Blu-ray and ps3.

[marconelly!]

Last 3-4 generations of consoles NEEDED a bigger format.

And it's needed again. 9GB is already being filled by several FMV-heavy games. Not to mention if they go for HDTV broadcast recording capability.

 

[Clashman]

There's also likely to be even less FMV in future console games, however, if the current use of ingame engines continues to take over areas once dominated by FMV.

 

[Panajev2001a]

Higher quality FMVs dedicated to HDTVs ?

Higher resolution textures ?

Higher polygon counts ?

In general I am expecting that games' datasets will grow quite a bit with the change of generation...

Storing data for the games will take a good toll...

Also Blu-Ray offers quite fast Read and Write speeds...

We have 36 Mbps for 1x speed which is not slow.

Also Blu-Ray offers Re-Writeability ( space for games, their saves, their updates and expansion packs downloadable from the net or from magazines, etc... ) and answers to the need of a new features driving the interest of casual gamers who want a multi-function device ( this device would fit well PlayStation demographics and current userbase needs ): DVD playback drove sales and drove DVD even more succesfully in the consumer electronics market...

Blu-Ray should do the same for PlayStation 3 as with HDTV being pushed by TV manufacturers and governments like the U.S. one the need for HD quality recording will be there ( even 480p recording ) and Blu-Ray is there answering with a format with large capacity, fast Read and Write speeds, the Digital successor to the VCR.

That would be a strong selling feature for PlayStation 3 ( even if we had some cost and marketing related limitations: in order to avoid stealing high-end players' sales we could limit you from recording a stream on Blu-Ray while you play another stream back or we could allow it but if you record a stream from the TV while playing another [videogames would not allow you to record from TV while you are playing them] then you could not record the stream at more than 480p... or maybe something different... still Re-Writeability would still be a key feature and Blu-Ray would be castrated without it... ) and would help Blu-Ray to enter at full force the consumer electronics market ( from the low-end as well as the mid-end [stand-alone units] and the high-end [expensive and extremely well featured stand-alone units] )...

 

[Almasy]

Those high resolution textures will also be quite bigger than current PS2 textures. Blu-Ray should be of help on that matter. It has been mentioned before, but using it as a HDD would eliminate the need for a real HDD inside PS3 (thus, reducing costs).

Edit: damn, Panajev beat me to it, and said it much better.

 

[Clashman]

Not to mention if they go for HDTV broadcast recording capability.

What is HDTV market penetration? I was under the assumption that it was still pretty low, (much, much lower than DVD market penetration). What is the likelihood of HDTV recording capability being included in a console that's going to have to cost less than 350, at the absolute most, in order to gain serious chunks of the market and not go the way of 3DO or CD-I?

 

[Panajev2001a]

Dual-sided DVDs call for scratches and greasy finger-prints...

Also I hope we will have plastic caddies: cheap to add to the disc nowadays, look cool and they protect the discs from scratches and finger-prints very well.

Blu-Ray doesn't need plastic caddies fro Read-Only discs, but I expect the Blu-Ray player in PlayStation 3 coming with a plastic case to fit the discs in or maybe the device should be able to accept discs with or without a plastic case.

Games who use Re-Writeable features ( IMHO ) and fully Re-Writeable Blu-Ray discs should all come in plastic caddies...

It does not add that much to the cost... you can buy, in mid 2003 ( now ), a fully Re-Writeable 23 GB Blu-Ray disc for $30 which is not a bad price.

This screams "I am cool" and I agree

 

[Tsmit42]

Not to mention if they go for HDTV broadcast recording capability.

What is HDTV market penetration? I was under the assumption that it was still pretty low, (much, much lower than DVD market penetration). What is the likelihood of HDTV recording capability being included in a console that's going to have to cost less than 350, at the absolute most, in order to gain serious chunks of the market and not go the way of 3DO or CD-I?

HDTVs are getting pretty popular now, most of the bigger screens today are HDTV ready. With the broadcasting signal change from NTSC to HDTV by 2006-7 HDTVs will become more popular in the next 3 years. since most people that will by a new tv will by a HDTV since anything else will be outdated rather quickly.

 

[Clashman]

Those high resolution textures will also be quite bigger than current PS2 textures. Blu-Ray should be of help on that matter. It has been mentioned before, but using it as a HDD would eliminate the need for a real HDD inside PS3 (thus, reducing costs).

Edit: damn, Panajev beat me to it, and said it much better.

X-Box has much higher resolution textures, but I don't think they're getting noticably closer to the "DVD limit". And I don't think the cost of a decent HD will really overshadow the price difference between Blue Ray and DVD, (and aren't DVD's rewriteable now too?). In fact, I think it will likely still come in under. Seriously, y'all are talking about coming close to the limits of ONE(!!) DVD, when CD stuck around until we were using them as coasters.

 

[Panajev2001a]

Xbox is using larger datasets... notice the 64 MB of RAM thingy right ?

Still the Xbox is still in the same generation as Dreamcast, PlayStation 2 and GCN...

PlayStation 3 will be in a new generation of Hardware, a 5 years generational leap and so will Xbox 2 and GCN 2 be...

 

[Clashman]

Not to mention if they go for HDTV broadcast recording capability.

What is HDTV market penetration? I was under the assumption that it was still pretty low, (much, much lower than DVD market penetration). What is the likelihood of HDTV recording capability being included in a console that's going to have to cost less than 350, at the absolute most, in order to gain serious chunks of the market and not go the way of 3DO or CD-I?

HDTVs are getting pretty popular now, most of the bigger screens today are HDTV ready. With the broadcasting signal change from NTSC to HDTV by 2006-7 HDTVs will become more popular in the next 3 years. since most people that will by a new tv will by a HDTV since anything else will be outdated rather quickly.

They're popular in so far as you see them in the Best Buy adds. I would be very suprised if their marketshare exceeded 5%. I know of no-one outside these tech-geek forums that has one.

 

[Clashman]

Dual-sided DVDs call for scratches and greasy finger-prints...

Also I hope we will have plastic caddies: cheap to add to the disc nowadays, look cool and they protect the discs from scratches and finger-prints very well.

Plastic caddies can be just as easily implemented on DVD's, (although that will drive up costs a bit).

PlayStation 3 will be in a new generation of Hardware, a 5 years generational leap and so will Xbox 2 and GCN 2 be...

It's a new generation from X-Box and GC but it's only 2 to 3 years away from now. IMO, (and you are welcome to disagree), Blue ray is a good 4 or 5 away from being able to be cheaply implemented. Sure, you can get blue ray discs for 30 dollars now, but it's the drive that's going to hurt the overall cost of the console. And the media is STILL going to be much cheaper on DVD.

 

[Panajev2001a]

Considering features, Re-Write speed and cost per byte DVD is not that much ahead than Blu-Ray... I'd say Blu-Ray overshines it...

SACD with their more limited market appeal ( copmpared to what Blu-Ray has and can offer ) and the more limited industry backing ( Blu-Ray has 10 strong consumer electronics giants behind it ) still managed to drop in price quite a bit in 2 years and a half since its introduction ( the launch price was higher than for the first Blu-Ray device ).

Loooking at the price of that very high-end ( its feature-set includes satellite connection support, etc... ), one of a kind Blu-Ray device by Sony ( basically an upgraded version of their trade-show model ) we can't conclude the Blu-Ray technology is too difficult and costly to implement in PlayStation 3...

The cost of implementing Blu-Ray technology in PlayStation 3 is outwighted by the advantages...

Also, PlayStation 4 should not see its launch until 2011... PlayStation 3, to be succesful and meet ( come close to ) or break their sales taget ( as PSOne and PlayStation 2 have done ), needs something that keeps it fresh and that doesn't make in a short amount of time make the console feel outdated in the middle of the HDTV revolution...

 

[Tsmit42]

Another question, if PS3 end up using Blu-Ray, will other next generation consoles have to follow suit with their own blu-ray or AOD drive to compete in the long run?

 

[Paul]

This screams "I am cool" and I agree

I also agree, they look cool as hell, you wouldn't expect that out of a caddy.

But.. how would you put in a PS2 game into the drive? because the drive is of a certain size to accept the PS3 caddy right?

 

[Panajev2001a]

They could and I do not see why they would not...

Microsoft can get it from one of the other Blu-Ray main backers or smaller companies who licensed the format and Nintendo can get a custom one it from Matsushita ( which is one of the 10 Blu-Ray main backers )...

 

[Panajev2001a]

They can either give you an empty caddy in the PlayStation 3's box or they can make the drive in such a way it can accept caddy-less discs as well as the ones with caddy... after all the Blu-Ray specifications do not require all discs to use the plastic caddy...

 

[Paul]

Those caddies are looking mighty cool, here's a pic of what it looks like in a blu-ray drive.

 

[Tsmit42]

I also like the idea of a caddy. Some people might say that they are too bulky, but this is not a problem to me since I keep my cds/dvds in a case anyway. This way I dont have take them in and out of cases and I don't have to be so careful with them. I would think that a blu-ray disk would be easily damaged with even a little scratch and that would piss me off.

 

[marconelly!]

What is HDTV market penetration? I was under the assumption that it was still pretty low, (much, much lower than DVD market penetration).

By 2006 HDTV broadcast will be mandatory in the US, from what I understand.

 

[Clashman]

Yeah, and to my understanding that was originally supposed to happen in 1999. In other words, I'll believe it when I see it.