Do Bluray discs warrant their price tags?

[Modelworks]

I'm not sure if resolution differences truly matter in the actual production costs though (ignoring the difference in price between pressing DVDs and BRs) since both require you to take the original source, which is definitely greater in resolution than 1080p, and resize/re-encode it.

It really depends on the studio doing the releasing and the title. If it is a low budget direct to disc title then the studio will just put it on disc.

If it is a big title , important for the studio, then the cost increases substantially. Instead of just encoding it and putting it on disc they have people that go through the film frame by frame as it is being encoded making notes for where there is a problem, if the color or motion isn't what they want they manually tweak each segment so that the encoding is as close to what they want as possible. You can't do that with software. It takes someone who understands the quirks of the codecs and how to get the best output from the frame input.

I wonder if the lossless audio formats such as Dolby TrueHD help give the discs a premium in regard to licensing costs or processing time.

Dolby, DTS, Blu-Ray, etc cost the studio money. If it has a logo on the disc or box then the studio paid fees to use it.

 

[zinfamous]

you are definitely an outlier if you've never ran into buffering issues with netflix.

yes, considering that their servers were down--affecting ALL? subscribers--at least twice in the previous 2 months.

:hmm:

 

[AMDZen]

yes, considering that their servers were down--affecting ALL? subscribers--at least twice in the previous 2 months.

:hmm:

you are definitely an outlier if you've never ran into buffering issues with netflix.

Or maybe I'm not using it every day like you guys must be

 

[Ns1]

Or maybe I'm not using it every day like you guys must be

Also possible (no cable = streaming all the time)

 

[Exterous]

You know they quietly released a new version of Gladiator, right? Better looking, but still not the quality of Braveheart.

Interesting - I was not aware of that. Hopefully it is because of the anger surrounding the horrid original BD release

Yeah, they're over priced. Add to them being a pain in the royal ass to play on the PC, means I only buy one or so a year now. And not until its 10 bucks or less.

It's not so bad anymore. Both ATI and Nvidia make cards that will handle the uncompressed audio and video well. I have never had a complaint against Power DVD and their BD playback. Really the only issue I have is poor BD disc playback by my LiteOn drive.

When you throw a BR on a 100" screen and then follow it up with a DVD...you'll probably gladly pay the price premium. They are night and day difference at that size.

Very very true. (Don't forget the audio aspect!) It's almost painful to watch a regular DVD right after a BD.

 

[waggy]

yes, considering that their servers were down--affecting ALL? subscribers--at least twice in the previous 2 months.

:hmm:

it is starting to bug me how often netflix streaming is down. we don't have cable anymore (was in my wife's name and when she moved we turned it off) and haven't really missed it.

I do use the streaming to watch kids shows and movies.

 

[Exterous]

Yep, agree with all of this. Streaming is fine for some people that do not care about all of that stuff, but it's not for me.

KT

I am in the middle. I am ok with worse quality for movies that I don't have that much interest in - but I also dont watch those movies on the projector

How is that even relevant with "N" as the standard now any way, and yes - you can.

You guys keep spending ridiculous sums on blu-ray. The thread was, Do Bluray discs warrant their price tags? and the answer is simply NO

Well, as someone with N (and not the worse off 2.4Ghz 'N' - the true N) I have bandwidth issues streaming Blu Ray movies to my PC upstairs.

Anyway - it is your opinion that they are not worth the price. For certain movies I completely disagree as the BD has significantly better quality

 

[roguerower]

I'm so sorry you're so OCD about quality and release dates that you can't enjoy what millions of people are already enjoying. Now don't you have discs to dust off? They're getting unsightly.

I would love for you to sit down and watch a SD movie on your shitty Samsung 720p LCD with a crappy HTIB. Then watch the same movie in BR on my Pioneer 101-FD, Denon 2310, Polk Monitor 70 fronts, Polk CS-2 Center and Onkyo Bass. It will blow your fucking mind.

Like I said, movies I don't much care about, I've got Netflix. Movies that I truly enjoy, I'll spend the cash and get them on BR.

 

[Jdawg84]

I think the prices are too high. Regular DVD's should be 9.99 and Bluray's should be 19.99 across the board for new releases.

 

[0roo0roo]

It really depends on the studio doing the releasing and the title. If it is a low budget direct to disc title then the studio will just put it on disc.

If it is a big title , important for the studio, then the cost increases substantially. Instead of just encoding it and putting it on disc they have people that go through the film frame by frame as it is being encoded making notes for where there is a problem, if the color or motion isn't what they want they manually tweak each segment so that the encoding is as close to what they want as possible. You can't do that with software. It takes someone who understands the quirks of the codecs and how to get the best output from the frame input.




Dolby, DTS, Blu-Ray, etc cost the studio money. If it has a logo on the disc or box then the studio paid fees to use it.

Honestly I don't care if it costs them more money. The cost of printing media has gone down and down and will with bluray as well. Bluray is the successor to dvd, and so it is the replacement, and the prices should be the same. It shouldn't be where each new format costs more than the last, else dvd should cost more than vhs ever did.

 

[Ns1]

Honestly I don't care if it costs them more money. The cost of printing media has gone down and down and will with bluray as well. Bluray is the successor to dvd, and so it is the replacement, and the prices should be the same. It shouldn't be where each new format costs more than the last, else dvd should cost more than vhs ever did.

and what about the cost of licensing?

 

[Modelworks]

Honestly I don't care if it costs them more money. The cost of printing media has gone down and down and will with bluray as well. Bluray is the successor to dvd, and so it is the replacement, and the prices should be the same. It shouldn't be where each new format costs more than the last, else dvd should cost more than vhs ever did.

when the first CD players were released I paid $450 for a single disc CD player and $24.95 per CD, this was in the 1980's when $24.95 was a lot more money.
Bluray is cheap in comparison and hasn't had enough time on the market to reach the pricing of DVD.

 

[mmntech]

I don't think Blu-ray warrants its price since it's only incrementally better than DVD. It's not the huge leap that the VHS-DVD transition was. The price will go down eventually though. You can pick up old movies on sale for $10.

Bluray will exist along side DVD for some time to come. Simply because of setup costs. DVD worked with any TV when it came out. Bluray needs an HDTV setup.

I like having the combo packs. I get the DVD with my Bluray. I can rip the DVD and throw it on my server so I can watch it on the go.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Or maybe I'm not using it every day like you guys must be

I don't care how often you use it because there is no service out there that is going to stream you BRD quality video and audio without ever getting clogged up.

Then again, does any service even stream BRD quality? This is a thread about BRD not streaming movies from Netflix to a phone.

 

[Ns1]

I don't care how often you use it because there is no service out there that is going to stream you BRD quality video and audio without ever getting clogged up.

Then again, does any service even stream BRD quality? This is a thread about BRD not streaming movies from Netflix to a phone.

if a BRD disc is 25-50gb, how big is a BR stream!?

 

[Fingolfin269]

if a BRD disc is 25-50gb, how big is a BR stream!?

Simple answer... BIG.

 

[zinfamous]

Simple answer... BIG.

Big?

 

[roguerower]

Big?

Big.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Big.

... and stuff.

 

[zinfamous]

Big.

Oh...BIG!

 

[zinfamous]

... and stuff.

more Big?

:hmm:

 

[Fingolfin269]

more Big?

:hmm:

duh... it's more bigger man.

 

[Phanuel]

duh... it's more bigger man.

Dr. Egon Spengler: I'm worried, Ray. It's getting crowded in there and all my data points to something big on the horizon.
Winston Zeddemore: What do you mean, big?
Dr. Egon Spengler: Well, let's say this Twinkie represents the normal amount of bandwidth to stream a DVD. Based on this morning's sample, it would be a Twinkie... thirty-five feet long, weighing approximately six hundred pounds.

 

[Exterous]

duh... it's more bigger man.

The correct term is 'Mega Big'

 

[cubby1223]

I think the cost of producing Bluray should have been absorbed a long time ago, and now it's just gouging for profits with the pricing. What do YOU think?

(no, I don't pirate movies).

?

You do know that part of the $30 price tag the Blu-ray movie sells for on the shelf of Best Buy, goes towards the $100million bill the studio paid to create the movie, right?

Studios need to cover both the cost of replication and the cost of production, else you would not have any movies at all to purchase (or download).