"Blu-ray support a last minute switch, Microsoft says..."

[wco81]

Anyone who assigns blame on either side to compromise about this is either naive or purposely spreading lies.

Yet most of the Japanese companies and especially the optical engineers who developed the formats lined up behind Blu-Ray.

The top Toshiba guy, Yashida or Yamashida (forget which) rejected overtures from the Sony and Matsushita guys. Yamashida was the guy with the patent for the DVD, which had been lucrative for Toshiba. This is all according to a WSJ article about a year ago, which depicted him as something of an obstinate individual.

When they were supposedly close to an agreement in the spring, Yamashida was the one guy the Toshiba CEO had to try to appease.

There is definitely more than technical considerations going on. It seems like ego and clash of personalities.

 

[AlphaWolf]

The software format doesn't matter for PS3, has presumably it's video playback software can be updated. Any hardware compromises have to be found before PS3 starts production. And isn't the BRD format restricted to supporting existing BDROMs anyway? Can they change the hardware spec without alientating existing BR drive owners?

What existing bd-roms?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Not BD-ROMs, but BRD-RW's. there's already writeable BRD-RW's out there and I presume the format for BRD-ROMs will need to be compatible with this format for use in BluRay drives, seeing as they share the BluRay namesake. Unless it's to be another DVD +/-/R/A/B/$/#/@ fiasco

 

[aaaaa00]

So what has he done with all those patents then?

He doesn't own the patents personally, I'm sure the royalities and ownership are all assigned to Warner -- that's how it usually works when you patent something while working for a big company. Or maybe he sold the rights when he left.

But you can probably check at the PTO website.

 

[aaaaa00]

Also a recent rumor that Warner was considering bailing, even though it has patent rights, because it would be more valuable to them to get as man releases of its library out and as quickly as possible. Supposedly they were ready to announce Blu-Ray support or bailing on HD-DVD if MS didn't endorse HD-DVD soon.

Bailing from HD DVD to Blu Ray? That makes no sense at all, as BD ROM is nowhere near as close to complete as HD DVD ROM is.

 

[wco81]

The idea was that Warners saw the writing on the wall, including the fact that after announcing HD-DVD titles with much fanfare earlier this year, neither it nor Paramount nor Universal were willing to manufacture and ship those titles this year.

Then there was the report, as posted at AVS, that Cinram was frustrated with Toshiba, which couldn't deliver players to test pressings and that at a recent show in Germany, they couldn't deliver working prototypes.

Makes you wonder how much Toshiba has on the ball.

 

[mckmas8808]

Bailing from HD DVD to Blu Ray? That makes no sense at all, as BD ROM is nowhere near as close to complete as HD DVD ROM is.

And no one said it was. As a matter a fact Blu-ray was ALWAYS suppose to be behind HD-DVD. I see many people seemed to forget that was one of HD-DVD's big advantages. So your statement doesn't push this debate any further. You're just telling us news from last year.

Thanks.

 

[mckmas8808]

The idea was that Warners saw the writing on the wall, including the fact that after announcing HD-DVD titles with much fanfare earlier this year, neither it nor Paramount nor Universal were willing to manufacture and ship those titles this year.

Then there was the report, as posted at AVS, that Cinram was frustrated with Toshiba, which couldn't deliver players to test pressings and that at a recent show in Germany, they couldn't deliver working prototypes.

Makes you wonder how much Toshiba has on the ball.

There was a post of GAF that described that event. Here it is.

Toshiba was showing off a reference model of their HD-DVD player and a selection of HD-DVD media including a HD-DVD/DVD hybrid disc. They originally planned to release a HD-DVD player in the US later this year, but it was recently moved back to March 2006. However, they still plan to release a HD-DVD player in Japan later this year.

When checking out their HD vs SD demonstration we noticed that they were having some minor technical problems, so we asked the person running the presentation about it (not a Toshiba official). He informed us that every time they wanted to play a HD-DVD they would have to wait for about 20 seconds before the playback actually started. (

) He also said that they had to shut down the player every 30 minutes to let it cool down. (

)According to the representative the player had been shipped directly to the show from Japan, so we guess it's possible that it had been damaged on its way to IFA.

I didn't know if it really happened, but reading your post it probably is true. The laughing smilys are from the actual poster not the person there.

 

[Sis]

And no one said it was. As a matter a fact Blu-ray was ALWAYS suppose to be behind HD-DVD. I see many people seemed to forget that was one of HD-DVD's big advantages. So your statement doesn't push this debate any further. You're just telling us news from last year.

Thanks.

His point being, I believe, that if Warner wants to get as many movies out as quickly as possible, it would seem HD-DVD is the format for doing so.

There was a post of GAF that described that event. Here it is.

I think we should have an implicit rule that quoting anything from GAF is prohibited.

.Sis

 

[mckmas8808]

His point being, I believe, that if Warner wants to get as many movies out as quickly as possible, it would seem HD-DVD is the format for doing so.

.Sis

Hmmm.... funny because weren't them and some other company the ones to push back their HD-DVD release dates? Either they didn't care about the Christmas season and selling millions of software or they can't put out HD-DVD movies as quickly as possible.

I think we should have an implicit rule that quoting anything from GAF is prohibited.

Well I actually find just as much videogame related information there just as I do here. Here things are more technical though.