is that people on these forums are not the average, joe-six-packs. I'd like to think we are higher up the food chain in terms of understanding, recognizing and appreciating technology. I'd like to think quality matters. We are the target demographics for blu-ray and other hi-res formats. We can't just keep idly waiting by for the next thing to come along. What are you waiting for? Newsflash, something else will always come out in the future. If everyone had that mindset, you'd never buy anything. You'd be waiting forever.

I simply do not understand people like this. I bet some of you guys shake your heads at kids who listen to mp3s. What's so different about you here?

 

Blu-ray discs on average are more expensive than DVDs, they should be. However, who pays MSRP for anything?

For the record - Outside of boxsets like Band of Brothers/Planet Earth and seasons of TV Series, I don't think I've spent more than $16 on a blu-ray disc.

We are on the internet, let's learn to use it to shop smartly. J&R, Amazon(hit or miss), Inet Video and others have aggressive pricing.

http://www.jr.com/category/movies/n/4294826035/sort-by-salePrice-0/

Also, I rent blu-ray titles, so truthfully speaking - apart from the cost of the hardware to play blu-ray titles - anytime people talk about how expensive blu-ray is, it just tells me they aren't very savvy or judicious. $15 a month gets me 3 blu-ray titles out simultaneously from blockbuster online. In a month, this can be up to 24 titles.

 

It's funny, I took your approach where DVD was concerned. I knew they made compromises due to limited storage availability. They were offering compressed Dolby Digital sound, sometimes DTS, but still compressed.

But I'm definitely jumping in on Blu-ray.

I think Blu-ray will be the last physical format.

The future is HD streaming. You won't need to use a NAS to store your media. The media companies will do it for you and stream it to your devices for a monthly subscription (internet 2.0), even via wireless. I'm sure they will try to make it difficult to copy the media being streamed, thus giving them more control. Who knows, maybe in the future music/movies will not even be sold on physical media. It will all be for rent!

TV

 

I'm not going blu-ray because I have too much stereo stuff.

and I'd rather spend money on cars.

 

I have limited expirience with Blu-Ray.My previous laptop has blu-ray reader built-in.Initial reading time was very slow compares to dvd.Picture quality was outstanding,without questions.I decided to wait with purchase until standard will be more finalized.

 

I only ever buy music DVD's. When they start releasing music blu-ray's in 24/96 sound I will consider buying one.

 

Right, it's the consumers fault. After the fiasco that was SACD/DVD-Audio these companies didn't learn their lesson and again did competing formats, HD-DVD and Blu-ray. As someone who got caught up in the former skirmish, I was less than enthusiastic about deja vu all over again.

I'm not that into movies, more Sports, documentaries, and select sitcoms. I haven't bought a DVD in quite awhile, so the notion that I'm twitching for a new format...well, I'm not. There could be a time when I might make the plunge, I'm in no hurry. I've got more than enough to keep me entertained in the meantime.

 

There's a difference though. HD DVD is dead, and lasted only a year. Blu-ray is the clear victor. It's not deja vu again.

 

Check out the deluxe edition of Ghosts by Nine Inch Nails, it has a splendid blu-ray 24/96 included in the package.

There are also quite a bit of classical blu-ray audio discs if you are into that.

The point I'm trying to get across here is that labels will not release these things if no one buys them. We need to support these formats if we want hi-res to survive. With the prevailing attitudes here, can you blame the labels for being apprehensive?

 

I've heard that "We need to support the format" with every other failed audio and video format that the companies have tried to thrust upon us. If few people are buying the format, a bunch of video/audio enthusiasts aren't going to make or break a media format.

I have a 32-inch tube TV from 1999 with a standard DVD player and about 100 DVDs that all suit me fine as far as the picture quality they offer me (and that's taking into consideration that I only buy movies in their widescreen aspect ratio and refuse to buy pan-and-scan).

I have no reason to invest in a Blu-Ray Player, Blu-Ray Discs, nor a new television and I think that's the problem the Blu-Ray format faces- most people don't care about having a high-def image and don't want to invest more money into some new, unproven high-def format when the DVD format is only 12 years old.

 

Great, so you've gotten some good specials. Anecdotal evidence proves nothing. I've shown example after example of Blu-rays that are more expensive than their DVD counterparts and I'M the only in denial?

I give up...

 

I have supported SACD and DVD audio. If I support Bluray also, will I need to support the next failed format? Besides there are only so many copies of the Deluxe ghosts and that's worth more than the typical blu ray player. There will have to be a few more cheaper titles by artists I like with incredible mastering to sway me.