orangerunner

With all of this talk about studios whining about the Redbox kiosks as devaluing their products and the too high a price of Blu-ray.

What is a fair price for these products?

The cheapest possible?

What the market will bear?

When DVD became the dominant format around 2002, people seemed to have no problems paying $25 for a new release or $18 for a new catalogue title with a bunch of never-seen-before extras.

When a new, revolutionary (compared to VHS) technology emerges, consumers don't seem to mind paying that extra money over the inferior format that preceded it.

I remember in the late 80s paying $7.99 for a new release cassette or album. When CDs became the dominant formatin the early 90s, the new "sale" price became $13.99. We accepted that new price.

Blu-ray lacks the novelty of being seen as "new & revolutionary". It's the same concept of a digital spinning disc except the picture and sound are sharper & crisper.

I think right now some DVDs are too cheap when you're buying them for $3.99brand new. Not that I'm arguing but when you think of things you can buy at a comparable price, it's very cheap. A Sports Illustrated magazine costs more, a Happy Meal at McDonald's costs more, a movie at the movie theater costs often more than twice the price.

I'm not an accountant for the studios but $12.99 for a new release DVD or $16.99 for the Blu-ray would probably be fair price range where they would still make a decent profit and do a lot more volume.

Maxflier

I'm pretty much done buying new releases on Blu-Ray. I will make the occasional exception for a movie that I REALLY like enough to do it, but gone are the days that I will drop $25 fucking dollars on blind buys and movies that I will probably only watch once anyways.

outlander78

For a normal release, with a commentary track, I'd say $10. For a release with a good set of features, $15. (That'd be $8 and $12 US.)

There are 2-3 titles each year that I pay full price for on release day (Batman, Iron Man, Star Trek), but otherwise the above stands.

story

Under $10 for bare bones or no effort in cleaning up the print. $10 with a commentary track and a nice transfer. For more features, $12-13. For something brand-new, $15. For Criterion, I don't pay more than $21. I do this to keep my buying habits from eating me out of house and home.

dkedvd

I only pay no more than $5.00 for Movies/standard DVDs and no more than $10.00 for Seasons/Box Sets. And I'm up to 3329 titles. All you have to do is know how to hunt.

canaryfarmer

I can't bring myself to pay more than ~$7 for a DVD at this point.

bsmith

I try to keep my DVD movie costs below $10, TV sets below $20, and BR disks below $15 (thats when I get a BR player). Another indicator I use is 50+% off SRP.

I'd like to lower that to what "dkedvd" pays but then I wouldn't be buying much either, and I do monitor the sales and bargains pretty regularly. Most of what I find at those prices aren't things I personally would want to own or they are standard titles that have been around for a decade that I purchased long ago before these types of prices were available. While I have stopped at Big Lots a few times there has never been anything that's caught my eye. I guess in the end, personaly taste and preferences also plays apart in what price ranges people are willing to spend if they plan on buying anything.

PopcornBandit

DVD: $5-$10
Blu-ray: $15-$20, unless I know for a fact I enjoy the movie and will watch it multiple times, then I don't mind paying upwards of $30.

DVD TV sets: < $20
Blu-ray TV sets: $30-$50

MR Round

What ever I buy one for so $1-40 for a movie $5-60 for a Tvondvd

DerangedHermit

Under $10 for single disc releases, under $5 if it's been out longer than a year, under $20 for 3-disc or more releases (including TV seasons)

The most I've spent on DVDs is $40 for the WWE Summerslam Anthology (20 discs) and $50 total for the Royal Rumble Anthology (20 discs), Wrestlemania Anthology Vol. 1/2 (5 discs per volume).

Trevor

Lots of variables, but looking at my history this is the range I'll pay:

barebones DVD - $1 to $10
SE or Criterion DVD - $2 to $15
Blu-ray - $5 to $15

Moleman1138

Like many others 5 bucks for DVD. New release BDs, I buy right away, the rest I look for sales.

doubledown44

It's hard to justify buying a DVD for full price when you know it will be easy to buy for $5 or less if you get it used or just wait.
I think we have all had the painful memory of buying a movie the day it came out for way too much money, then seeing it six months later for $4.99 and realizing we watched it only one time (or sometimes not at all).
Now, if they want me to buy something when it first comes out, I really need a reason, such as a steelbook, exclusive action figure/packaging, etc.

tonyc3742

Movie DVDs: 5-15$ depending on movie, transfer, audio/video, bonus features, and bonus goodies.
Television series: 10-25/season.
Blu ray: Don't have a player yet. Probably still 5-15$.

I have bought one 'full price' movie DVD in the past six months, and that's because I had gift certificates which covered the entire cost. Other than that, my recent purchases have been good deals on TV series from Amazon or great deals at Columbia House or elsewhere.

"Fair", however, is whatever the market will bear for a product whose availability is not artificially constrained.

Ropes Pierre

19.99 used to be the go to price for TV on dvd, now it seems to lie between 12.99 and 16.99.

Since i eventually picked up the three disc version of Casino Royale for 9.99, i consider anything under that to be fair.

I do however sometimes go above that, especially for concerts, or band related stuff (clash, cramps at napa hospital, leonard cohen, etc)

TheDuke

$20 - special edition of a new release
$15 - single disc of a new release
Between $10 and $15 - reissue of an old release with new features
Under $10 - old release

hindolio

please please please please (that is four times) may this not start a blu vs sd dvd riot...

am i wrong in seeing a whole lotta $10-$15 blu-rays pushing down the price of sd dvds? of course, not new releases and stuff, but in general, when i see a slew of titles on br that are $15 or less, i ask myself why i should be paying the same for sd dvd titles that are comparable. i have a relative view on a lot of things, including dvd purchase (i am not yet blu). maybe others think this way too?

Alan Smithee

Coming from laserdiscs, where most movies were $35-40 and special editions were around $100, the highest price I'll buy a DVD at is $30. Granted, it has to be something I actually want. When DVDs started going below $15 I'd buy almost anything I had the least bit of marginal interest in. The first time I saw them below $5 I grabbed EVERYTHING- at that price they were free as far as I was concerned.

Nowadays I'll still pay up to $30 for something I really want- meaning something that my collection wouldn't be complete without and that I'll watch a lot. $3 has become my new limit for "just cuz it was cheap" purchases, and I'm even making those more discriminatory now since I'm running out of shelf space.

Haven't gotten into Blu-Ray yet; I got a player for Christmas but I'm still saving up for a new TV and sound system. Most of the new movies on Blu-Ray have been priced too high in my opinion, but we'll see if it's really worth the difference in price. I don't think I'd want to pay more than $30 for those either- some of the Di$ney titles coming out are priced HIGHER than they would have been on laserdisc!

doob

DVD: $5 - 15 (maybe 20~25 if it's ultimate special collector's director's edition..)
Bluray - $10~20
Criteiron.... I can't buy them in regular price no more.. with all the great sale going on
so i'd say 50% off the regular price.

SterlingBen

DVD: $2-$5 (Pimped out 10-15)
Bluray: $10-$15 (Pimped out 20)

TV Box Set SD: $5-$10
TV Box Set Blu: $20-$30

Al_Tahoe

Blu-ray... no player yet.
TV on DVD... pretty much stopped buying these.
DVD Movie... generally about $5, though I'll make an exception and pay $15 to $20 a few times a year for a Criterion I really want or a deluxe edition that I feel the studio has put a lot of effort into (c'mon African Queen).

That's what I'll pay. As far as the OP's original question of what's a fair price... I still think that $20 for a nicely done special edition DVD is a bargain. I can go to the theater with my girlfriend for $30 and see a movie once... or I can buy the DVD for $20, have an extra $10 in my pocket, and watch the movie as many times as I want for the rest of my life. To me, that represents a tremendous value.

Unfortunately, from the movie studios point of view, you can't put the genie back in the bottle.

drmar35mm

$2 to $7 for a used DVD. $3 to $8 for a new DVD of an older release. $15-20 for a TV season that's been out a while. (Exceptions being things like BBC & Acorn shows, which are pricey even on sale; also Star Trek series.) I rarely buy new releases of anything. I'm happy to wait until they're cheaper. I'm not into Blu Ray yet.

Trevor

Good points, I agree.

Once studios/retailers starting cranking out $3 and $5 sale DVDs every week, often including farily recent releases and special editions, the average joe consumer is now getting to the price point of we bargain hunters.

mike07

$5 or less (most likely within the $3 range) for a regular movie. $20 max. for box sets. (including tv-on-dvd)

Used movies must be at or below the $3 price point.

uncle-frank

i ownly buy barebone releases now because i find that i was wasting lots of money for about 4 years.

i try to stick with new/used 9.99 and under. (canadian)

tv on dvd (new) 19.99-29.99 (canadian) depending on what it is