Posted by Bill Vermillion on 08/03/07 20:06

In article <MIqdnfnXr-NZaDPbnZ2dnUVZ_rmjnZ2d@comcast.com>,
Derek Janssen <ejanss@nospam.comcast.net> wrote:
>TB wrote:
>
>>
>>>>>DVD was 6x the price of VHS with players 10x the price. I guess it'll
>>>>>never catch on.
>>>
>>>> Bullshit. Platoon DVD was $20. Platoon VHS was $99.
>
>(Of course that wasn't *really* what everyone else was talking about,
>but hey, it's an interesting thread idea anyway: )
>
>>>What planet are you from?
>>>
>>>Tapes typically sell for under $10-15. Are you quoting rental media
>>>prices?
>>
>> You have no idea what you're talking about.
>>
>> When theatrical releases first showed up on home video on vhs and beta
>> tapes, they were indeed around $90 per movie in the early 80's. This was
>> even before home video rental. A Video tape player/recorder averaged at
>> least $1,000 - $1,500 the first couple years the format was available to
>> consumers. In the mid 80's, tapes eventually started dropping below the $30
>> price and eventually the $20 barrier was broken for major releases. During
>> the mid 80's, the laserdisc format found a large niche market but movies
>> averaged between $30 - $50 per title even up through the mid 90's. LD
>> players averaged between $400 - $1,500 to the end of the format.
>>
>> DVD's *started out* priced at $20 - $30 per movie. To this day, most new
>> 1 - 2 disc dvd titles average about $20. Players quickly dropped to below
>> $400 by the second year the format was available to consumers and within 5
>> years, you could get a player for under $50.

>Actually, he *is* referring to rental media--
>Unless it was a big-sale title meant for Target and Wal-Mart (eg.
>Disney), most debut VHS were produced in limited amounts for rental
>stores, and averaged industry prices of $99-120.

>If you wanted to own the tape anyway you had the choice of
>A) paying out the dough that first week, B) searching the
>"Previously Viewed" shelves, C) waiting three months for Columbia
>House Tape Club to clearance out industry stock and sell it
>mail-order for $29, or D) waiting a year and HOPING the title
>would show up as a back-catalog reissue for $20.

Actually the first VHS/Beta features for sale were in the $50 and
up price range. And I saw one 3 tape package in a Beta format
that was about $90, where it only took 2 tapes for VHS.

That was from Magnetic Video - and I have about 3 original VHS
Magnetic Video tapes.

MV's owner had an idea that people might buy feature films, and he
worked a deal with 20Th Century Fox to lease 50 titles. This was
an experiment as many thought no one would buy them.

But, the experiment proved wildly successful and the movies
on VHS/BETA formats quickly expanded.

The problem I disliked with MV was in the upper right corner [as I
reall] was an MV logo. Many sets didn't display it as they
typically underscanned the pictures. On a set that tended to
display the full picture that logo was be there.

Bill
--
Bill Vermillion - bv @ wjv . com

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