DVDis dead!

[blackraven]

I was just at the Ultimate Electronic store today picking up a remote car starter and I asked the salesman how BlueRay player sales were going. He stated that they were selling 40-50 players a day .They had toshiba players selling for $127.

Also, Walmart is selling a Magnavox player for $79.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

When you start seeing your disc going for $3.99 in the bargain bin of big box stores, you really should start playing taps, and planning the burial.

[bobsticks]

When you start seeing your disc going for $3.99 in the bargain bin of big box stores, you really should start playing taps, and planning the burial.

Yup, yup...not to mention all those Red Box thingies in the lobbies of the BBS's....those things are great for sampling movies that are "on the cusp".
Example: I'm a Liam Neeson fan, knew immediately that I would pay top dollar to get Taken On a lark my gf's daughter decides she wants to see UP! that new animated dealio...horrible, horrible movie...she hated it, the gf hated it, I hated it...glad I rented it for just a few bucks instead of buying the BR.

I suspect DVD will hang on for a bit longer than some folks think.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Yup, yup...not to mention all those Red Box thingies in the lobbies of the BBS's....those things are great for sampling movies that are "on the cusp".
Example: I'm a Liam Neeson fan, knew immediately that I would pay top dollar to get Taken On a lark my gf's daughter decides she wants to see UP! that new animated dealio...horrible, horrible movie...she hated it, the gf hated it, I hated it...glad I rented it for just a few bucks instead of buying the BR.

I suspect DVD will hang on for a bit longer than some folks think.

How can anyone hate the movie UP? Are you sure you two were not in a bad mood that night or day?

[bobsticks]

How can anyone hate the movie UP? Are you sure you two were not in a bad mood that night or day?

We'll accept that as a theory my brotha...

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

We'll accept that as a theory my brotha...

Now you know I am just poken at ya? I know a few Disney folks that didn't care for it either!

[Feanor]

How can anyone hate the movie UP? Are you sure you two were not in a bad mood that night or day?

I'm old, old, old, but the acclaim of these Disney/Pixar efforts get eludes me personally.

They vary for somewhat to utterly puerile -- OK for sub-teen children maybe, not adults. I just saw Ratatouille: I was disappointed even though my expectations were low.

[Hyfi]

I'm old, old, old, but the acclaim of these Disney/Pixar efforts get eludes me personally.

They vary for somewhat to utterly puerile -- OK for sub-teen children maybe, not adults. I just saw Ratatouille: I was disappointed even though my expectations were low.

Oddly, I am almost completely opposite to you. I am feeling that it's a damn shame when animated movies are better than those with actual people in them these days.

I just watched Horton Hears a Who again and I am amazed at the thought provoking content that children would not even come close to understanding, unless of course they are into quantum physics and have the understanding that the earth we live on is just a SPEC of dust in the big picture.

[Smokey]

I suspect DVD will hang on for a bit longer than some folks think.

I agree.

There are alot of programs out there that were taped in NTSC standard (480i) like old classic and sitcom TV shows, and DVD will be perfect medium for them. Also with stores like BigLots selling DVDs for $2.99, Bluray is still not on Joe6pack radar.

[pixelthis]

I agree.

There are alot of programs out there that were taped in NTSC standard (480i) like old classic and sitcom TV shows, and DVD will be perfect medium for them. Also with stores like BigLots selling DVDs for $2.99, Bluray is still not on Joe6pack radar.

Peeps that go to big lots go to Walmart, and players are getting cheap.
As for most older TV shows,most were filmed, and were higher res than 480i,
and look a lot better on Blu, especially if they are cleaned up.
And there is the phenom whereby, after watching blu for awhile, you just wont buy
DVD at any price, pretty much what happened to VHS and LASER after the advent of
DVD.

[Woochifer]

I agree.

Or you hope? At least until the BD player prices come down to current DVD player levels? The DVD format will be viable until it gets surpassed by Blu-ray. Some analysts are now projecting that will happen sometime in 2012.

At that point, the DVD's demise will be swift and decisive. The hardware will be all Blu-ray capable by that point, and retailers will not maintain dual disc inventories indefinitely. History bears this out. Look at how quickly VHS disappeared from store shelves after the DVD format took over the sales lead in 2003 (some retailers like Best Buy had already cut out their VHS titles well before then). It took only three years after that for the studios to abandon the format altogether, and most of their remaining inventory went out of print and into the hands of liquidators well before that.

There are alot of programs out there that were taped in NTSC standard (480i) like old classic and sitcom TV shows, and DVD will be perfect medium for them. Also with stores like BigLots selling DVDs for $2.99, Bluray is still not on Joe6pack radar.

But, that's a small minority of the total programming that sits in the studio archives. TV programs are a cheap way for the studios to get squeeze more revenue out of their libraries. TV DVD sets are generally not huge sellers, and most of them probably won't get re-released on Blu-ray anyway. DVD's the perfect medium, because for most TV series, that will be the ONLY medium.

Those $2.99 DVDs you see at Big Lots wound up at that price for a reason -- NOBODY WANTS THEM ANYMORE! Joe6p already rented them or bought them ages ago. Blu-ray is for the Joe6p's who have been buying HDTVs over the last couple of years (by the end of this holiday season, HDTV penetration is expected to be 50% to 60%).

[Mr Peabody]

I wonder how the performance of those cheap players are. I was not impressed with the Samsung BD-1500. It could be to the point where good upsampling DVD players compare favorably to a cheap BD player and Blu-ray could defeat their purpose.

[blackraven]

I wonder how the performance of those cheap players are. I was not impressed with the Samsung BD-1500. It could be to the point where good upsampling DVD players compare favorably to a cheap BD player and Blu-ray could defeat their purpose.

Last months Consumer Reports magazine reviewed many of the low cost BD players and gave them all high marks for BR picture quality. I think that the people that buy the low cost players won't know or care about any significant difference in picture quality. Most will own cheaper HDTV's.

[poppachubby]

Been thinking about Blu-Ray myself. I want to buy a new player. If Blu-Ray plays DVD, I figure why not?

[Worf101]

If things keep going as they are, you'll have little choice. DVD player production might be left to the halt the lame and asian knock-off if all the major players continue dropping production of the format's players.

Worf

[blackraven]

If things keep going as they are, you'll have little choice. DVD player production might be left to the halt the lame and asian knock-off if all the major players continue dropping production of the format's players.

Worf

Oppo has stopped selling their DVD players!

[pixelthis]

Oppo has stopped selling their DVD players!

Thats the canary in the coal mine.
I said DVD was dead some time ago, but I thought it was going to be more gradual,
but this is like the trouncing LASER received.
More important than the players, there was a TON of BLU discs at BEST BUY.
Some for 9.99.
Start sounding TAPS for DVD.

[Woochifer]

If things keep going as they are, you'll have little choice. DVD player production might be left to the halt the lame and asian knock-off if all the major players continue dropping production of the format's players.

Worf

yep, pretty much the same thing has happened with standalone CD players. There's a whole thread on Linn's recent decision to drop CD player production, but aside from Sony, it seems that most of the CE giants stopped making standalone CD players a while ago.

Oppo's decision to stop making DVD players is just the first of many such announcements to come. Denon has now pared their DVD player lineup down to just two mid level models, and eliminated all of their high end players. There's simply no market for high end DVD players because the consumers that would spend more than $200 on a DVD player are spending that budget on Blu-ray instead.

The prices on entry level DVD players from brand name manufacturers have been stuck around $60 for a few years now. That's already commodity-price range, and it's not that far from the $150 street prices you now see for brand name Blu-ray players. There's no question that Blu-ray player prices will continue to tumble throughout 2010. As the street prices dip below $100 in the next year, the rationale for continuing to produce (and purchase) low margin DVD players also erodes.

So, indeed this means the remainder of the DVD hardware market will indeed go to those knockoff brands. But, that's not necessarily a bad thing, because it simply means that the broader market will have already transitioned over to the higher quality Blu-ray format.

[bobsticks]

yep, pretty much the same thing has happened with standalone CD players. There's a whole thread on Linn's recent decision to drop CD player production, but aside from Sony, it seems that most of the CE giants stopped making standalone CD players a while ago.

Oppo's decision to stop making DVD players is just the first of many such announcements to come. Denon has now pared their DVD player lineup down to just two mid level models, and eliminated all of their high end players. There's simply no market for high end DVD players because the consumers that would spend more than $200 on a DVD player are spending that budget on Blu-ray instead.

The prices on entry level DVD players from brand name manufacturers have been stuck around $60 for a few years now. That's already commodity-price range, and it's not that far from the $150 street prices you now see for brand name Blu-ray players. There's no question that Blu-ray player prices will continue to tumble throughout 2010. As the street prices dip below $100 in the next year, the rationale for continuing to produce (and purchase) low margin DVD players also erodes.

So, indeed this means the remainder of the DVD hardware market will indeed go to those knockoff brands. But, that's not necessarily a bad thing, because it simply means that the broader market will have already transitioned over to the higher quality Blu-ray format.

All of this is true, especially regarding hi-end product, but, let us not forget how many people watch DVDs on computers and gamig systems....so, I agree with your assessment of the hardware situation but still feel the format will stagger on for some time...

...hell, you can still find VHS at truckstops, lol...

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

All of this is true, especially regarding hi-end product, but, let us not forget how many people watch DVDs on computers and gamig systems....so, I agree with your assessment of the hardware situation but still feel the format will stagger on for some time...

...hell, you can still find VHS at truckstops, lol...

With hardware sales up 125%, and disc sales up 187% from last years, the format is hardly staggering. 2010 is when the format will really pop.

[Woochifer]

All of this is true, especially regarding hi-end product, but, let us not forget how many people watch DVDs on computers and gamig systems....so, I agree with your assessment of the hardware situation but still feel the format will stagger on for some time...

...hell, you can still find VHS at truckstops, lol...

I think next year will be when the Blu-ray disc prices begin inching down closer to the DVD levels. Right now, BDs already account for 20-30% of the sales for new releases, which is where the studios make their money (the Blu-ray sales for Star Trek accounted for 38%, and supposedly over half of the sales for the new extended edition of Watchmen). With the format now in its 4th year, you also have more older titles, and those are the ones that have already gone into the sub-$10 price tiers.

The DVD format will indeed survive for at least a few more years -- there's a glut of low priced product sitting on store shelves. It's now a low end movie-only product. Those feature packed special editions are getting phased out, and even the two-disc DVD sets often leave out items that are included with the Blu-ray versions.

If Blu-ray continues its accelerated growth, it's inevitable that the DVD format will eventually take a back seat to Blu-ray. It took the DVD format more than six years before it displaced VHS. But, once that happened, the studios and retailers began to rapidly phase VHS out. The DVD format took over the sales lead in 2003, and the final VHS movie release (Borat) came out in 2006. The last standalone VCRs were discontinued in 2007.

Those items you see at the truck stops were produced years ago (frankly, I haven't seen any VHS tapes sold through those channels in quite a while) and passed through several hands before they wound up in those truck stop bins. I recall a NY Times article from a couple of years indicating that only one company still distributed VHS movies, and those were all bulk items purchased through liquidation sales and auctions. The company said that they still had some demand, but were planning to get out of the business soon.

I think in less than four years, none of the brand name manufacturers will make standalone DVD players anymore. It will all be Blu-ray. Of course, by that time the Blu-ray players will sell for the same commodity prices that DVD players currently sell for. It's when the hardware side hits that tipping point that you will see stores very quickly move DVD off the shelves and studios stop making new release DVDs. At that point, the last bastion of DVD sales very well might be those truck stop bins.

[Hyfi]

...hell, you can still find VHS at truckstops, lol...

I still regularly use two VHS machines

[Invader3k]

Just picked up a BD player for my parents as a Christmas gift. Nice Samsung unit at Best Buy for $150. It will replace their 10+ year old Toshiba unit (one of the first units that boasted a component video output) that will move to my mom's office. They will probably mainly watch DVDs on it still, but should look better than the old Toshiba unit.

I think that is what will happen for a lot of consumers...the BD players will be so cheap, they'll just replace their old DVD players with a BD player that makes their DVDs look better anyway.

[frahengeo]

For me, the pricing of blu-ray titles are at an acceptable level. $20 for new releases is definitely doable compared to the $35 price point not long ago.
Also, I just picked up 13 titles for $10 or less each. Gotta love it.

[BadAssJazz]

For me, the pricing of blu-ray titles are at an acceptable level.

In my mind, pricing and availability both sound the death knell for DVD...and with The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly released in a Blu Ray format, the fat lady is definitely warming up her pipes. She can blow full throat if they release Cyrano de Bergerac or Car Wash on Blu Ray.