Why the rip-off?

[sntee]

I know this topic has been raised before and I know that complaining about it on here isn't going to change anything but....

Why are the new 4k Blu Ray players so damned expensive?

In terms of componentry, there isn't anything inside them that isn't already found in a standard player costing over £200 less.

Add to that the usual tactic of ripping off UK customers because we just put up with it....
The Samsung UBD-K8500 is £429 in the UK.... It's now selling in Best Buy US for $399.99.....That's about £275....!!!

I know this won't happen but just once it would be nice for UK consumers to speak with their wallets and tell Samsung, Panasonic, Sony, etc. that we're not going to put up with it any more.

 

[Series1boy]

I know this topic has been raised before and I know that complaining about it on here isn't going to change anything but....

Why are the new 4k Blu Ray players so damned expensive?

In terms of componentry, there isn't anything inside them that isn't already found in a standard player costing over £200 less.

Add to that the usual tactic of ripping off UK customers because we just put up with it.... The Samsung UBD-K8500 is £429 in the UK.... It's now selling in Best Buy US for $399.99.....That's about £275....!!!

I know this won't happen but just once it would be nice for UK consumers to speak with their wallets and tell Samsung, Panasonic, Sony, etc. that we're not going to put up with it any more.

its a all relative in terms of cost of living in the US and Uk where we earn more, things cost more..

i agree though with the high costs of the new players and disks. It's the new technology thing and prices will start to come down although part of these high costs is the maufacturers covering the new r&d costs etc up front.

 

[sntee]

The R&D cost shizzle is a fallacy....
These companies are in it for the long haul, R&D is paid for by a tiny percentage of the mark up on the millions of products they sell globally each year... Not by the extra 60% they slap on the first few thousand units...

Unfortunately, pricing in any region is defined by what the market will stand.... The cost of living in the US isn't 36% lower than in the UK (or anywhere near that) but their consumers simply won't stand for being ripped off like we do....

 

[keeper of the quays]

I think the TV manufacturers should be charged for the disposal of all those millions upon millions of now redundant televisions..seems that's nearly every old telly that isn't a modern one! And now manufacturers of televisions want us to get shot of all our modern televisions in order to acquire these new 4k etc units? It's wrong, it's wasteful..it needs to be stopped! We don't have mountains of old hifi? Quality hifi from the 1950s is still providing stalwart service! What are we going to do with all these obsolete televisions? Fire them off into space?

 

[MrReaper182]

I think the TV manufacturers should be charged for the disposal of all those millions upon millions of now redundant televisions..seems that's nearly every old telly that isn't a modern one! And now manufacturers of televisions want us to get shot of all our modern televisions in order to acquire these new 4k etc units? It's wrong, it's wasteful..it needs to be stopped! We don't have mountains of old hifi? Quality hifi from the 1950s is still providing stalwart service! What are we going to do with all these obsolete televisions? Fire them off into space?

It would be nice if everyone thought like that but most people don't. We live in such a throw away society. With new tech being refreshed quicker than ever before the problem is only going to get worse.

 

[Frank Harvey]

Without R&D, there would be no UHD players, nor any Bluray players. Go back as far as you like, as without R&D there's no progression. Whilst there might be a lot in common with 1080p Bluray players, UHD players aren't just a Bluray player that can play 4K discs, they need to provide other features like quality 4K upscaling. Plus of course, build quality of the first players is usually far superior to following models.

One aspect that needs to be paid for is the constant work that will have continued after the products' release with regards to providing support and software updates for discs that will be released and have issues due to the film companies pushing the boundaries of the format, as has happened with Bluray, and DVD before it.

The cost of the players will vary from region to region. Panasonic (like any other major manufacturer) don't supply the world from one location, there will be a number of regions where they will have localised support. This needs to be paid for on a local basis, so trade prices will be set locally to take that into account. Along with that will come the charges and taxes of local governments, which we all know, our government is a prime example of claiming a nice chunk of everything. US customers enjoy much lower taxes, but then their population is huge compared to ours.

 

[Series1boy]

The R&D cost shizzle is a fallacy...

i run my own business and when we bring a new product to market, there is a hell of a lot of costs up front, r&d, setting up etc etc.... Therefore, as a viable business the costs are recouped as quick as possible hence our higher prices in the first 6 months or so. We then look at bringing our costs down if feasible later on. Then it's now we have covered our costs, let's bring the price down and sell as many units as we can.

its no fallacy, it's good business sense and is what all good business do.

nobody is forcing you to pay these costs, just wait longer and you'll get a good deal. If you want the latest products, then get ya money out

 

[Series1boy]

I think the TV manufacturers should be charged for the disposal

redicoulous idea! I think you ought to apply your idea to the car manufacturers, this is more viable!

 

[jjbomber]

I think the TV manufacturers should be charged for the disposal

redicoulous idea! I think you ought to apply your idea to the car manufacturers, this is more viable!

Using the same logic, shouldn't Mcdonalds pay us to use their toilets?

 

[Series1boy]

I think the TV manufacturers should be charged for the disposal

redicoulous idea! I think you ought to apply your idea to the car manufacturers, this is more viable!

Using the same logic, shouldn't Mcdonalds pay us to use their toilets?

human excrement is recycled, so no....

 

[keeper of the quays]

I think the TV manufacturers should be charged for the disposal 

redicoulous idea! I think you ought to apply your idea to the car manufacturers, this is more viable!

car are recycled..parts either re used or melted down for steel to be made into something else..as far as I am aware? Obsolete televisions are not recycled..just stockpiled higher and ever higher!

 

[spiny norman]

I think the TV manufacturers should be charged for the disposal

I thought under the amusingly-named WEEE Directive they already were. And there was a WHF feature ages back about how Panasonic was recycling TVs in Japan.

 

[Series1boy]

I think the TV manufacturers should be charged for the disposal

redicoulous idea! I think you ought to apply your idea to the car manufacturers, this is more viable!

car are recycled..parts either re used or melted down for steel to be made into something else..as far as I am aware? Obsolete televisions are not recycled..just stockpiled higher and ever higher!

i was on about your idea of charging people..

 

[keeper of the quays]

I think the TV manufacturers should be charged for the disposal 

redicoulous idea! I think you ought to apply your idea to the car manufacturers, this is more viable!

car are recycled..parts either re used or melted down for steel to be made into something else..as far as I am aware? Obsolete televisions are not recycled..just stockpiled higher and ever higher!

i was on about your idea of charging people..

from a charging station? Like electric cars! Very green idea..we could carry a mini booster in our pocket so in between charges? We could give ourselves a pep up! I would never have thought of such a thing! Radical idea but strangely persuasive..

 

[keeper of the quays]

I think the TV manufacturers should be charged for the disposal 

I thought under the amusingly-named WEEE Directive they already were. And there was a WHF feature ages back about how Panasonic was recycling TVs in Japan.

I have heard of someone who traded in old televisions for the new ones and now they have a warehouse full of redundant televisions..i believe the local tip have a dim view towards hundreds of obsolete televisions turning up for disposal...series boy idea is a good one, charging the owner of TV for it's disposal..will the money be used for that purpose? Is road tax spent on roads? Lol..so we still stuck with millions of sets..

 

[Series1boy]

I think the TV manufacturers should be charged for the disposal

I thought under the amusingly-named WEEE Directive they already were. And there was a WHF feature ages back about how Panasonic was recycling TVs in Japan.

I have heard of someone who traded in old televisions for the new ones and now they have a warehouse full of redundant televisions..i believe the local tip have a dim view towards hundreds of obsolete televisions turning up for disposal...series boy idea is a good one, charging the owner of TV for it's disposal..will the money be used for that purpose? Is road tax spent on roads? Lol..so we still stuck with millions of sets..

I never suggested charging anyone for TVs, that was you.

 

[keeper of the quays]

I think the TV manufacturers should be charged for the disposal 

I thought under the amusingly-named WEEE Directive they already were. And there was a WHF feature ages back about how Panasonic was recycling TVs in Japan.

I have heard of someone who traded in old televisions for the new ones and now they have a warehouse full of redundant televisions..i believe the local tip have a dim view towards hundreds of obsolete televisions turning up for disposal...series boy idea is a good one, charging the owner of TV for it's disposal..will the money be used for that purpose? Is road tax spent on roads? Lol..so we still stuck with millions of sets..

I never suggested charging anyone for TVs, that was you.

was it? Ah ok..good idea though! Charge the owners of televisions what the cost is to recycle the old sets properly..all the old sets marked to the owners so they couldn't fly tip them!

 

[Gray]

I know this topic has been raised before and I know that complaining about it on here isn't going to change anything but....

Why are the new 4k Blu Ray players so damned expensive?

In terms of componentry, there isn't anything inside them that isn't already found in a standard player costing over £200 less.

Add to that the usual tactic of ripping off UK customers because we just put up with it.... The Samsung UBD-K8500 is £429 in the UK.... It's now selling in Best Buy US for $399.99.....That's about £275....!!!

I know this won't happen but just once it would be nice for UK consumers to speak with their wallets and tell Samsung, Panasonic, Sony, etc. that we're not going to put up with it any more.

I'm a UK consumer that does vote with my wallet.

It's mostly a case of supply and demand of course.

Why not charge what you can get away with? While the early adopters pay the high prices (and they always will) they will keep charging those prices. Some people can't wait for stuff, good for them and good for us as they effectively subsidise the rest of us in the end.

I'd challenge anyone to wait as long as I do once they decide they want something. Current example for me: Cambridge CXN. I like the look of it, I could use it well, I've got the money to buy it, in short I've wanted (not needed) it since it first came out. But, come what may, I will not be paying £700 for it.

Which brings us back to the supply and demand story. During my wait, Richer have been bombarding me with offers of real bargains on TVs which they seemingly can't give away - but no movement at all on the CXN because, with high demand and no competition, they've got no reason to - yet. But they will, or I won't have one.

To prove the point the Pioneer N50A, start price £500, low demand (not least because of the CXN no doubt).......already down to £349 at Sevenoaks. CXN will never drop to that extent but drop it will.

I am most certainly not recommending my way of working by the way as I fully appreciate that if everyone were like me (didn't care if they died before paying over the odds) there would be no shops or products for anybody to buy!

So yes sntee, I couldn't agree with you more.

 

[Frank Harvey]

...series boy idea is a good one, charging the owner of TV for it's disposal..

Good luck with that one! Most people buying a new TV won't even pay full price for that, so are sure as hell not going to pay to get rid of their old TV that they no longer want! Best giving it to a family member or a charity shop, are advertise it free to collector on Gumtree or something.

 

[keeper of the quays]

...series boy idea is a good one, charging the owner of TV for it's disposal..

Good luck with that one! Most people buying a new TV won't even pay full price for that, so are sure as hell not going to pay to get rid of their old TV that they no longer want! Best giving it to a family member or a charity shop, are advertise it free to collector on Gumtree or something.

Don't give them the choice! Having to buy carrier bags is going ok..make the customer responsible for their purchase! Then when some new fad comes along they need to weigh up the pros and cons of buying this new tv set..as i said mark the set with a bar code individual to the purchaser..then also put clocks within unit..just in case they obliterate the bar code..job done! This is the only way to rein their enthusiasm for new tv sets in...

 

[MajorFubar]

I think the TV manufacturers should be charged for the disposal of all those millions upon millions of now redundant televisions..seems that's nearly every old telly that isn't a modern one! And now manufacturers of televisions want us to get shot of all our modern televisions in order to acquire these new 4k etc units? It's wrong, it's wasteful..it needs to be stopped! We don't have mountains of old hifi? Quality hifi from the 1950s is still providing stalwart service! What are we going to do with all these obsolete televisions? Fire them off into space?

Spot-on to be honest. At least 4k genuinely needs new hardware, ie no software update to your old TV can give you 4k because the hardware isn't up to it. But conversely all I'd like my TV to do is stream MP4 movies from my NAS, and the one and only sole reason it cannot is Panasonic can't be arsed sending an firmware patch to it so it can decipher the codec, but they won't, they would rather I bought a new TV instead. It's only 5 years old.

 

[MajorFubar]

On the whole everything is sold at the price the market will take. Look at supercars like a Ferrari. In terms of raw materials I doubt it costs very much more than a couple of Ford Mondeos and I'm being generous.

 

[Series1boy]

On the whole everything is sold at the price the market will take. Look at supercars like a Ferrari. In terms of raw materials I doubt it costs very much more than a couple of Ford Mondeos and I'm being generous.

Apart from the Carbon Fibre brakes....

 

[jjbomber]

Can a Ford Mondeo do 0-60 in less than 5 seconds? Exceed 200mph? Stop in a reasonable amount of time from said speed?

Yes, if you drive them off a cliff. Stops faster than a Ferrari then!

 

[Frank Harvey]

Can a Ford Mondeo do 0-60 in less than 5 seconds? Exceed 200mph? Stop in a reasonable amount of time from said speed? Ford cars benefit from mass production, if you see that as a benefit, whereas supercars are usually hand made. Visit Aston Martin's factory, and tell me if Mondeos get that sort of treatment! If Ford could make the equivalent of a Ferrari for Mondeo price, or even slightly higher, I'm sure they would. How much is their GT model nowadays? Definitely not Mondeo money.