DVDs are priced....

[tgpo]

Just Right....

Poll Submitted by dphirschler

[Swaze360]

It kinda depends on the genre: As far as theatrical releases go, they go for a reasonable price... but other options such as anime: It's at times entirely too much!

[ghoster]

if people stop and think about it dvds and cds are about the same in price. a cd-r cost like 10 to 20 cents each dvd-r cost like 70 cents to a dollar. cd-r holds 700 megs dvd-r holds 4.3 gb. so it takes like 6 cds to equal one dvd-r so you would pay anywhere from 60 cents to a dollar for the same amount of space. inless you are one of the suckers who bought a drive that only burns + media. so if people are saying dvds are to expensive then they should be saying same for cds. i know in some cases i have gotten a 100 pack of cd-rs for like 9 bucks after rebate but in most cases you be paying at least a dime for one cd. just my opinion on the subject.

[LanceSteel]

Does anyone know the difference in cost between making a VHS versus authoring and stamping a DVD? I'm just curious because it would seem to cost more to make a VHS (materials wise) than a DVD yet DVDs are more expensive than VHS tapes. Is that due to the production costs for adding extras and alternate audio, etc?

[MOVIEGEEK]

I think DVD movies are reasonably priced compared to VHS,I think the extras are worth $5 more.
It's music CD's that are overpriced.

[jacknjt]

ahhaha
ghoster u dont think about the future the time u spent to burn those movies. bad unbranded dvd-rs are cheap but they wont last.

[flaninacupboard]

Lance steel,

DVD production costs a lot on a professional scale.
you need a film scanner, several thousand pounds. you need big enough hard drives to store the data. many thousand pounds. you need hardware encoders, thousands of pounds. you need decent authoring software, thousands of pounds. you need somoene to tell you what equipment to buy and to operate it. thousands of pounds. you need to write your completed project to digital tape, thousands of pounds, then you need to press the discs, stick the two layers together, test them, print them, pack them, distribute them. and that's before the people who own the copyright see a penny!

as for the cost, online retailers selling them for £14 or so a disc, i don't mind paying. shop prices are too high. i don't understand why some TV series are so expensive though, for instance, Stargate SG-1 series 1 was £35, Farscape Series 1 is £80 online! what's going on there?

[ghoster]

well i have been using accu dvd-r for all my movies. i guess i will soon see where or not this brand will last.

[Vejita-sama]

For the most part DVDs are priced correctly ($20-30). But some series, and as other have mention anime, are really over priced. Take the ST:TNG box sets for example.

I understand that star trek is not going to sell as many copies as the Harry Potter, but still... Some box sets are very reasonably priced, Buffy the Vampire Slayers, so it can be done.

[Gazorgan]

A local sports highlight tape is going for $14.95 US, and the DVD version (absolutely the same content) is going for $19.95. Needless to say the company offering the media gets a LOT of letters, and the amount of badwill probably has lost them hundreds fo thousands of dollars in sales.

As I recall from CD/Tape controversy, that tapes (VHS) cost more than disks (DVD) to make. It's the time issue involved, and the high speed dubbing machines only go a few hundred dubs before the heads are replaced.

I will generally by the DVD if it's $10 US or less. The $19.95 DVD's I don't buy, I wait, and after awhile they are under $10 US. Classic releases sometimes run $40 or $50 US, especially multiple disk sets. Are the prices right? Sometimes, and sometimes they are WAY OVERPRICED. 4 DVD's for 99 cents is a pretty good deal, just ask all my roommates :P

[The village idiot]

DVD production costs a lot on a professional scale.
you need a film scanner, several thousand pounds. you need big enough hard drives to store the data. many thousand pounds. you need hardware encoders, thousands of pounds. you need decent authoring software, thousands of pounds. you need somoene to tell you what equipment to buy and to operate it. thousands of pounds. you need to write your completed project to digital tape

This all happens before the movie is finished. Very few things are actually edited and composited with film anymore. It all happens on a computer. In theory, it is actually easier to produce a DVD than it is to send it back to a film master.

Now the expense part...

Some studios have see the light of day. Look at the Buffy Vampire Slayer box sets. A complete season, 6 disks, 20+ episodes for around $50 USD. Now then look at Farscape box set. Same 6 disks and 20+ episodes for around $140 USD. The episodes are the same length for each, so why the drastic price difference? As a result, I own all of the BVS sets so far, and none of the Farscape.

You can't rent the BVS disks and copy them for much less than it would cost to buy them. Thus that studio has effectively prevented me from stealing them! And I'm happy that I didn't have too.

Now then the anime is a whole other topic... They are "in" at the moment, and therefore more expensive. Blame Cartoon Network for that.

[solarfox]

Now then the anime is a whole other topic... They are "in" at the moment, and therefore more expensive. Blame Cartoon Network for that.

Not really... Anime has always been more expensive (read, "overpriced") for most of its lifetime in the U.S. market. It's a combination of factors -- niche market, plus additional costs of translation, plus the cost of "doing business" with the Japanese studios (getting the rights to even a single series can involve weeks or months of convoluted negotiations, deal-making, wining and dining, etc... and it's not uncommon to have to start from square one and do this negotiation process all over again with every title you try to license, even when it all comes from the same studio!) and having to have legal experts on both sides of the pond go through the contracts...

[flaninacupboard]

actually, farscape has a legitimate reason for being more expensive than buffy in the US, it's shot on PAL, so it needs to be transcoded before going onto R1 discs. doesn't explain it's expensivity in the UK though. i mean, family guy, £16 for a whole series, farscape £100, i just don't get it!!

[Conquest10]

i feel as though, for the most part, dvds are reasonably priced. its worth the $20. a music cd is not. some, however, are a little too much. lawrence of arabia is a great movie. but its $40. disney movies are also a little too much. but i wait for a sale when they're $25.

[energy80s]

The standard price for a DVD here (in the UK) is £20 that's about $31. The VHS is about £8 less, even though it costs far more to produce. If the price of new release DVD's came down to £10 I wouldn't be bothered trying to copy them and just buy the damn things instead!

[SatStorm]

Outside US the prices are really high.
In US (and if you count the salaries you have there) it is just right.

CD is WAY overpriced, that's why the music indersty suffers! And the more the music indestry suffers, the most "general" music gonna produce. The most "general" music, the less market. Today, or you choose to be music trendy, or you turn undergound/ retro.
Suprice: Most people turn retro. The 80s music revival is fenomenal in Europe/Asia those days....
Why? Cheap music, many gentres, many music alternatives.

Today is only this idiot Enimem, that ungly slot Britney, this stupid nu-metal (with punk look), that totally local black music, that totaly Homo dance music. If you don't like something from the above, you don't have to listen to something new.
What about those who like dance music and they are not homosexuals? What about those who like electronic music and they don't like drugs? What about those who like Pop music and they don't like Teen lyrics? What about those who like rock music, and not attitude or overaged stupid subjects/performers?
The music subject is huge. Long live the revivals and the underground!
They can't control those areas and all the new generations turn that way!
In Europe at least....

[pacmania_2001]

In Australia the price of a DVD is about AUS$25, that equals about US$14.

Some of the titles are more (top end is about $39.95) and some are less (lowest are about $15).

I think that if I can get the DVD for about $20-25 then that is reasonably priced.

The problem we have though is getting different versions of the DVD then say R1 with crappier extras etc.

[SquirrelDip]

As a consumer, DVD’s are always going to be overpriced – no matter what price they’re set at.

Realistically, I figure they’re just about right – for the new releases anyway… Here, in Canada, new releases can be had for about $25 ($15 USD). Considering the quality of the picture, the extras and the sound that $25 is a fair price. Especially when compared to over-priced music CD’s.

@ those people above who are trying to rationalize the prices based on production costs – I think you’re barking up the wrong tree. I believe the prices are set at what industry figures will sell. Firstly, DVD’s are more expensive than VHS because we consumers are willing to pay more for them.

Take a look at the stores when new movies are released – crappy movies will always be a few dollars lower than block busters (I’ve noticed this time and time again). And the more cultish a film is the higher it’s price will be. Why can I go to Wal-Mart and pick up a VHS of “Slap Shot” for $8.88 but the DVD will cost $35 to $40 (same for many other titles). However, I can go pick up many old, less cultish, titles for that $8.88…

[sudsbrewer]

actually, farscape has a legitimate reason for being more expensive than buffy in the US, it's shot on PAL, so it needs to be transcoded before going onto R1 discs. doesn't explain it's expensivity in the UK though. i mean, family guy, £16 for a whole series, farscape £100, i just don't get it!!

Excuse me if I'm missing something here but consider the fact that creating the master(s) is a one-time expense after which mass DVD production (ie stamping) is of a minimal cost. I find it hard to believe that they haven't recouped the costs of DVD production and distribution within the first few thousands of sets sold, after which it is relative gravy. After all, the successful series themselves have already recouped the actual film/video/production costs. I'm sure the point is that the DVD producer/distributers have planned out where and when the expected profits are to be obtained. If you wait long enough you will find the stuff you want in the bargain bins as they dump the price to shed the excess inventory.

suds

[flaninacupboard]

ah, but things are different here in the UK, for something like the star trek series, a seperate encode is required than R1 discs as we need PAL, and so new authoring and mastering has to be carried out, and then at the end of that they may only ship a few thousand units. mind you, a lot of UK releases are aimed at all of europe, so they spend longer in more expensive production while they get german spanish french czech swedish dubbing and -loads- of subtitles. my copy of sex and the city has no less than eleven sets of subs!

[Conquest10]

my copy of sex and the city has no less than eleven sets of subs!

wow! i wish u.s. dvds had that many. us here are lucky if we get three: english, french, and spanish. most of the time its only english.

[markums2k]

Have you guys ever authored your own DVD? It's a big deal. Especially when these studios/authoring houses go for big overblown menu animations and whatever. Always unnecessary, yes, but they gotta make a living too. Of course, you're not paying them to lay out the features or menus logically...

On VHS, they just slap some trailers on the beginning and that's it. No authoring. No compression methods. No 5.1 or DTS mixing. No extra features (in most cases).

I live in the U.S. and I don't mind paying $20-$30 for a well-thought out package. So why are studios dumping special editions all of a sudden? I was really upset when Fox downgraded the Fight Club set. Signs is truly the saddest "Vista Series" release ever. 1 disc. No features. What a load of bull.

When I see a DVD where "Widescreen" is the only special feature (ahem, PARAMOUNT), I view it as the equivalent of a $20 music CD with only forty-five minutes worth of content. 10 lousy tracks just doesn't cut it, and neither does widescreen. With or without a 5.1 mix. And that's when I find alternative means... 8)

[birdygal]

Considering a new release NON Sellthrough VHS Movie costs $65.00 to a video store and the same DVD released on the same day is $23.00 or less I'd say they were underpriced

As a former Video store owner in a small hick town DVD's released to the public on the same day as the VHS put us out of buisness since only 5 percent of our customers owned a dvd player

It use to be video stores had new release exclusive for 90 days before pay per view and 6 months before they were available at walmart for $12 or on Cable

Now the Vhs is still $65.00 DVD available the same day for $23 or less
Vhs available at Walmart within 60 days for $9.00

At $4.00 a rental with tax the movie just gets paid for by the time you can buy it at Walmart,

Of course then for a video store to carry Dvd's 75 percent of the rental public has to own a DVD player which they don't $2000 in equipment for keeping the DVD's in rentable condition.

VHS tapes were easy to fix, DVD's aren't

[Sefy]

I Think alot of DVD's are over priced, but there are some that do deserve
the price tags, for example, complete TV Series Seasons, but here is an
example of two:

Transformers Season 1 - 45$ - 16 Episodes (2.8$ per Episode!)
Transformers Season 2 - 50$ - 24 Episodes (2.0$ per Episode!)

On the other hand, a James Bond Bond would cost by itself around 20$
and I am quite sure you can find alot of movies that surpass the 30$ to
50$ and for me that is extremly expensive.

I Buy a movie when it costs me around 10$ to 15$, I find that very worth
it! I Just bought the Entire James Bond Collection on BlackStar in the UK
cause they had a sale of 2 movies for 134 nis (23$) and the delivery was
included!

But I wanted to buy Ranma and that show has 100$ price tag per each of
the seasons, and there are 7 seasons and 12 OAV episodes and 2 movies
which would come to a total of almost 1000$!! that's WAY too much!

[gimp]

I just bought some DVD's on sale at Wal-mart for $5.88 each i think that was a very reasonable price. If they cost that all the time new & old i probally would never rip one or back one up any more. Also i think at that price it would probally stop some of the piracy of copying dvds but not all of it lets face it, it will never be stopped!!! IMHO

[minchjp]

I live in Australia, and the DVD's here are around $25 - $30 and some australian TV seris, i got for $30 (Kath and Kim - Season 1, All Aussie Adventures Season 1 & 2 $30). All this is about $15 US, so we get it preatty good here! (Plus our dvd's are PAL )

[LanEvo7]

Are we talking about DVD-Media or Movie DVDs?

[tgpo]

I was refering to movie DVDs. BUt people can take it however they want.

[Cyrl]

I think the prices are fine in the US, it's a "luxury" item really, 15 to 30 dollars and you have a permanant digital copy of one of your favorite movies. Lets not forget with VHS how many times have you worn out your favorite movie or had a VCR that ate the tape... I would have to say about 20% of all VHS I'd ever owned have "died" at one point or another. Australia has great prices on DVD's really, the UK is a bit high it seems... The average household has what 3 people in it roughly, how much does it cost to go to a movie for 3 people, if you don't buy any snacks or drinks it's going to run at least 24 bucks.. I've watched my copy of Mallrats at least 40 times, 50 cents a showing there, I've watched The Seven Samurai about 10 times now, 3 bucks a show, and that was an expensive disc.

I don't see them as overpriced...

[ChrisX]

They are generally overpriced. The retailers charge too much and expect the consumer to pay. I have to shop around for the best and prices do vary so much from place to place.

Recommended retail prices doesn't mean anything here. I feel being ripped off too much lately.