Warner parties likes it's 2006 and brings back Combo ("Flipper") Discs!

GizmoDVD

"bombsnizzle" is just so bitter that Blu-ray has failed that he can't see the sarcasm in my post. It's pretty funny to see Warner back something that they backed in 2006.

Kosty

That's obviously not the only reason for combos. They also are a higher margin product that also serves both DVD and Blu-ray owners, reduces multiple skus for inventory and allows Blu-ray owners to play movies in the minivan and on secondary legacy DVD players and portable devices.

But its certainly true that the increased usage of combos for new releases is a factor in the increasing Blu-ray marketshare over time.

Lee Stewart

Reduced multiple SKUs? How? How many new releases are BD combo only? There is almost always a seperate DVD SKU.

And right - no real BD indash minivan players - remember - Tom Arnold wrote a blog complaining about that fact.

Chris Gerhard

Dual sided Blu-ray/DVD disc is such a terrible idea. I recall during the format war, one often repeated false claim among many from the HD DVD supporters, was that Blu-ray couldn't have dual sided discs, I said it would be possible but I hope it doesn't happen. Now I wish it wasn't possible.

GizmoDVD

It couldn't happen during the format war. End of story.

Should we go back to the Atari 2600 days when people said we wouldn't have motion controls? Technology advances.

Anyways, I hate dual sided discs.

Malanthius

Well at least you now admit it's a reason! Gizmo never said it was the only reason. But it's a pretty big reason. Lets see. year 5 and only 2 billion in sell through? Signs of Bluray peaking? Even with all the help mentioned? Pretty damn disappointing.

Kosty

When its the only reason he mentions and does not even acknowledge the other factors such as higher margin then it certainly seems to be the case.

Obviously increasing the market penetration and sales of Blu-ray and moving consumers and retailers into displacing more lower margin DVD to higher margin DVD is an important consideration. But that's hardly desperation or a scam to prop up the sales of Blu-ray purely for PR reasons.

GizmoDVD

Please stop assuming things. It'll get you into trouble like your "predictions" have for the past few years.

drock912001

Personally I don't like it and the bundling of dvd's with blu-ray aren't that beneficial.I have a hard time buying them due to that fact.I switched to hd to get away from sd.And that package typically cost more,those $5 mark ups start to add up.

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Kosty

Its certainly a danger that consumers will notice that if combos tend to cost more than plain Blu-ray Discs that they will react like that to a perceived extra cost.

But from long ago, with special edition DVD multiple disc DVD sets, the studios and retailers have found that many consumers are willing to pay more for multiple disc sets, including now BD+DVD combos

They either see them as greater value they are willing to pay more for or see them priced at retail for little more than new release DVD or Blu-ray titles because of retail discounts or close enough to regular new release pricing.

sbuberl

I don't always buy combo packs but I usually prefer them. Main advantage to me is there is only one Blu-ray player in my house (PS3 in living room), but there are around 10 things that can play DVDs (desktops, computers, regular dvd players in other rooms, and even my roommate's new car). Once more devices upgrade to Blu-ray drives, I won't need combo packs, but I'll stick with them for the moment.

GizmoDVD

Multiple-disc sets of discs they can actually PLAY and have different content, yes. But a Disc that has the SD version of the film sans extras is not really an "extra". Your buying the Blu-ray version for a reason - to watch the film in HD. Sorry, aside from kids films, I don't see any purpose of the DVD included with the BD as most consumers won't choose to watch the DVD or BD if they have a choice. That's just silly. Please, no stupid 'in-dash DVD Player/portable DVD player' junk either as we know people are just buying tablets now that don't have disc slots.

What's going on is that Blu-ray has failed to sell by itself in a SKU and the studios were forced to include a DVD inside to help facilitate the sale as well as appease retailers who would not stock something that wasn't moving. Old stock was returned (sorry, no one believes you again that no Blu-ray was ever returned) because of poor selling BD-Only SKUs.

It's the studios way of squeezing more money out of people to buy into discs. Warners little plan here will hurt the HV Market, not help.

Kosty

The poster above you (subeberl) is a perfect example of why your assumptions are nonsense.

You are in denial of reality if you think that many consumers do not have secondary DVD players in their home or portable devices or vehicle mounted DVD players that they find the extra DVD in the combo pack to be a useful asset besides the Blu-ray Disc that they can use on their larger displays.

Especially if they do not see much difference in price between the plain Blu-ray version and the combo disc or see the extra disc as a free or low cost bonus because the new release BD+DVD combo pack is close enough to what they expected to pay at retail for the new release Blu-ray or DVD anyway.

Even with combo disc being more common the overall DVD and Blu-ray price points for discs sold has slightly declined YoY so retailers are substituting the combo discs near what new releases were sold in recent years.

In other words the extra DVD in the set for the most part may be perceived by manner consumers to be a free bonus or small extra cost and useful enough to be a good value as the studio product stickers on the combo sets proclaim.

In any case, the combos are proving to be accepted by consumers and gaining better marketshare than even lower cost Blu-ray only editions on many titles, so its no wonder that the studios and retailers are using them more and more.

Plus combos have the advantage of not only being higher margin but with UltraViolet being used to replace digital copies and combos having more extra bonus features or 3D Blu-ray versions they are becoming more and more the more definitive versions for collectors.

Combos also have the advantage of simplifying the logistics of product inventory and initial stockage and eliminating the use of a DVD only sku for follow on sales as a combo BD+DVD version can service DVD and Blu-ray sales needs after the initial sales surge.

Plus as Blu-ray marketshares continue to rise more and more the DVD only versions might be delayed as Disney now routinely does (once again its doing it for Lady and the tramp with a DVD only delay) so they seem to be having some success with that strategy.

Its far more a rich set of reasons than your pessimistic spiel that the only reasons that combos are being used because Blu-ray is a failure otherwise. Higher margin , easier inventory and space allocations, consumer acceptance are other reasons that make sense.

PSound

I have to agree with Kosty on this one.

Combos make sense for the studios and consumers. For consumers because BD does not (and probably never will) have the sort of penetration that DVD does, including cars, laptops, etc.

They make sense for the studio because without the DVD packaged in, less BDs would be sold.

GizmoDVD

You mean the one person? What about all the other people who don't want DVDs included with their Blu-ray copy? Just nonsense, right?

You are in denial if you think those DVDs are getting heavily watched. They either get ignored in the case, given away or sold on the second hand market. If they are too poor to afford a $50 second Blu-ray player, they really shouldn't be buying $20+ discs. It's that simple.


Say's who, you? If that what they tell you to say in your handbook? We've seen all of your predictions fail year after year, so excuse me if I once again find what you say to be pure FUD.

Accepted by consumers? When they have no choice, it's kind of hard to be "accepted". Retailers are shrinking disc space, not expanding. They want an all in one SKU. Duh.

Yep, copy/pasted directly from your handbook I see.

You ignore so many factors and instead continue to juice over how awesome Blu-ray is that your judgement is incredibly clouded. Shame to see how far people go to prop up a format which peaked at a measly 2 billion.