Blu-Ray continues on its mission to put profit back into the hardware game

[allargon]

Yes, that was one of its missions along with MPEG2 codecs. Fortunately, MPEG2 is going the way of broadcast only in high def thanks to H.264, AVC and VC-1.

Tom's Hardware shows a graph with Blu-Ray player prices relatively flat almost trending upward. Of course, HD DVD player prices are in free fall with the format being pretty much dead.

Pricewatch: HD DVD In Free Fall, Blu-ray Continues Upward Trend | Tom's Hardware

 

[ONUOsFan]

Yes, that was one of its missions along with MPEG2 codecs. Fortunately, MPEG2 is going the way of broadcast only in high def thanks to H.264, AVC and VC-1.

Tom's Hardware shows a graph with Blu-Ray player prices relatively flat almost trending upward. Of course, HD DVD player prices are in free fall with the format being pretty much dead.

Pricewatch: HD DVD In Free Fall, Blu-ray Continues Upward Trend | Tom's Hardware

I think they're keeping them high so that they can introduce 1.1 and 2.0 players at the same prices and no one will "freak out" because, after all, they have more features... I imagine we'll see some of these older ones drop fairly quickly when the new ones come out, to get them out of the stores.

Once you get to the point that 2.0 players are pretty much commonplace and they've been out for a while, prices will start to drop more - maybe around Christmas, or sometime next year...?

I agree that they could do more with hardware pricing, but I guess that's always been a key strategy difference between the two formats. If standalone players were my only choice, I most likely wouldn't have Blu-Ray at all at this point...

 

[berck]

Fortunately, MPEG2 is going the way of broadcast only in high def thanks to H.264, AVC and VC-1.

Do you realized that H.264 and AVC are the same thing? (link)

 

[John Kotches]

Yes, that was one of its missions along with MPEG2 codecs. Fortunately, MPEG2 is going the way of broadcast only in high def thanks to H.264, AVC and VC-1.

AVC and H.264 are the same codecs.

Tom's Hardware shows a graph with Blu-Ray player prices relatively flat almost trending upward. Of course, HD DVD player prices are in free fall with the format being pretty much dead.

With the exception of the outlying Denon players and the stupid expensive Goldmund the prices are dropping. If we were to pick the median price it would be lower, not higher.



Pricewatch: HD DVD In Free Fall, Blu-ray Continues Upward Trend | Tom's Hardware[/QUOTE]

I don't consider Tom's to be an authority on the CE business.