"Blu-ray support a last minute switch, Microsoft says..."
- Thread starter The GameMaster
- Start date
expletive said:
Of course! Any Blueray player can read pretty much all discs ever made since the CD (that are supported by Sony, everything except DVDRAM and DVD-A i think). PS3 supports everything apart from DVD-RAM, DVD-A and obviously HDDVD.
It would be a whole lot easier if that last part was not truelondon-boy said:
And quite honestly I think it would make both camps happy. People like TW can put their stuff on the HD DVD format and spend less on retooling lines, and those who want the bigger BD formats down the line can go that route.
scooby_dooby
Legend
I may be wrong here, but I think HD-DVD natively reads DVD's, something inherent in it's design, however Blu-Ray requires adding a 2nd laser, making it a dual-layer BR drive which is more expensive to produce than the standard BR drive.
As for getting one cheap in the PS3, that's a great score for gamers, but what about non-gamers? If they can make standalone's ~$300 that's a much better option for anyone serious about buying a HD movie player. Which would you prefer if you didn't play games? A more expensive less reliable console, or a cheaper more reliable more fully featured standalone player? (just assuming based on last gen's console players)
Shifty - why would the format die in 1 or 2 years if it really begins to become mass produced? 30GB is a very reasonable and adequate size for HD-discs, the sweet spot IMO,
As for getting one cheap in the PS3, that's a great score for gamers, but what about non-gamers? If they can make standalone's ~$300 that's a much better option for anyone serious about buying a HD movie player. Which would you prefer if you didn't play games? A more expensive less reliable console, or a cheaper more reliable more fully featured standalone player? (just assuming based on last gen's console players)
Shifty - why would the format die in 1 or 2 years if it really begins to become mass produced? 30GB is a very reasonable and adequate size for HD-discs, the sweet spot IMO,
scooby_dooby said:
I'm pretty sure HD-DVD requires a red laser to read DVD-9.
As for PS3 why would it be a less reliable player? I'm not sure what you mean by that.
I think If Sony put some effort into the movie playback with PS3 and CELL especially it could end up having a rich variety of features at what would initially be a lower price point.
scooby_dooby
Legend
Both the PS2 and XBOX were big POS as far as being reliable DVD players, I can't count the number of people I know who had both machines burn out.
Standalone should logically be better anyways, you're paying $300(wild guess) for just the disc reader, instead of ~$400(wild guess) for the PS3 which has a top of the line gfx card, the new CELL processor, 512MB of RAM etc etc, to think the PS3's BR drive will be of equal quality to the standalone drives is illogical IMO.
As a gamer I'm tempted to get the PS3 to serve both needs, but if I was a non-gamer, no question, in a heartbeat I would buy the standalone over the console, and any good salesman would advise the same.
Standalone should logically be better anyways, you're paying $300(wild guess) for just the disc reader, instead of ~$400(wild guess) for the PS3 which has a top of the line gfx card, the new CELL processor, 512MB of RAM etc etc, to think the PS3's BR drive will be of equal quality to the standalone drives is illogical IMO.
As a gamer I'm tempted to get the PS3 to serve both needs, but if I was a non-gamer, no question, in a heartbeat I would buy the standalone over the console, and any good salesman would advise the same.
dubyateeeff
Newcomer
Who whould waste their money on (in)expensive HD/BR players when they dont even own a HDTV? By the time HDTV becomes affordable I am sure BR/HD will have come down to competetive prices (HD more than BR).
If you can afford the more expensive hybrid discs, before the format war is decided (ie taking a risk), I am sure you can afford to buy all of those movies again in HD, if you by that time would care.
If you can afford the more expensive hybrid discs, before the format war is decided (ie taking a risk), I am sure you can afford to buy all of those movies again in HD, if you by that time would care.
Yet they were perfectly adequate for many as an introduction to DVD.
I used the PS2 as my only DVD player for over a year, after which replaced it with a €250 Sony player.
Honestly though, there was very little difference in image quality, actually I was only able to reliably tell the new Sony player was better by using some test patterns.
The ergonomics are a bit better of course (I used the PS2 with a remote as soon as the official became available), but with PS2 I had little to complain as I usually just watch a movie from the beginning to end without many pauses, so the power on - insert disc - select TV channel - power on AV amp sequence is virtually the same whether on I viewed on PS2 or the dedicated DVD player.
I used the PS2 as my only DVD player for over a year, after which replaced it with a €250 Sony player.
Honestly though, there was very little difference in image quality, actually I was only able to reliably tell the new Sony player was better by using some test patterns.
The ergonomics are a bit better of course (I used the PS2 with a remote as soon as the official became available), but with PS2 I had little to complain as I usually just watch a movie from the beginning to end without many pauses, so the power on - insert disc - select TV channel - power on AV amp sequence is virtually the same whether on I viewed on PS2 or the dedicated DVD player.
If. Anyone buying a player within the next six months, HDDVD or BluRay, faces the prospect that in two years time no-one's going to publish on that medium anymore. That's why consumer goods magazines and TV programmes are cautioning people to wait and see which format secures the movie studios, and why if people did folow that advice, it'd make sense for studios to go with BluRay because if no-one's buying HDDVD and BluRay players on advice, there'll still be millions of BRD players out there in PS3s.scooby_dooby said:
I don't see how HDDVD can win out if (note the if there!) the market at large takes a wait-and-see attitude.
scooby_dooby
Legend
In 2003 over 2.4million HDTV sets were sold in the US, last year they were estimating 5million sold, by now there's probably over 10million in the US alone.
http://www.hometheatermag.com/news/120303hdtv/
That's 10million users who would for the most part probably be happy to go out and purchase a reasonably priced standalone player if it was in the $200-300 price range.
shifty - i get what you're saying, IF the market takes a wait and see approach. IMO that all depends who comes to market first and can drop prices the fastest.
http://www.hometheatermag.com/news/120303hdtv/
That's 10million users who would for the most part probably be happy to go out and purchase a reasonably priced standalone player if it was in the $200-300 price range.
shifty - i get what you're saying, IF the market takes a wait and see approach. IMO that all depends who comes to market first and can drop prices the fastest.
BUT...if you buy a HDDVD player to watch a film from Warner Brothers, Ocean's 11 say, you won't be able to watch Spiderman. And vice versa if you buy a BluRay player. Until a format supports all the studios you want content from, would you not wait to see which format allows that? I know I would!
The marginal cost of producing a dedicated player won't be anything near $300. Most of that $300 will be the mark-up the firm applies to the product in order to recoup its initial investment.
PS3 will most likely be sold below cost. Just how much, I don't know.
As I said before if Sony puts some effort into providing movie playback, something they did not do with PS2, and leverage the PS3's additional horsepower to help it deliver features that other players would struggle to match at the same price point it could be a very decent player.
The only sticking point is the drive and control interface....you'd need a remote not the baterang.
PS3 will most likely be sold below cost. Just how much, I don't know.
As I said before if Sony puts some effort into providing movie playback, something they did not do with PS2, and leverage the PS3's additional horsepower to help it deliver features that other players would struggle to match at the same price point it could be a very decent player.
The only sticking point is the drive and control interface....you'd need a remote not the baterang.
JF_Aidan_Pryde
Regular
I read a Sony biography that recalled the betamax incident. Sony's founder, Akio Morita said betamax would have won had Sony owned a movie studio. And so, many years later, Sony paid a rediculous price to buy out Columbia, to satisfy the old man's wish.
I wonder if it will make all the difference today.
I wonder if it will make all the difference today.
JF_Aidan_Pryde said:
Well, not only do they own a Movie studio(s), they also have a console that has the potential to sell millions. The console will also (I think) debut Blu-Ray to America (in a massive way).
I also want to note that the security implementation in Blu-Ray is making me like it less and less. I hope theres some manageable way to make copies of items that you own, without jumping through hoops.
scooby_dooby
Legend
Shifty Geezer said:
As long as they can get out a decent amount of initial content players will sell, as soon as players start selling the millions, the movie studios will be climbing over eachother to get a piece of the pie.
Maybe Sony pictures and the studios they own will hold out, but IMO if BR can't make their standalone players affordable quick enough, and HD-DVD reaches a certain critical mass in homes, then all the studios will simpyl support it as their end goal is to sell more copies of their product and make money.
HD-DVD's biggest advantage is cost, cost for manufacturers, and therefore cost for consumers is less, that will ultimately decide it I think, the market is waiting, first one to launch affordable players with a solid library of titles will take it.
Does Toshiba really want to compete against 50 quid players?
One of the reasons the Japanese companies are pushing for next-gen is that DVD players became commoditized way faster than they wanted. So there is no money being made in making DVD players. Except for Toshiba, which is getting royalties.
I don't know how quickly those cheap HD-DVD players will appear. Blue laser diodes are still expensive.
I know part of the reason the Chinese went with HD-DVD was that they wanted their own standard, with the option to use their own codecs and copy protection.
So it's not a great deal for the big CE manufacturers for the Chinese to be on board. Can't be that great for the studios either, because pirated discs is what goes hand in hand with cheap players. Yeah it's easy to upgrade existing DVD lines to press HD-DVDs. That means the pirates will be able to press the HD-DVDs easier than Blu-Ray discs.
HD-DVD may be closer to market but they're not launching the product this year as they promised. The studios which announced all these titles with fanfare have backed off on the release this year. So the first to market advantage appears to be lost. In fact, one report was that Toshiba wasn't able to deliver enough prototype players to the major disc replicators who needed them for testing their pressings.
One of the reasons the Japanese companies are pushing for next-gen is that DVD players became commoditized way faster than they wanted. So there is no money being made in making DVD players. Except for Toshiba, which is getting royalties.
I don't know how quickly those cheap HD-DVD players will appear. Blue laser diodes are still expensive.
I know part of the reason the Chinese went with HD-DVD was that they wanted their own standard, with the option to use their own codecs and copy protection.
So it's not a great deal for the big CE manufacturers for the Chinese to be on board. Can't be that great for the studios either, because pirated discs is what goes hand in hand with cheap players. Yeah it's easy to upgrade existing DVD lines to press HD-DVDs. That means the pirates will be able to press the HD-DVDs easier than Blu-Ray discs.
HD-DVD may be closer to market but they're not launching the product this year as they promised. The studios which announced all these titles with fanfare have backed off on the release this year. So the first to market advantage appears to be lost. In fact, one report was that Toshiba wasn't able to deliver enough prototype players to the major disc replicators who needed them for testing their pressings.
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