Netflix does it again (or HD-DVD how we miss you)

[Kristofor]

http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/n...-by-around-20/

Lovely, Netflix Blu-Ray prices increase 100-800%... What recession?

Out of ~80 movies in my family's 3 queues 3 were Blu-Ray (effects flix). Initially I had a higher percentage, but the shipping delays have been MUCH longer with Blu-Ray on Netflix, and I could play them in fewer rooms in the house (eg not down by the treadmill, in the laundry room, etc.). Yes the picture and audio are much better on an HDTV & HDAudio setup, but that exists in only 2 rooms at my house today...

So, I canceled the Blu-Ray option and on general principle reduced the number of disc/month I was signed up for. Even if I want to have limited BR capability it would be cheaper to reduce the number of discs on the main account and have a secondary account for the occasional Blu-Ray We'll see if that matters. When Netflix initially tried to remove multiple queues they flip-flopped shortly thereafter due to the backlash but I'm guessing that's not going to be the case here as Netflix "wins" if people pay up and they "win" if BR is poorly adopted and instead people use their streaming system...

[430752]

when cd's first came out, they were priced double LP's due to it being new. They said prices would drop once mass manufacturing kicked in. They never dropped, instead the labels grew fat. But the retailers too, so no one complained cept the consumer, and even then we didn't complain loudly enough. Well, same thing now for DVD. THe players still might be a bit more to make, but surely not the $270 premium for blu ray over std def. And the price of making blu ray discs surely has fallen to comparable to a std def dvd, perhaps .50 more? So why so high? I mean the movie cost the same to make no matter, and the cameras would be the same no matter if blu ray existed or not. Nah, just another way to ratchet up a profit. Nothing wrong there, introduce a better product and recapture the margins the original version enjoyed on its introduction. And the retailers go along since they get a fat profit, and an opportunity to sell a whole library of dvd's again. So, it may be capitalism, but it still sucks.

[stormdog74]

http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/n...-by-around-20/

Lovely, Netflix Blu-Ray prices increase 100-800%... What recession?

I just heard today that Netflix's business is up quite a bit due to the recession - it seems many people are foregoing the theater and watching movies from home instead to save money, hence the raise in prices.

I heard that some film companies are going to be releasing previously unreleased (on DVD) films through downloads or they will make you a DVD - for a hefty fee of course. I wonder what will happen when studios sell all of their films as downloads only - direct from them. Then they will have total control of prices as there will be no competition for a particular film.

[LCHIEN]

when cd's first came out, they were priced double LP's due to it being new. They said prices would drop once mass manufacturing kicked in. They never dropped, instead the labels grew fat. But the retailers too, so no one complained cept the consumer, and even then we didn't complain loudly enough. Well, same thing now for DVD. THe players still might be a bit more to make, but surely not the $270 premium for blu ray over std def. And the price of making blu ray discs surely has fallen to comparable to a std def dvd, perhaps .50 more? So why so high? I mean the movie cost the same to make no matter, and the cameras would be the same no matter if blu ray existed or not. Nah, just another way to ratchet up a profit. Nothing wrong there, introduce a better product and recapture the margins the original version enjoyed on its introduction. And the retailers go along since they get a fat profit, and an opportunity to sell a whole library of dvd's again. So, it may be capitalism, but it still sucks.

The record companies and movie companies have had this behavior for years.
They don't have a complete monopoly in that their product is not a necessity and you do have other entertainment and even other movis or recordings to listen to, but it is sort of a monopoly if you want to listen to THAT song or see THAT movie - there's no other source.
The history is that there will always be better media, with digital CDs it got cheaper to produce (costs almost nothing to make a CD compared to what it takes to make an LP or cassette) and the final product is superior.
Yet the studios used the superior aspect to charge more for what it cost them less to make. Same with DVDs vs VHS and then again for BRD vs DVDs.
As long as they have popular artists and control of the peer-to-peer networking and lobbyists putting in the DRM in all our equipment they will charge more for what they sell that costs them less.

I do realize that manufacturing costs are only a fraction the costs of making a movie, but DVDs for $15 and BRDs for $25 does not represent increased manufacturing costs. BRDs are basically stamped like DVDs. Sony gets a few cents for winning the HDef DVD war and the studios get the rest. I'll bet the actors don't get a bigger cut if the movie is sold in BRD over DVD.

As an engineer I would wish that our technical advances would be used to improve things for people while reducing costs. The studios have managed to improve things for us while increasing their profits and not passing te savings on.. Sigh. We need a consumers union.

[wbsettle]

Can't speak directly to the Netflix raise. If their revenue is up, then I'd have to speculate the increase is due to higher failure rates on the disc than expected. Supposedly Blu is tougher than DVD, but who knows. Otherwise, I'd suspect USPS math...usage is down so raise rates to maintain profit...with the crunch, people may have looked at their usage patterns and downgraded plans...I started at 3-out several years ago, but am down to 1-out since we hardly ever watch more than one movie a week.

Regarding Blu-ray vs. DVD...those that fail to remember history are doomed to repeat it, or something like that. When DVD was initially launched, titles were in the $25-30 range. They got cheaper. First and second gen DVD players were $400+ for entry level. They got cheaper. Blu is more an incremental upgrade over DVD, not the sea change that DVD to VHS was...mass adoption and cost reduction will necessarily be slower.

The first CD player was something like $1000. My memory says CDs got cheaper, too...started around $15ish, typically pay around $10 when I still find something worth buying.

Blu-ray is not made like DVD. Just read an article recently that said the cost of switching a plant from DVD to HD-DVD was something like $800K compared to $3M for Blu-ray. The Blu-ray consortium also charges much higher licensing fees for players and discs than DVD and HD-DVD.

-Brent