back to article HP fires sue-ray at makers of Blu-Ray

HP is seeking damages from the optical drive industry, filing antitrust complaints against pretty much the whole of the supply side of the industry. A similar complaint was filed earlier this year by Dell. Both cases ultimately stem from Department of Justice investigations which ended with the Hitachi-LG Data Storage (HLDSI …

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  1. Mike Brown

    this sounds ropey. far as im aware drives have come down regularly in price.....maybe too regularly?

    1. Brenda McViking

      Drives down in price? Blu Ray drives were around in 2006 let's not forget, yet still, the cheapest OEM version online for a BDRW is around £45. 7 years of manufacture - they should be approaching the cost of the old DVDRW drives (~£15-£20) you'd have thought - yes they have an additional laser and have to pay a few pence to Sony to licence patents, but this still screams of price fixing. HP have had enough, and they're one of the few goliaths in the industry that can actually force the point.

      Trouble is, we've seen this before - by the time anything meaningful happens the technology is completely and utterly obselete. If they're suing about blu-rays now, then I reckon the courts will slap a fine on them in, hmmm, around 2020. It's like CRT price fixing all over again.

      1. Crisp

        Yeah, you can guarantee that we're already being gouged by the current price fixing scandal that will only come to light in 2020.

      2. Alex Rose

        I can get a BD RW for £17 off eBay. Am I missing something?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          "I can get a BD RW for £17 off eBay. Am I missing something?"

          I can download a full BluRay rip from TPB before it's even in the shops and have no need to own a Blu Ray player. And I'm not missing anything...

        2. Alex Rose
          WTF?

          I clearly am missing something...

          ..7 thumbs down for asking for clarification as to why I can buy a BD RW for £17 rather than the £45 odd quoted above.

          I'm very confused now...maybe you're all members of the HD-DVD marketing board or something?

          There's some conspiracy to keep the perceived price of BD burners higher than they actually are, shadowy figures in an international cabal meeting late at night to plot their attack on the next website comment section with immediate downvotes for people who question their falsely inflated figures? An enquiring public needs, nay DEMANDS, to know the truth!

          1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

            Maybe because it's a used one ?

            1. Alex Rose
              Facepalm

              @Pascal Monett

              No, it's for a new unit. I didn't think I needed to make it clear I was searching for a like for like unit.

              But then I guess I forgot that the internet seems to work at the level of the stupidest person on the planet :)

              1. CliveM

                Re: @Pascal Monett

                "No, it's for a new unit. I didn't think I needed to make it clear I was searching for a like for like unit."

                "But then I guess I forgot that the internet seems to work at the level of the stupidest person on the planet :)"

                The only such drives I see on ebay right now are laptop drives in those USB external housings. Used drives from scrapper machines, in other words, although the housing and box is new. Since the external cosmetics are taken care of the sellers suppose they can get away with claiming them to be new. Look at the economics for a moment: those USB drives are cheaper than the new desktop units. Compare the prices of each at a reputable source and you'll see that is the wrong way around by a considerable margin. The difference there is there is no shiny new housing to conceal a used desktop drive.

                Been there, done that with similar DVD drives from the same sellers. I opened up one such "new" unit a couple of months back, to find a drive manufactured in 2008 if I remember correctly. The indisputable giveaway was the Acer OEM label. I wasn't really that bothered to be honest - works fine and what do you expect for twelve quid - but that isn't a like for like comparison.

      3. Ken Hagan Gold badge

        " they should be approaching the cost of the old DVDRW drives (~£15-£20) you'd have thought"

        I wouldn't, actually. As long as consumers are willing to put up with a vanilla DVD in their low-end machines (which will probably be true for some time), Blu-Ray drives will be priced as though they were a (slightly) premium product.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          I don't think that Blu-rays are anywhere near as popular as DVD drives and so don't really benefit from the volume in terms of pricing. DVD/CD drives are now a commodity and suffer from the race to the bottom in terms of price.

          Blu-ray is considered by many, even now, a non-essential luxury whereas, a DVD reader/writer is pretty much essential for most computer users.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Well...

    ...HP has got to get some money from somewhere.

  3. jason 7

    I have yet to buy a Blu-ray.....

    .....let alone burn one.

    The tech has passed me by really.

    Or should I say I passed it by. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: I have yet to buy a Blu-ray.....

      I haven't got around to BluRay yet either, but then I haven't got a big TV to make it worthwhile. Watching movies round at my mates' look better for BluRay, though some of them are well enough served by download or streaming video services.

      As a back-up medium, the blank discs are about £2 each (25 GB), so about £80 per TB... so don't work out cheaper than external HDDs, and more hassle too.

      For shunting big projects (such as raw video footage) between locations, a few USB thumbsticks will do the job nicely.

    2. chris 17 Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Re: I have yet to buy a Blu-ray.....

      me too, i bypassed Blu-Ray and went 'no touch'TM for my media consumption. Mainly due to the silly prices wanted for Blu-Ray players & media at the time, even now Blu-Ray media is still too much in my opinion. media as in video content and blanks.

    3. Pascal Monett Silver badge

      I have a Philipps CRT, 32" with Pixel Plus.

      DVDs look gorgeous on it (especially the Fellowship of the Ring, that scene in the mountains when they're on their way to Moria).

      My TV is compatible with HD, I think, but I don't care. I hate BluRay because it's Sony, and I'm sick and tired of Sony trying to decide what I can do in my own home.

  4. Wang N Staines

    Need to jail those c*nts!!!

  5. M W

    Don't see why HP should get anything out of it, since it's us the end consumer that has paid if there was any price fixing. HP will have just passed on what ever price they paid for the components.

  6. Pascal Monett Silver badge
    Flame

    Ooh, look ! HP found someone who gouged us even more than they do !

    This coming from HP is rich - what with the price of printer ink that costs more than gold.

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