HD-DVD throws in the towel, Blu-Ray wins

With another format, like HD DVD, we most likely would of seen slightly cheaper prices due to the fact they had a direct competitor.

Except HD-DVD\'s were more expensive than Blu-ray\'s.

This is econ 101; the manufacturer doesn\'t set prices, the consumer does.  If people find Blu-Ray too expensive at $30 (and I\'m sure they will), the market will find a way to make them cheaper.  In technology terms this usually means as time goes on the manufacturing process will get cheaper and the authoring software will have matured to a point where it won\'t take a super-skilled encoding studio to create a Blu-Ray disc.

Everything gets cheaper as time goes on.  No reason to think the sky is falling.

Good luck with that guys, price isn\'t going to change that much.  When a company can sell gobs of product at the current price, they aren\'t going to have any incentive to bring the price down.

And there is NO COMPETITION, HD-DVD or otherwise.  You really think movie companies are going to shoot themselves in the foot by trying to compete with each other on prices?  With that logic there should be a drastic drop in PS3 and Xbox360 game prices because they are "competing".

HD-DVD wasn\'t going to do shit except bring down the player prices, maybe MAYBE they\'d force blu-ray to drop 5 bucks on their typical movie, but thats being optimistic.

DVD\'s were a harder sell.  People are much more willing these days to adopt a new format so Blu-ray can still justify a higher cost due to it being "hi-def"

Good luck with that guys, price isn\'t going to change that much.  When a company can sell gobs of product at the current price, they aren\'t going to have any incentive to bring the price down.

And there is NO COMPETITION, HD-DVD or otherwise.  You really think movie companies are going to shoot themselves in the foot by trying to compete with each other on prices?  With that logic there should be a drastic drop in PS3 and Xbox360 game prices because they are "competing".

HD-DVD wasn\'t going to do shit except bring down the player prices, maybe MAYBE they\'d force blu-ray to drop 5 bucks on their typical movie, but thats being optimistic.

DVD\'s were a harder sell.  People are much more willing these days to adopt a new format so Blu-ray can still justify a higher cost due to it being "hi-def"

K, will bring this quote back in 3 years when you\'re buying your bargain bin Blu-Rays @ $5.99 :thumb:

So help me god if i\'m still here in 3 years :thumb:

[Paul2]

^^^thinking of running away in that time?   j/k.

[GmanJoe]

Format war = bad.

mmmmkay?

As for video game prices going down......most of my PS2 games were bought new at $20.

The argument that Blu Ray will start selling huge loads in the current price therefore it will retain a high price is only an assumption. The price will fall to replace DVDs and achieve mass adoption. The current price is not consumer firendly

Secondly the format industry has many of the characteristics of natural monopoly  so competition in the format doesnt matter as much.

Third, the highest percentage of the price is determined by the movie companies and not by those supplying the disk format. An example of this: Out of a $20 DVD, $9 includes the production, distribution, marketing etc of the disk. Around $11 is a profit for the movie company. And these movie companies do not have any incentives to support and lower profits on a specific format by lowering their prices even if two formats exist. They automatically shift to one format once they get the signal of mass adoption.

The competition did not have any real substance. Those bringing up benefits of competition in the specific industry as an argument they are talking about a ghost. It is not substantial.

Except HD-DVD\'s were more expensive than Blu-ray\'s.

Not sure where you are buying from. HD DVDs were always less expensive than Blu Ray.
And Blu RAY will not replace DVD, it\'s a niche format at it\'s best.

[Paul2]

Umm Raz,

I think Samwise was joking right there.

I don\'t see the problem of blu ray replacing DVD.

And Blu RAY will not replace DVD, it\'s a niche format at it\'s best.

sour grapes!
tagging for future reference.

[Titan]

Not sure where you are buying from. HD DVDs were always less expensive than Blu Ray.
And Blu RAY will not replace DVD, it\'s a niche format at it\'s best.

They said the same about VHS. Now that is a niche format, only to be phased out by DVRs. My parents still use VHS to tape shows. I was thinking of buying a VCR to record tv shows but my computer does that better so I have no use for one.

[clips]

History proves that prices of Blu-Ray dics will come down,...cheaper processing and manufacturing will do that...but i do think it will take a bit longer for it to replace dvd\'s if at all,...i mean i do see a difference between regular dvd\'s and blu-ray, but to the average joe i think dvd\'s will do just fine.....but once everybody gets on board i think we\'ll start to see significant drops in price...

it will take some time before blu-ray disc replace DVD\'s - only 28 percent of Americans own an HDTV (which is impressive, but a minority none the less).

When it does, it will be a mere bridge to digital distribution.

However, I own a PS3, and I like watching things in high-def, so it is my format of choice at the moment.  I don\'t see any other threats coming in the near future, and don\'t give me any holographic disc crap.

Umm Raz,

I think Samwise was joking right there.

I wasn\'t joking. At least over here HD-DVD\'s are more expensive. I thought that was the case in the US too? I might be thinking of those combo discs, but I heard they were like $5 bucks more than similar Blu-ray\'s.