No one really has much of an issue with Blu Ray winning but if it wins, it needs to be AFTER they catch up on PQ, usage of advanced codecs and sound.
Right now, they're very much behind HD DVD and honestly it would've been best for them to hold on and launch when ready. Toshiba was never going to have enough players to take a stronghold but with the horrible early releases from Sony, which is most alarming since they're the main push behind BR, it creates a lot of doubt in terms of the QC going on in the BR camp. If BR wins via brute force, do not expect this QC to improve much. Another alarming aspect is the lack of an ethernet port on the $1000+ players. We know that Samgsung and the upcoming Pansonic model ($1500) does not. BD-Live and online interactivity and network streaming were highly pushed as big features of BR but this certainly doesn't sit well when your players are coming out with an ethernet port. Neither does the fact that a network connection is not part of the mandatory specs.
BR has a lot of work ahead of it. It's still a very much work in progress/beta. If they can get this all sorted in a timely manner, then they should be in good shape. Then comes the trouble of having the players and media come down to a mass consumer level.
Right now, they're very much behind HD DVD and honestly it would've been best for them to hold on and launch when ready. Toshiba was never going to have enough players to take a stronghold but with the horrible early releases from Sony, which is most alarming since they're the main push behind BR, it creates a lot of doubt in terms of the QC going on in the BR camp. If BR wins via brute force, do not expect this QC to improve much. Another alarming aspect is the lack of an ethernet port on the $1000+ players. We know that Samgsung and the upcoming Pansonic model ($1500) does not. BD-Live and online interactivity and network streaming were highly pushed as big features of BR but this certainly doesn't sit well when your players are coming out with an ethernet port. Neither does the fact that a network connection is not part of the mandatory specs.
BR has a lot of work ahead of it. It's still a very much work in progress/beta. If they can get this all sorted in a timely manner, then they should be in good shape. Then comes the trouble of having the players and media come down to a mass consumer level.
