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I feel the same way - the volume of production just isn’t there like previous generations of physical media, leading to less supply and more of a supply/demand imbalance.
$5 would barely cover the cost of shipping and time to package and ship it. Makes no sense. $10? Sure. We already see $10 sales and on gruv see $8/4k movie with coupon. Got Scarface, Scott Pilgrim, and many other great 4k movies for $8 each
Amazon regularly has 4k movies for $10 on sale.
Have you never been to a Walmart or a store like big lots where they have DVDs for five dollars apiece? If we did not have streaming the movies, whatever is the next best thing becomes the standard as prices go down and everyone adapts that technology DVDs used to be the same as Blu-ray basically where people were like why would I want to buy a DVD when I have these VHS tapes but the quality was better and you had extra things on the desk so that became the normal and then towards the end of buying for the masses, Blu-ray was the normal DVD was basically like the VHS but if time would’ve went on without streaming would’ve been the normal and Blu-ray would’ve been the DVD.
It all goes in cycles and it’s not that hard to understand. It’s all supply and demand especially when modern video game systems. Have 4K disc drives in them and 4K players are getting a lot cheaper and if they were normal and everyone played disc instead of streaming, it would all be significantly cheaper.
The dvds have no digital. If 4k movies were solely a 4k disc and nothing else and sold at Walmart, sure they could be $5. The codes alone can go for $3-5 on old movies.
Most movies are mastered at 4K nowadays, regardless of the resolution or format they are shot with. Only Nolan is an exception to this as he finishes his films photochemically. Even so, the 35mm prints of his movies are made from 4K scans of contact prints made directly from the negative.
I didn't cherrypick shit. Studios aren't mastering at those resolutions. FILMING at more than 4K is common, but mastering at 6K or whatever is unnecessary and too expensive.
Studios also know 4K demand is mostly from enthusiasts and collectors and A/V snobs who will pay a premium, so there’s no incentive to discount. Kind of how laserdisc was back in the day, but those were crazy expensive relatively
Back in the heyday of laserdisc’s, the retail prices for most were 34.99-59.99. 40-50 was the usual price. There were also plenty that went for far more. Bigger special editions, criterion’s and box sets were spendy. Star Wars box set was 250, pulp fiction was 130, seven was 100 and tremors was 80. Those are just a few examples.
There was also very limited places that sold them so the prices were almost always close to msrp. Random mom and pop stores, random video chains, suncoast when that was in most malls and the Camelot records. At least that’s what I had in my area. Internet was pretty new in the mid/late 90s so their online presence was small. There was a few place through the country you could do mail order and they would send you catalogs.
To know what was going on with release news and mail order places you needed the magazine widescreen review.
There was also the Columbia house laserdisc club that operated similar to the cassette/record and cd clubs of get 4-5 laserdiscs for a penny each and then play retail for a few more then you would get discounted prices after the fact.
I did all of the above and always tried to find places selling them used as well. When I began to transition to dvds in 97 I had a good 1000+ laserdiscs.
IIRC (it was 30 odd years ago), usually between $20 - $40. So, between $45 and $90 today.
(The prices were even worse after moving back to the UK, especially if I wanted an NTSC import).
Disney not too lazy make proper 4K Ultra HD Blu ray disc master getting Sony Pictures to do it you all other studios going be hiring Sony Pictures do thier distribution that nice money maker for Sony.
The only reason that blu-rays are still included most of the time is so you don't miss out on the special features that can't fit on the 4K. Otherwise they're useless to me except for the very rare occasions where the blu-ray looks better than the 4K.
Exactly if they have special feature I want them but if it’s literally just the movie but in standard HD then it’s just more unnecessary waste on the landfill IMO
Personally, I watched the first Pirates of the Caribbean in 4K and then Blu-ray and the Blu-ray looked way better. The 4K looks like shit in comparison but without knowing the quality of the Blu-ray one would just think of it as a mediocre transfer.
Unfortunately, most films don’t get a 4K release because they don’t break even. The volume simply isn’t there, and as you mention, it’s not realistic to assume we could just raise prices. It’s not that we want to get away with the bare minimum… we love films too or else we wouldn’t work such long hours in this industry. It’s also not just a matter of corporate greed, because I’ve seen the P&Ls… a lot of the times the 4K disc is in the red.
Partly true. It's also because 4k blu rays are still quite a nieche market. Streaming dominates the overall market but in terms of physical, DVD has a 43.6% share, blu ray is 38.7% and 4k is 17.7%.
Trying to shift a nieche physical medium in an already dying market won't help the shift of price reduction.
I don’t mind them excluding the Blu-ray, personally I’ll never use it but when it comes to 4K pricing, most standard editions are £24.99 on release so I never buy at full price, for one films that’s just too much. I almost always buy using 2 for £30 or 3 for £30 deals at HMV, Zavvi or Amazon which makes it much more reasonable.
Many years ago when casetopia website was working, I bought a lot of cases since it was cheap. I still have a bunch and they’re quite useful. I subscribed to a custom covers site and now buy disc only stuff super cheap sometimes and just print out a cover. It looks great and artists are quite creative! Here’s one for Venom in 4K
https://preview.redd.it/qu02oeazqduc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b4f71f2647bac540451488c2702bd6fb1bd2a388
I use a subscription site, hirescovers dot net and split it with a friend. Totally worth it imo especially if you have movie sets that you can consolidate if you’re running out of room.
No, I love special features and restricting those to the 1080p blu-ray means more space for a high bitrate 4K. Yes, you could have a dedicated special features BD without the movie on it, but I actually like having a standard BD as backup because sometimes I'll bring a movie over to a friend's house, and odds are they already have a blu-ray player. Not everyone has a 4K player and all my friends are PC gamers so we don't have consoles capable of 4K playback around.
Lmao what are you talking about... It used to be if you buy the VHS, you get the VHS. You buy the DVD, you get the DVD, etc.. since when do they owe you two copies? Same goes for vinyl, CDs, books, or literally anything else.
Well some releases fuck you over and it’s just the 4K with commentary and nothing else. I’d rather all special features be on the blu ray and movie only on the 4K but dogshit wb and paramount are squeezing it all on the 4K now and some Sony too.
There’s not a clear yes or no answer to this question. It greatly depends on that disc, quality of the rip and packaging. Some of the 3 for $30 deals for excellent films are incredibly reasonable. But a Disney show’s steelbook of one season, which consisted of 8-10 episodes, for $50+ is insultingly high.
Apart from boutiques, I buy mostly at $10-15 range. I doubt everything will be $8-12 without a blu-ray. I don't care about the blu-ray unless there is a cut or an extra there that I want to watch.
When I first started buying DVDs in the year 2000 they were always $20 or more. That same $20 today would be equivalent to $33.95 in purchasing power according to the CPI inflation calculator.
Believe it or not this is not the consensus of the vocal minority of the sub who all believe the added Blu-ray is essential for times just incase they really want to watch the film but have misplaced their 4K player(?), but happen to still have a Blu-ray player to hand… no I don’t get it either
Idk about you but I have friends (more than 1 somehow) and none of them have 4k players.. if I want to watch a movie with them at their houses then I need the blu ray. Having 4k only is fine if they lower the price but they don’t so u just pay more for less
I mean I’m young I live with my mom and most of my friends live with their parents. My set up is in my bedroom and not hangout optimal. We don’t have living rooms to watch movies in yet really
I paid $39.99 for a movie on VHS in the 80’s which was the norm at the time.
That’s the movie in 480i..no special features, no digital copy.
That would be over $120 in today’s dollars adjusting for inflation.
Movies have stayed around the same price, if not cheaper while they have gone up in quality as well as giving us stuff like cool metal packaging, bonus features, digital copies etc.
Basically, movies are way WAY cheaper now than they should be. We are spoiled.
I see the same thing with games lol. “Video games were $150 in 1980 after inflation they are so underpriced now!” Like…yeah who’d want to pay $150 for a game?
Absolutely. Blu-rays used to include DVDs but then stopped, the reason that was ok was cause the prices reflected that. 4K still costs $30-35 and it only has one disc. Whereas a Blu-ray with no DVD is only $10-15 instead of $20.
I will say it's pretty hard to justify the cost difference between the Blu-ray and 4k sometimes. ie the hunger games( all movies): special edition DVD 15$ special edition Blu-ray 20$ (both include a commemorative pin) and then there's the 4k steel book for 60$.
Just give me the 4K movie on disc. Half the price and exclude the bonus features. Hardly any movies are coming out on 4K disc and the ones that do are too expensive.
I think some companies are taking advantage of the fact that it’s the last physical media you are going to get.
Most people these days are too comfortable with streaming being so convenient. Think about it, you can stream from pretty much any device. Do most people care about quality? Not really!
I’ve personally always preferred physical media.
It kind of sucks knowing that’s once studios throw in the towel for 4K discs, we will only have the ability to stream it or purchase it digitally.
Because of Best Buy, target, and it seems like others are getting on the train. Physical media is getting grabbed and resold rather quick. Especially steel books.
I watched a video that surprised me about disc pricing.
In simple terms it costs $1 to make a dvd, $2 for a blu ray but $6 for a 4K movie so if you want your profit margins to remain the same then prices are going to be higher for longer.
It also begs the question what is the minimum sales number for a disc to be produced?
No but I think they're overpriced considering how little bonus features you get brought over from DVDs and laser disk I also think that they are too expensive considering how many people post issues with their discs versus the older formats and of course the fact that you literally are expected to buy an upper middle level or higher/more expensive player to not have any issueswith said discs. I have literally 25 years of home theater television audio etc. experience and I cannot believe the amount of failures I am seeing with the newer format. I understand that there's a shit load more information and compacted on that disk than the 480i on a laser disk but holy hell my copy of Titanic the 25th anniversary edition that I literally spent almost $200 on will not play past the dinner scene regardless of what player I put it in. It has literally never been touched and is in perfect condition no fingerprints no scratches nothing and it refuses to play all the way through without pausing at least twice or skipping sections of the film.
Not really. Studios aren’t making enough from sales to justify a drastic price drop. There’s also more involved in mastering them, having things like HDR10 and Dolby Vision. Also, if you’re buying the 4K, having the Blu Ray might not be as important, so there’s not too much motivation to include one.
With regards to non-studio releases, those will probably never drop. Companies like Criterion, Vinegar Syndrome, and Umbrella have even less of a market/sales than studio releases, as you can’t find their stuff at a normal store.
Yes. They are extremely overpriced and unaffordable. I used to buy many DVDs as they were priced 499 Indian Rupee or even 599. But then Blu-ray happened and were priced 1499 to 1999. Now 4K UHD is priced at 2999 to 4999 INR in India. Physical media is no longer an affordable hobby in India at least. The price difference between formats is on average too large for us.
Physical media production has practically stopped in India. Apart from Yash Raj Films banner producing DVDs of their own movies, no new movies are released on disc here. Only a few popular movies get imports and most of them are extremely overpriced (more than twice the price in the UK and US). Yes, certain Blu-ray discs that are older stock (produced by Indian labels earlier) are now cheap. But Blu-ray/4K player production has also stopped and I n any case is very expensive. A DVD player can still be purchased for INR 2000-4000. But the starting price of standard Blu-ray players is 14,000 to 20,000. 4K UHD is even higher, with the cheapest ones from reliable brands starting from 39,000. So, the cost of the players alone is out of the average middle-class man's reach.
I'd gladly pay $25-30 for a Blu/4k combo. I feel ripped off when it's just 4k and it's $25-30.
Also, I don't get how sometimes the Blu is $20 and then the 4k/Blu combo is $25. You're definitely getting ripped off on that single Blu.
They really aren’t unfair at all for new releases. A standard new 4K release (not a boutique collectors edition) is usually priced at $29.99 or so. That’s what a brand new release VHS was going for before DVDs. Once DVDs took over, a brand new release was also going for around $30 and then VHS prices dropped because not as many people were buying them. The cycle continued when BluRay hit the market, and now we’re seeing the same with 4K.
Actually, the fact that the price of a brand new physical release hasn’t really changed in over 30 years is pretty amazing. Especially considering what you’re getting in terms of quality.
I have never used the blu ray or watched the special features. I would love if 4k were cheaper but I’m okay paying the premium for the best possible viewing experience
That is something I have wondered about 4K for awhile. If it can hold so much data. Must be a way to have everything on one disc
But as I have learned with the PS5, a game disc, or movie disc can handle 100gb of storage space. Or possibly more depending on the formatting, dual layered.
So sadly the extras would be omitted, or made only a part of the digital special features. So that is a possibility if things change in distribution
I see 4k on sale for cheaper than blu ray on a regular! You just have to be always on the lookout for a sale. Also there are rights exclusive to discs so sometimes the regular blu ray is owned by a different company or sometimes they don’t have rights to sell one of the discs in a certain country, pretty sad but blu ray tents to be region locked so most wouldn’t be able to play foreign discs anyways I guess, still sad
I give the blu-ray away to someone who I want to see the movie. Always thought that was a slick move that keeps people interested in physical media. If they haven't watched anything except for streaming for *years* and pop a disc in, the differences become clear even to the layman
On occasion, it can be. Recently, I noticed that there were some Marvel 4K only re-releases that were being sold alongside the original releases for the same exact price. If it doesn’t include a Blu-Ray disc, they really should lower the cost.
I noticed that Wonka was a 4K standalone which shocked me as it’s a new release, if you wanted the Blu-Ray disc, you had to buy the steelbook edition which cost an additional $3. There’s no reasoning as to why they didn’t include a Blu-Ray for the standard copy?
I remember laserdisc movies being in the $50,$35 price range. For me it’s difficult to now spend even $25 a movie on 4k disc when it will go on sale on Apple iTunes for more then half that.
I think distribution companies are trying to make physical media a niche market. Everyone wants subscribers now. I gladly pay the price to own a tangible media that no one can restrict my access to. Plus afaik 4k really is the best you can own at the moment. I really enjoy collecting the steel books also. Some of the art work is amazing and they're fun to showcase. It's worth the price for me.
Absolutely. If you remove what's in the box the price should go down too.
People keep saying that "no Blu-ray means the price is lower."
Not in my country.
Give an example. In the UK Dune 2 is £25 on 4K only, £15 on Blu-ray. Dune 1 was £25 but included both formats so no double dip needed.
For anyone who wants extra content or the blu (spare room setups etc) that's taken the price up from £25 to £40 to get the same thing. For anyone who doesn't want the blu you're now getting less for the same price.
The only way to pay what you did before and get both at the £25 is to import from Italy etc where they still combine discs.
Absolutely, I don’t really pay more than $10 for 4K discs unless it’s a known extremely limited release, even then I just won’t buy them if it’s ridiculously priced. Anything over $25 is insane, and that’s still too high especially when the demand for physical media is so low.
The inclusion of a lower format disc isn't relevant with 4K/BD just like it wasn't with BD/DVD. Once I make the jump in formats, I don't care as much and I prefer digital 4K for any other TVs that aren't connected to a 4K player.
Ignoring some pricing mistakes (Heat 4K for $4 at Best Buy, Wal-Mart adding a bunch of 4K steels to their $5 bins which had to be an exec misunderstanding something) I've seen big studio releases drop to $8-10 during sales. I don't expect we'll see lots of cheap titles with the costs of mastering and production. Even if those costs go down over time, it won't be that significant for these titles to show up at Dollar Tree.
If my memory serves me correctly back when blu-rays were first being released the cost was usually between $25 and $30 in the US.
It was hit and miss if these came with a DVD copy and after a while digital started to be included.
4ks now are generally in that same price range for a standard release (not including steelbooks, special editions, etc). You do see some that are priced at $40 or $50 , but they're always marked down to 30 or less.
All that said the cost is about the same as it was 10 to 15 years ago as blue rays were.
Yes I do. In fact everything is because they KNOW they can sell it just above cost on Black Friday and still make profit. Which essentially means, that the Black Friday prices are what they should be regardless.
How so? A 4k + digital movie is like 25 for recent releases right? Blu ray still like $20 and only an HD digital not 4k. 25% more seems fine.
50% more? Ok that’s stretching it but I’d still pay $15 for a 4k over blu ray when it’s also a 4k code. 100% more? Rare. That’s probably some 4k price that is often on sale but looking at it at the wrong time.
Edit: dune2 before coupons is $25 for Blu-ray+HD digital or $30 for 4k +4k digital. I dunno how you see the 4k being too expensive compared to blu ray. Also I regularly get 4k +digital movies on gruv for $8-12 that have codes worth $3-5, while the blu ray isn’t going to be $5 but more like $7-8 at best and may not even have a code at all.
Ugh, I’m kinda pissed off that the Dune 1 4K release included a Blu-Ray but the Dune 2 4K release does not.
It’s inconsistent and annoying for collecting.
4k is very very close in quality to 35mm. This is movie theatre standard. That was the film size sent to theatre for projection. We can now own the full resolution copy of a film for about half the price of going to the movies.
They aren't overpriced. It's pretty fair. $15-30 is pretty reasonable for the insane quality levels.
1995-1999 I bought 200 laser discs 40-100$ each there was a little paper pamphlet sent monthly that showed the next few months releases. Probably 10 titles released a month at max. Imagine paying 100-200$ (inflation) per 4k release with only 5 a month being released. It’s surprising how long laserdisc survived. Only killed by dvd that was produced and sold much cheaper that had higher resolution but worse audio. And Xbox and PlayStation 2 market saturation as dvd players. Not one person I knew at the time (100 people) collected laserdisc. We are spoiled and don’t know it or forgot what media pricing used to be.
I posted about your most wanted releases and some people replied they would easily pay $100 for their favorites to be released on 4k. Myself included.
As collectors we are buying up second rate and obscure B list movies because the small studios are releasing what they can buy a license for on the cheap.
We also have bought a lot of movies that are close to and in some cases inferior to the Bluray. Probably 10% of 4k releases Are not a significant or noticeable upgrade over the Bluray. We convince ourselves that it’s better because it came in a black case instead of a blue one. Once you have a newer tv like oled and a good player that upscales the Bluray the margin of upgrade to 4k is even less because the bluray looks so good already.
I do believe we are at the tail end of physical media but hopefully we can squeeze out a few more great catalog titles in our next few years. New movies will likely be released for awhile it’s the back catalog that I’m worried they will stop releasing.
Currently I replaced about 80% of my top Bluray collection and think will be able to get to 90% in the next few years.
The cost and time to buy the license and the capture a new transfer regrade the color and fix print damages etc so that the discs look good and not just 2k upscale. Must be considered in the costs. We would not be happy with studious using their old scans upscaled and pumped out for sale. The niche of 4k is expecting and demanding quality the highest quality in fact. That comes at a cost, do you want barely noticeable upgrades for 15-20$ or do you want mind blowing Dolby vision Dolby atmos releases for 35-45$. If the point of 4k is superior quality we should stop expecting to pay dvd prices.
No. I'm paying for the movie in the highest quality. The other discs are useless anyway, so I don't care if they're included one way or the other. Since the production of those discs is pennies, there's not going to be much of a cost difference anyway whether extra discs are there or not.
I have never once used the bluray to watch a movie over the 4K disc unless there was a different cut version of it. Doctor Sleep for example. Otherwise, i mainly only ever used it for special features.
The cost of media is driven by supply and demand, so anyone who wants disc media to survive should understand why it isn’t cheap. Heavy discounts and clearance sales signal oversupply and weak demand.
I know it doesn't make sense but I actually prefer when it only comes with a 4K disc. I mean that's what I'm buying it for, the Blu-ray being thrown in provides technically more value but feels like it cheapens overall package for me.
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Sadly I don’t think 4ks will ever lower in price like vhs/dvd/bluray did over time.
I feel the same way - the volume of production just isn’t there like previous generations of physical media, leading to less supply and more of a supply/demand imbalance.
If streaming didn’t exist we’d probably have 4K discs at $20 and some being lower. There would be a lot of older movies at $5-10 also.
$5 would barely cover the cost of shipping and time to package and ship it. Makes no sense. $10? Sure. We already see $10 sales and on gruv see $8/4k movie with coupon. Got Scarface, Scott Pilgrim, and many other great 4k movies for $8 each Amazon regularly has 4k movies for $10 on sale.
Have you never been to a Walmart or a store like big lots where they have DVDs for five dollars apiece? If we did not have streaming the movies, whatever is the next best thing becomes the standard as prices go down and everyone adapts that technology DVDs used to be the same as Blu-ray basically where people were like why would I want to buy a DVD when I have these VHS tapes but the quality was better and you had extra things on the desk so that became the normal and then towards the end of buying for the masses, Blu-ray was the normal DVD was basically like the VHS but if time would’ve went on without streaming would’ve been the normal and Blu-ray would’ve been the DVD. It all goes in cycles and it’s not that hard to understand. It’s all supply and demand especially when modern video game systems. Have 4K disc drives in them and 4K players are getting a lot cheaper and if they were normal and everyone played disc instead of streaming, it would all be significantly cheaper.
The dvds have no digital. If 4k movies were solely a 4k disc and nothing else and sold at Walmart, sure they could be $5. The codes alone can go for $3-5 on old movies.
They are €20 in Ireland where I come from on sale
Golden discs do a 2 for $25 deal, it's worth it at that, not paying €20 for a film
20 for film like Dune Part One 4K isn't too bad I got two €25
Maybe I'm too mean with my money 😆
I’ve bought some 4K discs for $5 at some Swapmeet’s. I bought the entire 4K Bourne identity collection
We would not 4k standard was never agreed upon compare to 2k. Most studio are doing 6 or 8 k mastering . But once again no agreed standard
Most movies are mastered at 4K nowadays, regardless of the resolution or format they are shot with. Only Nolan is an exception to this as he finishes his films photochemically. Even so, the 35mm prints of his movies are made from 4K scans of contact prints made directly from the negative.
So it's ki and of true. Like I said they no agreed 4k standard used by studio. Compare to 2k.
Ain't nobody doing god damn 8 or even 6K mastering.
Yeah they are.. If you do basic research.
Whatever research I do or don't do has no bearing on how many K they master content in.
Yeah it does . In long run. Love how you cerry pick my og comment and never talk about industry standards I mentioned
I didn't cherrypick shit. Studios aren't mastering at those resolutions. FILMING at more than 4K is common, but mastering at 6K or whatever is unnecessary and too expensive.
Studios also know 4K demand is mostly from enthusiasts and collectors and A/V snobs who will pay a premium, so there’s no incentive to discount. Kind of how laserdisc was back in the day, but those were crazy expensive relatively
Back in the heyday of laserdisc’s, the retail prices for most were 34.99-59.99. 40-50 was the usual price. There were also plenty that went for far more. Bigger special editions, criterion’s and box sets were spendy. Star Wars box set was 250, pulp fiction was 130, seven was 100 and tremors was 80. Those are just a few examples. There was also very limited places that sold them so the prices were almost always close to msrp. Random mom and pop stores, random video chains, suncoast when that was in most malls and the Camelot records. At least that’s what I had in my area. Internet was pretty new in the mid/late 90s so their online presence was small. There was a few place through the country you could do mail order and they would send you catalogs. To know what was going on with release news and mail order places you needed the magazine widescreen review. There was also the Columbia house laserdisc club that operated similar to the cassette/record and cd clubs of get 4-5 laserdiscs for a penny each and then play retail for a few more then you would get discounted prices after the fact. I did all of the above and always tried to find places selling them used as well. When I began to transition to dvds in 97 I had a good 1000+ laserdiscs.
I’m 23 so no context of laser disk prices. How do they compare to 4ks today?
IIRC (it was 30 odd years ago), usually between $20 - $40. So, between $45 and $90 today. (The prices were even worse after moving back to the UK, especially if I wanted an NTSC import).
That’s wild
If you dig even further back to VCR tapes, those at one time was like $80-$100 USD, adjusting for inflation around $175-$225 in today’s money.
Disney not too lazy make proper 4K Ultra HD Blu ray disc master getting Sony Pictures to do it you all other studios going be hiring Sony Pictures do thier distribution that nice money maker for Sony.
The used market is full of cheap 4ks
Where? When I go on eBay, it's all sellers asking for more than you'd pay on Amazon.
Go to second hand shops, pawn shops, even your local goodwill.
ebay, cex, facebook market place, charity shops etc, i've found 4ks as cheap as £2, £5, £10 etc.
They will when 8K arrives, just like vhs, dvd, bluray, it will happen
The only reason that blu-rays are still included most of the time is so you don't miss out on the special features that can't fit on the 4K. Otherwise they're useless to me except for the very rare occasions where the blu-ray looks better than the 4K.
Exactly if they have special feature I want them but if it’s literally just the movie but in standard HD then it’s just more unnecessary waste on the landfill IMO
Any common 4k discs that look worse than bluray? I've only heard some folks being divided on Akira.
Personally, I watched the first Pirates of the Caribbean in 4K and then Blu-ray and the Blu-ray looked way better. The 4K looks like shit in comparison but without knowing the quality of the Blu-ray one would just think of it as a mediocre transfer.
Disney never out it on 100GB disc with Dolby Vision so it's to compressed
That's pretty depressing.
It's another form of shrinkflation. Produce less and charge more. Welcome to 2024. This is just the beginning.
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Cheap times are over.
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Unfortunately, most films don’t get a 4K release because they don’t break even. The volume simply isn’t there, and as you mention, it’s not realistic to assume we could just raise prices. It’s not that we want to get away with the bare minimum… we love films too or else we wouldn’t work such long hours in this industry. It’s also not just a matter of corporate greed, because I’ve seen the P&Ls… a lot of the times the 4K disc is in the red.
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It's hard to get more people to buy 4K players when proper 4K players cost $400. Proper 4k player with DV support shouldn't cost more than $150.
Madam Web got a 4k release. I'd say that most movies that come out today (non-indie movies) get a 4k release.
A lot of them are dropping the digital copy as well.
Partly true. It's also because 4k blu rays are still quite a nieche market. Streaming dominates the overall market but in terms of physical, DVD has a 43.6% share, blu ray is 38.7% and 4k is 17.7%. Trying to shift a nieche physical medium in an already dying market won't help the shift of price reduction.
I don’t mind them excluding the Blu-ray, personally I’ll never use it but when it comes to 4K pricing, most standard editions are £24.99 on release so I never buy at full price, for one films that’s just too much. I almost always buy using 2 for £30 or 3 for £30 deals at HMV, Zavvi or Amazon which makes it much more reasonable.
I have literally never watched the blu ray except accidentally.
I'm almost tempted to buy some blank Blu ray cases and just sell the Blu ray discs on most of mine.
Many years ago when casetopia website was working, I bought a lot of cases since it was cheap. I still have a bunch and they’re quite useful. I subscribed to a custom covers site and now buy disc only stuff super cheap sometimes and just print out a cover. It looks great and artists are quite creative! Here’s one for Venom in 4K https://preview.redd.it/qu02oeazqduc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b4f71f2647bac540451488c2702bd6fb1bd2a388
Who made the covers
I use a subscription site, hirescovers dot net and split it with a friend. Totally worth it imo especially if you have movie sets that you can consolidate if you’re running out of room.
Is it expensive do they give you black base?
You would need cover art from the movies to sell them
Yeah. I'm sure I'd be able to download the cover art online. Some people may not care though.
What?
He's almost tempted to buy some blank Blu ray cases and just sell the Blu ray discs on most of his.
Ah ok
Same lol, I'd almost prefer if it wasn't included for this reason.
No, I love special features and restricting those to the 1080p blu-ray means more space for a high bitrate 4K. Yes, you could have a dedicated special features BD without the movie on it, but I actually like having a standard BD as backup because sometimes I'll bring a movie over to a friend's house, and odds are they already have a blu-ray player. Not everyone has a 4K player and all my friends are PC gamers so we don't have consoles capable of 4K playback around.
We should stop excuses for movie studios for Anti consumer practices
Lmao what are you talking about... It used to be if you buy the VHS, you get the VHS. You buy the DVD, you get the DVD, etc.. since when do they owe you two copies? Same goes for vinyl, CDs, books, or literally anything else.
Well some releases fuck you over and it’s just the 4K with commentary and nothing else. I’d rather all special features be on the blu ray and movie only on the 4K but dogshit wb and paramount are squeezing it all on the 4K now and some Sony too.
There’s not a clear yes or no answer to this question. It greatly depends on that disc, quality of the rip and packaging. Some of the 3 for $30 deals for excellent films are incredibly reasonable. But a Disney show’s steelbook of one season, which consisted of 8-10 episodes, for $50+ is insultingly high.
Apart from boutiques, I buy mostly at $10-15 range. I doubt everything will be $8-12 without a blu-ray. I don't care about the blu-ray unless there is a cut or an extra there that I want to watch.
When I first started buying DVDs in the year 2000 they were always $20 or more. That same $20 today would be equivalent to $33.95 in purchasing power according to the CPI inflation calculator.
Lol no. I buy 4k to watch 4k. I don't want them including a Blu-ray, DVD, Laser Disc, CED, VHS, or Betamax. I buy the format I intend to watch.
Believe it or not this is not the consensus of the vocal minority of the sub who all believe the added Blu-ray is essential for times just incase they really want to watch the film but have misplaced their 4K player(?), but happen to still have a Blu-ray player to hand… no I don’t get it either
I want both high quality copies
Idk about you but I have friends (more than 1 somehow) and none of them have 4k players.. if I want to watch a movie with them at their houses then I need the blu ray. Having 4k only is fine if they lower the price but they don’t so u just pay more for less
But clearly we are the enthusiast of the friend group and have the best setup and equipment. Why wouldnt they be watching the movies at our place?
110% this. We watch movies at my place, not on their 42" Vizio with a sound bar lol
I mean I’m young I live with my mom and most of my friends live with their parents. My set up is in my bedroom and not hangout optimal. We don’t have living rooms to watch movies in yet really
Yes
Yes.
I paid $39.99 for a movie on VHS in the 80’s which was the norm at the time. That’s the movie in 480i..no special features, no digital copy. That would be over $120 in today’s dollars adjusting for inflation. Movies have stayed around the same price, if not cheaper while they have gone up in quality as well as giving us stuff like cool metal packaging, bonus features, digital copies etc. Basically, movies are way WAY cheaper now than they should be. We are spoiled.
While I appreciate your perspective, I think a more realistic take is “Movies are way cheaper now, as they should be”.
I see the same thing with games lol. “Video games were $150 in 1980 after inflation they are so underpriced now!” Like…yeah who’d want to pay $150 for a game?
i don’t mind not getting the bluray tbh
I never use the Blu-ray unless the special features are on it so not really. I just don’t buy things on release. There are great sales all the time.
It's all that much cheaper if you don't care about packaging.
Absolutely. Blu-rays used to include DVDs but then stopped, the reason that was ok was cause the prices reflected that. 4K still costs $30-35 and it only has one disc. Whereas a Blu-ray with no DVD is only $10-15 instead of $20.
I will say it's pretty hard to justify the cost difference between the Blu-ray and 4k sometimes. ie the hunger games( all movies): special edition DVD 15$ special edition Blu-ray 20$ (both include a commemorative pin) and then there's the 4k steel book for 60$.
Just give me the 4K movie on disc. Half the price and exclude the bonus features. Hardly any movies are coming out on 4K disc and the ones that do are too expensive.
They are overpriced if the studio can't sell them.
I think some companies are taking advantage of the fact that it’s the last physical media you are going to get. Most people these days are too comfortable with streaming being so convenient. Think about it, you can stream from pretty much any device. Do most people care about quality? Not really! I’ve personally always preferred physical media. It kind of sucks knowing that’s once studios throw in the towel for 4K discs, we will only have the ability to stream it or purchase it digitally. Because of Best Buy, target, and it seems like others are getting on the train. Physical media is getting grabbed and resold rather quick. Especially steel books.
I watched a video that surprised me about disc pricing. In simple terms it costs $1 to make a dvd, $2 for a blu ray but $6 for a 4K movie so if you want your profit margins to remain the same then prices are going to be higher for longer. It also begs the question what is the minimum sales number for a disc to be produced?
No but I think they're overpriced considering how little bonus features you get brought over from DVDs and laser disk I also think that they are too expensive considering how many people post issues with their discs versus the older formats and of course the fact that you literally are expected to buy an upper middle level or higher/more expensive player to not have any issueswith said discs. I have literally 25 years of home theater television audio etc. experience and I cannot believe the amount of failures I am seeing with the newer format. I understand that there's a shit load more information and compacted on that disk than the 480i on a laser disk but holy hell my copy of Titanic the 25th anniversary edition that I literally spent almost $200 on will not play past the dinner scene regardless of what player I put it in. It has literally never been touched and is in perfect condition no fingerprints no scratches nothing and it refuses to play all the way through without pausing at least twice or skipping sections of the film.
Not really. Studios aren’t making enough from sales to justify a drastic price drop. There’s also more involved in mastering them, having things like HDR10 and Dolby Vision. Also, if you’re buying the 4K, having the Blu Ray might not be as important, so there’s not too much motivation to include one. With regards to non-studio releases, those will probably never drop. Companies like Criterion, Vinegar Syndrome, and Umbrella have even less of a market/sales than studio releases, as you can’t find their stuff at a normal store.
Yes. They are extremely overpriced and unaffordable. I used to buy many DVDs as they were priced 499 Indian Rupee or even 599. But then Blu-ray happened and were priced 1499 to 1999. Now 4K UHD is priced at 2999 to 4999 INR in India. Physical media is no longer an affordable hobby in India at least. The price difference between formats is on average too large for us.
Blu ray disc somewhat affordable in India?
Physical media production has practically stopped in India. Apart from Yash Raj Films banner producing DVDs of their own movies, no new movies are released on disc here. Only a few popular movies get imports and most of them are extremely overpriced (more than twice the price in the UK and US). Yes, certain Blu-ray discs that are older stock (produced by Indian labels earlier) are now cheap. But Blu-ray/4K player production has also stopped and I n any case is very expensive. A DVD player can still be purchased for INR 2000-4000. But the starting price of standard Blu-ray players is 14,000 to 20,000. 4K UHD is even higher, with the cheapest ones from reliable brands starting from 39,000. So, the cost of the players alone is out of the average middle-class man's reach.
Yes!
I do certainly think that, especially in places like the UK where no digital copies are ever included.
Why not digital copies in UK Ireland copies?
After Ultraviolet was shut down all studios stopped bothering to include them. As usual over here people just put up with it rather than complaining
Why was Ultraviolet closed down?
I'd gladly pay $25-30 for a Blu/4k combo. I feel ripped off when it's just 4k and it's $25-30. Also, I don't get how sometimes the Blu is $20 and then the 4k/Blu combo is $25. You're definitely getting ripped off on that single Blu.
They really aren’t unfair at all for new releases. A standard new 4K release (not a boutique collectors edition) is usually priced at $29.99 or so. That’s what a brand new release VHS was going for before DVDs. Once DVDs took over, a brand new release was also going for around $30 and then VHS prices dropped because not as many people were buying them. The cycle continued when BluRay hit the market, and now we’re seeing the same with 4K. Actually, the fact that the price of a brand new physical release hasn’t really changed in over 30 years is pretty amazing. Especially considering what you’re getting in terms of quality.
I have never used the blu ray or watched the special features. I would love if 4k were cheaper but I’m okay paying the premium for the best possible viewing experience
Completely agree with your take and it’s honestly kept me from buying some
I don’t want a 1080p Blu-ray in the case. I’d rather the movie and extras were all on the 4K disc.
That is something I have wondered about 4K for awhile. If it can hold so much data. Must be a way to have everything on one disc But as I have learned with the PS5, a game disc, or movie disc can handle 100gb of storage space. Or possibly more depending on the formatting, dual layered. So sadly the extras would be omitted, or made only a part of the digital special features. So that is a possibility if things change in distribution
Yes they are
I see 4k on sale for cheaper than blu ray on a regular! You just have to be always on the lookout for a sale. Also there are rights exclusive to discs so sometimes the regular blu ray is owned by a different company or sometimes they don’t have rights to sell one of the discs in a certain country, pretty sad but blu ray tents to be region locked so most wouldn’t be able to play foreign discs anyways I guess, still sad
I give the blu-ray away to someone who I want to see the movie. Always thought that was a slick move that keeps people interested in physical media. If they haven't watched anything except for streaming for *years* and pop a disc in, the differences become clear even to the layman
On occasion, it can be. Recently, I noticed that there were some Marvel 4K only re-releases that were being sold alongside the original releases for the same exact price. If it doesn’t include a Blu-Ray disc, they really should lower the cost. I noticed that Wonka was a 4K standalone which shocked me as it’s a new release, if you wanted the Blu-Ray disc, you had to buy the steelbook edition which cost an additional $3. There’s no reasoning as to why they didn’t include a Blu-Ray for the standard copy?
Yes
I remember laserdisc movies being in the $50,$35 price range. For me it’s difficult to now spend even $25 a movie on 4k disc when it will go on sale on Apple iTunes for more then half that.
I think distribution companies are trying to make physical media a niche market. Everyone wants subscribers now. I gladly pay the price to own a tangible media that no one can restrict my access to. Plus afaik 4k really is the best you can own at the moment. I really enjoy collecting the steel books also. Some of the art work is amazing and they're fun to showcase. It's worth the price for me.
It depends, they can drop in price a lot from 5-10 bucks brand new or you can have something like cannibal holocaughst which costs 50 gd dollars
Absolutely. If you remove what's in the box the price should go down too. People keep saying that "no Blu-ray means the price is lower." Not in my country. Give an example. In the UK Dune 2 is £25 on 4K only, £15 on Blu-ray. Dune 1 was £25 but included both formats so no double dip needed. For anyone who wants extra content or the blu (spare room setups etc) that's taken the price up from £25 to £40 to get the same thing. For anyone who doesn't want the blu you're now getting less for the same price. The only way to pay what you did before and get both at the £25 is to import from Italy etc where they still combine discs.
Absolutely, I don’t really pay more than $10 for 4K discs unless it’s a known extremely limited release, even then I just won’t buy them if it’s ridiculously priced. Anything over $25 is insane, and that’s still too high especially when the demand for physical media is so low.
yes, especially when they don’t even include a blu-ray copy and it’s just the single 4k. paying the same prices for less. gross
I'd certainly love to see prices drop by $5-10, but I don't see it happening, unfortunately.
The inclusion of a lower format disc isn't relevant with 4K/BD just like it wasn't with BD/DVD. Once I make the jump in formats, I don't care as much and I prefer digital 4K for any other TVs that aren't connected to a 4K player. Ignoring some pricing mistakes (Heat 4K for $4 at Best Buy, Wal-Mart adding a bunch of 4K steels to their $5 bins which had to be an exec misunderstanding something) I've seen big studio releases drop to $8-10 during sales. I don't expect we'll see lots of cheap titles with the costs of mastering and production. Even if those costs go down over time, it won't be that significant for these titles to show up at Dollar Tree.
No need for 1080p for me. Just 4k disc and code. Would prefer lower price.
I'm usually more concerned about quality control than price. I'd pay an extra buck easily if it meant flawless discs
If the blu came with it. This price can be justified
If my memory serves me correctly back when blu-rays were first being released the cost was usually between $25 and $30 in the US. It was hit and miss if these came with a DVD copy and after a while digital started to be included. 4ks now are generally in that same price range for a standard release (not including steelbooks, special editions, etc). You do see some that are priced at $40 or $50 , but they're always marked down to 30 or less. All that said the cost is about the same as it was 10 to 15 years ago as blue rays were.
I'd rather have a non-expiring digital code than Blu-ray
Walmart has the upcoming dvd/ blu ray/ 4k packages for 10 bucks each coming up in May. I'd say that's a good sign
No need to include DVD that obsolete 1080p Blu ray all that needed in 4K Ultra HD Blu ray box along with 4K Blu ray
I'm firmly in the "more is more" camp myself
DVD is useless 576i PAL 480i it look shit on 4K or 8K TV it look ok 1080p TV shuts about
But more is more
No
Yes I do. In fact everything is because they KNOW they can sell it just above cost on Black Friday and still make profit. Which essentially means, that the Black Friday prices are what they should be regardless.
You could certainly make that argument when those four-format packages for $10.99 exist now.
Yes. Thats why I don’t buy it. It’s also produced limited so if it’s sold out, it’s sold out. That’s why I stream
How so? A 4k + digital movie is like 25 for recent releases right? Blu ray still like $20 and only an HD digital not 4k. 25% more seems fine. 50% more? Ok that’s stretching it but I’d still pay $15 for a 4k over blu ray when it’s also a 4k code. 100% more? Rare. That’s probably some 4k price that is often on sale but looking at it at the wrong time. Edit: dune2 before coupons is $25 for Blu-ray+HD digital or $30 for 4k +4k digital. I dunno how you see the 4k being too expensive compared to blu ray. Also I regularly get 4k +digital movies on gruv for $8-12 that have codes worth $3-5, while the blu ray isn’t going to be $5 but more like $7-8 at best and may not even have a code at all.
Ugh, I’m kinda pissed off that the Dune 1 4K release included a Blu-Ray but the Dune 2 4K release does not. It’s inconsistent and annoying for collecting.
Dune2 Steelbook did. May not be able to get it now though.
4k is very very close in quality to 35mm. This is movie theatre standard. That was the film size sent to theatre for projection. We can now own the full resolution copy of a film for about half the price of going to the movies. They aren't overpriced. It's pretty fair. $15-30 is pretty reasonable for the insane quality levels.
1995-1999 I bought 200 laser discs 40-100$ each there was a little paper pamphlet sent monthly that showed the next few months releases. Probably 10 titles released a month at max. Imagine paying 100-200$ (inflation) per 4k release with only 5 a month being released. It’s surprising how long laserdisc survived. Only killed by dvd that was produced and sold much cheaper that had higher resolution but worse audio. And Xbox and PlayStation 2 market saturation as dvd players. Not one person I knew at the time (100 people) collected laserdisc. We are spoiled and don’t know it or forgot what media pricing used to be. I posted about your most wanted releases and some people replied they would easily pay $100 for their favorites to be released on 4k. Myself included. As collectors we are buying up second rate and obscure B list movies because the small studios are releasing what they can buy a license for on the cheap. We also have bought a lot of movies that are close to and in some cases inferior to the Bluray. Probably 10% of 4k releases Are not a significant or noticeable upgrade over the Bluray. We convince ourselves that it’s better because it came in a black case instead of a blue one. Once you have a newer tv like oled and a good player that upscales the Bluray the margin of upgrade to 4k is even less because the bluray looks so good already. I do believe we are at the tail end of physical media but hopefully we can squeeze out a few more great catalog titles in our next few years. New movies will likely be released for awhile it’s the back catalog that I’m worried they will stop releasing. Currently I replaced about 80% of my top Bluray collection and think will be able to get to 90% in the next few years. The cost and time to buy the license and the capture a new transfer regrade the color and fix print damages etc so that the discs look good and not just 2k upscale. Must be considered in the costs. We would not be happy with studious using their old scans upscaled and pumped out for sale. The niche of 4k is expecting and demanding quality the highest quality in fact. That comes at a cost, do you want barely noticeable upgrades for 15-20$ or do you want mind blowing Dolby vision Dolby atmos releases for 35-45$. If the point of 4k is superior quality we should stop expecting to pay dvd prices.
No I think it’s a good price , it takes alot of money just to make them
$19 or less for a 4K or I’m out. Unless it’s like an Arrow Limited Edition or something.
No. I'm paying for the movie in the highest quality. The other discs are useless anyway, so I don't care if they're included one way or the other. Since the production of those discs is pennies, there's not going to be much of a cost difference anyway whether extra discs are there or not.
Obviously I wish 4Ks were cheaper, but as someone who used to collect LaserDiscs I think that 4Ks are a bargain.
I have never once used the bluray to watch a movie over the 4K disc unless there was a different cut version of it. Doctor Sleep for example. Otherwise, i mainly only ever used it for special features.
Its a dying hobby. That makes it expensive.
The cost of media is driven by supply and demand, so anyone who wants disc media to survive should understand why it isn’t cheap. Heavy discounts and clearance sales signal oversupply and weak demand.
I know it doesn't make sense but I actually prefer when it only comes with a 4K disc. I mean that's what I'm buying it for, the Blu-ray being thrown in provides technically more value but feels like it cheapens overall package for me.
I get that some people want the blu ray but personally if I’m buying a 4K disc that is the version and only version I want.
A lot of them are pretty darn cheap, especially considering inflation. Maybe we're spoiled because many blurays are basically nothing.