Is Sony intentionally trying to kill Blu-Ray?

[boomhower]

Originally posted by: JackBurton

Originally posted by: TruePaige
Elitism is just mind boggling sometimes.

LOL. Yeah, the nerve of people that think they should get rewarded for their hard work and sacrifices.

You sir, are an elitist prick. Tell that cop with a four degree making $35k on the swing shift he doesn't work hard while he tries is looking for your stolen car. Tell the LPN making $30K that is giving you your shots and taking your blood they don't work hard. Just because because someone is not rich does not equate to them being uneducated rednecks that go to Walmart in their pajamas and bitch about movie prices.

 

[JackBurton]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
bs, sometimes its just charging what they can get away with, and sometimes its just self defeating retardation, you saw it with formats like dvda sacd..over charging and over protective. the bluray doesn't cost that much to make else sony bluray games would make almost no profit for developers or games would cost double.

You can call BS all you want. Blu-ray players have come down quite a bit over the last few years. And at $300, I believe you are getting a quality player and the company is making a decent profit. Also note, you can get some fantastic Blu-ray players under $300, so I don't see how you can call BS. It's not like we are talking about $800 Blu-ray players.

 

[JackBurton]

Originally posted by: boomhower

Originally posted by: JackBurton

Originally posted by: TruePaige
Elitism is just mind boggling sometimes.

LOL. Yeah, the nerve of people that think they should get rewarded for their hard work and sacrifices.

You sir, are an elitist prick. Tell that cop with a four degree making $35k on the swing shift he doesn't work hard while he tries is looking for your stolen car. Tell the LPN making $30K that is giving you your shots and taking your blood they don't work hard. Just because because someone is not rich does not equate to them being uneducated rednecks that go to Walmart in their pajamas and bitch about movie prices.

Thanks. First off, the key point of my argument is making "GOOD CHOICES IN LIFE." If the cop decides to have 3 kids making $35K a year. I'd say that is a bad life choice. Now he is going to have to work 2,3, 4 times as hard as someone who didn't make that mistake. I'm not a rich guy by any means, but I cut down on dumbass life changing mistakes to zero (well, as close to zero as I could). Call it elitist if you will, but the sacrifices I made deserve rewards. Otherwise, what is the point of the sacrifice?

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: techs
I was in Best Buy today looking around and noticed that Blu-Ray home players were still way overpriced. Ignoring the cheap off brand the cheapest was a Samsung for 250. The rest were 300 dollars or more.
I can get a Sony blu-ray drive at NewEgg for 79 bucks.
Maybe the economics escape me, but if decent blu-ray players were 149.00 they would be flying out the door, I believe.
It's almost as if Sony intends for home blu-ray players to be a niche market for the videophile instead of the mass market replacement for dvd's.

well if yuo cant afford one don`t complain!!

 

[Koing]

Originally posted by: JackBurton

Originally posted by: boomhower

Originally posted by: JackBurton

Originally posted by: TruePaige
Elitism is just mind boggling sometimes.

LOL. Yeah, the nerve of people that think they should get rewarded for their hard work and sacrifices.

You sir, are an elitist prick. Tell that cop with a four degree making $35k on the swing shift he doesn't work hard while he tries is looking for your stolen car. Tell the LPN making $30K that is giving you your shots and taking your blood they don't work hard. Just because because someone is not rich does not equate to them being uneducated rednecks that go to Walmart in their pajamas and bitch about movie prices.

Thanks. First off, the key point of my argument is making "GOOD CHOICES IN LIFE." If the cop decides to have 3 kids making $35K a year. I'd say that is a bad life choice. Now he is going to have to work 2,3, 4 times as hard as someone who didn't make that mistake. I'm not a rich guy by any means, but I cut down on dumbass life changing mistakes to zero (well, as close to zero as I could). Call it elitist if you will, but the sacrifices I made deserve rewards. Otherwise, what is the point of the sacrifice?

I would have loved to have been a teacher but the pay doesnt scale very well. I work in finance instead definately not as rewarding personally but the pay is good and thank fock j work in a great team!!!

Koing

 

[jjzelinski]

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda

Originally posted by: techs
I was in Best Buy today looking around and noticed that Blu-Ray home players were still way overpriced. Ignoring the cheap off brand the cheapest was a Samsung for 250. The rest were 300 dollars or more.
I can get a Sony blu-ray drive at NewEgg for 79 bucks.
Maybe the economics escape me, but if decent blu-ray players were 149.00 they would be flying out the door, I believe.
It's almost as if Sony intends for home blu-ray players to be a niche market for the videophile instead of the mass market replacement for dvd's.

well if yuo cant afford one don`t complain!!

Good god Jedi, you too? He's not pissing and moaning that he can't buy a Blueray. He's saying it could be in Sony's best interest to drop the price so people like him can affod to buy one. Although Sony might be making less money per unit, there is the possibility that the increase in the AMOUNT of units sold would more than make up for it.

That just parsing the basic elements of, notwithstanding stuff like market dominance, market penetration, and the royalties derived from their Blueray licensing scheme from all of the extra movies that could be sold if the less affluent market segments were encouraged to adopt.

Again, the point is that Sony is only hurting itself by pricing Bluray out of the "Wal-mart Joe" market segment.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: JackBurton

Originally posted by: boomhower

Originally posted by: JackBurton

Originally posted by: TruePaige
Elitism is just mind boggling sometimes.

LOL. Yeah, the nerve of people that think they should get rewarded for their hard work and sacrifices.

You sir, are an elitist prick. Tell that cop with a four degree making $35k on the swing shift he doesn't work hard while he tries is looking for your stolen car. Tell the LPN making $30K that is giving you your shots and taking your blood they don't work hard. Just because because someone is not rich does not equate to them being uneducated rednecks that go to Walmart in their pajamas and bitch about movie prices.

Thanks. First off, the key point of my argument is making "GOOD CHOICES IN LIFE." If the cop decides to have 3 kids making $35K a year. I'd say that is a bad life choice. Now he is going to have to work 2,3, 4 times as hard as someone who didn't make that mistake. I'm not a rich guy by any means, but I cut down on dumbass life changing mistakes to zero (well, as close to zero as I could). Call it elitist if you will, but the sacrifices I made deserve rewards. Otherwise, what is the point of the sacrifice?

:laugh: Yes, you deserve a Bluray player for your sacrifices. :laugh:

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: techs
I was in Best Buy today looking around and noticed that Blu-Ray home players were still way overpriced. Ignoring the cheap off brand the cheapest was a Samsung for 250. The rest were 300 dollars or more.
I can get a Sony blu-ray drive at NewEgg for 79 bucks.
Maybe the economics escape me, but if decent blu-ray players were 149.00 they would be flying out the door, I believe.
It's almost as if Sony intends for home blu-ray players to be a niche market for the videophile instead of the mass market replacement for dvd's.

Probably not.
I just stopped by Office Depot yesterday, they had a pile of name brand players for 200 bucks and plenty of ads in all the local papers. I asked the sales girl about them and she said nobody has bought one in a month.

As for the other issue brought up: I think a lot of folks in here need to read "Rich Dad, Poor Dad". It talks about how the upper class view money differently from the middle and lower classes.
The issue of "getting dicked over in life" would be a lot more clear after reading that book.

 

[TwiceOver]

Even at $150 they wouldn't be flying off the shelf. Less than $80 and we'll see some movement. Add current market conditions and I don't see Blu-Ray really busting into the market for another few years.

 

[JackBurton]

Originally posted by: jjzelinski
Good god Jedi, you too? He's not pissing and moaning that he can't buy a Blueray. He's saying it could be in Sony's best interest to drop the price so people like him can affod to buy one. Although Sony might be making less money per unit, there is the possibility that the increase in the AMOUNT of units sold would more than make up for it.

That just parsing the basic elements of, notwithstanding stuff like market dominance, market penetration, and the royalties derived from their Blueray licensing scheme from all of the extra movies that could be sold if the less affluent market segments were encouraged to adopt.

Again, the point is that Sony is only hurting itself by pricing Bluray out of the "Wal-mart Joe" market segment.

Oh, he's pissed because he can't buy a Blu-ray player. He so pissed that he wants to show Sony how to run their business better instead of worrying about how HE can make more money to afford one.

I love this little thread. You have these guys that are "experts" in economics that think they know more than Sony on how to run a business and LOVE giving them advice, but for some reason, they really can't apply those same principals to their own lives. Just a little advice, instead of worrying about how to run a large corporation that is not yours, try running your own life a little better. Obviously if you can't afford a $300 player you're doing something wrong.

So lets keeps this simple. Instead of trying to plan Sony's new business strategy, why don't you try and work on something you CAN control. In this case, you can save for a $300 player or you can wait for the prices to come down. That's it.

 

[ViviTheMage]

software $$$?

 

[spacejamz]

Let's see...blu ray sales took off after the PS3 came out in late Nov 2006 (a little over two years ago), and it is supposed to be outselling DVD already? how long did it take for DVD to overtake VHS? However long it took, I'm sure it was longer than 2 years and 3 months...

How long did it take for DVD player prices to go down anyway? I remember buying a Sony single disc player around 1999 for $450. I guess I should have been bitching to Sony back then that their player prices were too high...In any event, it looked like DVD turned out pretty well even though their prices were out of Joe Sixpack's budget when it first came out...

 

[LikeLinus]

I think the biggest problem is the price increase over DVD vs. the quality increase. I think the majority of regular joes just do not see the investment cost of blu-ray as a good investment over small increase in quality from DVD. I would believe that most people have 720p sets and a 480p or upscale DVD is going to look almost as good as a Blu-Ray disc and cost half as much. Unless you did a side by side test, most people (non videophiles) would be perfectly happy with a DVD on their big screen TV.

Until they can purchase a blu-ray for the same price as a DVD - people are just going to continue buying DVDs on the cheap.

 

[finite automaton]

Originally posted by: JackBurton

Originally posted by: jjzelinski
Good god Jedi, you too? He's not pissing and moaning that he can't buy a Blueray. He's saying it could be in Sony's best interest to drop the price so people like him can affod to buy one. Although Sony might be making less money per unit, there is the possibility that the increase in the AMOUNT of units sold would more than make up for it.

That just parsing the basic elements of, notwithstanding stuff like market dominance, market penetration, and the royalties derived from their Blueray licensing scheme from all of the extra movies that could be sold if the less affluent market segments were encouraged to adopt.

Again, the point is that Sony is only hurting itself by pricing Bluray out of the "Wal-mart Joe" market segment.

Oh, he's pissed because he can't buy a Blu-ray player. He so pissed that he wants to show Sony how to run their business better instead of worrying about how HE can make more money to afford one.

I love this little thread. You have these guys that are "experts" in economics that think they know more than Sony on how to run a business and LOVE giving them advice, but for some reason, they really can't apply those same principals to their own lives. Just a little advice, instead of worrying about how to run a large corporation that is not yours, try running your own life a little better. Obviously if you can't afford a $300 player you're doing something wrong.

So lets keeps this simple. Instead of trying to plan Sony's new business strategy, why don't you try and work on something you CAN control. In this case, you can save for a $300 player or you can wait for the prices to come down. That's it.

You really seem to care way too much about what people think.

 

[MSP]

The $79 Blu-Ray burner for your PC is just a read / write device, whereas a console Blu-Ray player has the processing and display output logic, as well as network capabilities in the newer models, etc. They're basically little computers, just like a regular DVD player is really. It's just that to decode Blu-Ray you need a faster computer. Faster = more expensive. And then there's the economy of scale. Fewer Blu-Ray players are sold versus regular DVD players, helping to keep them more expensive.

My first DVD player (1999) cost $250. Adjusted for inflation that's probably more expensive than Blu-Ray is today.

Anyway, I just upscale DVD. Got a nice Samsung upscale player during Black Friday for $50, and it looks damn good on my 42" plasma.

 

[spacejamz]

Originally posted by: LikeLinus
I think the biggest problem is the price increase over DVD vs. the quality increase. I think the majority of regular joes just do not see the investment cost of blu-ray as a good investment over small increase in quality from DVD. I would believe that most people have 720p sets and a 480p or upscale DVD is going to look almost as good as a Blu-Ray disc and cost half as much. Unless you did a side by side test, most people (non videophiles) would be perfectly happy with a DVD on their big screen TV.

Until they can purchase a blu-ray for the same price as a DVD - people are just going to continue buying DVDs on the cheap.

It goes deeper than that...in order to benefit from blu ray, you have to have HDTV. Although HDTV sales are rising, IIRC, only 30% of US households had an HDTV in 2008. Most people are going to wait until their tube TV's die before they upgrade to an HDTV. These people won't need a blu ray player until then.

I forgot the number of people who have an HDTV but don't view any HD sources (OTA, cable, satellite, blu ray, etc)....

 

[DaveSimmons]

This year's $300 player was $500 last year.

Get Netflix and watch all the blu-ray discs you want, plus you can stream a bunch of other movies and TV shows when you don't care about the picture quality.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: JackBurton

Originally posted by: TruePaige
Elitism is just mind boggling sometimes.

LOL. Yeah, the nerve of people that think they should get rewarded for their hard work and sacrifices.

you do get rewarded for sacrifices. A blu-ray player is not one.

sony is beign kinda stilly here. IF its because they can't make it cheaper then ok thats fine (doubt it though). BUT if they are keeping it high then thats just dumb (and no they are not doing it to keep it as a niche market).

if they dropped it so more people could afford it (not saying bargin basement stuff) then more people would buy and they would make more ont eh sale of moves. They could aslo have higher end players for idiots like jackburton who want to show off the "sacrifices" (lol if you are makeing sacrifices why do you have a Blu-ray player?)

IF they would drop the cost of movies down around the cost of regular DVD's i would get more of them. right now i only buy a few on blu-ray and only AFTER i have seen it see if it is even worth getting in blu-ray. Some don't look any better then a upconverted DVD. so i don't see paying double for the same movie.

What really blows my mind is the elitism of some. I'm not saying that everyone deserves everything. but to keep things artificily high just so its a nich market is silly. its a fricken DVD player and not something special.

 

[Injury]

DVD is to Blu-Ray as "run-of-the-mill grocery store" is to "higher cost specialty foods stores."


Minus the necessity of nutrition, of course.

 

[shadow9d9]

I have the money.. but I like to get a good bang for the buck.

Additionally, until BSG, DS9, or Farscape come out on blur-ray, I have 0 need to buy one. 99.9999% of movies suck. I have no need to buy them.

 

[Codewiz]

My question is, why would anyone want blu ray right now? We are seeing that streaming media is the future. Instant gratification is the future. The only advantage blu ray currently holds is picture/sound quality. That will change over the next two years. So why would I want to invest in something that is going to be dead within 5 years. At least DVDs had a pretty darn good lifespan.

I do not believe the same will be said about blu ray.

I make enough money and made good choices to easily afford a blu ray player but as good ole JackBurden has said it is a luxury item for people who made good choices in life. I find that pretty much laughable. The irony is strong in that because I am pretty sure investing in a dying type of media is the epitome of making BAD choices in life.

 

[Crusty]

Originally posted by: JackBurton

Originally posted by: jjzelinski
Good god Jedi, you too? He's not pissing and moaning that he can't buy a Blueray. He's saying it could be in Sony's best interest to drop the price so people like him can affod to buy one. Although Sony might be making less money per unit, there is the possibility that the increase in the AMOUNT of units sold would more than make up for it.

That just parsing the basic elements of, notwithstanding stuff like market dominance, market penetration, and the royalties derived from their Blueray licensing scheme from all of the extra movies that could be sold if the less affluent market segments were encouraged to adopt.

Again, the point is that Sony is only hurting itself by pricing Bluray out of the "Wal-mart Joe" market segment.

Oh, he's pissed because he can't buy a Blu-ray player. He so pissed that he wants to show Sony how to run their business better instead of worrying about how HE can make more money to afford one.

I love this little thread. You have these guys that are "experts" in economics that think they know more than Sony on how to run a business and LOVE giving them advice, but for some reason, they really can't apply those same principals to their own lives. Just a little advice, instead of worrying about how to run a large corporation that is not yours, try running your own life a little better. Obviously if you can't afford a $300 player you're doing something wrong.

So lets keeps this simple. Instead of trying to plan Sony's new business strategy, why don't you try and work on something you CAN control. In this case, you can save for a $300 player or you can wait for the prices to come down. That's it.

You're a douche.

 

[Cogman]

My guess is that sony is trying to ride the high price as long as possible. Once they drop their prices (and inevitably, they will, or they risk the death of bluray) That's it, they can't ever go back. With electronics, people expect it to be at a certain price and stay there or lower forever, they won't pay more for a product from year to year.

I just have to laugh at the claim that "Bluray is still a developing Tech, that's one reason the prices is so high!" Lol, the only reason it is "developing" is because sony is trying to milk as much money out of the rubes that bought edition 1 of the bluray as possible. "Oh, you can't watch this because you bought a 1.01 bluray player, this was made for 1.05 which offers nothing more then compatibility for the brand new standard!". Seriously, the actual hardware is developed, it now costs peanuts to manufacture a bluray player. Other then a small crew of developers that are needed to write the next "latest and greatest" bios, and a design team to wrap it in a new box, there isn't a whole lot being done with bluray as far as R&D goes. The blue laser, and the driving chipset have been invented for several years now.

Sony isn't dumb, they won the HD war by hooking bluray to their PS3. (really it was pretty smart in a lot of ways). They knew that bluray might not win the war, but they also knew from past experience that the PS3 would sell more units then any bluray tech ever would. Of course, the PS3 bombed as a whole, but it allowed sony to point to the major studios and say "Hey, We sold over 1 million bluray players to the public, if you want the most exposure then go with us because we have the largest supported format base".

I would argue that the real reason Bluray won over HD is because the PS3 supported playing bluray disks natively. If the xbox 360 did the same, it might be a different story today (the $100 extra addin to get HD support doesn't really count as the sales probably weren't high enough). Of course, then the xbox would have been $100 more expensive and its sales wouldn't have been so hot either. Microsoft wasn't a huge champion of the HD format.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: Codewiz
My question is, why would anyone want blu ray right now? We are seeing that streaming media is the future. Instant gratification is the future. The only advantage blu ray currently holds is picture/sound quality. That will change over the next two years. So why would I want to invest in something that is going to be dead within 5 years. At least DVDs had a pretty darn good lifespan.

I do not believe the same will be said about blu ray.

I make enough money and made good choices to easily afford a blu ray player but as good ole JackBurden has said it is a luxury item for people who made good choices in life. I find that pretty much laughable. The irony is strong in that because I am pretty sure investing in a dying type of media is the epitome of making BAD choices in life.

i agree. i don't see blu-ray sticking around to long. its to expensive and not much better then upconverted DVD's. sure there are a few that look great (cars in blu-ray is great).

i also think there are better things comeing up. it should be a intersting next 10 years for media.

 

[Modelworks]

There are still millions of people that do not have a HDTV. And of those that do they don't have anything big like a 52". Many people don't even see the difference in HD and SD unless you point it out to them. DVD is cheap, everywhere and good enough for most people. Blu-ray will eventually take over if nothing else is introduced, yes there are other formats in the works, but its going to take time and a severe price cut.

Buy what I need to watch a movie at home if I have a tv:
DVD - dvd player $20 + $15 for movie = $35
Blu-ray - player $300 + $30 for movie = $330

In this economy people like DVD.