Comments on: Blu-ray replication vs HD DVD replication costs revealed

By: HD filmmaker

HD filmmaker — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:30:42 +0000

Well, for those of us who are doing small runs in the 1,000 to 2,000 piece range for videos shot on a small budget, the Blu-ray prices are astronomical and make no economic sense. $4 per disc plus about $5,000 in setup and license fees for all the crap they have built into the spec. Compare that with closer to $1.50 per disc for a normal DVD shrinkwrapped in an Amaray case. This will ensure that small budget videos never make it to Blu-ray or HD.

By: DVD Replication

DVD Replication — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:38:52 +0000

I don’t think it matters anymore because blu ray has now become the new technology.

By: Anthony Whited

Anthony Whited — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 04:25:20 +0000

One thing that factors into replication cost is yield %. Yield % for HD DVD is much greater, meaning that 70-90% of that 100,000 disc order turn out to actually be useable. Whereas, Blu-Ray yields have been as low as 10%. 10% out of 100,000 thats only 10,000 discs. And guess what, the customer still has to pay for all 100,000 discs. That in turn makes the replication costs greater for Blu-Ray.

By: Steven Kippel

Steven Kippel — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 21:54:25 +0000

But HD DVD films are not replicated without AACS on them. Are you suggesting the commercial world actually puts out HD DVD content without copy protection?

By: Nicole

Nicole — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 04:07:19 +0000

Sony has a contract with AACS that says that their encryption is required on every BD title. Not sure how long or what the details are. HD DVD can be mastered w/o AACS so I assume there was no exclusivity deal there. Im pretty sure there wont be a piracy issue with either platform for at least a year or two hmmmm….

By: Steven Kippel

Steven Kippel — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 17:57:08 +0000

Nicole, do you know why you have to pay a $1,500 AACS encryption charge for Blu-ray and not for HD DVD? They both use AACS encryption.

By: xanderphillips

xanderphillips — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 02:27:11 +0000

Never mind. I just did some google’ing and apparently they DO now offer replacement dvd’s for damaged ones. (the prices are a bit steep considering you have to pay shipping on sending the bad disc in to them)

By: xanderphillips

xanderphillips — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 02:21:15 +0000

If the discs are really under 2 bucks to reproduce, why hasn’t any company ever offered a ’scratch & dent’ replacement at like 3 bucks per movie? you ship them the bad disc and they ship you the good one for 3 bucks?

A brick & mortar music store I used to buy CDs from back in the day had a policy that if your CD EVER got scratched and unplayable they would replace it for like $1.99 or something. I think they were named MusicMan. (not sure on the store name).

I’d like to see the studios allow at least libraries that loan movies the ability to replace their scratched up dvd’s for a minimal fee. The cost of replacement movies for small libraries is pretty tough when it’s done due to normal wear and tear, and not chargable to a parton. (vs. obvious abuse which they would charge the patron for.)

Just a thought for those studio guys that may be trolling these forums.

Xander Phillips

By: Foster

Foster — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 22:18:43 +0000

This article was obviously written by someone that has never placed an order for any replicated media. The main considerations for content producers looking to distribute video on HD Media is the finished, packaged, per unit cost and the machine base. You don’t sell bulk replicated movies, unless you’re NetFlix. There are two types of people who order mass replicated media. These are feature film studios and everyone else. Feature film studios are dealing in such large quantites that AACS and $2500 setup charges don’t amount to much in the grand scheme of things. If you divide out the $2300 difference in setup charges between BD and HD DVD across a 25,000 piece order, it makes less than a penny per unit difference, while it amounts to a difference of $2.30 per unit on a 1000 piece order.

Feature film studios don’t win or lose either way. The format wars’ real impact will be on the small guys. These are the colleges who use disc media to recruit students, the startup businesses who use promo DVDs to raise brand awareness, the small skateboard company that wants to make their retail video debut, and the summer camp who just wants to attract potential campers. These are the people who are truly affected by the huge difference in cost between BD and HD DVD, which is most apparent in smaller quantities.

Furthermore, because HD DVDs are made using modifications to existing DVD equipment, the initial cost of doing business for the replicators is relatively low. This means that they will pay off these initial investments quickly, which means that HD DVD prices will drop rapidly as the machines get paid off. BD equipment is a whole new animal, and requires millions to get into. This assures that the price of replication will stay high for BD discs for a long time to come.

I think that both HD DVD and BD formats get the job done equally as well. The decision you have to make is whether you support a one company monopoly that strangles small businesses and effectively price fixes to eliminate the possibility of a competitive market, or a format that is readily available to all replicators for a much lower entry price, allowing for fierce competition that keeps the prices as low as possible for everyone who has a need for replicated product, whether they are large or small.

By: Nicole

Nicole — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 03:15:44 +0000

I am a project manager at a large video production company in Chicago. I have done a ton or research on replication prices of HD vs. Blu Ray, mostly 1000-5000 piece quantities though. Blu ray set up charges are rediculous and you need to pay the AACS encryption fee of $1500 per title. I can tell you though that we found a vendor called Idea Media ( http://www.ideareplication.com) that sold us 1000 retail packaged HD DVD 15’s for $2600. This included all setup charges, mastering, disc, case, outer wrap and packaging. They also do the HD DVD Hybrid discs for $3.00 each at 1000. They do offer Blu ray retail packages at 1000 but for like $7.00.
I also think that anaylizing price per gig is stupid. It doesnt matter if your content is 1GB or 15GB the price per disc is still the same.