Microsoft screwing up format unification says Next-Gen

ihamoitc2005 said:
BD is a much superior format. It is ok to come up with new technology no? This is progress and so BD was developed. No one says HD-DVD is superior format. Only advantage is initial equipment cost is very low.

But at CES MS says it likes to force consumers, computer manufacturers, movies studios, etc. to accept much inferior easy scratch HD-DVD format with 60% capacity. Why does Microsoft want everyone to have inferior format? Not because it is superior. Not because Microsoft makes extra money when HD-DVD sells. But for strategy to weaken other companies and this is done using monopoly advantage of OS. This is unfortunate no?

All these companies are doing what theyre doing becuase its in their best interests, for not other reason. Not for you, for me, the general public, no its for money.

And as Sis said earlier, if the movie studios would have agreed to s singular format we're not even having this discussion.
 
ROG27 said:
PC MARKET WITH SUPPORT

I DON'T UNDERSTAND YOUR POINT. ALL THE OSs I LISTED HAD/HAVE FULL SUPPORT.

Seriously, Apple's been around for ages. If what you are saying is "have greater market share" then I can predict exactly how that OS would look: exactly the same, only with a larger market share.

.Sis
 
ihamoitc2005 said:
Microsoft will not make profit from HD-DVD so that is not why they want HD-DVD, and probably they will lose money because of large push fo this format. They do it for strategy reasons.
Strategy = money at some point in time.

They certainly aren't doing it for humanitarian reasons. :rolleyes:
 
expletive said:
You cant just sum up a consumer electronics giant, a software company, a music label/company, and a movie studio, with a tidy little bow called 'entertainment industry'.

EDIT:especially when they only started in one of those...

I'm saying they started in a segment of the consumer electronics/entertainment industry...

Microsoft started with an OS for business software.

That's each companies' respective roots.
 
ihamoitc2005 said:
BD is a much superior format. It is ok to come up with new technology no? This is progress and so BD was developed. No one says HD-DVD is superior format. Only advantage is initial equipment cost is very low.
Actually, I really like that HVD technology. You have to admit that is cutting edge, right?

I don't get why the electronic manufacturers don't wait for that? It's clearly technologically superior.

.Sis
 
How is it fair to categorize microsoft as an evil empire but sony isn't?

When The father of Sony becomes Time Magazine Persons of the year for donating billions to charities, then maybe I won't call them evil.


The foundation's grants have provided funds for underrepresented minority college scholarships, AIDS prevention, diseases that strike mainly in the Third World, and other causes. The Foundation currently provides 90% of the world budget for the attempted eradication of poliomyelitis (polio), the World Health Organization having "moved on" to other diseases. In June 1999, Gates and his wife donated US$5 billion to their foundation. They have donated more than US$100 million to help children suffering from AIDS. On January 26, 2005, it was announced that the Foundation had made a further contribution of US$750 million to the international Vaccine Fund to help fight diseases such as diphtheria, whooping cough, measles, poliomyelitis and yellow fever. As of 2005, the foundation has an endowment of approximately US$28 billion. To maintain its status as a charitable foundation, it must donate at least 5 percent of its assets each year. Thus the donations from the foundation each year would at least amount to over $1 billion.
 
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The whole thing's a mess, and no one's blameless. Certainly Warner's a name that figures prominently in this whole thing, though they're not oft talked about.

I agree with the concept though that MS's involvement - and it is recent support to boot - stems mainly from their desire to toss a couple of spanners Sony's way. It doesn't further their vision of the digital future to have a clear decisive physical format win, and even moreso when the winner is a competitor of theirs on that very same program.

Now this is all fair in my book; that's what it's about in business. And MS *does* have an outsized effect on industries they enter, but at the same time they are under attack from all sides. So whatever, let the best company win.

For my part I don't see an eventual HD-DVD add-on rocking the world of blu-ray vs HD-DVD, but it has had a very positive mindshare effect for HD-DVD when they need it the most, so let's see how it all plays out.
 
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ROG27 said:
I'm saying they started in a segment of the consumer electronics/entertainment industry...

Microsoft started with an OS for business software.

That's each companies' respective roots.

Making electronic devices that playback content is NOT the same industry as creating the content and owning it. Thats why we call them the:

Movie Industry
Music Industry
Consumer Electronics Industry

MS has been making "flight simulator" of over 20 years, does that mean they were in the same 'entertainment industry' as well?
 
Maybe

Bigus Dickus said:
Strategy = money at some point in time.

They certainly aren't doing it for humanitarian reasons. :rolleyes:

Maybe this is true. Sometimes strategy works sometimes it does not work. Even with MS OS support HD-DVD has big uphill battle. But if HD-DVD is accepted as normal format then real loser is consumer because it is much inferior format and consumer has to pay extra to buy both Blu-ray and HD-DVD players or maybe combo Blu-ray/HD-DVD player.
 
skilzygw said:
How is it fair to categorize microsoft as an evil empire but sony isn't?

When The father of Sony becomes Time Magazine Persons of the year for donating billions to charities, then maybe I won't call them evil.

Seperate the companies from the men that run them. ;)

I think everyone should do that across all industries, and even countries/governments.

Bill Gates is a very giving man with an expansive view on how he can help this world - and I have maximum respect for him and his vision - but when it comes to his own 'turf,' he's a cold-hearted killer. :cool:
 
ihamoitc2005 said:
Maybe this is true. Sometimes strategy works sometimes it does not work. Even with MS OS support HD-DVD has big uphill battle. But if HD-DVD is accepted as normal format then real loser is consumer because it is much inferior format and consumer has to pay extra to buy both Blu-ray and HD-DVD players or maybe combo Blu-ray/HD-DVD player.

Inferior only in terms of storage space. For all movie releases this is not even an issue, 4.5 hours on one disc will be more than enough.

The only time this great 'advantage' comes into play is when you want to bundle multile seasons of TV shows, and it would be 5 discs instead of 3, hardly the most important or compelling advantage in the world. So this advantage is almost never useful in the delivery of movies, and only slightly cuts back the amount if discs you need to buy when purchasing boxed television series', it's not that important of an advantage.

I would gladly change the advantage of 40% more disc space, for the advantage of cheaper hardware and cheaper discs, both from a movie standpoint, and a PC backup standpoint, the extra space is not worth a signifigantly higher cost, nor is it worth waiting for a slower moving technology.

HD-DVD's recent delays make me wonder how much faster it truly is moving, but I still feel like it will prove to be the cheaper solution with faster price-drops, and cheaper recordable media.
 
scooby_dooby said:
HD-DVD's recent delays make me wonder how much faster it truly is moving, but I still feel like it will prove to be the cheaper solution with faster price-drops, and cheaper recordable media.

Maybe not down the line though. Just assuming that single-layered media is what will proliferate on the 'back-up' scene (because who pays for double-layered?), I might see a future where ~$0.50 disc for blu-ray looks more attractive than a ~$0.40 HD-DVD disc.

Even as it stands now, Panasonic's announced prices of ~$17 for a single-layer BD Disc stands as more reasonable than I remember DVD-R's and CD-R's being at their respective introductions into the industry.

Not that it matters - I'm not going to be 'early-adopting' on the PC side of things for this tech, so I'll just wait out the victor.
 
I think MS real hope is for online distribution to take off. The best way to ensure this is to throw a monkey wrench into the HD format war.

which really kind of sucks.
 
xbdestroya said:
Maybe not down the line though. Just assuming that single-layered media is what will proliferate on the 'back-up' scene (because who pays for double-layered?), I might see a future where ~$0.50 disc for blu-ray looks more attractive than a ~$0.40 HD-DVD disc.

Even as it stands now, Panasonic's announced prices of ~$17 for a single-layer BD Disc stands as more reasonable than I remember DVD-R's and CD-R's being at their respective introductions into the industry.

Not that it matters - I'm not going to be 'early-adopting' on the PC side of things for this tech, so I'll just wait out the victor.

At this point though Dual-layer DVD media is less than $2 per disc. If the manufacturing line modifications are as minor as they are claimed to be, how much more do you think a 30G HD-DVD (dual layer) would possibly cost?
 
expletive said:
At this point though Dual-layer DVD media is less than $2 per disc. If the manufacturing line modifications are as minor as they are claimed to be, how much more do you think a 30G HD-DVD (dual layer) would possibly cost?

Well, I don't know... how much are they going to sell them for?

I'm pretty sure that Panasonic is making a several-fold return on those prices they're charging, and I *don't* expect HD-DVD media to come out at $5 a disc or anything for the forseeable future.

I mean as soon as prices are announced, that's the answer. I don't think manufacturing prices mean much right now in terms of what the consumer will pay.

PS - Prices have come down on dual-layer I guess!
 
seismologist said:
I think MS real hope is for online distribution to take off. The best way to ensure this is to throw a monkey wrench into the HD format war.

which really kind of sucks.

Well i think we are headed to this eventually as its the ultimate in convenience. I'm sure Sony and MS both know this which is why you see them starting to forge partnerships with companies that can provide content for it. I think what youre saying though is for it to take off before a physical format can take hold?
 
expletive said:
Making electronic devices that playback content is NOT the same industry as creating the content and owning it. Thats why we call them the:

Movie Industry
Music Industry
Consumer Electronics Industry

MS has been making "flight simulator" of over 20 years, does that mean they were in the same 'entertainment industry' as well?

No...content is only delivered through a hardware device...thus making it necessary and part of the entertainment industry, as this was the intended medium for delivery all along.

That's like saying if sony entered into the videogame market with playstation and no 1st party developers that they wouldn't be involved in the videogame industry. Not true.

Plus...MS initial offering was not an entertainment product...it was business to business initially and then home business.
 
xbdestroya said:
Well, I don't know... how much are they going to sell them for?

I'm pretty sure that Panasonic is making a several-fold return on those prices they're charging, and I *don't* expect HD-DVD media to come out at $5 a disc or anything for the forseeable future.

I mean as soon as prices are announced, that's the answer. I don't think manufacturing prices mean much right now in terms of what the consumer will pay.

PS - Prices have come down on dual-layer I guess!

Ya its tough to say but if HD-DVD is forced to compete on price they certainly will because that is supposedly their one big advantage. Is it $5? $2.50? $8? I dunno but they should be able to do much better than $17 based on what we've been lead to beleive about the manufacuring hardware. Now if they cant compete here, on price, then thats a big problem for them imo. Guess we'll have to wait and see.
 
ROG27 said:
No...content is only delivered through a hardware device...thus making it necessary and part of the entertainment industry, as this was the intended medium for delivery all along.

That's like saying if sony entered into the videogame market with playstation and no 1st party developers that they wouldn't be involved in the videogame industry. Not true.

Plus...MS initial offering was not an entertainment product...it was business to business initially and then home business.

I think youre just using semantics to suit your argument. Ive never heard someone refer to the consumer electronics industry and movie industry as being the same. Yeah theyre both in the 'chain' of getting content to a customer but Sony has always been historically known as a "consumer electronics giant' not an 'etnertainment giant'. Ever use a cd player with no discs? Not very entertaining...
 
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