[quote name='gizmogc']There is no standalone BR player comparable in price to HD. The cheapest is a Samsung which still carrys of MSRP of $600 or $700. The HD-A1 is $400.[/QUOTE]
I believe high blu-ray player prices can be attributed to a few things:
1) Higher manufacturing costs (obviously)
2) Higher revenue generated per player sold, and at the same time making the PS3 look like more of a deal than it really is.
I can't prove the second one, just something I think is true. Also, look at this:
http://www.homemediaretailing.com/news/html/breaking_article.cfm?article_id=9539
But Blu-ray’s first six weeks of launch, thanks to its higher-priced players, raked in 42% more revenue than HD DVD hardware did during its first six weeks out.
They are obviously not taking as big of hit as HD-DVD is on the players. That is most likely because they feel confident that the PS3 will push the format far enough to where, if blu-ray does win, the cheaper HD-DVD players won't matter any more since it will not play the majority of movies that will be released in the future. Not only are they making more profit than HD-DVD, but they are encouraging PS3 sales because it makes the PS3 look like a steal. It still would be even if Blu-ray players were making the same amount of profit as HD-DVD players, but it wouldn't look like as much of a steal.
[quote name='gizmogc']...Why wouldn't I? All the titles I own are BR exclusive, I can't buy them on HD. Not to mention the fact that the Google checkout coupons make most BR purchases $12-$16.[/QUOTE]
I just found it odd with all the PS3/Blu-ray hating you do. But, I see you are a true cheapass at heart, and anyone in the right mind probably wouldn't pass up those cheap movies.
[quote name='gizmogc']Yeah, BR is now close to be equal with the 'inferior' HD-DVD format. Congrats. Not lets see them go back and fix the issues with a number of titles still sitting on the shelf (Fifth Element, House o Flying Daggers).
[/QUOTE]
I am pretty pissed that they
ed those two movies. I am really glad Hero has not been released yet, otherwise there would've been hell to pay.
Also, I think you are miscontruing the word "inferior". HD-DVD did have superior PQ, and now seems to have equal PQ (not slightly better). However, the format is still "inferior" in the sense that the storage currently does not match Blu-ray's (that will change once the 50GB is released, but will change again when the 200GB blu-ray disc is released). It seems they currently have equal PQ, with Blu-ray beating HD-DVD in regards to storage. Currently, this isn't really relevant, since it doesn't seem like we NEED the extra space. In fact, I doubt we would even use the extra space since 50GB seems like plenty. But it will be used eventually and it still doesn't change the fact that HD-DVD is inferior in that sense. I think I should've clarified 'inferior'. That was my fault.
[quote name='gizmogc']Lower MSRP or movies, DVD 'Combo' versions that can be played on something other then HD-DVD players, Lower prices Hardware, Still has exclusive titles, still has more actual standalone hardware sales. Lots of factors. I won't, and neither will tons of HD-DVD fans, just quit HD-DVD altogether because of a rash of BR announcements. Universal announced next to nothing...Thats not to say they won't announce 100+ movies tomorrow or next week. CES was just not the place they felt like doing it at. BR is not tapped out. We won't see many announcements or months...HD-DVD still has tons of opportunities in the mean time since they like to announce movies and have them in the hands of buyers within weeks.[/QUOTE]
I still haven't seen HD-DVDs with lower MSRPs. There may be a few movies that are cheaper on HD-DVD than blu-ray. The opposite might be true too. But, in general, they seem about the same.
DVD Combo is definitely a plus, I'll give them taht.
Lower price hardware also a plus. Factor in the PS3 (which is just as viable seeing as how it has equal quality to its standalone competitors, and, in some cases, seems to be better from what I hear, as well as a much cheaper price, and doubles as a gaming console) and the difference isn't as much, but there still is a price advantage for HD-DVD
Standalone sales are still in favor of HD-DVD. But like we both agreed, initial sales don't matter too much since neither is significantly ahead of the other, however, both are significantly behind DVD. Also, those sales don't factor in the PS3. With good reason though, since we can not determine how many PS3s will be used for movies, and how many won't.
As far as CES goes, I don't know what makes you think Blu-ray is "tapped" as far as releases goes. There is no set limit on how many movies they can announce. Also, there is nothing saying that Universal is saving 100 movies to announce this year. All we know is Universal didn't announce much, while Blu-ray did. Universal is also NOT known for making announcements close to relases as opposed to making them at big events. If that were true, they would not have made such a big showing last CES. For whatever reason, Universal held back, and there is no telling what they have planned for the future, nor do we know that blu-ray is done for the next few months. Honestly, that sounds more like wishful thinking on your part.
[quote name='gizmogc']Edit: That quote thing so did not work, lol.[/QUOTE]
Close enough. I think you just had an extra quote tag at the beginning and end, but its close enough. Maybe next time man
[quote name='gizmogc']Now, I don't know if these actually ever surfaced...but I never recall seeing these anywhere.[/QUOTE]
Wow, that is news to me.
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INT...PDE&DCMP=SSE_CTH&HQS=CTR14620DVD&LOHS296=SPDE
Looks like Sony was the only one to actually do this (like they said). The reason no one has seen these is because they seem to only be available at the Sonystyle shop. Guess they realized UMD was going nowhere, which is why they didn't push this as much as they could've.
[quote name='gizmogc']Thats the best I could find with a quick search on Yahoo. No prices were announced, but expected to be $299 or less by June. Chinese players will follow and be cheaper as well. Obviously these won't be Toshiba HD-A1/A2 quality, but they will be cheap and maybe be a 'magic' pricepoint for some people. I can't believe anyone would ever buy the $1,200 LG player. What a ripoff.[/QUOTE]
Still no concrete price point, so I don't know where you are getting the $299 from. It basically just says what is true of every new technology. "Manufacturing prices are going down as time progresses". That can be said about almost ANYTHING. Thanks for the link, but it is a bit too vague about the cheaper players.
In regards to the survey by Fox...
Oh. I didn't really have that 3-to-1 information in my post because I knew it was factual. I believe the rest of the information in my post was based on facts (unless stated otherwise):
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121440&page=7#306
I thought you were saying that the info from that above post was from a survey. I don't remember posting the 3-to-1 ratio thing. I may have, if I did, I didn't mean to post it as fact.
got to love it when you see people post stupid predictions. thanks