Digital Home Thoughts: Warner To Lower Blu-ray DVD Prices for the Holidays

"Not that it's really any surprise, but one particular studio is taking a stand and looking to lower Blu-ray Disc prices. In an effort that's far too late (but quite welcome) by our estimations, Warner Home Video will reportedly be launching an initiative in Q4 2008 that will "essentially enable retailers to order participating catalog titles for around $11." For the consumer, this means you can look forward to seeing older titles like The Fugitive, Enter the Dragon, Clockwork Orange, The Shining, The Aviator, Road Warrior and Swordfish with price tags much lower than the traditional $20 to $25. Newer releases won't be promoted quite as heavily, but prices on those are still expected to be lower than what we've been seeing."

This is welcome news. I have no problem paying $400 for a Blu-ray player (well, $200 would be better of course), but I haven't done that yet for one simple reason: Blu-ray DVDs are still too expensive. My per-year DVD purchases have accelerated as the price of DVDs have come down, and frankly I'm appalled at paying more than $15 for a DVD, and that's on the high end. If they can get new releases down to $20, I'd be willing to pay that for a high-definition movie. Of course, I'd have to swallow the bitter pill of buying a Sony technology first.