Blu-Ray Sample DVDs. It's getting close.

[Steve Shovlar]

Well the price is realy startig to come down on printable Blu-ray blanks. A year ago they were double what they are today and I am sure it won't be long before I will starting giving out blu-ray dvds as samples of my work.

And have I waited for this to happen. The trouble with a lot of customers is they have the 43 inch or 50 inch HD ready tv, with an old dvd player with no upscaler. Chuck in a sample dvd and the 720 x 576i looks like crap.

On average I give out about 40-50 sample dvds a week during the winter months. The cost is not a lot. Now I could never afford to do this with blu-ray blanks, but it wn't be long before I will start handing them out, selectively at first to customers who "look more than likely" to book my services, and have a means to play it!

Has anyone else started this yet? If so what's the feedback been like?

[Noel Lising]

Hi Steve,

Would you mind sharing how you distribute the DVDs? I mean do you have a list that you work on?

Thanks,

[Jason Robinson]

I gave out 50 sample SD DVDs at the one wedding show I did. All were plain blank top DVDs with a paper sleeve and a printed insert (B&W) cut to fit inside with company contact info / logo.

That was the first time I gave out sample DVDs. And my first wedding show. Now idea how effective it was. Some might say not very, since I only have one booking to date for 2009.

[Steve Shovlar]

How do I distribute? By hand mostly. I do a wedding show nearly every weekend during the winter months. I give out between 30-50 dvds at a show.

If the prices come down to less than £1 a Blu-ray DVD, I will selectively give them out to potential clients, who are HD ready. The image will blow them away and when they compare a HD dvd with a SD dvd in their own home, I should have a healthy advantage.

[Joel Peregrine]

Hi Steve,

Originally Posted by Steve Shovlar

How do I distribute? By hand mostly. I do a wedding show nearly every weekend during the winter months. I give out between 30-50 dvds at a show.

If the prices come down to less than £1 a Blu-ray DVD, I will selectively give them out to potential clients, who are HD ready. The image will blow them away and when they compare a HD dvd with a SD dvd in their own home, I should have a healthy advantage.

The UK might have a better bluray adoption rate, but in the US its growing very slowly from its present 6% ownership. Surveys show that only about 23% are 'considering' purchasing in 2009. Other predictions show that BD won't overtake DVD until 2012, and by 2013 will start declining because of improved online delivery methods.

Personally, I think putting your time and energy into improving content and how its displayed online (size, quality, presentation) is much more important in terms of gaining new business than hand-to-hand demos. The catch is how to get the eyeballs to your site.

[Martin Mayer]

I have found so few prospects actually have BD players already (although a few have PS3s) that it's rather premature to offer them. Sure, it gets attention and perhaps shows you're ahead of the others, but I certainly won't make any BD demos until specifically asked.

Eventually this will change, of course. I love it when seeing others' demo DVDs still in not only SD, but also still in 4:3!

[Jeff Kellam]

Why would you bother putting the demo on a Blu-Ray disc?

Just make shorter BD-5/9 discs for the demo. I have been doing it for a few years now. Never sold a shoot on Blu-Ray HD, but have thrown in a HD version with the SD delivery for people who ask, so they will be "HD Ready" in the future when they get a BD-Player.

I did sell a few HD-DVD delivery shoots. They also got SD delivery.

Formats change so much, Im almost thinking that a flash memory delivery will be the way to go soon. Panasonic TVs & Blu-Ray players will already play HD content, directly off the flash. Maybe other brands too.