Movies on DVD - the end of video? (DVD Forum)

Member Name: Graham1956

Product:	DVD Forum
Date:	14/04/01 (36 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Superior quality and extra features on DVD

Disadvantages: The time between the cinema release and the sale of movies on DVD at a reasonable price is likely to increase

I run a video library and the quality of DVD's is so much better than video that they are bound to take over the market from video tapes within the next two - five years.

Now that the price of players has dropped to just over £100 and most new computers have DVD drives, the number of rentals of DVD movies is growing fast.

For people who have bought a DVD player they now have the chance of buying a movie at less cost than taking a family to the cinema to see it.

Movies are released on DVD at less than £20 at the same time as they are released on video at £50 and as they are virtually indestructable and give extra languages and features than the video, they are well worth buying. As most movies are released onto DVD within three to six months of the cinema release, up to date movies can be bought at a reasonable price.

By now, l hope you are thinking whats the catch?

Because there is one.

Film companies are not usually generous, or even sensible. Their idea is to encourage people to buy DVD players by providing up to date movies, at sell through prices of £15 - £20, while the video version will not be available at that price for another three to four months.

Now that the market for DVD's has grown to a reasonable size, this attitude on release price is starting to change. Film companies such as Buena Vista and Fox are starting to increase the price of DVD's to £50 + vat when they first release them and then re-releasing them between four and twelve weeks later at a lower price.
You may not be aware of this because no sensible shop would consider stocking DVD's for sale at that price. Especially when imports from another region are available at less than £20.

At the moment, film companies earn more in the UK from the video market than they do from the cinema and want to protect that income.

They would like to see DVD as extra income, but it is not going to happen. Why
rent a video when you can buy or borrow a better quality DVD? Also, l suspect that it will not be long before DVD re-recorders start appearing, which will help lower the cost of DVD's.

The only solution that l can see, is that film companies lower DVD prices to £9.99 - £14.99 to make them worth buying in the mass market. The approach they are trying to take of raising prices is unlikely to work, due to the ease of obtaining imports.

The film companies will of course try to milk every penny from the video market, that they can!

I see video going the way of Beta over the next five years and DVD releases being available at a higher rental price (aprox £30) for four - eight weeks, before the retail price release.

Whatever happens, it will see the end of movie rental on video, although DVD rental may take its place.

Anyone want to buy a video library?

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