Comments on: Rant: Why Are Blu-ray Prices Still So High?

By: Paul Fuller

Paul Fuller — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 22:21:29 +0000

The prices are way too high – considering they are just re-recorded with a few extra’s – How many films have actually been filmed in Hi Def? Thats what we were told about in the beginning – how wonderful it would be to see the film as the director wanted us to see it – yes re-recorded with black resolution a bit of a gamble depending on how good the original quality was. It’s just a racket to charge high prices for the same old stuff. -

By: dario

dario — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 22:24:08 +0000

Good post, Sean.

By: Kurt

Kurt — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:38:08 +0000

I’ll upgrade to BluRay when PC-Drives are below $80. The cheapest I’ve seen is about $130, with most being in the $250-300 range.

I generally do not buy normal DVDs unless they are less than $10, or something special in the packaging/features/etc. department. Even then I don’t cross the $30 mark for uber-editions.

It seems to me (I’ve got not stats) that Blu-Ray seems to still be in the A. ‘boys-who-want-toys’ or B. AV-aficionado or C. PS3 gamers (see also A).

I don’t belong in any of these. Most of the stuff I watch at home (I have a 96″ screen with a 720p projector) is foreign, independant and festival-ish type films, which haven’t gotten much Blu-Ray support (Criterion going Blu is a good start). SFX blockbusters I generally venture out to the theatre on off-peak times like Friday @noon or Sunday at 10pm and as a general rule, do not rent/buy them on DVD.

By: Mick

Mick — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:26:37 +0000

You North American based Film Junkers should count yourself lucky. New releases in the UK are about 50 USD, and even on Amazon only go down to about 35USD minimum. I have had a PS3 since the Stanley Kubrick stuff was released in the US last year and have amassed about 20 titles now, all but one of which I have bought from the US for about 20USD.
There is a distinct lack of genre output which is preventing me buying more, especially as DVDs are so cheap and the transfers tend to be pretty good. Saying that, John Carpenter’s The Thing is finally getting released on Blu, so I can get another copy of one of my favourite films.

By: theman

theman — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:17:49 +0000

See this is the reason why Bluray sales are flat. Because there to fucking expensive. Once they get around 20 dollars or so sales will go up.

By: Ryan M.

Ryan M. — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 06:53:33 +0000

“With a few exceptions IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ve bought all mine from Amazon because they have the cheapest prices, by far.”

That’s what I was going to say. They are ten dollars cheaper on amazon than in a store and if you buy more than one at a time you are saving money!

“The thing that worries me is stuff like Man On Fire where they charge full price but donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t port over any of the bonus features found on the DVD version.”

I know! T2 is 15 bucks at Wal-mart but it lacks the special features. They suck with that.

Btw, I’m sending an e-mail that every film junkie needs to hear before they go blu-ray.

Oh, and Lady in the Water is entertaining…like a trainwreck.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 06:06:19 +0000

I use my PS3 to play my blu-rays and I love it. I only buy movies I think are excellent on blu-ray and I stopped paying full price early this year. Prices are just to high at retail. With a few exceptions I’ve bought all mine from Amazon because they have the cheapest prices, by far. Also, the only time I take the plunge is during one of Amazon’s frequent sales. You’re right, it’s far too costly to pay full price for any blu-ray movie you don’t truly LOVE. The thing that worries me is stuff like Man On Fire where they charge full price but don’t port over any of the bonus features found on the DVD version. That’s the biggest rip of them all.

By: Henrik

Henrik — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 04:22:54 +0000

I’m not interested in ‘new’ tidbits about how it relates to other media. I’m interested in your experience!

Glad to hear you loved it though. It’s a fantastic movie. Did you feel offended by the portrayal of chinese people? I think Kurt Halfyard on the movie club podcast made a big deal out of it, clearly failing to recognize the obvious plot device as an example of an obvious plot device. The film is having fun with the structure, exposing it, not failing at hiding it as so many people seem to think (admittedly, mostly retards who still hail Star Wars as the greatest film of all time, but even some halfwitted people have a hate-on for Lady in the Water).

Ingmar Bergman observed that cold people cry easily.

By: Alex Cronk-Young

Alex Cronk-Young — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 04:09:14 +0000

Its because dvds dropped in price too fast and we started to expect the lower prices. So they aren’t going to do that with blu-rays. They want to milk as much profit out of them as they can for as long as possible.

By: Reed Farrington

Reed Farrington — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 03:35:06 +0000

Henrik, I really wanted to hate Lady in the Water so that I could have another difference of opinion with Jay, but I have to say that I sort of loved it. It even made me sort of cry. (But I hear that depressed people will cry at anything.)

I think I have to acknowledge that I can’t review things. I love reviews that reference pieces of knowledge relating to the item being reviewed. But I have a problem dissecting and examining things.

I wanted to check out the movie podcast that Jay and Sean did for Lady in the Water.

I’m not sure I could say anything new about the movie.

By: Henrik

Henrik — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 03:16:33 +0000

Will you write a review of Lady in the Water?

By: Reed Farrington

Reed Farrington — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 02:41:36 +0000

I’m just starting to get into HD-DVDs. I had bought the Xbox 360 HD-DVD player when it dropped in price after Blu-Ray won the format war. I was waiting for everyone to trade-in their HD-DVDs so I could get them cheap, but I hadn’t seen any cheap, used HD-DVDs.

And then, last week, Wal-Mart began selling brand new HD-DVDs for $5.00 each. I hadn’t seen Lady in the Water, so I picked that up as well as Richard Donner’s Superman II, Superman Returns, and The Twilight Zone. (Lady in the Water was actually a HD-DVD/DVD combo disc, but the packaging didn’t indicate it.)

I’m waiting for the arrival of a 50″ Panasonic plasma right now.

Maybe I’ll get into Blu-Ray when the new holographic format replaces it.