Why Blu Ray?
It limits the potential sales, and the video section is frankly unnecessary.
Good old DVDA will be every bit (pun unintentional) as good, and far less expensive to create, produce, license & replicate plus he will sell more copies given the installed base of 500 million DVD players out there against a couple of million BD players.
Couple of million? Try over 30 million bd-capable devices already.
Good old DVD-A, that ship has sailed my friend. The only people interested in a title coming out on DVD-A are the people on this forum. Music titles on Blu-ray will sell more than music titles on DVD-A. The video is absolutely necessary to allow a new media to succeed where others (SACD, DVD-A) have failed miserably. Blu-ray is the complete package, it allows for high definition audio to please the audiophiles (up to 7.1 24/96 and 5.1 24/192) and high definition video to please those looking for something more for their sets:
Let me interject as to why this would be useful. Pearl Jam's ultimate Ten collection featured a DVD of unplugged with 480i MPEG-2 and 5.1 448 Kbps Dolby Digital (it also includes 16/48 PCM 2.0 which is my preferred option). Changing that to 16/48 5.1 PCM with 1080p24 MPEG-4 video still would have left loads of room for additional footage of interviews and other performances from the time period as well as the entire album in high resolution 2.0 stereo and multi-channel 24-bit.
Not only that but BD-Live would allow for additional content (Neil Young is already doing this) like a re-mastered Footsteps or Yellow Ledbetter to be downloaded only for people that had purchased the Blu-ray edition. That means no double-dipping, something that I think would sit well with a lot of people, especially anyone that's a huge fan of Terminator 2.
As for the costs you always talk about how impossible it is for any independant studio to go with Blu-ray. Can you please then explain how any of these studios managed it? (Not all of these are indies, but the majority are)
- 101 DISTRIBUTION
- 2 Entertain Video
- 2L
- 4dvd
- A&E Home Video
- A&M
- A+R
- A.D. Vision
- ABC Video
- Acorn Media
- ADA43
- ADV Films
- AignerMEDIA
- Alive
- Allegro
- Alliance
- Alternative Distribution Alliance
- Amuse Soft Entertainment
- Arrow
- Arthaus Musik
- Artificial Eye
- Artsmagic DVD
- As Is
- Ascot
- Asmik Ace
- Asylum Home Entertaiment
- Athena
- AV Visionen
- Aventi
- avex trax
- Avex Trax
- Ayngaran
- BAC
- BANDAI SA
- Bandai
- BBC
- BCI
- Bel Air Classiques
- BFI Video
- Big Brother
- Big River
- Big Vision
- Black Mine
- Bllack Mine
- Blu-ray Only
- Blue Underground
- BlueMarvel
- BMG/Arista
- Bodega
- Brightspark Productions
- Burgundy
- Burton
- C.B.S.
- Candlelight
- CARGO Records
- Carlotta
- Carol Media Home Entertainment
- Cascade
- Celebrity Video Distribution
- Celestial
- Cine Plus Home Entertainment
- Cineasia
- Cinémascope
- Cinevolve
- City Light Entertainment
- City Lights Pictures
- Classic Media
- ClassicMedia
- Clear Vision
- CN Entertainment
- Collectors Mine
- Columbia
- Columbia Pictures
- Columbia/Tri-Star
- Comedy Central
- Commercial Marketing
- Concert Hot Spot
- Concorde Video
- Contender Entertainment Group
- Criterion
- Dark Sky Films
- Decca
- Deltamac Co. Ltd.
- Deutsche Grammophon
- Deutsche Grammophon
- Digital Classics
- Digital Enviroments
- Digital Leisure
- Discovery
- Distribution Select
- Drakes Avenue
- Duke Marketing
- DVD International
- E1 Entertainment
- E1 Films
- Eagle Rock
- Echo Bridge
- Eclectic DVD
- Edel records
- Edi Video
- Edko Films Ltd.
- Edko Video Ltd.
- EEG Emperor Entertainment Group
- EMI
- Empire Film Group
- EMS
- Entertainment in Video
- ERA Home Entertainment
- Eros
- Escapi Media BV
- Eureka Entertainment
- Euro Video
- EUROARTS
- EuropaCorp
- Exclusive Entertainment
- Experience Hendrix
- First Look
- Fly Right
- Fox Pathe Europa
- Fox/MGM
- Freemantle
- Fremantle Home Entertainment
- FUNimation
- Fusion Media Sales
- Gaga
- Gaumont
- Gaumont
- Gaumont Columbia Tristar
- Geffen
- Geneon Entertainment
- Genius Entertainment
- Giant Flick Films
- Go East
- Go Entertain
- Good Guys Media
- Gorgon
- Hannover House
- Happinet
- Harmonia Mundi
- HBO
- HDenvironments.com
- High Fliers
- Highlight
- Hip-O Records
- HMH Hamburger Medien Haus
- Honneamise
- Icon
- Image
- in-akustik
- Indican
- Inecom
- Intercontinental Video
- Interscope
- Invincible Pictures
- Island/Mercury
- ITV DVD
- J-Records
- Jesnet
- Jive
- Joy Sales (HK)
- Kaboom Entertainment
- KADOKAWA Entertainment
- Kam & Ronson Enterprises
- KBS Media
- KD MEDIA
- Ki/oon Records
- King Records
- Kino Video
- Kinowelt Home Entertainment/DVD
- Kioon Records
- KNM Home Entertainment
- Koch
- KSM
- Kulltur
- Kultur
- Lace Group
- Laguna Films
- LCJ
- Liberation
- Lichtung
- LRS Media
- M6
- Madacy
- Magnolia
- Manga Home Entertainment
- Mantra
- Maple Studios
- Marvelous Entertainment
- Maya
- Media Blasters
- Medici Arts
- M.I.B.
- MegaStar
- Mei Ah
- Merchant Ivory
- Metal God Entertainment
- Metal God Records
- Metrodome
- Microcinema
- Mill Creek Entertainment
- Miramax
- Momentum
- Momentum
- Mongrel Media
- Motown
- MPI Media Group
- MSI:UNIVERSAL/ROCKET
- Music Video Distributors
- Mvd Visual
- National Entertainment Media
- National Entrtainment Media
- National Geographic
- Navarre
- Naxos
- Network
- North American Motion Pictures
- Nuclear Blast
- Optimum Home Entertainment
- Opus Arte
- Oscilloscope Pictures
- Overture
- Palisades
- Panorama
- Paradox
- Pathfinder Home Entertainment
- PBS
- Peace Arch Trinity
- Phantom Sound & Vision
- Phase 4 Films
- Phoenix
- Picturebox
- Pinnacle Vision
- Platinum Disc Corporation
- Plexifilm
- Polyband & Toppic Video/WVG
- Polydor
- Pony Canyon
- Porchlight
- Questar
- Razor Digital
- Red Line Entertainment
- Reprise
- Revolver
- Rhino
- Rough Trade
- Route One Releasing
- Salient Media
- Screen Media
- Second Sight
- Select
- Seven7
- Severin Films
- Lichtung
- Showbox
- Shriek Show
- SMA
- Smithsonian
- Soulfood Music Distribution
- Spears & Munsil
- Spirit Media GMBH
- Splendid Entertainment
- Square Enix
- Starmedia
- Starz / Anchor Bay
- Studio Canal
- Summit
- Sunfilm Entertainment
- Surround Records
- Taewon Entertainment
- Tai Seng
- Target Entertainment
- Tartan
- TDK
- TF1 Vidéo
- Third Planet
- Timeless Media Group
- Toho
- Tokyo Schock
- Tokyo Shock
- Topics
- Trinity Home Entertainment
- Tropical Visions Video
- TVA Films
- UFA/DVD
- UGC PH
- UMC
- Umvd/Visual Entertainment
- Universe Italy
- Universe Laser & Video Co.
- Uwe Boll Productions
- VAP
- VCI
- Vice Records
- Victor Entertainment
- Victory Multimedia Consignment
- Video Music, Inc.
- Video Treasures
- Vivendi Visual
- W.H.V.
- Warner Music
- Warren Miller
- Well Go USA
- West Park
- WGBH
- Wienerworld
- Wild Side Video
- WVG Medien
- WWE Home Video
- Zoe Records
- Zuffa
The cost of Blu-ray has gone down tremendously since 2006 regardless of the number of titles you think you need (1,000 versus 100,000). Over two years ago Richard Casey of R&B Films (Indie) stated that he only needed to sell 20,000 copies to break even on a title....TWO YEARS AGO! Replication costs at that time alone were far higher than they are now. Given that costs of BD are well less than 50% of what they were for the smallest of runs (1,000 titles) it seems a bit like desperation to hold onto a format that outlived it's potential years ago. This is how the AACS costs changed recently:
AACS Content Provider Agreement Fee: this is the fee that a studio or content holder must pay to become an AACS Content Provider. It used to be $3,000 up front. Now it is payable in annual $500 increments, and the Content Provider can terminate its agreement at any time. This one change makes it possible for first-time and low volume content holders to get going with BD with a much lower start-up investment and at affordable per-title costs.
Content Certificate and Order Fulfilment Fee: this fee is for each glass master produced. It has dropped from $1,300 per title to $500 per title.
Media fee: this fee is applied for each disc replicated, and it stays unchanged at $0.04 per disc.
For example, the AACS costs for a first-time Blu-ray Disc publisher (for a run of 2,000 copies) has dropped from $4,380 (3,000 + 1,300 + 0.04 * 2,000) to $1,080 (500 + 500 + 0.04 * 2,000), that is to say, a saving of over 75%.
For a publisher that has already been publishing on BD and hence has already paid his Content Provider Agreement Fee, the fees to publish a run of 2,000 units have dropped from $1,380 to just $580.
I'm tired of the same struggling picture on DVD and most people don't have a clue about DVD-Audio which makes it completely undesirable for major studio releases which represent a crapload of the music I like. Of all my friends only one of them has a DVD-A or SACD title (not including a/v forum online friends obviously). Well over ten of them already have Blu-ray's.
You might be happy holding onto a format that has a handful of releases per year ten years into its lifespan, but I am not. I want any title to have a chance of coming out on a high rez disc and Blu-ray has the best chance of that happening.