Amazon is having another Blu-ray sale.

[Dave Moritz]

I picked up X-Men for $19.99 and X-Men 2 $16.99 on Bluray at Fry's Electronics.

[Butch]

I'm with Wes. Why aren't there more new releases being offered on BD?

Can anybody please explain to me why BD titles are $30 and DVD's are $20. Seems like the same plastic disc to me. Why would one cost significantly more than the other? What difference could the content make in the overall cost? It's bits being recorded. I don't find any difference in cost (to me) between burning JPEG's or FLAC to a disc.

Whenever I try to explain to my friends the advantages of Blu-Ray's HD video and uncompressed audio they look at me like I'm some kind of alien. More and more I'm beginning to agree with them. If the majority of the world's consumers agree with them that the HD difference is not worth the extra cost, then I think DVD will continue to be the predominate format for a long time to come.

For me, I don't mind paying more for the hardware, but for them and me; we hate the premiums being placed on the software; especially when the contents are reissues of DVD's we already have. Paying $30 for a 5 year old movie is ridiculous! Amazon sales of hashed and rehashed movies on BD still can't compete with Wal-Mart's $5 pricing for the same on DVD.

If content providers are interested at all in turning profits then they should reissue older material on BD for (older) DVD prices and provide all new releases in BD at prices comparable to those of new DVD releases (Which, IMO is still too damned high).

I purchased my first DVD player in 1999 and I purchased an average of 1 DVD per week up until the announcement of Blu-Ray. Not wanting to increase my collection of soon to be obsolete media, I used the red box at McDonalds for all of my DVD viewing throughout the majority of 2008. I purchased a Blu-Ray player last December and I own a total of 8 BD titles. That's less than half of what I would have purchased had the prices been commensurate with that of DVD. I just can't seem to get past the sticker shock.

[rbinck]

Originally Posted by Butch

I'm with Wes. Why aren't there more new releases being offered on BD?

Can anybody please explain to me why BD titles are $30 and DVD's are $20. Seems like the same plastic disc to me. Why would one cost significantly more than the other? What difference could the content make in the overall cost? It's bits being recorded. I don't find any difference in cost (to me) between burning JPEG's or FLAC to a disc.

My guess for both issues you brought up is the cost of licensing the technology. People who were praying for the demise of HD DVD did not realize they were giving Blu-ray a blank check, I guess. There is very little difference in the physical media cost, that I'd agree with. And I never had a dog in the HDM fight, but I always wanted them both to succeed to both encourage more titles as well as competition.

I see other ways to get HD material that are much more economical than Blu-ray and that's the route I've chosen to create my collection. I currently have over 200 HD movies on my hard disks. I use the Hauppauge 1212 HD-PVR Video Capture device to capture them from my DVR or another computer at 1080i and the quality is as good as the broadcast HD quality. While this is not at the disc media level, for sure, it is good enough to satisfy my needs.

[timbre4]

That doesn't have to be true; you just need to shop harder; I rarely pay over $20 for anything Blu-Ray unless it's a box or something special. I have about 60 discs in a years time and figure that's about avearge.

More new titles are definitely being released Day & Date with their DVD counterparts.

Watch the scene by checking bluray.com to track new releases and bargains; there is PLENTY of good titles to buy now and many exciting releases in the next 3-6 months.

Full speed ahead!!!

[jbk]

It doesn't seem to be much of a sale to me. And, there doesn't seem to be much of a selection either. Just the same tired titles Amazon had over the Christmas season.

Plus, most of the prices are in the mid to high $20.00 range. I think their pricing policy is inhibiting blu ray sales.

And, I don't think the movies studios and blu ray manufacturers have done a good job of differentiating blu ray from dvd.

This is looking like SACD all over again.

[photogray]

They have so many sales its hard to keep track of