Well, I was at the only Wal Mart Supercenter in the area today, and they are in the process of setting up the Blu Ray section. They have new players, and new demo endcap, and are getting the titles together for the Blu Ray movie aisle.

Perception may play a big part in the success of Blu Ray - if enough people buy into the, "Next big thing," idea (which it really is - Blu Ray kicks ass!), then this may be the break that the format needs to go from small niche market to large niche market to mainstream format.

Slightly OT...

I noticed the Insignia BD player had "$100 worth of coupons on BD discs". Does the Magnavox player offer this booklet as well?

I'm starting to think Walmart's displays are the reason why Amazon seems to be delayed with getting the Paramount catalog re-releases. Maybe Paramount gave hem preference over Amazon.

LOL! I just saw this comment. Umm, did I say anything angers me? I said one aisle isn't "massive" promotion. If you want to argue it is, fine, go ahead, I don't think putting all the hardware + software a format has on one shelf to be massive promotion. It may be an improvement on the current setup for Blu Ray, I have no idea we don't have any Walmarts in the city of Chicago (well maybe one on the far far south side, but I am in no hurry to get down there) I do know as far as a few months ago, the Targets in the city were keeping HDM in lock and key within the city of Chicago. Other posters say that is not in the case of suburban targets, but I have no idea as I barely venture out there.

And finally, are we back to old argument "You can't comment if you don't own Blu Ray players?" I thought that had been pretty much mod warned several times now.

Just seems like your posts are consistently negative. If I despise something so much, I usually don't keep talking about it. I just avoid it.

Since you don't own a BD player, you can't offer opinion on any movie. And since you seem to hope BD fails, all you can offer up is negativity. That makes your posts very boring.

I wonder if 100% negativity towards BD in a BD thread constitutes threadcrapping?

If I didn't own an Xbox 360 and I always spent time in the 360 thread and only posted negative comments, do you think I'd be allowed to remain in that thread?

I mean, if you don't own BD, and apparently don't plan to, why spend time in the HD forum? What's your agenda?

i find it funny that a remark about promotiions at walmart has anything to do with negativity towatrrd blu ray.

last time i checked this was a thread about sales figures so tell me how a post about aisles whether negative or positive has anything to do with blu ray sales figures

i am a fan of movies in high definition and i have been critiical of blu ray pricing and software pricing....based on the low sales figures i would say there are plenty of people who arent happy with the price point as it stands now.

feel free to peruse my posts i have not said anything against blu ray nmy comments have been about pricing...last time i checked everybody has a right toi comment on pricing schemes.

You do realize that Wal-mart is the largest buyer of DVDs and that the majority of all the studios' business originate from them?

The same thing will happen with Blu-ray.

I think that's why he constantly comes here and dumps on Blu-ray. He doesn't have a BD player so he'll come in here and say anything negative about it because he doesn't have one.

I was a little like him when Blu-ray first came out. Blu-ray is overpriced, I can't tell much of a difference, HD is overrated. I've said that a time or two, but I then grew the f&$k up. BD is more expensive than DVD, but considering you're getting HD content for only $5-$10 more, I don't think it's as awful as I once thought it was. I mean, do you expect them to give them away?

I can tell much of a difference. I was in denial. I didn't want some new format after just seriously starting to get into DVD. I made sure it wasn't better. It could've been a reference-quality disc and I still would've said I can't tell that much of a difference.

No, HD isn't overrated. Naturally some BDs are going to look great and some aren't. HD is great and if you really compare the two; SD looks bad compared to the clarity of HD.

People are just so negative toward new things. Blu-ray I hope will one day take over DVD, but there are so many DVD is "good enough" folks I don't know if that'll ever happen sadly.

Do you know me? I would prefer you don't speak for me, and I am happy to not speak on your behalf. Thank you.

$5-$10 more? Most titles run around $15-$25 more then their DVD counterparts. Mrs Doubtfire is what, $9.99 on DVD while the BD will cost $35 at Best Buy. Same can be said for Master and Commander, but at least the DVD version actually has extra features on it while the BD is pretty much barebones. Sure, those are extreme examples, but unless there is a sale, expect a BD to cost at least $15 more then the DVD version. Some people are simply not willing to pay $35 for a sub-par movie just because its in HD.

It's all part of their plan, so when they (*cough* Fox *cough*) has a $15 sale or a 2 for $30 sale, they'll sell like hot cakes.

It's the only logical reasoning for charging $40 fucking dollars for subpar transfers with no extras.

Not only are these selective extreme examples but they are nowhere near close to being most.

Pro-B

I do believe that is part of their plan. Its sad because after being delayed close to a year and being a 50GB disc, the Blu-ray release of Master and Commander is horrific and barebones...and not even in the Top 20. I wonder if it sold more then 2k copies?

And Best Buy is an extreme example for BD prices.

I took the latest 20 top-selling DVDs and checked their amazon price:

Of the 12 titles that are also on BD, nine have an overprice of $7 or less than the release of that title on DVD (special edition if there is one.

The average price delta was $4.96. Two titles (Narnia and I Am Legend) were actually cheaper on BD than DVD.


Oh, and just in case, here are the list prices:

Average price delta: $6.92

To be fair, though, the DVD version of Narnia you're comparing the BD to is a four disc set with a different cut of the movie. The BD is closer to the $15 DVD release in content.

And you wasted your time with all these charts because you totally missed Gizmo's point. He's talking about catalog titles that sell for $5-$10 on standard dvd vs $30-$35 Blu-ray. Not new releases, for which the delta is much smaller.

No sir. I am comparing it with the 2-disc edition:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...rL._SS500_.jpg

Please don't try to help him out by moving the goalpost for him.

He said:
"Most titles run around $15-$25 more then their DVD counterparts."

No qualification.

"unless there is a sale, expect a BD to cost at least $15 more then the DVD version."

A BD. No qualification. Not "a catalog, Fox BD."

And anyway, you want to talk catalog titles?

Passage to India (Sony): DVD $19.99, BD $19.95 (not on sale)
Shall We Dance? (Disney): DVD $11.49, BD $20.95 (not on sale)
Ocean's Eleven (Warner): DVD $8.49, BD $19.95 (not on sale)
King of New York (Lionsgate): DVD $12.99, BD $17.95 (not on sale)

Picking catalog titles released by Fox as the example of price delta is the most unrepresentative sample you could get.

Aside from the fact I was using catalog titles and not new day and dates, Best Buy is the #1 HDM retailer. They offer prices that most people will see, not Amazon which has very little overhead.

Cute you decide to choose titles that suit you're case. We've been discussing Catalog titles for the past few posts, you should have clued in to exactly what I was talking about. Hell, I even mentioned two catalog titles in the post you decided to quote.

Signs $9.99 DVD (MSRP $14.99) Amazon and $23.95 BD (34.99 MSRP)
$20 difference MSRP there.

It really does not matter since catalog titles are selling poorly anyway, regardless of what kind of price you put them at. Only a handful of titles have broken the mold and typically its because they were on sale or severely discounted. Studios are charging to much for in most cases in only a sub-par treatment with little to no extra features and in some cases less then the DVDs from years before featured. Upping the price now is just a slap in the face.

You said, and I quote, "Most titles run around $15-$25 more then their DVD counterparts." No specification of catalog vs new or specific retailer. You mentioned Best Buy - on one of the examples.

You also said, "unless there is a sale, expect a BD to cost at least $15 more then the DVD version." Again, no distinction between catalog and new.

So what you said was false.

If now you want to correct your statement to read,

"Most FOX CATALOG titles run around $15-$25 more than their DVD counterparts AT BEST BUY"

I can't find fault with that. :)

Whatever makes you happy. Feel free to disregard what we have been discussing throughout the day regarding catalog titles as long as it makes you're stance more important.

Says the one who chose Mrs Doubtfire and Master and Commander as the sole example for his price model.

So? Actual overprice under $15. Thanks for proving my point.

It's not about happy. It's about honest.

I owe you an apology on that. I was just trying to say that a lot of people just seem so negative about new technology and they just have to hate it.

DVD had some heat when it first came out. People didn't want to switch and they just wanted to keep the VHS format. Today, people love DVD and think VHS is crap compared to it. Blu-ray has more disapproval because it isn't a different looking format. It's still a disc and people feel a sort of betrayal for getting into DVDs and Blu-ray suddenly comes out. The Blu-ray vs. HD DVD format war made people not want to jump onto HD discs and now that the format war is over I think it'll go either way.