Thursday, February 26, 2009

Hello Slightly Cheaper Blu-ray [Blu-Ray]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/u1H1tSrKS_Y/hello-slightly-cheaper-blu+ray

Panasonic, Sony and Philips are spinning off Blu-ray licensing into a single company, which for us, the real people, means we should be seeing Blu-ray prices take another tumble downward.

That's because the costs of licenses for people to make Blu-ray stuff will drop as much as 40 percent, since manufacturers won't have to talk to all three companies to get the rights. So a license under the cheaper regime would be about $9.50 for a read-only Blu-ray device and $14 for a burner, while discs will run 11-15, from read-only to re-writeables.

It won't result in incredible price drops—probably not enough to spur a sudden rush on Blu-ray right now—but it should help push Blu-ray players even further past the $199 mark that became the bar over the holiday season, and every little bit cheaper with content helps, given how much pricier discs are typically then movies on DVD.

How cheap do you need movies to be before you go Blu-ray? [Electronista]