8mm Forum: Blu-ray prices coming down

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Posted by Christopher P Quinn (Member # 1294) on April 18, 2009, 05:07 PM:

At last it looks as if the prices on blu-ray films are starting to drop, although only on line. Amazon have dropped prices on there blu-ray collection and have included a buy two get one free as well. Other online websites are following suit. I am hoping that this will be here to stay. The blu-ray format is now half the price it was when first it appeared and on many titles less than that.

I have just bought The Professionals 1966 £12.98...

The Cowboys... £8.98

And for her in doors. The Waterhorse. £9.98 This has been given some brilliant reviews...

I am still buying DVD's, classic TV stuff mainly but for films that are classic re-releases, blu-rays are giving them new life. Just watched The Way The West Was Won again, but in smilebox format. Eye candy would be an under statement, and the smilebox format is brilliant.

I am completely sold on and committed to the format. Bring on more classics.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on April 18, 2009, 06:13 PM:

Whats rather sad is the aftermath ...

I was down at the local foodmart, and along with the marked down DVD's, they had marked down for clearance HD DVD's at 3.99 each.

Sad.

Posted by Christopher P Quinn (Member # 1294) on April 18, 2009, 06:25 PM:

Osi, the HD discs were never going to go anywhere, the blu-rays are just way ahead. They were only beneficial to those who manufactured them, as it was a relative small outlay to upgrade. I love my blu-ray almost as much as my super 8.
Chris.

Posted by Steven J Kirk (Member # 1135) on April 18, 2009, 07:00 PM:

Amazon.co.uk is the way to go. I couldn't believe the high Street prices I saw recently in the UK. HMV have Blu-Ray a third more, at least, sometimes double! A film might be £25 in store and £15 online. Or less.

Posted by Christopher P Quinn (Member # 1294) on April 18, 2009, 07:25 PM:

Spot on Steve, I’ve given up looking in the shops altogether. I think the price will come down, they'll have to sooner or later as they just won't sell them. Amazon is the best, i use to use play a lot, but found that Amazon were increasingly beating them on prices. Other sites are coming more in line with Amazon, and eventually blu-rays will level out more. DVD's at Amazon on some titles are at give away prices and i could shop until i wear my keyboard out. God, if only they did super 8. [Smile]

Chris.

Posted by Kevin Clark (Member # 211) on April 19, 2009, 07:19 AM:

For sure Amazon is leading the way price wise with Bluray to the point now where it is madness to buy a DVD instead of its Bluray counterpart - the 3 for 2 offer has been on for a while and is worth checking regularly as the prices and titles vary on a daily basis depending on supply and demand. I tend to ignore the review comments of Blurays on Amazon though as most people that state there is no difference in quality to DVD watch their disks on 36" or smaller TV's - I've yet to see any DVD look as good as its equivalent Bluray (or HD-DVD) when properly projected.

Amazon's 3 for 2 offer went belly up a couple of weeks ago and for one Sunday afternoon it was possible to buy Blurays for 3 for 1 in price ! - this was the first major misprice I've seen from a major e-tailer for years and Amazon, bless them, honoured all the mispriced orders too - makes you wonder how cheaply they buy them in for in the first place.

Talking about HD-DVD - in the UK the Poundland chain of high street stores currently have large stocks of disks for only (you've guessed it) £1 each - having a collection of both HD-DVD and Bluray disks I can vouch for identical quality from both of these HD sources so these older format disks are still well worth getting and very cheap indeed now. Playable only on HD-DVD players though.

Kevin

Posted by Christopher Way (Member # 1328) on April 19, 2009, 09:34 AM:

Blue-ray is now the way ahead, but I am still finding that although the BR DVDs are coming down in price, the players are still quite high in price. What are your thoughts.

As pointed out HD DVD would never have taken off, because at the same time the HDMI leads were brought out, which projected a normal DVD in the near HD format.

Just one question I need answering. If one has an abundance of normal DVDs, can these be played on a Blue Ray Player. I would not want to have to re-purchase them all in Blue Ray.

Thanks
Chris

Posted by Steven J Kirk (Member # 1135) on April 19, 2009, 11:20 AM:

BD players certainly do play DVDs ( though maybe not multi-region ) and my Pan BD30 improves sharpness and colour on DVDs without question.

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on April 19, 2009, 11:52 AM:

Chris,

Yes,Blue-Ray players are backwards compatible so you can also play your treasured dvds too,I think we discussed this point before here.

Cheers MW

Posted by Christopher P Quinn (Member # 1294) on April 19, 2009, 01:20 PM:

I am now wondering how many blu-rays Kev has got on the buy one get two free, lol. Wish I’d had know. [Frown]

Chris, I think you'll find the old HD format gives the same quality picture as blu-ray does at present. My point is that blu-ray is more future proof as the present 50 gig discs will be at some time replaced with 200 gig 6 layer discs. Something that HD discs would never have been able to do and gives credence to blu-ray being the winning format.

I am though annoyed at the region coding practice still being carried out with the A B C coding. I am thinking of finding someone to make my machine region free as there is one blu-ray on region A that i want desperately...

This is brilliant docu on the universe called (Journey to the Edge of the Universe) It would look amazing on my 6ft screen. Very annoying as it seems there is no plans to release a B region version. [Mad]

Chris.

Posted by Kevin Clark (Member # 211) on April 19, 2009, 02:24 PM:

Hello Chaps

Chris Way - I can heartily recommend the Sony 350 Bluray player as it can be made multiregion for DVD playback (but not for Bluray playback AFAIK) and price wise it is still very cheap compared to the early DVD players - I recall paying over £400 for a Sony DVD player in 2000.

Chris PQ - I didn't post the news of the Amazon 3 for 1 misprice as TBH I never thought it would come off - in the 'early days' of the internet and online shopping pricing cock-ups like this were aplenty and usually as long as your credit card was charged the deal would go through, whereas these days etailers use unavailable stock and card clearance problems to wriggle out of such database pricing errors. I kept my order to the titles I really wanted for myself - 6 x Bond Blurays worked out to just under £30 with free delivery, plus some of the Disney / Pixar titles like Cars, Meet The Robinsons, etc. and some of the £9.98 titles like Master & Commander and Die Hard. My spend up on these disks means no more Bluray buying for a while now though (added info just in case Mrs. Clark is reading this!)

Regarding region coding - HD-DVD disks had the advantage as they were never region coded for HD - I have HD disks from all over the world that play fine on my Toshiba EP30 players whereas many of the same title Bluray re-releases have been region coded. In some ways I can appreciate it to protect cinema takings if a current film has not yet been releaesd in the cinemas of other countries, but to region code older catalogue titles seems pointless except to protect country manufacturing bases and censorship coding.

Kevin

Posted by peter booth (Member # 242) on April 19, 2009, 02:36 PM:

Hi Kevin,
I have just bought THE PROFESSIONALS brand new from Paul Foster at £10.99,JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH from Play.com at £9.99,also PINOCCHIO £14.99 all BLU-RAY,all post free so you are right prices are falling.
I paid £179 for my SONY 350 player multi-region from RGBDIRECT,a great player it is too.
Best Wishes,
Peter.

Posted by Christopher P Quinn (Member # 1294) on April 19, 2009, 05:32 PM:

Not your fault Kev, I'm too slow anyway.
I have the sony 350, great player and much cheapness from Blockbuters, £199 with 5 top blu-rays thrown in. [Cool]

I am now thinking about an HD player to sit next to my blu-ray, which sits on top of my laserdisc player, which sits not to far from my DVD player close to the VHS recorder, which...

Better stop now. [Smile]

Just found this...
http://www.stegen.com/product_info.php/products_id/1050

Although very exspensive. [Frown]

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on April 19, 2009, 05:42 PM:

Out here Blu-ray prices are falling, however I understand Blu-ray recorders will be on the market later this year that in turn will bring the price down of just the players themselves thats when I will make the big move [Wink]

and buy one, some of the present Blu-ray players can play multi-zoned discs plus normal DVDs and are NTSC/PAL just the thing for me, one expensive item however are the HDMI cables.

Graham. [Smile]

Posted by peter booth (Member # 242) on April 20, 2009, 08:24 AM:

Hi Graham,
I bought my HDMI cable from Amazon.co uk it only cost £14.99 and gives superb results,
Best wishes,
Peter.

Posted by Christopher Way (Member # 1328) on April 20, 2009, 09:55 AM:

I have the new ACER AS8930G 18.4" Laptop due delivery anyday now. £1390 worth of equipment, although I brought mine for £700 brand new. I am replacing my Desktop system which is antiquated now, and decided to go mobiel so to speak.

The point is, this laptop has BlueRay capability, and with an HDMI lead (provided), I can blay BR through to my TV, hopefully for the time being negating the necessity to buy a BR system.

Regards, Chris

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on April 22, 2009, 02:12 AM:

Thanks Peter
I will look out for a 3 metre cable next month, they seem to vary in price are there certain brands better than others?

Graham.

Posted by Martin Jones (Member # 1163) on April 22, 2009, 03:29 AM:

Graham,

See this thread on the subject of AV cables; price rip-offs are the order of the day in this field.

http://8mmforum.film-tech.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=001160# 000004

BTW, you've forgotten you read it already, when it was first posted!

Martin

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on April 22, 2009, 04:33 AM:

Thanks Martin
Jeepers.. I think I have been in this projection room to long [Smile]

Regards Graham. [Smile]

Posted by Christopher P Quinn (Member # 1294) on April 22, 2009, 06:59 PM:

The Platinum Range of HDMI cables are superb from this UK site...
http://www.hdcable.co.uk/hdmi

I bought a 7 meter cable; they do go to 15 meters. The build quality is as good as they say and the price is very competitive. I would highly recommend this cable.

Chris.

Posted by peter booth (Member # 242) on April 23, 2009, 11:26 AM:

Hardware is coming down too,the Sony 350 is now at Argos for £149.99.
And I thought I had a bargain at £179.99 although mine is multiregion for ordinary dvd's.I am assuming the one at Argos will be Region 2.
Peter.

Posted by Steven J Kirk (Member # 1135) on April 26, 2009, 02:51 PM:

I've just been screening a couple of new Blu-Rays through the video projector. QUO VADIS is staggering in picture quality. I don't use the term lightly. This was the original Technicolor still I believe, certainly the colours are magnificent and the definition pin-sharp. Hypnotic, really, especially when Deb Kerr is on... The sound is olde tyme mono but nice and clear, a tiny bit of optical crackle noticeable. THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL - the black and white is lovely, again crisp sharp picture and clean mono sound. Both are 4x3. Both highly recommended. Both have a great film look. Another recent purchase, the Luc Besson JOAN OF ARC, excellent in sound and image but the picture has that ever so slight video edgy, synthetic look, just takes the shine off it.

Posted by Andrew Wilson (Member # 538) on May 03, 2009, 07:15 AM:

A very interesting topic this post.I too have the DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL(1951).Yes youre right steven nice crisp picture,but with one very large flaw.On my tv i have to watch it as 4x3 only;no 16x9 at all.Even my sony350 does not improve matters no matter what i do.I know the old 300 "fixed" auto.so my 16x9screen was filled.Andy.

Posted by Mark Todd (Member # 96) on May 03, 2009, 08:03 AM:

So Steve what VP was that going through and inputs etc, I`m still hoping to find out of I play BR through my old philips VP which has 3 colours in, how will that compare to std DVD, better or about the same as a good dvd.
My philips is XGA so 2.3 million pixels you never see, and it says it can do 1080i !!!!!
Anyone tried B,Ray through an older vp machine love to hear the comparison there compared to usual discs as if I go BR can`t afford to change my projector.

Best Mark.

Posted by Andrew Wilson (Member # 538) on May 03, 2009, 11:12 AM:

Mark,Blu ray should work fine on your philips projector.Does it have com video;ie a red,green and blue phono type plugs?If so then youll get 1080i thru it.Its very good indeed.Andy.

Posted by Christopher P Quinn (Member # 1294) on May 03, 2009, 05:43 PM:

Andrew, What about DRM copy protection, can it cause a problem when using analogue cables?
Chris.

Posted by Mark Todd (Member # 96) on May 03, 2009, 06:16 PM:

Yes it has the 3 colours in via phono Andy and it definately mentions 1080 which is surprising as just over 5 years old, but even then a good VP I think, also whsiper quite, a B,sure.
ON that them I think I can feel the tmptaions coming but apprently the samsung 1400 is much better than the 1500 or 1600.
Best Mark.

Posted by Steven J Kirk (Member # 1135) on May 03, 2009, 11:31 PM:

I was playing THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL and QUO VADIS from a Pan BD30 player, ( now about £199 because not the latest ) a 'Chord' HDMI and Pan AE2000E 1080 VP. Both are 1.33:1 so project 4ft by 3ft on my screen. The player has 3x phono 'component' outputs actually.

Posted by Christopher P Quinn (Member # 1294) on May 04, 2009, 01:38 PM:

I have component on my player as well, will have to try them and see what the results are like compared to the HDMI cable.
Chris.

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on May 04, 2009, 05:38 PM:

Chris,

I use the component output with my LCD projetor and get great results.

Posted by Christopher P Quinn (Member # 1294) on May 05, 2009, 08:46 AM:

If i had known that i would not have paid out for the HDMI cabling. [Frown]

Chris.

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on May 05, 2009, 10:48 AM:

Didn't I mention it @ the bar in blackpool last years-LOL!!

Are you coming to the BFCC next week?

Cheers MW

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