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Price fluctuations

naylorman32

naylorman32

Well-known member
I noticed a couple movies have had some price fluctuations in the past weeks. As in prices going up a couple dollars.

Any reason for it? I don't think they were on sale to start with.
 
In addition, it looks like Disk to Digital Blu-Ray to HD download went from $1.99 -> $5.99, and DVD->HD went from $5.99 (or was it $4.99...I forget) to $7.99!
 
It all comes down to communication. I don't like what happened because I simply cannot understand the business rationale.

The studios imposed it? K's strategic decision in order to improve Store's profitability with an objective to improve the content and quality of the K store?

If someone from K could come out with a statement simply explaining some of the reasons behind this 10-12% price hike, I have absolutely NO problem to continue paying the premium for the truly unique K experience. But without this explanation I can't easily pay $35 for i.e Ghostbusters without Dolby Atmos , when I can pay $25 in Amazon for the 4K disk with Dolby Atmos, the BD and the 3D-BD.

I am more than happy to support K and I have done it in the past in every way I can(I own five different systems and more than 1400 K store movies), so can I please ask you to communicate a bit more?
 
Looks like I might just revisit my purchasing strategy and buy another 'Vault' (and use Strato purely for 4K HDR conversions as and when they start to appear) rather than use the Strato for D2D (bluray) conversions - at that price the convenience just isn't worth it. Cheaper to buy the physical disc from Amazon etc.
 
It is unfortunate. The movie pricing is just not competitive in the least. Even for new titles, you can go to VUDU and find UV compatible movies where you can buy the movie sometimes at 10$ or so less than in the Kscape store and then download the title from the Kscape store.

I would just as soon give the money to Kscape but it is hard to argue paying 24-27$ for a movie that I can get at 14$ elsewhere.

But the biggest struggle I have with dedicating myself to the online store is the lack of supplemental features available for so many titles, and the lack of true transparency to when the features are present or not (as has been previously pointed out, most of the UHD movies have no supplements, and as soon as the movie is available in UHD we lose access to knowledge if the blu ray version does or does not have supplements).

So you pay more for the online version than the physical disc. It occupies the exact same amount of hard drive space as the physical disc does but lacks the extras that the physical disc comes with...

So I tend to buy only Warner Bros movies from the store because their titles almost always carry over the full material available on the disc(s) themselves.

I just don't know what the incentive is supposed to be to buy in the store, again other than loyalty and support for the brand.
 
Hello all,

As you’ve noticed, we have made some pricing adjustments. Generally speaking, most titles have gotten two or three dollars more expensive than they were. Disc-to-Digital purchases have also gone up by a similar amount.

Why?

To be blunt, we were losing money on nearly every download with the previous pricing structure. The more titles we sold, the more we lost. That was obviously not sustainable. These pricing changes allow us to cover the costs of delivering these movies. Here’s a bit more detail on where these costs come from.

We are delivering movies at higher quality than any other digital delivery platform – disc-equivalent quality or higher – with the convenience of Internet download. It’s expensive to deliver movies at this level of quality, with the features we provide. The bandwidth and storage cost for each download of a Blu-ray quality or 4K Ultra HD movie is measured in dollars, not cents.

Every single title in the Movie Store has been processed by Kaleidescape, using a proprietary process. We don’t just sell the same bits as other retailers. To cite a recent example, we are now downloading 4K Ultra HD and 4K HDR movies with Dolby Atmos soundtracks based on the lossless Dolby TrueHD core. We worked with the content owners to develop the unique processes to make them available to you. Nobody else offers this. Indeed, there are 4K titles with Atmos in the Movie Store that are not available from any other source. And the titles available today are just the beginning.

On top of the audio and video quality, we deliver added features, like scenes, songs, movie-start bookmarks, aspect ratio information, and lighting triggers. These are the user experience features that make the difference between “home video” and “home cinema,” and provide lasting enjoyment of your movie library that goes above and beyond the simple one-time experience of watching the movie. Delivering these features requires a dedicated staff of talented people who exercise considerable editorial discretion. In sum, Kaleidescape is delivering a unique premium product that offers many benefits, and doing so costs money.

I hope this helps to explain why we’ve made this pricing adjustment.

—Mike
 
In principal I agree with and support this approach - Kaleidescape is a premium product.

One very significant flaw (at least currently) is that a number of Blu-Ray titles that I have downloaded from the Kaleidescape store have had inferior audio tracks as compared with the disc version. Sometimes they are updated later - but who wants the hassle of going back to check for that?
 
I think this is a great approach. Hopefully K owners will buy directly from the store to help support the company.
 
The reasons for the higher cost make sense. Don't you risk price arbitrage where customers buy elsewhere, the UV rights transfer and you are held with the download costs but no income?

Maybe most Kscape owners are fairly price insensitive and buy from the store for convenience anyway.
 
Well, I would be happy to buy 4K content from K. But there is no store in Switzerland where I can buy movies with german language or at least german subtitles 😕 and at the moment I see no way that this could change. This way I will have to search an other solution 😟


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Mike,

Thanks for the reply and the explanation.

I think my biggest hurdle in pulling the trigger on many titles is the lack of supplemental features present for so many movies. I'm okay with the price premium and have no problem paying it for the aforementioned reasons. But it does leave a bit of a bad taste to pay a premium for the movie only when extras are available on the disc.

Is this a contract negotiation limitation? Something you see potentially open to change in the future?

Thanks again.
 
I too appreciate Mike's explanation of the reasons behind the price increases. We all have a vested interest in Kscape's financial success. I for one have no problem with the price increases and hope they lead to more and better content at the movie store.
 
Much appreciated indeed and fully supported. Please try to communicate a bit quicker if possible.

We cannot compare the K experience and movie quality with Vudu or other streaming services. My only wish is to be able to download the exact same version as the one contained in the physical BD or UHD sold in stores. It's not always the case.

Paramount coming soon? :rolleyes:

K.
 
Yeah, I'm OK with the prices. Just want Paramount. Well, and some of your current studios, but 4K versions that our currently available in disc format...... :). SJ
 
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