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Cost of Blu-ray Players to Hit $50 in 2010
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Tawainese manufacturers of optical disc drives say that the cost of production for a Blu-ray disc player is set to fall to $50 in the next year.
Digitimes reports, citing industry sources, that the current production cost for Blu-ray players is around $100, with pick-up heads and chipsets accounting for 50 percent and 25 percent respectively. However, the publication says that in response to Sears selling a refurbished Blu-ray player (the Magnavox RNB500MG9) for just $99.99, optical disc drive manufacturers expect the cost to be half that come 2010.
Just last week a Curtis Mathes-branded BD player hit Meijer online at $99.99 as a Father's Day special. Predictably, the player sold out pretty quickly. That said, it looks like we’re now seeing the beginning of low-cost players that could give the Blu-ray format the boost that it needs.
Judging from reader feedback on last week’s piece, it seems consumers would rather have cheaper Blu-ray discs than cheaper players. Is this the reason you haven’t made the switch yet? Let us know!
Source : Tom's Hardware US
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Sniff....it's so beautiful. Blu-ray in every room....
While the cost for production of a player is slated to drop to $50 next year, this is not an indication, nor a guarantee, of how much they will cost at retail. Manufacturers will likely be looking to maximize profit. That usually equates to keeping retail prices high while minimizing manufacturing costs.
What is keeping me from migrating to Blu-ray? Lack of a stand-alone recorder for the US market.
I think the main reason for people not making the switch has nothing to do with the cost of discs and players themselves, but that most people still don't have an hd-tv.
I haven't made the switch yet because I prefer digital media.
Don't care so much about the cost of discs since netflix only charges +$1-$4 per month for Blu-Ray.
When I do get a BD player it will be for my home theater PC.
Most people don't have a HDTV? Huh I've had one since 2004 what's the hold up. Priced ate dropping like mad there is no excuse not to have one by now mid 2009. The movie prices have just started to drop in price some. The players they sell now for $100 are crap if you want a decent one it'll cost ya at least $200 if not more.
When they remove the DRM crap I might start thinking about Blu-ray? Until then the Hollywood will not get a cent from me.
I have an HD-TV and still have no intention of wasting money on a Blu-Ray player. I can get HD Movies on demand.
A lot of people have HDTVs, not a lot of people however realize they are not getting HD content though. When you point it out, especially if you have something to compare with it is very obvious.
I can't stand the fact that my dad always watches the stretched 4:3 signal on his TV, its painfully obvious to me. But he doesn't seem to notice and doesn't like having black bars at all.
So he has no appreciation for what he might be missing by not going to blu-ray.
I've been thinking about it, but haven't yet. Maybe when they drop the price on a PS3, but even then I'm not so sure, mostly because I don't play a lot of consoles and I end up watching maybe 3-5 movies a year.
So my reason for not upgrading to blu-ray is simply that there aren't enough movies being made that I want to watch to justify the cost. I wouldn't even have a DVD player if it weren't for my PS2 (which is almost never used either) and the fact that all computers have them.
Finally! This same thing happened with DVD players. It was a great Holiday season when they fell to $30 for a DVD player just in time for Christmas shopping.
The fact that those low cost BRPlayer are not the 'best' makes me want to keep moving my PS3 from my bedroom to my tv room every time I want to watch a movie..
When I can play Blu-Ray movies natively on a MythTV box using only FOSS, I will start buying Blu-Ray movies.
When they remove the DRM crap I might start thinking about Blu-ray? Until then the Hollywood will not get a cent from me.
I think they'll consider that when people stop uploading movies to the internet without their consent ie torrents and file sharing websites.
no, this is total BS. a blu ray player at the moment is about $300 [250-300] and you can find them cheaper if you bought the store brand name [such as insignia from best buy] or purchase a refurbished player. it won't exactly go down to $50 a year later. the decrease in price is too drastic. sony and their friends surely won't want to lose money just to sell something.
if you are worried about blue ray disc cost.
NETFLIX IT!
im looking forward for a piece of BD writable disc to cost the same as DVD-R now.
Well they predict $50 I predict $125.
Again, it's the cost to build. Not the cost to buy. So if it's $50 to build, expect $75 - $100 on the shelves for even the name-brand stuff. Not bad at all.
soldier37 your a moron !
Not every one is a spoiled little 13 y/o or has a tree growing platinum cards.
I thing over 4/5th of the world cant afford one and that includes the middle and lower class in every western world country.
If your stupid enugh to state that you know people who live on welfare that where able to buy them your even a bigger moron.
I have an HD-TV and still have no intention of wasting money on a Blu-Ray player. I can get HD Movies on demand.
At 720p...
soldier37 your a moron !Not every one is a spoiled little 13 y/o or has a tree growing platinum cards.I thing over 4/5th of the world cant afford one and that includes the middle and lower class in every western world country.If your stupid enugh to state that you know people who live on welfare that where able to buy them your even a bigger moron.
While I agree his/her statement was a little short sighted your's is a little exagerated too. The majority of the middle class in the US could easily afford a small HDTV. I can find a 22" for under $200 and a 32" for under $400. The issue here is priorities, many people can't see the difference, especially on said el-cheapo flatscreen TV's. If they can't see a difference (on SD content) then why would they move? We won't see a mass migration to HD until the SD channels go the way of the dodo.
$50 player, $49.00 discs. It is like printers; Printer, $45, ink, $54.
These companies seem to think that they are owed some ungodly large amount of payment for "artistic" works that are basically recycled trash. Even if it was a GOOD movie, it's value to me is significantly less than $49, or $39, or even $15. It is 90 minutes to maybe 3 hours of entertainment, and to me, that is worth maybe $7 and maybe worth watching a couple times, so $14, and that is for a GOOD movie, which only about one in 50 movies ever gets rated at or better. For the rest of the movies, they need to be priced around $8 or less.
Once that is settled, we get into digital rights management, also known to me as Digital Rights Denial. That reduces a DVD/BluRay disc to more or less valueless.
$50 Blu-ray discs? Good God man. Where do you shop?
While I agree his/her statement was a little short sighted your's is a little exagerated too. The majority of the middle class in the US could easily afford a small HDTV. I can find a 22" for under $200 and a 32" for under $400. The issue here is priorities, many people can't see the difference, especially on said el-cheapo flatscreen TV's. If they can't see a difference (on SD content) then why would they move? We won't see a mass migration to HD until the SD channels go the way of the dodo.
finally someone states the obvious. i think many posters on here believe the uptake of HD technology by THG readers corresponds to the uptake in the general population. i also believe HD is progressing slower than predicted because there isn't a whole lot of material worth watching in HD. if the material is good and captivates your imagination, the fidelity and depth of the background is really unimportant since focus should be on the actors and the foreground and who really, besides a miniscule minority, cares if you can see the pores and facial blemishes on the actors' faces? something that bothers me about HD, at least more so with older films reprocessed for HD, is that it's far easier to see all the crappy CGI and fake elements in movies than it is in SD.
And yet the price of the PS3 is still not going to decrease...
My main reason for not going with bluray is that I don't want physical media anymore... I'd rather store movies on a hard drive or stream them online.
stop shoveling blu-ray down consumers throats. They dont want it. You sold us on DVD and over million people were sold on HD-DVD....we are NOT going to repurchase our library and the upgrade isn't even worthwhile, despite what you audiophiles and videophiles think
the costs of the Blu-Ray cant go lower. The BR-Forum promised a certain amount of PROFIT per disc sold to the distribution houses. Since, at the time, CD/DVD/HDDVD where about .11 cents PER COPY and Blu-Ray was 3.00 per copy... they have to make up that profit somewhere.
The manufacturing plans and the construction of them where billions and billions of dollars. Don't be fooled BR will get that money from the consumers. THEY WILL NOT EAT IT.
and dont forget that the only thing that blu-ray has to offer over DVD is more space. THATS IT. IT doesnt offer higher quality, it offers more space which leads to being able to put higher resolutions on it. The read rate on the video is the same and the audio rate on blu-ray is higher per read cycle. Whoopdedupe. Since blu-ray is just a higher media storage, it is already VASTLY outdated compared to SSD or any MEMORY based File system.
I think they'll consider that when people stop uploading movies to the internet without their consent ie torrents and file sharing websites.
I am pretty sure its the otherway around. If they were so damn greedy and charging up the arse for their content, which we dont even end up owning, then people wouldn't steal/upload/download so much.
Agreed with Antilycus .... if BD Movie discs were down towards the 10$ / disc segment I would be buying already. Instead I wait and buy nothing. I finally saw some no name blank BD discs priced @ 4$ / disc. If only it was 1/4 that. I would start buying lol.
stop shoveling blu-ray down consumers throats. They dont want it. You sold us on DVD and over million people were sold on HD-DVD....we are NOT going to repurchase our library and the upgrade isn't even worthwhile, despite what you audiophiles and videophiles think
yeah, seems many still spread the FUD that bluray and HDDVD where somehow different in video content. they use/used the exact same video and audio codecs, only the disc capacity and the level of copy protection where different. that no one seems to point this out is telling of the reasoning behind the bluray backers. it's true that a encode to bluray may be superior to one made for hddvd, but that certainly is NOT the fault of the physical media. you can have a bad encode in either physical format. now that hddvd has gone the way of the dodo, it's difficult to do side by side comparisons with more mature encodes and with more experienced people doing the encoding. what i thought the merit of bluray was that the extra space allowed movie makers to pack on more extras and interactivity. but how many movies are sold based on the extras, especially with the mainstream?