Wetlook World Forum

So...for online/downloadable media, it is relatively easy to shoot in HD and to produce downloadable media at a very high quality.

Producing HD media onto Blu-Ray DVD disks is a much more difficult and costly thing to do, and it is pretty untenable at this time. Technically it is easy to do, but the costs are just prohibitive, because currently the only Blu-Ray dvd recorder just being released by Sony, costs $4750.00....and blank recordable Blu-Ray disks cost $12 to $18 each. A standard DVD recorder only costs $150 these days, and recordable DVD media only costs 23 cents per disk.....so Blu-Ray media costs at least 30 times more to produce. Therefore, in order to cover the costs for the equipment and the expensive dvds, it would mean that producers would have to charge a LOT more for a Blu-Ray version of their media....i.e. at least $30 more for each title. If I were to offer my DVDs in 2 formats....i.e. the regular DVD format, where we offer regular DVDs at $35 each, and then I offered the option of a Blu-Ray version of that same title....but the price would have to be more like $65 per disk...I am pretty sure that this would do down like a "lead balloon"...and no wetlook or wam fan wants to pay $30 more for a Blu-Ray version of the same title.

So...right now...I do not think producing Blu-Ray is viable....not this year. We need to wait until Blu-Ray dvd recorder prices come down from $4000...to less than $1000...and for Blu-Ray disks to come down from $18 each....to less than $5 each. So I think we need to wait until 2 years...for the prices to come down first...and then producing Blu-Ray DVDs will become more viable and we can offer than at the same prices as our regular DVDs.

So, thats my assessment. It is easy to buy an HD camera and to produce high quality media for ONLINE downloads...we can do that. But making Blu-Ray disks at this time...is only for the top professionals in Hollywood....who can sell millions of units of their movies.

FYI....I already got burned once before.....when DVD recorders first came out 6 years ago...I was one of the first producers to buy several DVD recorders and to start making DVDs....and in those days I had to pay $900 for each of my DVD recorders, and blank DVDr disks were costing $8 each disk. I should have waited a year...cos within 12 months the DVD recorder prices dropped to only $250, and blank disks soon dropped from $8 each...to only 30 cents each. Hopefully this is what will happen with Blu-Ray recorders and disks too, cos the prices are just so high right now, that nobody would want to buy our titles if we had to charge a price that is $30 more than our regular dvd prices.

But file this message away...and dig it out in 2 years time...cos I am sure by then that most producers will be producing Blu-Ray media within 2 years, and the costs will be more affordable for the producers and the consumers too.

MK