Dance Recital - Pricing Strategy DVD vs. Blu-Ray

[Vince Pachiano]

I have created a DVD pricing schedule for a 3-Act Recital as follows
$20 - One Act
$40 - Two Acts
$55 - All 3 Acts
Each act is about 90 minutes, and with Titles, etc. each Act fits perfectly onto a DVD+R DL

This year I am offering Blu-Ray as an option, and am considering:
$25 - One Act
$50 - Two Acts
$60 - All 3 Acts

Any thoughts?
p.s. The funny thing is that a Blu-Ray is $1.04 per disk, which can hold 1,2, or 3 acts
A DVD+R DL is $1.16 per disk, and only holds 1 act.
In essence, my cost for Blu-Ray are cheaper.

[Jeff Harper]

You can easily charge more for blurays as you propose and no one can criticize you for it. Nothing wrong. You post your prices up front and if people choose to pay, then all is well.

However, I would probably charge same price since your cost is the same. Reason? You'll be keeping your customers happy, offering them an option. The small amount extra you would make, IMO would not be worth the hassle of keeping prices straight. Your customers will think it's great. You're adding value to your service and that is worth money to you in the long run. And the best part is you can feel good about it.

If your cost is the same there really is no point to charging more. You are actually spending less time burning one BRD then two or three DVDs so it's really not justified. Technically you should charge more for the DVDs. They are saving you money and time by ordering Blurays, so you could actually offer a discount for Blurays. Actually my time is worth more to me than $5 or $10 so I would be thrilled if they ordered Bluray, they would be doing me a favor. I have actually fantasized about charging more to MY customers for DVDs, they are such a hassle.

Also, I would find it interesting how many want Bluray when it's free. It would give you an insight into what people are using.

I'm not a fan of nickle and diming customers, but that is me. I would rather make someone happy and then I will feel extra good about what I've done. I prefer that to feeling like I'm getting over on people for $5 or $10. It's just so petty. Again, this is only my opinion.

Let me be clear, there are plenty of ways to look at this. I am aware. I have been in business for 30 years, and I have gone through so many phases and ways of seeing situations. In my case it's how my thinking has evolved. I'm sure it will change again.

[Dave Blackhurst]

Charging a small premium for BR would be consistent with "retail" practices, but you might want to take a page from that and sell a DVD/BR "package" at a premium - something for people who have BR, but might have relatives like grandparents who might just have DVD! In theory, this might increase your total sales, by having people buying "package deals"?

[Jeff Harper]

I like your idea Dave, brilliant.

[Vince Pachiano]

Originally Posted by Dave Blackhurst

Charging a small premium for BR would be consistent with "retail" practices, but you might want to take a page from that and sell a DVD/BR "package" at a premium - something for people who have BR, but might have relatives like grandparents who might just have DVD! In theory, this might increase your total sales, by having people buying "package deals"?

Interesting thought, I'll think it over. 2 comments:
1. In all my years, no one has ever bought more than 1 copy
2. All of the families are friendly (and have each other's email). I'm afraid someone would buy the combo package, and split the price with another family, this sacrificing sales.
3. Packaging: I currently have 1x, 2x, 3x DVD cases. I'd have to see about 4x cases. I also don't think Blu-Rays like to be packaged into a DVD case, so now we are talking a BR case and a DVD case.

That being said, I always buy the Blu-ray Hollywood movies. But if I had a buddy that I knew would consistently buy the DVD from me, I'd buy the package and sell the DVD to him

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Vince,

I have a large dance studio client that I do the recitals for each summer. Over one long weekend, I have to tape 6 shows, and each is close to 2.5 hours. So I have to EDIT the 6 shows, then AUTHOR 6 show DVDs, and PACKAGE 6 shows. It's an awful lot of work!

A couple of years ago, I decided to offer a Blu-ray option for a little extra, like you propose. Wanted to give my customers "the best", right? At the time, the blanks were still several dollars, plus I then had to encode and author a whole 'nuther program...times 6 shows! And burn them one at a time, no tower for that!

What ended up happening is that I got like ONE Blu-ray order per show....so now for my $5 or $10 dollar premium, whatever I was charging extra, I had to do MANY hours of work to create the ONE Blu-ray. Times 6. Never again.

Also complicated the order form, having 12 options rather than 6, plus the price differences. So the next year, I went back to offering DVD-only and I think only one person inquired about why I didn't offer Blu-ray and I told them honestly that I wasn't doing an extra day's work for $5.

I'm using the "HD2SD" scripting methods, and not bragging, but I can put 2.5 hours of 1080p-sourced material on a 4.7GB DVD-R and when played to a 50" plasma using an upscaling player via HDMI, it LOOKS like HD. It just looks really nice, so I'm not worrying about offering Blu-ray.

Also, at just 90 minutes for your gigs, a single-layer DVD should easily accommodate fitting good quality video on it. Have you run into any customer compatibility issues delivering DL discs? Maybe all the stories online aren't true, but DL is not supposed to be as universally compatible as DVD-R or DVD+R media. Maybe not true?

About pricing - even if the media costs the same, HD is 5x better than SD....plus the extra labor of authoring another version....I can't see offering the same price, but that's your call of course. I do weddings also and can't GIVE AWAY Blu-ray. Seriously - "Hey Mr. and Mrs., your DVDs are ready - would you also like a Blu-ray for no charge?". "No thanks, Mr. Video Man".

If I sound disgruntled...I am.

Good luck with this

Jeff

[Vince Pachiano]

Originally Posted by Jeff Pulera

A couple of years ago, I decided to offer a Blu-ray option for a little extra, like you propose. Wanted to give my customers "the best", right? At the time, the blanks were still several dollars, plus I then had to encode and author a whole 'nuther program...times 6 shows! And burn them one at a time, no tower for that!

Jeff,
Thanks for your insight. My intent was to create the project, then Render an HD image for Blu-Ray, then Render an SD image for DVD. My only cost is the several hours of processing time. I don't see how there is extra edit/author work involved. Maybe I am overlooking something. You are correct about burning Blu-Ray one-at-a-time vs. my DVD Disc duplicator.

Originally Posted by Jeff Pulera

Also, at just 90 minutes for your gigs, a single-layer DVD should easily accommodate fitting good quality video on it. Have you run into any customer compatibility issues delivering DL discs?

My purpose in using a DL disc is as a "poor-man's" copy protection scheme. Most any person can buy a blank DVD-R and copy a DVD. Most of them, however, don't know to buy a DL.
My ISO files are coming in at 5.3 Gbytes, too large for a Single Layer, and I am unwilling to burn at anything but 100% quality. (even if it means using a $1.08 DL disc vs. a 34 cent SL)
To date, no one has complained about DL playing issues. I print my email on each disc, so they certainly know how to reach me.

[Robert Rinkewich]

Vince,

What brand/model Dual layer disk are you using for delivery?

I'm interested in using them as you stated "poor mans copy protection". Also, since I switched to shooting my recitals in HD I notice a little breakup/noise in my wide shots that aren't there in the original HD footage or when I output Blu Ray. So I'm assuming the dual layer will let me compress at a slightly higher rate. Most of my Acts are at least 2 hours.

Thank you
Robert

[Vince Pachiano]

Originally Posted by Robert Rinkewich

What brand/model Dual layer disk are you using for delivery?

I'm using the Verbatim DVD+R 8.5GB 8X DataLifePlus White Hub InkJet Printable 50 Pack Spindle

Make sure you are getting the "Verbatim 98319". Sometimes google takes you to a similar product

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Vince,

I like the idea of the "copy protection" aspect of DL, if there are no compatibility issues. I guess with newer players, not an issue anymore? Although a free program like DVD Shrink will copy a DL disc down to a 4.7GB disc easily ;-)

My DVD tower broke down last year after several years of workhorse performance, and I decided to quit spending all my time with the burning, printing one at a time, getting inserts printed, trimming them, and assembling inserts and DVDs to cases. With 6 individual shows and hundreds of discs, very time-consuming. I now upload to kunaki.com and they handle it all for cheap, however they don't offer Dual-layer or I might take advantage of that.

About the Blu-ray, agreed that encoding time is not the issue. However, I was creating chapter points for about 40 acts, plus menus, times six shows. Yes, I know that "technically" one is supposed to be able to create a Blu-ray project in Encore and then burn DVDs from that same project. Problem is, I use the "HD2SD" encoding methods and am not letting Adobe do it, quality would fall apart for the 2.5-hour programs, so therefore am creating needing to create two separate projects per show then.

Thanks

[Robert Rinkewich]

Originally Posted by Vince Pachiano

I'm using the Verbatim DVD+R 8.5GB 8X DataLifePlus White Hub InkJet Printable 50 Pack Spindle

Make sure you are getting the "Verbatim 98319". Sometimes google takes you to a similar product

Thanks, I'll give them a try.

Does anyone recommend a stand alone program for designing dvd case inserts? Not photoshop. Just a small standalone program.

Thanks

Rob

[Dinh Hung]

In Viet Nam - 2$ for 1 DVD :) and 1,5$ for 100 DVD

[Chris Harding]

Yesterday was the first time in 10 years I have actually been asked by a bride if I do BluRay ... She said she didn't really want BluRay as she never had a player but just wondered why other video guys offered BluRay and I didn't.

Yeah over here BD's are also expensive and little choice too ..you can buy Ritek or Ritek that's it and for 100 disks you are looking at $119.00 whereas 16X DVD printables are a mere $28.00 for 100 and I have a big choice of brands!

When you realise that you will have to re-render all your footage just for one or two clients it doesn't become very cost effective!

Chris

[Gabe Strong]

Originally Posted by Robert Rinkewich

Thanks, I'll give them a try.

Does anyone recommend a stand alone program for designing dvd case inserts? Not photoshop. Just a small standalone program.

Thanks

Rob

I use this:
Disc Cover ? Overview

It's great, you can print create designs to print directly on ink jet printable DVD's, DVD inserts,
Lightscribe artwork for Lightscribe DVD's, inkjet printable Blue Rays, and everything all in one program.
And only costs like $35. But I'm a Mac guy, so you must take into consideration that it is a Mac program.
I'm sure there are similar programs for PC, that PC users can advise you on.

[Robert Rinkewich]

Gabe,

Thanks for the recommendation. I'm both Mac and Windows. I have a Bravo SE Printer that I have hooked up to a windows computer, but it would be easy enough to get the Mac drivers for it.

Thanks

Rob