Ulead DVD Workshop 2, why so expensive?

[bnbhoha]

Ulead DVD Workshop 2 is suppose to be one of the better products out there for creating menus and such. I will never ever spend more than $100 an a re-authoring program. Why do retailers mark up their products such as this so ridiculously high?

I know some people are willing to spend the mula, but come on. Wouldn't they stand to make more $$ if they lowered the price and sold by volume instead? After all it's just binary zeros and ones and eventually the program will be out of date and worth nothing. I would love to buy this but not for that price.

[Forum Troll]

It's marketed toward a different group of people. It's a professional-level application with many advanced features for production, hence the higher price. There are simpler products for the basic home user that are simpler and cheaper, that don't include the advanced features in the professional software a basic user would never use or need.

[spectroelectro]

Short version:

Greed.

[Duchess]

Ever considered that the more complex a program is the more man hours it takes to put together. Result is that the development costs are higher than the simpler stuff, so of course those costs have to be clawed back and the only way is by upping the sale price. Simple economics !

[lordsmurf]

Expensive? You are mistaken. Most software at the advanced level costs a couple hundred dollars ($200-800) and is for the reason stated above: more R&D and programming time. Higher costs to product AND maintain. They maintain this software quite well, it's not a "make and dump" like some do, where no patches/upgrades/updates ever happen.

[8t88]

Expensive? You are mistaken. Most software at the advanced level costs a couple hundred dollars ($200-800) and is for the reason stated above: more R&D and programming time. Higher costs to product AND maintain. They maintain this software quite well, it's not a "make and dump" like some do, where no patches/upgrades/updates ever happen.

Amen...... 8)

[bnbhoha]

Okay, but would't they stand to make MORE money if it was priced right. Now that the work is done, the average person will not buy this.

Let me use an X-box game for an example: Millions of dollars are spent creating video games (I know they don't upgrade or "fix" the games) but the games are somewhat reasonably priced at $50. X-box and PS2 make their money off of games and not their systems.

I wish someone would try selling by volume. If they do, hundreds of thousands of peopel will buy their product. If the game was let's say priced at $100, then may be hundreds of people will buy it.

Or what about pay per view events. With Satellite TV, you can buy them with just a push of a button. Why not lower the price for a boxing or wrestling match. I will never pay $39.99; I will however consider $20 and I believe most peopel would too. My point is, I believe "they" would stand to make more profit if they lowered the price.

Once again, the work is done and it's been a couple of years since this product has been out, let's lower the price to see what happens. To me, it's just ridiculous because I will not purchase the product, but will read how great it is. Okay, that's enough whining for now. Thanks

[lordsmurf]

False economics. Lowering the prices will not necessarily drive up demand. If you lower it to $100, then people will whine that it's not $50, and so on. Cannot please everybody.

They chose a cut-off point, and it appears you fall below it. If you really need the software, you'll get it. If not, there's always TDA for you.

By your same logic a Hummer should be the same price as a golf cart. Well, that's just not how the world works.

[TheFamilyMan]

Quality software cost hundreds of thousands to over a million dollars to produce and maintain. How do I know? I write software as a professional working for a large corporation. In our lab, $300 for a useful software package is considered chump change. Commercial grade packages easily run in the $1K to $10K price range. Actually, I am amazed at how inexpensive consumer level software really is. And these companies are not idiots, they've done their market reseach for the markets they target and their products are priced according. Believe me, these companies are not making a killing with their products, and neither are the retailers (usually). Enough with this rant!

[Duchess]

Let me use an X-box game for an example: Millions of dollars are spent creating video games (I know they don't upgrade or "fix" the games) but the games are somewhat reasonably priced at $50. X-box and PS2 make their money off of games and not their systems.

Hold on you're not comparinng like with like. Games are sold in the hundreds of millions worldwide, video editing software has a far more limited market and I doubt that they will sell more than a few million copies world wide. Thus the cost has to reflect this situation.

It it costs $10M to produce and you sell 100M copies then the cost per copy is going to be $0.1 but if you only sell 1M then the cost is going to be $10.0 each.

[jtoolman2000]

if it was priced right. Now that the work is done, the average person will not buy this

Well, the unfortunate fact is that these programs are not meant for the "Average" person usually demanding a $50 to $100 level program. You see examples of some of this in this forum everyday. Some one asks a question that seems very very elementary but then they are using a $700 NLE which I have to ASSUME they actually purchased. Now that program IS meant for the proffessional level user with at least intermediate to advanced level or experience or training under his or her belt. If they for whatever the reason actually did spend the $$$ then one has to wonder WHY??? Since they apparently aren't able to do even a simple DV capture or slip edit. Some programs are simply not designed for the Pinnacle Studio level user regardless of $$$. Their learning curves can be immense and intimidating. I am not saying that average folk should not be allowed to ascend to these higher level progs but only warn that it will take you a very long time and effort to master them. I will routinely use an AVID system at work but at home I will use Premiere Pro / Vegas 6 and even Pinnacle Studio 9 if the particular project I am working on requires it.
Also If you are a pro in business, the cost of a program just part of your operating expenses and so can be easily absorbed. I would not spend hundreds on something simply for my personal non profit use, unless I was wealthy which unfortunately is not the case