Playstations and Blu-Ray players

[andrewducker]

Let's assume that the PS3 will launch for about the same price as the XBox 360 (and anything else would be suicide) at around $450.

And let's also assume that the prices floating around for Blu-Ray players is reasonable accurate and that they'll be starting at $600.

Now, as the PS3 will have a Blu-Ray player built in, who the hell is going to go into competition with Sony by releasing their own player, when they will be beaten so badly on price?

Comments

[call-waiting.livejournal.com]

Let's assume that the PS3 will launch for about the same price as the XBox 360 (and anything else would be suicide) at around $450.

The most recent figure I've heard mentioned is round about the $800 mark.

Which is, as you say, suicide.

Except for the corner of the market that's the intersection of "People who want blu-ray players" and "people who want a next gen gaming console". Which, now I think amout it, is probably a fair percentage of those who want a next gen console anyway.

If this trend continues, you'll also be able to drive to work in the PlayStation 4.

[johnbobshaun.livejournal.com]

The most recent figure I've heard mentioned is round about the $800 mark.

There's a report doing the rounds at the moment that the cost of manufacting each PS3 unit will be $800, however its unimaginable that Sony will try selling them at this price. The question is, how much can they afford to lose on each unit sold? I doubt that they'll be able to match the 360's price point. Somewhere between $500 and $600 seems a fair bet.

[andrewducker]

Personally, I don't believe that report is right - I think that Sony can get the parts cheaper than that wholesale. They'll almost certainly be making a loss, but it won't be as bad a loss as people are making out.

[johnbobshaun.livejournal.com]

I'd be surprised. Especially considering that the 360 cost $715 per unit upon release
. And that uses a DVD drive. Which costs, maybe $10-$20 to manufacture?

[johnbobshaun.livejournal.com]

When the PS2 came out in 2000 it was pretty much in the same price range as a stand-alone DVD player.

[johnbobshaun.livejournal.com]

Early on you'll have a stage where Sony are losing money hand over fist on each PS3 sold. However (if all goes to plan) they'll be getting Blueray players into a large number of households this way. Which is what they *really* want: I'm assuming that due to licensing they'll be able to recouple some of their losses on sales of BluRay format movies.

The manufacting costs of BluRay players will quickly go down as time goes on, but I'm betting this won't lead to any major price drops in PS3 hardware. I think this is when standalone BluRay players will be able to undercut the PS3 and sell in serious quantities.

[akicif.livejournal.com]

I was working on playstation.com when the PS2 launched (oh, happy days of free beer and japanese takeaways before the last tube), and yes, the actual cost of the bits in a PS2 were well more than they sold the whole thing for.

[johnbobshaun.livejournal.com]

Thats interesting: I'd always wondered how much Sony were losing on the PS2 and for how long. Any ideas? I seem to remember the Japanese release price being *much* higher than the US one but I'm guessing that after couple of years they were able to turn a tidy profit on each unit sold. After all, Nintendo and Microsoft dropped their hardware prices sooner than Sony did...

[sneakingyoda.livejournal.com]

My thought is that people will wish to have two seperate machines. If they want the Ps3 for games, they'll get it- and a good portion of people will also play their movies on it.

I personally- if I had the money- would get a seperate dvd player because of previous history problems the PS systems have had with playing dvd's. With extended Dvd use Ps2's are more likely to have problems than if they were only used for games. (weird isn't it.)

I would be weary of the same problem for Ps3's.

That and when I did play a movie on the Ps2 I didn't like the sound qaulity it produced (movies seemed really muted).

In any sort- don't forget all those non gamer types out there that won't even consider the Ps3 as a alternative for movie viewing. Tons of money to be made still by simply releasing a player of your own.

[azalemeth.livejournal.com]

I think the honest answer will be either "No one" (thus creating a win for HD-DVD, and, alas, AACS) or, if we're lucky "The consumer", by a price war.

*Looks at usual hollywood related prices and business practices*

Blu-ray players will be $350. Blu-ray disks themselves however, about $50 and "expire" ten weeks after you get them....

[andrewducker]

Blu-Ray is also using AACS...

Blu-Ray disks will be about the same prics as DVDs apparently:
http://us.gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/sony-sets-bluray-pricing-153443.php

[robhu.livejournal.com]

I suspect either the PS3 will be arbitrarily crippled in some way (unlikely) or it will just lack certain 'top end' features.

Those top end features will lead to videophiles adopting the top end players (that cost more than the PS3), everyone else will get a PS3 (win for Sony)... after awhile of course the cost will go down and blu-ray players will start to cost less than the PS3.

I remember a number of people I know bought a PS2 because it also played DVDs - and this was at a time when DVD players were not cheap, and the lower end ones were certainly not good. Probably something similar will happen.

I'm not sure when the other format (HD-DVD?) comes out, but I suspect the competition with that may play into things a bit (although at this stage I woudl be surprised if the Sony backed option did not come up trumps).

[johnbobshaun.livejournal.com]

I suspect either the PS3 will be arbitrarily crippled in some way (unlikely) or it will just lack certain 'top end' features.

This is a very good point. Don't quote me on this but I think I heard most stand alone Blu-Ray players are going to be read/write. PS3 will be read only. I'll try and find a link to substantiate this.

[chuma.livejournal.com]

Who cares? Nintendo Revolution ++

:>

[andrewducker]

Obviously - that's what I want.

I'm just intrigued by the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD war.

On the other hand, in either case they'll be replaced by VoD within their lifetimes, so I don't care _that_ much about either.

[johnbobshaun.livejournal.com]

It'll be interesting to see whether either format *does* take off. People don't want a new format just for the sake of it, which is pretty much what it will be until HD-TV is more commonplace.

People managed with VHS for 20 years. Most people have had DVD players for less than five. And, you know, there are plenty of media formats that just fizzled out. Laserdisc was only ever popular in a niche market. Noone really bought prerecorded minidiscs: they bought the CD and copied it. UMD, Sony's PSP movie format, has been a big, big failure because noone wants to buy a film on DVD and then spend the same amount on a version you can watch on the move. Especially when you can just rip it to mp4 and whack it on a memory stick.

[andrewducker]

Oh, absolutely. I think the push to HD will come from Sky/Telewest initially, and while they're both slowly getting there (Telwest are trialling HD and it's rolling out properly over the next month or two) it'll be a while before it goes at all mainstream.

Not to mention the lack of HD TVs that are any good, at a decent price.

[derumi.livejournal.com]

At least one pr0n publisher claims they'll support Blu-Ray.

[andrewducker]

People still buy porn on little plastic disks?

Have they not heard of the interweb?

[derumi.livejournal.com]

That might be why a publisher wants to go to a DRM-ready format. However long it'll stay "protected".