Hold your horses, sports fans. Don’t go declaring Blu-ray the winner of anything just yet, despite the fact that Toshiba original story titlethrew in the towel this week. Sony and the rest of the Blu-ray camp still has one more foe they need to tackle—perception. The perception that regular DVD is “good enough” and that Blu-ray is too expensive.
Contacting a Chicago retailer, Bits finds that demand for Blu-ray in the now post-HD-DVD world isn’t any higher. The retailer warned Sony not too get too cocky and charge exorbitant prices for Blu-ray even though it’s now the de-facto standard in high-def discs. If people can buy a —here’s that phrase again—”good enough” DVD player for $75 and discs for $15, why should they have to shell out hundreds of dollars for a Blu-ray player (even if it plays video games) and pay a premium for the actual movies? Joe Consumer isn’t made of money; videophiles are but they hardly constitute a major portion of the population.
Sony shouldn’t abuse its position in the market now. Rather, it needs to focus on lowering prices or it will find itself with an expensive toy that only a few people give a damn about.
Blu-ray Won the Battle. Now Comes the War [Bits New York Times Blog]
Its not “perception.” Blu-ray IS expensive. With a collection of 500+ DVDs I probably fall into the so-called “videophile” category. I have 2 PS3s to use as BD players but every week I pass on purchasing BD movies I would like because they are exorbitantly priced. Everyone needs to cut Blu-ray disk prices by at least $5-10. I really don’t give a rats arse about all these buy-one-get-one sales of BD movies I have already on DVD. I’m talking about new releases and other movies I want to pick up where my DVD collection leaves off.
It’s not about perception. It’s not about price. It’s all about quality not quantity. You all know the old saying you get what you pay for. Well, there it is. How many video collectors out there have their libraries full of movies that nobody including themselves would force anyone to watch. Not to mention the fact that at least 50% of that precious collection they own for eternity are scratched or damaged JUNK. I will spend less money overall just by taking the time and thinking twice about buying a movie on impulse that I have never seen before. Now I have a library worth having! John From Corona