The average expenditure for a decent up-conversion player will run you $60-$70 so the $70 price tag on the D3 at Sam's Club isn't too far off the mark.

Yes that is very good and decent price for "D3" which HD player and the best source of upscaling when HD format completely dies. Also the Toshiba "A3" is on sale @ Fry's Electronics for $74.99.

Well well well 4 weeks ago there was this talk and now see what happened with copy protection

Now maybe some of you see what i mean

But with the price of BD recorder so high copying of BD disc is out of reach for foreseeable future for average consumers.

yeah i know TCAS but it is the beginning of bootleg Blu-ray's

The recorder has to come about $100-$150 and the blank disc about $2-$3 before we could say average Joe began using it for the purpose of copying.

Yep it would be expensive right now to back up Blu-rays but it is possible now.

Well so i understand. I don't have the equipment or the media to try it.

May be we have to wait for two years or so to reach those affordable prices.

I can honestly say that for me TCAS

Then let's wait and not to jump to the band wagon out of desperation.

Let's hope there's no trade-off in quality, but that's the inevitable consequence that comes with significant price drops.

Howdy, new here - my first post .

I bought a Sony HDTV for Christmas, and got talked into a discounted Sony BD player - the store knocked $100 off the price plus I got to choose 10 free BD movies And I should add that I really dislike Sony's viral copy-protection and proprietary hardware!! Now that BD has won I bet they don't offer such good deals anymore. Guess I'm lucky I didn't get talked into an HD player!

IMHO the difference between BD and DVD is much smaller than the jump from VHS tape to DVD. So I would agree that prices for BD hardware and movies will have to drop tremendously before it becomes a viable alternative to standard-def DVD, especially if you have an upscaling DVD player. And I read on CNET that as of the end of February, there were only around 400 BD titles released, compared to 450 HDDVD titles out, compared to >90,000 SD DVD titles released.

Anyway, I came here to CDFreaks with the idea of adding a BD player or burner to an HTPC I'm planning to build. But after browsing a few threads and realizing burners are new technology with probable performance/compatibility issues and also priced too high and blank media >$10 a disc, I think I'll just rent BD movies from Netflix. I'll probably buy a few BD versions of my favorite movies like Bladerunner, and hope that eventually more movies like the LOTR series will be released in BD format. In the meantime, it seems like streaming HD content (like ABC's "Lost") is a pretty good alternative, aside from the commercials you gotta sit through.

Just my 2 cents worth..

Does anyone want to retract their Blu-Ray monopoly statements now?

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/Blu-ray...-to-climb.html

They have you on the leash he he

The price climbs won't last for long. If Sony's serious about getting a 50% market share for BD by the end of the year, the *ONLY* way that can possibly happen is if prices fall. What I see happening is a second round of "early adopter" syndrome. Now that BD is top dog, those who sat on the sidelines during the "war" are now thinking it's safe to buy. As a result, the companies (not just sony btw) are jacking up the prices trying to capitalize on what I call a "second round of early adopters". The market is still young. DVD consistently wipes the floor with BD in terms of sales volume.

So here's my last prediction on this cause I've been wrong twice before. If prices continue to go up, not down, they will not be able to compete with DVD and BD will fail just as spectacularly as HD DVD...or at the very least remain a niche market at best. Sony execs think they can hold the prices high for another year. I say that's suicide for the format, personally.

Hi SamiruHL.........some how i knew you would beat around the bush

Or have an excuse for it.

Not only the players the movie prices are slowly creeping up where I am as well. Last year I picked up a bunch of BD movies (2 for 1 sales), $15.00 a piece. Haven't seen that since Dec. They are going to dig themselves in a hole IMO. The Sony PS3 has been $399.99 since it came out and I haven't seen any price drops on it if that says anything. There are a couple of 7.1 audio BD titles I would like to get but I will not pay close to $40.00 for a movie. Problem is others will so they get away with it.

That is how the monopoly work when there is no competition. I only consider BD when the price of player drops to $100 and recorder (stand Alone) to $200 level.

I tried to explain this last year TCAS go Blu-gay

I've said it many times before and I will say it again. Given what we all know about the DVD backup scene, I am amazed that anyone here even purchased a Blu-Ray device (prior to HD-DVD backing out that is). After all of the dirty underhanded copy protection schemes that Sony has used throughout the last 10 years, I just can't see it being a good thing to put them in charge of the next gen format.

I could not agree more

I got m Blu-ray fairly cheap (cost + 5%) I had to work a deal to get it thrown in with my TV purchase though. The company I work for gets cost + 5% at a certian electronic shop. A deal is a deal.

Ditto/ But I still like my HD/DVD player. Very nice unit at $98 minus 10% plus all the free ones. Plus I jumped on those Discovery deals.

I told you guys last Sept that when Sony built 4 BD stamping plants in the U.S. that the big bad boy Sony was in this for the long haul.

That is when I bought my second PS3. Took the first one back.

Still my Toshiba "A" HD player is top notch player even as upscale one for the price of $100 that I bought it for.