Hmmmm, where are the bargains at?

[DVD Polizei]

Probably just me, but no Amazon Blu-ray deals. What's going on here. I thought we'd see something. :sad:

[DirkBelig]

Black Friday seemed to be the beginning and end of the deals. Gotta maintain the artificially high premium price for those BDs so that everyone knows they're special, ya know?

[DVD Polizei]

Well, most people don't buy about 40 Blu-ray movies in a few months like I did recently. So, I think it has nothing to do with premium prices, and more of my yearning for some high-quality images on my HDTV. :)

You should by Iron Man on Blu-ray when it comes down to $15. You won't regret it. :up:

[tonymontana313]

Oh the deals are there, you just have to go the premium section to find out. ;)

[DirkBelig]

I watch MOVIES, not RESOLUTION and frankly don't want to spend $25+ for a movie when I can wait a few months and get it as a regular 4/$20 PPV at Blockbuster. Of my 1400+ titles, I've got 61 BDs and 80-odd (not sure, DVD Profiler can't filter combo discs) HD DVDs - only 10% of my collection - and the majority of those were either review copies, or used ones scored for less than $8 a pop. I've got two HDTV setups and am picky about image quality, but I'm not so frigging anal about it that I'm distracted that I'm not watching Baby Mama or Step Brothers in 1080p.

The BF sales were great. Rambo Trilogy for $17 on BD? SOLD! Mad Men S1 on BD for the same price? Well, it was a blind buy, but SOLD! Indy IV and Iron Dude for $18? RING ME UP! But those were the exceptions this season. Wall-E and Dark Knight set me back $21 and $24 and those were exceptions to my aversion to paying more than $15 for hi-def.

While you are obviously wealthy enough to indulge your HD habit, here in the real world where people are losing their jobs and homes, charging $35+ MSRPs guarantees Blu-ray's failure as a format. I could've predicted this a year ago when the cabal that murdered HD DVD for the sin of being too inexpensive for the greedy CE makers and studios and that was before the economy was driven into the ditch. Now all we have are overpriced discs which, nice as they are, aren't impressive enough to the vast majority of consumers to warrant the premium price tag.

The proof that prices are 1000% gouging is the 5-disc Blade Runner CE that's at Amazon for $25. They could do a massive polish on the classic film - c'mon, they put Joanna Cassidy's head on the stuntwoman's body and Harrison Ford's son's mouth over his - and give us three HD/BD discs with FIVE versions of the film, PLUS two more DVDs with a 3-1/2 hour documentary PLUS extras, extras, and more extras for the same price as the crapfest that was Rise of the Silver Surfer single disc BD commands. Um, right. I don't think so. I dread what they're gonna try and charge us for Lord of the Rings or Star Wars when those come.

I used to eagerly pay $15-$18 for the new releases on Tuesdays. Then I waited for 2/$20 PPVs, now it's $4-$5 each or nothing, so I'm not interested in going back to the old price points, especially when the quality of BDs is NOT *perfect* as advertised. The shimmering of windows on Dark Knight; the waxy complexion of Angelina Jolie from overdosed filtering; or the still crappy sections of Transformers (the scenes where the S7 team shows up) are but a few of the examples where people have been charged a premium for a sub-standard presentation.

[g]

Instead of going to the premium forum, you can just go to one of the other bargain AV forums for blu ray on other sites. I've found others which are giving more details on the bestbuy and amazon blu sale this weekend and other deals.

[sandman007]

Here you go:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=xs_gb_rss_59044/?ie=UTF8&docId=1000324191&ccmID=380205&tag=rssfeeds-20

[DVD Polizei]

I watch MOVIES, not RESOLUTION and frankly don't want to spend $25+ for a movie when I can wait a few months and get it as a regular 4/$20 PPV at Blockbuster. Of my 1400+ titles, I've got 61 BDs and 80-odd (not sure, DVD Profiler can't filter combo discs) HD DVDs - only 10% of my collection - and the majority of those were either review copies, or used ones scored for less than $8 a pop. I've got two HDTV setups and am picky about image quality, but I'm not so frigging anal about it that I'm distracted that I'm not watching Baby Mama or Step Brothers in 1080p.

The BF sales were great. Rambo Trilogy for $17 on BD? SOLD! Mad Men S1 on BD for the same price? Well, it was a blind buy, but SOLD! Indy IV and Iron Dude for $18? RING ME UP! But those were the exceptions this season. Wall-E and Dark Knight set me back $21 and $24 and those were exceptions to my aversion to paying more than $15 for hi-def.

While you are obviously wealthy enough to indulge your HD habit, here in the real world where people are losing their jobs and homes, charging $35+ MSRPs guarantees Blu-ray's failure as a format. I could've predicted this a year ago when the cabal that murdered HD DVD for the sin of being too inexpensive for the greedy CE makers and studios and that was before the economy was driven into the ditch. Now all we have are overpriced discs which, nice as they are, aren't impressive enough to the vast majority of consumers to warrant the premium price tag.

The proof that prices are 1000% gouging is the 5-disc Blade Runner CE that's at Amazon for $25. They could do a massive polish on the classic film - c'mon, they put Joanna Cassidy's head on the stuntwoman's body and Harrison Ford's son's mouth over his - and give us three HD/BD discs with FIVE versions of the film, PLUS two more DVDs with a 3-1/2 hour documentary PLUS extras, extras, and more extras for the same price as the crapfest that was Rise of the Silver Surfer single disc BD commands. Um, right. I don't think so. I dread what they're gonna try and charge us for Lord of the Rings or Star Wars when those come.

I used to eagerly pay $15-$18 for the new releases on Tuesdays. Then I waited for 2/$20 PPVs, now it's $4-$5 each or nothing, so I'm not interested in going back to the old price points, especially when the quality of BDs is NOT *perfect* as advertised. The shimmering of windows on Dark Knight; the waxy complexion of Angelina Jolie from overdosed filtering; or the still crappy sections of Transformers (the scenes where the S7 team shows up) are but a few of the examples where people have been charged a premium for a sub-standard presentation.

Your post has a lot of conflicting info. First you say you watch movies not resolution, but then you have 61 Blu-ray titles and roughly 140 HD DVDs?

Then you say Blu-ray titles are too expensive, but then you made an exception to your own rule by purchasing them at their higher price points because some titles were "your favorites".

Third, you're calling Blu-ray an eventual failure yet you have 60+ Blu-ray movies?

So, you're confusing me here. By your own definition, Blu-ray is actually going to succeed because if everyone was like you, they'd have a few hundred HD movies, while complaining at the same time HD was going to fail.

All the movies you mention having problems (Transformers, TDK) are best-selling HD titles. They made record-breaking sales. I'll give you Rise of the Silver Surfer because I don't think it did too well. But that's one movie.

Hell, I need drink after reading your post. In any case, Amazon has a few deals right now which I might take advantage of. And no, I'm not wealthy. Just a frugal shopper.

[DVD Polizei]

Here you go:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=xs_gb_rss_59044/?ie=UTF8&docId=1000324191&ccmID=380205&tag=rssfeeds-20

Thanks. I see a few good deals here. Got an email on this, but I'm surprised I didn't get one earlier today.

[tonymontana313]

I watch MOVIES, not RESOLUTION and frankly don't want to spend $25+ for a movie when I can wait a few months and get it as a regular 4/$20 PPV at Blockbuster. Of my 1400+ titles, I've got 61 BDs and 80-odd (not sure, DVD Profiler can't filter combo discs) HD DVDs - only 10% of my collection - and the majority of those were either review copies, or used ones scored for less than $8 a pop. I've got two HDTV setups and am picky about image quality, but I'm not so frigging anal about it that I'm distracted that I'm not watching Baby Mama or Step Brothers in 1080p.

The BF sales were great. Rambo Trilogy for $17 on BD? SOLD! Mad Men S1 on BD for the same price? Well, it was a blind buy, but SOLD! Indy IV and Iron Dude for $18? RING ME UP! But those were the exceptions this season. Wall-E and Dark Knight set me back $21 and $24 and those were exceptions to my aversion to paying more than $15 for hi-def.

While you are obviously wealthy enough to indulge your HD habit, here in the real world where people are losing their jobs and homes, charging $35+ MSRPs guarantees Blu-ray's failure as a format. I could've predicted this a year ago when the cabal that murdered HD DVD for the sin of being too inexpensive for the greedy CE makers and studios and that was before the economy was driven into the ditch. Now all we have are overpriced discs which, nice as they are, aren't impressive enough to the vast majority of consumers to warrant the premium price tag.

The proof that prices are 1000% gouging is the 5-disc Blade Runner CE that's at Amazon for $25. They could do a massive polish on the classic film - c'mon, they put Joanna Cassidy's head on the stuntwoman's body and Harrison Ford's son's mouth over his - and give us three HD/BD discs with FIVE versions of the film, PLUS two more DVDs with a 3-1/2 hour documentary PLUS extras, extras, and more extras for the same price as the crapfest that was Rise of the Silver Surfer single disc BD commands. Um, right. I don't think so. I dread what they're gonna try and charge us for Lord of the Rings or Star Wars when those come.

I used to eagerly pay $15-$18 for the new releases on Tuesdays. Then I waited for 2/$20 PPVs, now it's $4-$5 each or nothing, so I'm not interested in going back to the old price points, especially when the quality of BDs is NOT *perfect* as advertised. The shimmering of windows on Dark Knight; the waxy complexion of Angelina Jolie from overdosed filtering; or the still crappy sections of Transformers (the scenes where the S7 team shows up) are but a few of the examples where people have been charged a premium for a sub-standard presentation.

This sounds like a "dear diary" type of post.

[Spaceknight]

Oh the deals are there, you just have to go the premium section to find out. ;)

Great!
Where's the deal on the premium section?

[John Sinnott]

Right here: Use the coupon HOL-PZXV0 before January 2nd, 2009 and get $10 off

[Numes]

Right here: Use the coupon HOL-PZXV0 before January 2nd, 2009 and get $10 off

I wasn't sure if this was some kind of inside joke I didn't get, but that code did not work on Amazon. Was it for a different site?

[big whoppa]

I wasn't sure if this was some kind of inside joke I didn't get, but that code did not work on Amazon. Was it for a different site?

No, that's the discount code to get premium membership on DVDTalk for $10 instead of $20.

[Surfinhank]

Oh the deals are there, you just have to go the premium section to find out. ;)

So does that mean deals are getting posted in the premium forum and not here?

[Amanu Jaku]

I assume they mean dvdtalk featured deals, and not just generally searched out deals.

[starman9000]

So does that mean deals are getting posted in the premium forum and not here?

The winky indicates he is joking, don't sign up for it expecting anything special.

[DVDGamer]

So do you guys regret not pulling the trigger on some of those black friday deals? I certainly have some regrets on not buying some of those video games and blu ray deals. You somehow thought those deals would last....

[Anono]

I regret not buying Entourage and The office during Black Friday!:(

[uglyjay]

I regret not buying Entourage and The office during Black Friday!:(

I regret wasting my time reading this thread

[dmkb]

What about taking the time to post in it?

[SI78]

I've read a lot of articles this morning about how drastically retailers are slashing prices. Unfortunately, I've yet to discover any of this actually happening.

(Yeah, I know this is a joke thread at this point, but I'm damn bored.)

[ctyankee]

I've read a lot of articles this morning about how drastically retailers are slashing prices. Unfortunately, I've yet to discover any of this actually happening.

(Yeah, I know this is a joke thread at this point, but I'm damn bored.)

Personally, I can afford to be patient (or can ill-afford NOT to be patient). I'm betting that the economy will drive some great sales coming up. That and listening to the news report that the stores are a LOT slower today (the day after Christmas) than they thought they would be just makes me believe there are going to be some big reductions coming up.

[Amanu Jaku]

I regret not buying Entourage and The office during Black Friday!:(

The office is on sale again. :D

[GMan2819]

Amazon says 2008 holiday season was 'best ever'
Linky (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Amazon-says-2008-holiday-apf-13919347.html)

[marty888]

I regret not buying Entourage and The office during Black Friday!:(

I had hesitated, but did indeed grab all Entourage and Weeds on Black Friday that were $8.99 a season - so glad I did, because nothing since has come close.

[doubledown44]

I haven't really seen any great blu-ray deals today. The Amazon ones were OK.

[superdeluxe]

So does that mean deals are getting posted in the premium forum and not here?

Just go to fatwallet or slickdeals

[DirkBelig]

Your post has a lot of conflicting info. It's only conflicting if you can't grasp or are resistant to the overall message.

First you say you watch movies not resolution, but then you have 61 Blu-ray titles and roughly 140 HD DVDs.

I said I have 80-something HD DVDs, so reading comprehension clearly wasn't your priority. The point was that only 10% of my collection is HD/BD.

Then you say Blu-ray titles are too expensive, but then you made an exception to your own rule by purchasing them at their higher price points because some titles were "your favorites".

I stated clearly, the vast majority of those were either free or extremely cheap because they were bought used. The reason I paid a premium wasn't because they were "favorites" - I never stated the reason why - but because I was willing to drop the cash for early possession of a couple of titles that I figured would get cheap for a year or two. Gas is cheap now, so I treated myself.

Third, you're calling Blu-ray an eventual failure yet you have 60+ Blu-ray movies?

Which part of "THEY WERE USED" escaped your notice? The Gamestop across from my work must be some sort of fencing operation because they had over 100 Blu-rays used that didn't have cases for some reason; they came in sleeves and were only known to exist by close pals of the staff. (A friend tipped me off to the deal.) With Gamestop's B2G4 blowout, I picked up 18 BDs for about a C-note. Do the division math and tally up how much the studios made off of me. Did you get around $6 each and absolutely nothing? Ding ding ding!!!

So, you're confusing me here. By your own definition, Blu-ray is actually going to succeed because if everyone was like you, they'd have a few hundred HD movies, while complaining at the same time HD was going to fail.

I never said anything of the sort. You're the one with hundreds of HD movies in your sig line. You're the one who said that you want quality for your HDTV. All I said was that you're obviously possessing the means to indulge your desires better than Joe Six-Pack wondering if his plant is going to get shut down. Good for you. Were all those movies good enough to warrant paying double what a regular DVD would've cost? Did the 1080p make Beowulf and Hulk better movies or would they have sucked no matter what format their suckitude was distributed on; VHS or holographic lap-dancing blipverts?

All the movies you mention having problems (Transformers, TDK) are best-selling HD titles. They made record-breaking sales. I'll give you Rise of the Silver Surfer because I don't think it did too well. But that's one movie.

You're actually using high sales as a defense of less-than-perfect quality?!? "Well, those movies were best-sellers, so they clearly must not have problems." Yeah, and N*SYNC was the greatest band of 2000 or whenever they were big. Dark Knight and Rockin Sockin Robots were huge BO hits and thus slam-dunk home video sellers and thus racked up big sales relative to other titles, but still a mere fraction of what the regular DVDs sold.

I didn't mention Silver Surfer for sales, but as an example of what $25 buys you when an awesome FIVE-DISC set like Blade Runner is the same price. If a great film with great AV quality and a buttload of supplemental materials can be profitably sold at this price, a single disc edition can be sold for much less since they're obviously much less manufacturing cost involved.

The only reason why prices are high is because the studio-retail cabal want them high to bamboozle people into paying twice as much. The fact that disc AV quality is so spotty makes the premium price doubly a gouge job.

Hell, I need drink after reading your post.

Based on the sheer number of misunderstandings and leaped-to conclusions you made in your post, I was under the impression you'd been guzzling nog all night before replying.

Sorry to be so cranky, but the reason there are no sales is because Sony and its lackeys decided years ago to rip-off consumers with an overpriced and consumer-unfriendly video format in order to pad their bottom lines. Now that the economy is in tatters and money for frivolous gizmos is hard to come by, they're sticking with their high-margin schemes and that is going to hold Blu-ray back and leave it a niche format for nerds like us. Most people can't even tell the difference between regular and HD TV, so to think that the general public is hungering to abandon "crummy old DVD" is a delusion that Sony & Friends are going to ride straight into bankruptcy. And I'll be laughing at them all the way down.

[DVD Polizei]

Ok. Merry Christmas. :lol:

[lizard]

Amazon says 2008 holiday season was 'best ever'
Linky (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Amazon-says-2008-holiday-apf-13919347.html)Notice how carefully parsed the news from Amazon was. They spoke of increases in items ordered but were careful to avoid mention of the dollar value of the orders. My take on it is that the average and total dollar value of orders didn't increase much, if at all.


I agree with the OP, DVD Polizei. I have been surprised at the dearth of decent post-holiday deals on BDs. I am also disappointed that the price for the BD player I want to buy went up a couple of weeks ago at Amazon and has remained there ever since. So much for all the news reports I keep seeing about all the low prices at retailers. I sure don't see it.

I guess I'll just have to keep waiting and see if the CE manufacturers and movie studious will "blink" before I do.

[Rock88]

Hopefully Blu-ray will become popular enough and cheap enough that it will be built into most DVD players in the near future. If not, Blu-ray discs could become as worthless as HD DVD discs.

[Harold Chasen]

DirkBelig: Crankiness I can believe in!

[Mr. Cinema]

I regret wasting my time reading this thread
and posting in it also?

[RustyOrgan]

Hmmm, where the white women at?

[vcuram]

Hmmm, where the white women at?

I haven't read the thread, but I clicked on it to post the exact same thing. Well played, RustyOrgan, well played.

[DVD Polizei]

And I came in here looking for a deal on...Step Brothers. Who knew.

[melih69]

???

[seymouru]

Hmmmm, where are the bargains at?Hmmm, where the white women at?<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TJkHykGRXrw&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TJkHykGRXrw&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

[BKenn01]

Part of the problem is figuring out what exactly is a deal on BR. The prices are still all over the board. I can look at standard dvd and figure it out, but BR could be on sale for $18 or so, then down to $14 or less, then back up to $20 plus.