why are VTR's so expensive?

Ming said:
The original thread question is valid. They are overpriced... very much overpriced. Lot's of things are overpriced.

Prices are dictated by the market.

If they developed a new VTR say a DSR-12 and marketed it for 500 bucks it would completely undercut all of their other models. Nobody would buy them anymore.
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I'm not sure I follow the logic here. Color TV's outstrip the sales of B&W TVs by a wide margin. B&W are still sold. I don't hear anyone complaining. Do you think the companies care where their revenue stream comes from as long as it's highly profitable?

Product "A" has annual sales of 250 units at a profit of $1000 per unit.

Product "B" has annual sales of 500k units at a profit of $200.

Where do you think the company will put it's efforts?
 
PerroneFord said:
I'm not sure I follow the logic here. Color TV's outstrip the sales of B&W TVs by a wide margin. B&W are still sold. I don't hear anyone complaining. Do you think the companies care where their revenue stream comes from as long as it's highly profitable?

Product "A" has annual sales of 250 units at a profit of $1000 per unit.

Product "B" has annual sales of 500k units at a profit of $200.

Where do you think the company will put it's efforts?
Click to expand...

Well they should do it then...lower the prices and go for volume. There's a ton of people out there that would love a real deck as opposed to a cheapo camcorder. It seems blatantly obvious that they'd have done it by now if it were viable- and you can't tell me that the physical mechanics/electronics of a VTR are actually worth what they sell for. Hell DVD players sell for 25 bucks and when it comes down to brass tacks all these things are are tape shuttle mechanisms in a box with an interface, timecode circuitry, audio/video outs, etc. Or another way of looking at it is they aren't doing THAT much more than a camcorder can- just more heavy duty.

I think the reason they cost so much is that it's just the status quo. I'm no electrical engineer- maybe these devices are super complex with ultra expensive components- but somehow I really doubt they cost over 400 bucks to make.
 
well if some exec from some big company ends up reading this and gets a lightbulb over his head with this big idea of making a <$500 consumer vtr, i want to be the first beta tester :)
 
I agree - even the DSR-11 is a good vtr, it's overpriced. Hell it doesn't have xlr audio, it doesn't have a monitor out, neither video nor audio. It doesn't have a display. Sure, the mechanic parts are good and rugged, but it could definitely be sold for 800$, not 1500$!
 
Anyone ever use the DSR-20?
I saw a picture of one recently, it looks like a very nice deck. How much was it when they made/sold it?

- Mikko
 
We have two DSR-20 at work, they have a display, adjustable audio, monitor out and an RS-232 connector. I like the monitor out because you can connect an external peak meter that allows you to control the audio levels much better than with the built-in peak meter in FCP.
You can also use it as a deck for in-the-field broadcast where you really need the display, rs-232 and monitor (I mean live events where one person operates two decks via remote shuttle and has to roll tapes on command).

I think this deck is what the DSR-11 should be (at the price of the DSR-11 of course!) but Sony seems to think differently...
 
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