The base requirements for Blu-Ray are significantly higher than for a plain old DVD player as can be ascertained by the minimum requirements for playing them on a PC. You can play a DVD on a 1.5 GHz computer, but you need a dual core 2.0 + GHz computer to meet the bare minimum for Blu-Ray playback.

Anyways, I think they’ll come down to $130 for Black Friday. I think the HD Camcorders will be a bit higher than mentioned, also at about $130, and I agree on the assumed pricing on the tvs.

Share Your Predictions for Black Friday 2008 and win 16GB iPod Touch.

It should be very interesting what people are expecting this coming Black Friday….

You can post your predictions here:
http://blackfriday.dealspl.us/news?id=7

REPLY: Chirpie
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“How exactly does a price drop prove price gouging?”

Because A: it proves they can charge less and still make money on the deal, B: it proves it costs them no more to make a player than it cost Toshiba to make one and C: when they weren’t a monopoly the prices came down as HD DVD came down. Once Toshiba quit, the prices shot right back up to what they were. Their pricing is arbitrary, therefore GOUGING.

“Hardly. The hard costs for a Blu-ray player are absolutely still higher than an average DVD player.”

Proof? And from a source that isn’t the manufacturer or an interested party? And just because they decide to keep putting features in to keep the price up doesn’t mean they’re features anyone wants.

“Buying up studio support to win? I guess they are unclean in that respect, but no more than Toshiba who did the same.”

Not to the extent that Sony did. Anyway, I’m referring to the price for players shooting back up the very day Toshiba threw in the towel.

“But I’m not sure what you mean by unstable?”

Unstable enough that they’ve had to create a new special commission just to iron out all the problems with the format. Exacerbated, no doubt, by packing in a bunch of codec support and Web-enabled “features” (usually hooked to toxic DRM) that nobody wants or needs.

Put a briefer way: To each his own, but I say no to Blu Ray. Now and for all time.

REPLY: Michael
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“They’re gouging on the prices and this price drop proves it.”

How exactly does a price drop prove price gouging? This is hardly the first time someone started charging less for a new technology, which leads us to…

“The technology’s not new and by economy of scale, it should now cost them no more to produce a BR player than a standard disc player.”

Hardly. The hard costs for a Blu-ray player are absolutely still higher than an average DVD player. They’ve only just now started designing new chips that are integrating items such as multi-core CPU and graphics accelerator duties all onto one chip. The horsepower needed to decode High Definition video at Blu-ray’s bitrate speeds are multitudes greater not to mention the myriads of new codecs they now support that they must decode.

“Besides, I don’t like the way Sony does business, as made evident by their actions in this format war.”

Buying up studio support to win? I guess they are unclean in that respect, but no more than Toshiba who did the same.

“It’s obsolete technology, anyway, and the format’s unstable. Not to mention their odious DRM. “

DRM does suck. But I’m not sure what you mean by unstable? Blu-ray has had fewer teething problems for me than the troubles I went through with DVD when it was first introduced.

I’ve already sworn off Blu Ray.
They’re gouging on the prices and this price drop proves it.
The technology’s not new and by economy of scale, it should now cost them no more to produce a BR player than a standard disc player.

Besides, I don’t like the way Sony does business, as made evident by their actions in this format war.

It’s obsolete technology, anyway, and the format’s unstable. Not to mention their odious DRM.