Blu-ray vs HD DVD replication costs revealed

[Qbanj69]

Its my first thread so go easy on me please.
Found this article online... very interesting read.
from: http://wesleytech.com/blu-ray-vs-hd-...osts-revealed/


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Blu-ray vs HD DVD replication costs revealed


The blue wars are on!
The war between the Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD formats is still in full swing. Each next generation format camp has heavy hitting supporters from powerful tech companies around the world. Each side of the war also has their fans, supporters, proponents and dedicated enthusiasts. Debates, opinions and arguments are flying all over the net over who will “win” this next generation format war.

The cost issue
I decided to take a look at one of the oldest standing issues in the blue laser format wars, the difference in cost between Blu-ray and HD DVD disc production (also known as replication). The topic of Blu-ray vs HD DVD production cost has long been a highly debated and frequently brought up issue in the format battle. HD DVD supporters are quite often found stating that “Blu-ray costs more” to manufacture than HD DVD. But how much more and why does Blu-ray have an increased cost? The reason most often put forward is that “Blu-ray production requires completely new hardware”, while HD DVD media can be produced by modifying existing DVD manufacturing hardware. But is there a significant cost difference? Is Blu-ray replication really that much more expensive than HD DVD replication? I certainly did not believe that Blu-ray was 3 or 4 times more expensive than HD DVD, as claimed by Vivid Entertainment. I spoke with optical disc industry contacts and researched online to find the following Blu-ray vs HD DVD replication costs. The results might surprise you.

Plant #1 replication costs
My confidential industry source revealed that one large replication company is currently charging approximately $1.15 per single layer HD DVD (15GB) and $1.30 per single layer Blu-ray Disc (25GB), assuming a quantity of 25,000. For comparison purposes, a run of 25,000 Dual Layer DVD (DVD9) discs would cost about $0.50 per disc at this same facility. DL HD DVD (30GB) was right inline with SL Blu-ray (25GB) pricing, but an exact figure was not provided. This translates to a cost of approximately $0.077 per GB on HD DVD SL media and $0.052 per GB on Blu-ray SL media.


Plant #2 replication costs (Blu-ray only)
I received quotes on Blu-ray single layer (25GB) replication at plant #2 between $1.35-$1.45 USD per disc on runs of 25K or more. Blu-ray DL (50GB) was quoted between $2.15 - $2.25 per disc on a 25,000 quantity run. Taking the high end on this range, this translates to approximately $0.045 per GB for Blu-ray DL media.

Replication reseller costs (ProActionMedia)
One of the only replication companies that actually lists their pricing publicly is ProActionMedia and we found the following replication costs listed on their website. Their prices were significantly higher than the private, customer-only quotes that we received from the other 2 replication plants. I have included images here that break down the ProActionMedia pricing for Blu-ray and HD DVD.

Sticking with the 25,000 run quantity, we can see that ProActionMedia is quoting $1.59 per disc for Blu-ray SL (25GB), $1.45 per HD DVD SL (15GB) and $1.69 per HD DVD DL (30GB). This translates to approximately $0.064 per GB for Blu-ray SL, $0.097 per GB for HD DVD SL and $0.056 per GB for HD DVD DL.

Cost comparison conclusions
From these figures taken from 3 different replication sources, we can see that Blu-ray media replication does not cost significantly more than HD DVD. In fact, we found that Blu-ray is actually cheaper per GB in many situations! It is also interesting to note that at this point, most HD DVD-ROM movies are DL, while most BD-ROM movies are SL, which would make HD DVD more expensive to replicate in most situations. I did not include fees associated with authoring, setup, AACS protection, packaging and other costs in the quotes above, so keep in mind that the final cost of replicating an HD DVD or Blu-ray disc will definitely be a bit higher than the per disc pricing noted above. Also, according to our sources, the Blu-ray setup fee is only slightly more than the HD DVD setup fee, but it depends on the specific manufacturing plant. Looking at these numbers and pricing information, we can now dispell the myth that Blu-ray replication is significantly more costly than HD DVD.
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so HD DVD is actually more expensive than Blu-ray from a cost per GB standpoint. fuuuuuuny.

[Larsony]

Wow- nice find, and very surprising!

[BudFox]

I think it's more the royalties paid to the developers of the technology that people assumed would make blu-ray more expensive.

I have no idea what sony charges, or if it's even more expensive than hd-dvd, I guess it's assumed by most that it is more expensive.

Anybody know what those costs are?

[YoungMullah88]

surprising indeed..........

[hockeydude30]

Nice find( Put it in quotes it make sit a little easier to read and more organized) but really nice find, I guess that debunked some of the rumors out there.

[Aquanutz]

Interesting. Costs will go down for the one that is used the most.

[Jabjabs]

Now this is a nice unexpected article, it's not often you hear stuff about disc production costs.

I suppose rules out a lot of peoples presumptions that BR discs cost a lot per disc obviously not at about $1.50 a disc. What's that, the cost of a large Slurpee?

[Lord_Alda]

Nice Find! I've been hearing that disc production costs on Blu-ray discs were much lower, but this is the first time I've seen more accurate figures.


PSN UN: LordAlda

[RedOrb_Collector]

Very interesting figures. + rep for the good find man.

[Lefein]

Hopefully the European launch will bring down the cost even more since there will be more unit production.

Things are looking up for BluRay this year, thats for sure.

[Behemoko]

Nice, very that is very interesting indeed.

[Phaeochromoctyoma]

excellent read. great first post. next time use quotes though. so, thinking of being the next LoudNinja?

[Phaeochromoctyoma]

excellent read. great first thread. next time use quotes though. so, thinking of being the next LoudNinja?

[CivicFox]

wow, thats very interesting. I suppose no one would pin us down for blu-ray being expensive anymore.

[Qbanj69]

Very interesting figures. + rep for the good find man.

Thank you for the support. anyway what is the + rep thing i keep on seeing?

[Tetsu]

"Rep" is a positive vote given to a poster based on a post we approve of. They add up like pennies in your account and give you... reputation.

This news is about what I thought it would be by now, though a bit LESS expensive for Blu-ray production so this is good news for everyone involved in the Blu-ray market. I can't rep you, gave out my allotment today, but I'll be sure and poke the thread tomorrow.

[soul-sama]

yeah, vept you get 5 more GB with 5 more pennies. lol.

Sounds like a deal to me

[NightStalker]

wow this is unexpected...very interesting. tnx!

[five6ix7seven]

So if Blu-Ray costs less than HD-DVD to manufacture, then why aren't Blu-Ray movies cheaper than HD-DVD movies? While it's great if BR can be more cost-effective than HD-DVD, it makes ZERO difference if those savings aren't passed on to the consumer. In fact, it actually makes Blu-Ray content distributors look bad since they are basically overcharging consumers on the disc when compared to HD-DVD. HD-DVDs are more expensive to produce and yet HD-DVD content distributors are not charging more than Blu-Ray which means they aren't ripping off the consumer. Man, this doesn't make me happy about buying Blu-Ray disca at all.

[nick²]

Well, I imagine that the actual costs of the discs themselves are minimal... I would imagine the big cost difference would come from having to purchase new equipment... If I remember correctly HD-DVD was cheaper for firms because they didn't have to buy all new equipment.

I'm not sure how that is factored into this..

[Bligmerk]

You do realize that nexgenwars is run by a 18-year old kid named James Simpson that just makes up the numbers and manually enters them into the website, don't you? And that putting the links in your sig is like waving a big flag spelling "N00B" on it, don't you? Just go to www.godaddy.com, enter nexgenwars.com in their domain lookup, find the domain is taken and click on more info and you will see it is hosted by www.goldfirestudios.com. Go there and see all the other scams he has going. Everybody has a right to make a living but spamming scams take the cake.

[mobbology]

doesnt the HD-DVD disk have dual function. ONe side is DVD and the other is HD-DVD. wouldnt that justify why the HD DVD cost more???

[dotrool]

doesnt the HD-DVD disk have dual function. ONe side is DVD and the other is HD-DVD. wouldnt that justify why the HD DVD cost more???

Yep they sure do, but they've yet to hit the shelves

Which in my opinion is an excellent marketing Strategy for those people who aren't yet ready to move up into the HD era but are thinking about it.

Now if only you could do the same on a Blu-Ray disc, But you can't since BR doesn't use the same materials as a DVD disk like HD DVD

[Jabjabs]

doesnt the HD-DVD disk have dual function. ONe side is DVD and the other is HD-DVD. wouldnt that justify why the HD DVD cost more???

Well they aren't a standard HDDVD disc so they wouldn't of been included in the comparison.

[helhound]

Yep they sure do, but they've yet to hit the shelves

Which in my opinion is an excellent marketing Strategy for those people who aren't yet ready to move up into the HD era but are thinking about it.

Now if only you could do the same on a Blu-Ray disc, But you can't since BR doesn't use the same materials as a DVD disk like HD DVD

combo disc ppl hate them add $5 to the price
blu-ray could thier is only slight difference and the main diff between dvd and blu ray besides the blu lazer is that blu ray has info closer to the surface

so a ccombo disk is easy to make a little harder would to have dvd and blu ray on same side is possible at that crap just cost alot more even for hv-dvd