Blu-Ray is the name of the most recent technological development for media storage. It is a totally new way of burning data into optical media discs, which elevates the entire playing field to a much higher level. The members of the Blu-Ray Disc Association (BDA), a group of the worlds leading consumer electronics, personal computer, and media manufacturers, developed blu-Ray jointly. As of Sept. 2006, the BDA consisted of 172 members and contributing companies and is lead by its board of directors consisting of Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, LG Electronics, Mitsubishi Electric, Matsushita Electric, Pioneer, Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Sharp, Sony, Sun Microsystems, TDK, Thomson, Twentieth Century Fox, Disney and Warner Bros. This technology was developed to enable recording, writing, rewriting, and playback of the highly popular and much publicized High Definition videos a.k.a. HD as well as an alternative for storing large amounts of data. Since the launching of the Blu-Ray technology in 2006, a lot of animosity and skepticism has already been generated by production houses, competitors, and even the general public towards it. One of the issues, of course like any other new technology, was its price and the cost of actually using, implementing or selling products using the new format. This article was written specifically to tackle this issue.
Of course, like any new upcoming and promising technologies, major companies as well as some minor ones who are somewhat dependent on this industry have already joined the bandwagon in promoting and implementing the use of this technology. In fact, companies like LG, Philips, Samsung, Sony, and Pioneer have already released their own 1st generation Blu-Ray compatible players. These players range from as high as $1500 for the Pioneer BDP-HD1 to as low as $499 for the Sonys PS3 gaming console. Companies like Benq, HP, LG, Lite-On, Sony, Samsung, Plexor, and others are producing blu-Ray disk writers and re-writers. Writers and re-writers are being sold within a price range of $600 to $1600. Last but not the least, companies like TDK, Panasonic, Sony, Verbatim, Imation, Memorex, Philips, and Fuji have already started selling Blu-Ray disks. They range from $18-$20 (SL) and $43-$48 (DL) each for BD-R and $24-$30 (SL) to $58-$60 (DL) each for BD-RE. Generally, Blu-Ray products like the players, writers, and discs have higher upfront investment cost compared to traditional SL DVD or the HD-DVD. We should expect companies to drop their prices significantly once the technology enters the mainstream. Like any other product, which eventually becomes a commodity, pressures from the laws of competition and economics of scale will sooner or later take its toll.
An indication of this is that even though Blu-Ray discs relatively cost higher to make, its per GB value is higher. For example, while the manufacturing cost of a single layered DVD is comparable to a single layered Blu-Ray Disc, its per GB value is not. Again, for comparison purposes, a 4.7 GB DVD costs around 1 dollar to produce, its per GB is then valued at 21 cents. A Blu-Ray disc costs $1.50 to make, then its per GB is still valued at a still much lower 6 cents. What am I trying to point out, you might ask. It is that even though Blu-Ray discs may have a higher upfront price tag, it is actually cheaper when you take the value you of what your actually getting into consideration. Its efficiency increases its productivity value and in return, giving more value to your money. So now, with that said, who says Blu-Ray technology is expensive? If you would like to learn even more about the Blu-Ray technology, cost, differences between HD-DVD, DVD and even more, go to http://www.about-blu-ray.com.
