Blu-ray Prices Continue to Climb

Pricewatch - Sony, Sharp and Panasonic Blu-ray players continue to climb an upward price slope as demand has increased and competition decreased in the high definition video market, TG Daily found. Samsung's BD-P1400 and LG's combo player, however, have settled down and are moving back into more favorable price territory.

For the majority of players, though, prices are higher than they have been all year and it seems as though there is really no way to stop the prices from spiraling out of control. How far will they continue to rise and set themselves out of the mainstream target market?

[decapitator]

Well this was expected. I think what Sony and the BD group are doing is increasing the price on certain BD players to recoup some of the loses and then later on when they drop the price, they would be not be heavily affected.

[v1c1ous]

or this could be a textbook example of why competition is good for the consumer?

[Honolulu]

it's not like this comes from out of the blue exactly.

There's still the same competition as it always has been between companies. It's just that the new standard has been decided... If blu-ray would've been decided to be standard earlier on, the prices would be even higher though.

[diatom]

And increased prices (of all consumer goods, not just BR players) have nothing to do with the piss poor performance of the dollar and massive oil prices?

Anything to support a agenda...

[Sarick]

Have you guys notice the recent inflation in the economy. The cost of gasoline is nearing $4 a gallon in the USA. Everything is becoming more expensive. It's hard to deny that the increasing cost for product shipping won't be passed on to the customers somewhere or another.

Sure the competition keeps prices low but when you have rapid increases in the standard of living everything is more expensive.

Not saying these jumps are solely to blame on economic issues but consider that new products are given higher price tags to offset rising inflation.

The price of fuel effects everyone and everything we a customers buy. Perhaps the rising cost of these players a necessary step in balancing the manufacture and shipment cost increases.

Also note that the articles about blu-ray lasers. The suit calls for a hault on all non-us blu-ray laser shipments outside the us. This hasn't happened but if it did prices would become astronomical.

Many things could attribute to the price increases.

[MorganX]

This will not be much of an issue once Sony releases firmware supporting Dolby Master Audio or bitstream passthrough (probably not possible on current machiens). They can raise the price as much as they want, there will be no reason to buy a dedicated player for more than $399.

[Kr155]

There one major issue this article doesn't seem to address. MSRP. Pricewatch.com is a site you use to find a product at the cheapest available price. Thats not the manufacturers suggested price. In fact the manufacturers suggested price has not changed. With the new models comming that were actually announced after HDDVD's demise MSRP is goig down from $400 to $300. I'll tell you whats going on. Demand has gone up. Noone wants 2 formats and now that there is one more people are buying. if you think Joe Average will ever feel more confident to replace one DVD player with a high def player that plays only some movies rather than one that plays all movies then your wrong. With demand rising web retailers don't need to discount as much to sell a player. If they don't need to discount as much then they won't discount as much because they want to make money. This has absolutly nothing to do with the manufactures and is purely FUD writen by a viral marketer or someone with an axe to grind. Competiton is still there. Sony has to compete with samsung who has to compete with panasonic, and they all have to compete with PS3 which is not going anywhere in price.

[invoked]

and shut up. Price on ps3's won't inflate, if anything it'll drop with time.

[EZCheez]

They have the Sharp Aquos blu-ray players for $299.

Disagree if you want- It's not like you f'in shop where I do.

[RecSpec]

That was pretty funny.

[eagle21]

1.)The BDA has only made money off of Blu-ray since day 1.

2.) Warner Brothers was not paid-off.

3.) Hd-??? is officially dead. Rest in peace.

4.) wageslave is officially a _________ (fill in the blank) :)

[xplosneer]

PS3-Still #399.

[jackdoe]

That's unfortunate. However, one thing to keep in mind is that the arguably best Blu-ray player (the PS3) looks to be going down in price soon, maybe.

[Death]

Stand alones have been crippled since launch since they did not have any way to upgrade or an ethernet port for online enhanced features. Not that it matters anymore, but these were features standard in every HD-DVD player. I'm amazed that stand alone players are going up in price, but these new players have the revolutionary features that last years HD-DVD's had finally. I did notice Blu-Ray movies prices went up a little at retailers around me. That kind of sucks, but I try to buy all my movies pre-owned anyway.

What makes the PS3 the best Blu-Ray player is price coupled with the ability to upgrade it for the new features when they are finally ready. I have some serious doubts the PS3's will last as long as a standalone which uses heavy duty components that are made to last longer. This is why they cost more than a PS3.

-Death

[bootsielon]

You get the most value for your money and it's still a great player. Only Microsoft Zealots will disagree and think it's a bad thing for PS3 to be the cheapest BD player.

Sure, some people want standalones, but again, is there a reasonable argument against owning a console that also plays BD players? "I don't want to have a game console" isn't a valid one. Those kinds of consumers shouldn't complain about Blu-ray prices, they should instead question their preferences.

In the end Blu-ray is being adopted faster than DVD ever was, and Blu-ray is dropping in price faster than DVD even after its recent price increases. Not only that, but considering inflation, BD is very cheap compared to what DVD cost when it launched.

[Death]

"Blu-ray is dropping in price faster than DVD even after its recent price increases."

Just so we are on the same page, you are saying that even as Blu-Ray prices climb even higher, they are still dropping faster than DVD did. In 1997 when DVD was released in the States, they cost around $1000. By the end of 2000, they were under $100. That is a 90% drop in 3 years. Blu-Ray players started out June of 2006 at $999. After two years, they will be at $349. Not too bad, but the newest players are jumping back up to $999 and higher. That is movement in the wrong direction. In all honesty, these new players are current top of the line players that are at these high prices, but please don't tell me that increasing prices on these players is making them go down faster.

-Death

[Death]

http://dvddemystified.com/d... for a history lesson.

http://www.blu-ray.com/play... for current Blu-Ray prices.

Research before you speak or in your case click a button without backing it up.

-Death

[wallace1000]

Good work Death, good work

[Raptors]

And thats why competition is good...

[dragonJP]

...for months now, that Blu-ray winning the format war was not necessarily the best thing for consumers, at least not in the short-run. Prices were falling but had not yet reached the magic numbers of under $199 for Blu-ray players and under $20 for BR discs. A few months more of competition would have done it... Instead, we're left with climbing prices in Blu-ray hardware AND software. Blu-ray is the successor to DVD, but even with no competition, I'm afraid it is going to be a slower and more painful transition than we all hoped for....

[Figboy]

prices continued to soar, even though it was the standard, with no competition.

*rolls eyes*

look, this format war was a costly one. for consumers, for the manufacturers, and it dragged on unnecessarily for too long, due to the stubornness, and foolishness of certain companies *cough*Paramount*cough*

this war would have been decided long ago if certain people understood that, from the beginning, Blu Ray had the support from the studios, the support from the various computer manufacturers, and the support of the world-reknowned Playstation brand. basically, the cards were *ALWAYS in Blu Ray's hands. it was inevitable that it would win, especially once Sony announced that it going to be included in the Playstation 3, which was as far back as 2006, if not before then.

so, basically, we've known, for damn near two years, that Blu Ray was going to win.

only the most stalwart of Sony haters felt that Blu Ray didn't have a chance, even though the odds were in Sony's favor for a very, very long time.

i don't *CARE that stand alone Blu Ray prices have begun to climb.

i already have a Blu Ray player. i bought it with my PS3 back in February 2007.

i spent $600, but it basically equated to $400 for my gaming machine (ie, the equivalent of a 360 at the time), $100 for the built in Wi Fi router, and $100 for the Blu Ray functionality.

the PS3 is $400 now, still one of the cheapest Blu Ray players on the market, and i can get Blu Ray movies for $24.99 at the game/movie store across the street. which is only about $5 more than the DVD counterpart.

last i checked, DVDs, back when the PS2 launched, were pushing $30 or more, and it took time for those costs to drop.

the BD camp has to recoup the massive amounts of money they spent battling HD DVD.

former HD DVD player manufacturers have to, basically, *START OVER, converting their production facilities to Blu Ray facilities. consolidating the hundreds of thousands of now useless HD DVD players that are sitting in warehouses and store shelves, not being purchased.

this is not a cheap maneuver.

so while this whole mess is being sorted out, and HD DVD is getting slowly pushed out of existence, prices will be a little high.

if VHS and DVD have taught us ANYTHING, is that those high prices won't last forever (DVD = $30 movies, and $500-$600 players back in the day. 8 years later, you can get DVD players for $30, and movies for less than $10).

in either case, like i said before, i already made my Blu Ray investment over a year ago, and i haven't regretted the decision yet. i got my gaming fix, and my HD movie fix, in one sweet, fell swoop.

note that the companies who's players have climbed, are generally the companies that supported BOTH formats, and thus have some amortizing to do.

Sony's products have ALWAYS been more expensive than anybody elses, and it's almost at a whim that they decide to raise and lower their prices. *shrugs* i don't understand it, but why complain? just don't buy the product until it drops to a price that you're comfortable with. i don't understand the whole "b*tching for b*tching's sake" mentality that seems to ravage the net. it's pointless, and a waste of energy, really.

[DJ]

Standalone players are essentially mid-range PCs, and have 512MB of ram, a fast processor to handle 1080p video, etc, etc. It's the reason Toshiba lost so much money on its players sold at $300 and below.

The LG Blu-ray player actually dropped about $400 in MSRP, and the prices haven't actually fluctuated very much on the 5 players shown. Three went up, two went down.

[Tarmgar]

I'm guessing the rising prices are somewhat because of no competition, but to most likely push PS3 sales through too. That price doesn't budge.

[40cal]

with companies trying to re-coupe R&D cost. Blu-Ray is a great storage medium. I currently own 36 Blu-Ray movies and 14 PS3 games. I would love to have a stand alone player and will get one when prices drop.

I is a damn good thing the PS3 was built so solid, with all the game playing/ movie watching/ listing to music/ photo, personal video viewing/ web browsing that goes on in my house hold the PS3 is on and stays on, (F@H when not is use) its been running strong since Nov 17 2006.

While if I only wanted High Def. movie access the stand alone player would have been purchased over the Playstation but then again I would not have even bought a HDTV yet if it was not for the PS3 that I bought.

[wow4u]

How much do you think you've spent on those BD movies?

Thats a reason I dont buy plastic discs: Too expensive.

[Snukadaman]

Without competition...Looks like blind loyalty gets you nothing.

[GiantEnemyCrab]

They got their monopoly so now enjoy no competition and high prices. But then again $ony is counting on keeping the CRAPSTATION (tm) one of the cheapest Brown-ray players on the market because well you know how $ony is about movies first. Thank god I didn't get suckered into that and $30 movies.

High prices is one thing the fishheads don't have to WAIT for.

And Eagle21's blazer is officially __________ (fill in the blank)

and don't say "ghey" because I already call it! :)

[sak500]

LOL @ GiantEnemyCrab. Bubbles. HOpe you can also do the "realtime weapon change"

[djroberts]

Prices on BRD discs are not increasing. Retailers are discontinuing BRD sale prices to liquidate HD-DVD. This hump was bound to happen to the winner. The PS3 will only come down in price and it's by far the overall best deal of the bunch.

There will be $199 players by the end of 2008.

[Frankenberg]

The price will not be $200 for another 2 years. Why drop the price? You have no competition. Check my posts from months ago, the competition from HD-DVD is what caused the players to get so cheap so quickly. With no HD-DVD, it is no surprise if they keep going up.

Don't be bitter at them for trying to maximize shareholder value, all companies do it.

[Lumbo]

Please get your facts straight Frankenberg.

following your post there would be no competition in the DVD player market to, cause Laserdisc failed.

Strangely i see a lot of competition in the DVD player market. As i see a lot of competition in the BluRay player business. The 6 mayor competing manufacturers try to sell BluRay players to the consumers. Take a beginners course to business science to correct your highly warped concept of "competition". Competition is defined as more than one seller offering on the same market. The car market does not need cars that won't drive on regular streets with more than 4 wheels to be competitive. You see no reduced competition because of the D-Sub standard to connect computer screens, there is no reduced competition even though LCD has come out as the dominating tech for HD-TVs and Plasma failed. The competition is there INSIDE the defined standards.

You should be happy that HD-DVD did not win, cause that was planned and sold as a monopolistic system. Only Toshiba held the patents and rights to make the players, and in fact only Toshiba ever MADE players cause no other manufacturer was willing to pay teh high license fees AND get his players undercut cause Toshiba used said fees to make their own players dirt cheap. There was zero competition on the HD-DVD market. Only a well known patent bully named Toshiba who tried to solidify HIS patent monopoly as the standard for HD disks in the future, the same as they did with the DVD Tech. Every DVD Player ever made generated license fees for Toshiba, every DVD ever pressed generated license fees for Toshiba. These license fees where added to the price and therefor paid by the consumer on top of the real price. At least the BDA was a joint venture of most of the bigger hardware manufacturers and therefor there is no single patent holder over the stuff, and with Java as the driving software there is also no added software license to be paid to yet another monopoly as with HDi (a closed source Microsoft software that drives on a license plan .. horray)

Lets compare the two products on a market reality basis:

HD-DVD: ONE manufacturer hoarding all patents, using a proprietary closed source Microsoft software for content(HDi)
BluRay: multiple manufacturers sharing the patents using an open source solution for content(BDj).

Rising prices can have multiple reasons, and only one of them is lack of competition. Sure prices drop when more companies compete on a flat market hence the supply is greater then the demand. The fact that prices RISE when demand rises over supply is also a result of COMPETITION. Only in monopolies the price behaves without any connection to the market. It is shocking how seemingly normal reasonable people want to abolish the free competitive market and replace it with a communistic controlled market any time the market does not swing in their favor.

[wow4u]

"HD-DVD: ONE manufacturer hoarding all patents, using a proprietary closed source Microsoft software for content(HDi)
BluRay: multiple manufacturers sharing the patents using an open source solution for content(BDj"

How can you say that junk with a straight face?

HD-DVD was a consortium of companies, just like BR. Sun owns Java.

There is nothing "open source" about BR or HD-DVD.

[ReBurn]

There's a way to keep the prices from spiraling out of control. The higher the price, the lower the demand will be. The market will only bear just so much.

[weezeru2]

I work at a Best Buy and the Blu-Ray player prices HAVE NOT BUDGED!!! They will occasionaly go on sale BUT NEVER UP!! Where the hell are they getting this ridiculous information!! The Panasonic Blu-Ray player was 449 on sale a few weeks ago and now is back up to 499 and the other players have been at a solid 399. Stop being so blind and listening to what these idiots have to say and go to Bestbuy.com or Circuitcity.com and see that the damn prices HAVE STAYED THE SAME!!

[Cherchez La Ghost]

How do we all know that you really work at Best Buy?!! LOL!!!

[Tyrael]

I think everyone should take a moment to tip their hat towards HD-DVD for providing a long enough stalemate for prices to be somewhat reasonable. Lord knows Sony makes some quality goods, but they love to charge high dollar for it.

[Bladestar]

mmm... I wonder if Sony is also planning to raise the price of the PS3... as long as the PS3 is out there are the best blu-ray player... Sony nor other stand alone blu-ray player makers will be able to profit from it.

[diatom]

Everything costs more, not just blu-ray players.. Its called economics.

[Cherchez La Ghost]

Look at these links....,

http://www.cdfreaks.com/new...

http://gizmodo.com/363092/n...

This is some Bulls**t!! HD-DVD is gone. If Blu-Ray want to end the reign of DVD9, they need to make movies affordible. I remember Spiderman Trilogy was around $45.00 new, now it's $60.00?!!

Terrible!!!!

[zonetrooper5]

Still optical Blu-Ray drive for the PC is bloody expensive, disgusting tbh. Good thing I got a PS3.

[LevDog]

Easy Ps3 prices wont go up they will drop.. So just buy a PS3

[daftshadow]

It's a no-brainer to just get a PS3 instead of a blu-ray player. Almost the same price. But I'm still not persuaded to switch over to blu-ray. DVD is still fine.

[moujahed]

It's been proven that the PS3 is the best, and most affordable Blu-Ray purchase to date.

[eagle21]

I bet your boyfriend would get jealous. You are the dumbest bot on n4g. I thought avatars were to get attention? Funny concept. Yours sucks balls. You are pathetic, but not as much as your 3shi&&y. All your other ugly bot friend's are just as bad.

oldbox 3history :)