Blu Ray Costs - How much does it cost to burn?

[Tim Palmer-Benson]

I have a customer inquiry....how much for a blu ray disc of their wedding....

Seems a can of worms from my research so, here are my questions:
How much would one of you charge for converting 45 minutes of FCP HD into a Blu Ray Disc?
What kind of results might I get with the MCE Disc burner ($499) and Toast 9 Titanium with Blu Ray?
I have looked everywhere on the web for samples/examples of the Toast feature but can't find any comments or reviews....that in itself is a warning I guess..

I have Sorenson Squeeze 5 and it does compress to several Blu Ray configurations, but it isn't an editor.

I have looked into Encore CS3 and have seen a lot of negative comments which clearly indicate this was a rush Beta job, rather like Adobe's disastrous Go Live versions. At $799 for Premier Pro CS3 and Encore it is too expensive.

Seems a good answer might be to give the customer a hard drive containing the work!!

[Jon Fairhurst]

Maybe you can find somebody with a PC, a burner and DVD Architect or the Roxio product nearby. It seems that there are fewer options on the Mac for now. Over time, that will sort itself out...

The issues that remain are these: the blank discs aren't cheap. The best price I've found so far is $7.77 for a Verbatim BD-R 2x disc from the well-known Internet book store. Typically, they've been $12 and up. They're $21 at the largest consumer electronics retailer.

And then there's compatibility. BD-Rs don't play on all of the players. There are two approaches: 1) search the web for test results and compile a list of known BD-R compatibles, or 2) make a demo BD-R that you can loan to clients to test on their machines.

You can avoid compatibility issues by pressing BD-ROMs, but that costs thousands of $$$.

Best of luck. (And maybe a mac person can give the skinny on toast.)

[John Estcourt]

hi Tim,
I use Roxio DVDIT pro hd cost £369
Lg burner cost £153
verbatim BD-R cost £6.87

sorenson squeeze 5 produces legal VC1 files and mpeg that will pass through DVDIT without recompression.
The rest i would say depends on how much you charge per hour of your time, takes about 5 hrs on my quad core to render 1hr 10 min film into VC1 VBR 30000

[Tim Polster]

Originally Posted by Jon Fairhurst

And then there's compatibility. BD-Rs don't play on all of the players.

I thought this was not supposed to be an issue with BD.

Can't they get this right the second time around?

Or are copyrights behind the crippling of the playback compatability?

This is very disheartening for the whole HD production upgrade and smaller than replication sized projects...

[John Estcourt]

I think that compatability will be less of an issue than dvd-r / dvd +r was (and still is on occasion).
Even now I sometimes come up against a dvd player that wont play a disc(very rare though) and how long have dvds been doing the rounds.
A quick check on the internet reveals people still have compatability issues and are asking how to make their dvds compatable, although some of this is down to a lack of knowledge + cheap discs + old players.
So I was very pleasantly suprised when my first BD-R disc played on a playstation 3 (prob most common bluray player) and also my own panasonic player( motion menus,chapter selection etc..etc.included..)
So imho blu ray is a step forward, my only reservation is with regards to the difference between upscaled SD DVD and bluray as sometimes the difference isnt that great. imo

[Jon Fairhurst]

Originally Posted by Tim Polster

I thought this was not supposed to be an issue with BD.

On the BD-R compatible players that I've tried, all operations have been solid as a rock. As John wrote, it's much better than DVD+/-R was at this point.

Or are copyrights behind the crippling of the playback compatability?

It's not a copy protection issue as there's no requirement by the Blu-ray Disc Association to not play non-protected content. As I see it there are four situations:

1) First gen players that simply don't play BD-Rs. (Maybe they expected AACS. I'm not sure. It's not a BD player requirement.)
2) First gen players that are fussy with BD-Rs. (For instance, one player required an empty AACS folder to work),
3) Players that needed firmware upgrades to play BD-Rs, and
4) Players that play BD-Rs out of the box.

Most of the latest models are 3s or 4s. The PS3 is compatible. By the time BD really takes off, there will be a relatively small base of incompatible players.

The real copy protection issue is this: if you want copy protection, it's quite expensive. You'll need to sign licenses, pay thousands of dollars and use a licensed replicator. Of course, if your volume is high enough, this might make sense anyway, since the cost of BD-Rs, a mass burner and engraver and labor costs all add up...

[Tim Polster]

Thanks for the information.

A lot more upbeat which makes me feel better.

To me, BD is holding up everything with regards to my move to HD.

Until the players are in a lot of homes, people just won't be thinking about aquiring in HD.

[Jon Fairhurst]

BD sales continue to grow - slowly. (Up 300% since last year.)

http://www.videobusiness.com/article...?desc=topstory

Things should accelerate this holiday season. Name brand players are still sold at about $399 (though some are on sale in the $339 range.) I expect that the price will generally be $299 and below by Thanksgiving. However, things won't really take off until they are $199 and under.

[George Kroonder]

Originally Posted by Tim Polster

To me, BD is holding up everything with regards to my move to HD.

You will make less money from BD re-releases this way!

George/

[Tripp Woelfel]

300% seems like a very high number. Other sales figure numbers have been much lower. Low double digits as I recall. Regardless, without actual quantities a ratio is less than fully helpful.

You may want to look into Nero. I don't burn BD so I have no experience, but I've used Nero for years and it's a virtual Swiss Army Knife for burning optical media. Cost here is less than US$100 which should make it more accessible.

One last editorial comment. I'm not convinced that BD going to spike up in acceptance. A major studio recently dropped their BD catalog prices. (WB, I believe.) Not a typical move if something is on the threshold of taking off. The problem is alternative delivery methods and other computer-like media playback devices simplify delivery and eliminate costly media.

The jury's still out.

[Jon Fairhurst]

Originally Posted by Tripp Woelfel

300% seems like a very high number. Other sales figure numbers have been much lower. Low double digits as I recall. Regardless, without actual quantities a ratio is less than fully helpful.

Check out the link in my post. It includes some numbers:

"That is reflected in BD spending north of $200 million year-to-date through June, up about 300% from the same 2007 frame."

That implies that BD sales were around $50m for the first half of 2007 (assuming they mean an increase of 300%.)

Also, "20th Century Fox Home Entertainment president Mike Dunn cited data that Blu-ray is gaining ground at retail. According to studio research, "We are trending 8% Blu-ray sales [per title], and at the end of the year, we will be between 10% and 12%,” said Dunn."

Could be spin, but there it is.

I'd say growth is "modest." Yes, it's growing, but not as much as one might expect, given that HD DVD dropped out of the market. There are many people who have bought flat panel HD TVs, but only so many of them are willing to pay $400 for the right to buy $30 movies. I think there's no question that sales will increase once prices come down.

Regarding downloads and streaming, I think it's great for temporary viewing, but if I want Citizen Kane for my collection, it will be on disc. Content authorized per machine can become worthless if your hard drive dies, or if the authorization company leaves the market.