Why Blu-Ray May Not Be All That Great

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In a recent conversation with Bruce Nazarian, president of the DVD Association, during The BuZZ podcast (www.digitalproductionbuzz.com), we were discussing the sudden shift toward Blu-Ray DVDs. While Blu-Ray may be good for Hollywood, it won’t be good for small independent producers. This is due to all the hidden fees tacked on to replicating a Blu-Ray DVD.

For example, producers of industrial and non-broadcast content are required to pay a $2,500 licensing fee to author and distribute Blu-Ray.

Then, each producer is required to pay a $3,000 one-time AACS license fee, plus a per-title fee for EACH replicated Blu-Ray disc. Currently, Sony DADC is quoting that fee at $1,585 per title (per complete Blu-ray disc project).

Then there’s the per disc replication cost, which varies by quantity, and finally, there’s a $0.04 per disc fee for AACS and $0.01 per disc if you want SONY DADC to administer the payments to AACS on your behalf.

As Bruce indicates, we may be standardizing on Blu-Ray, but the prices won’t be cheap.