Peter Moore says that Xbox360 could possibly adopt a Blu Ray addon

[speng]

They say they have "flexibility to adapt" but are not flexible enough to support Blu-ray. Weird.

Yea, it's just the same as they deny, deny they have HD-DVD external drive for 360..then...there is almost an exact statement to this one. Then a change in course.

Speng.

 

[Hardknock]

I don't think this is so hard to understand. If you look at the context, he was clearly stating they have the capability to adapt if they needed to. This doesn't mean that they are going to make a Blu-Ray add-on, or even that they plan to.

 

[mckmas8808]

I don't think this is so hard to understand. If you look at the context, he was clearly stating they have the capability to adapt if they needed to. This doesn't mean that they are going to make a Blu-Ray add-on, or even that they plan to.

Damnit (this word is targeted at Peter Moore and the MS staff not Hardknock) we all know they have the ability to add on Blu-ray, if they can add on HD-DVD. But why say it if they weren't thinking about it?

And like someone else said why say they are SO flexible, but not support Blu-ray? I guess their flexiblity stops at the competition's next-gen media.

 

[Hardknock]

Damnit (this word is targeted at Peter Moore and the MS staff not Hardknock) we all know they have the ability to add on Blu-ray, if they can add on HD-DVD. But why say it if they weren't thinking about it?

Actually, no we didn't know this and I'm sure Peter didn't bring this up out the blue, the interviewer more than likely asked if the 360 had the capability to go in that direction if they wanted, and he replied yes.

And like someone else said why say they are SO flexible, but not support Blu-ray? I guess their flexiblity stops at the competition's next-gen media.

Flexibility is a strength no matter how you look at it. Just because they can do something, doesn't mean they should. MS is supporting what they feel is the superior format. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[mckmas8808]

Flexibility is a strength no matter how you look at it. Just because they can do something, doesn't mean they should. MS is supporting what they feel is the superior format. Nothing more, nothing less.

Which is the problem. 5 years from now people will be saying Sony won the the next-gen contest because MS handed it to them by saying and thinking things just like that. It's obvious by now that Blu-ray is the superior format. Right?

 

[Phil]

damage control

exactly my thoughts. I was wondering when Microsoft would publically withdraw/clarify the comments Moore made. As some debated in this thread, what Moore implied was certainly not a very good move in gaining consumers confidence nor to establish Microsofts position in the upcoming BR/HD-DVD battle.

 

[Proforma]

Blu-Ray with all the technology is now just DVD+

Which is the problem. 5 years from now people will be saying Sony won the the next-gen contest because MS handed it to them by saying and thinking things just like that. It's obvious by now that Blu-ray is the superior format. Right?

Not when Sony is going to be using MPEG 2 for Blu-ray. What is the point with MPEG 2 which is already used on DVD's NOW and we know DVD's can scale to 720P and 1080P already.

Blu-ray is just DVD+, that is really all it is. When you add in HDTV's 1080p support, the video is going to be bigger to take up all that extra space, so what you are getting is just DVD+.

If they would have kept the format with MPEG 4, then we could say that it is the superior format, but they threw that right out the window. Imagine a high bitrate MPEG 4 compression with all that extra space. You could have all StarWars films on one disk, now you can only have one movie on a disk, that sucks and Sony sucks for going backwards.

 

[Bobbler]

Not when Sony is going to be using MPEG 2 for Blu-ray. What is the point with MPEG 2 which is already used on DVD's NOW and we know DVD's can scale to 720P and 1080P already.

Blu-ray is just DVD+, that is really all it is. When you add in HDTV's 1080p support, the video is going to be bigger to take up all that extra space, so what you are getting is just DVD+.

If they would have kept the format with MPEG 4, then we could say that it is the superior format, but they threw that right out the window. Imagine a high bitrate MPEG 4 compression with all that extra space. You could have all StarWars films on one disk, now you can only have one movie on a disk, that sucks and Sony sucks for going backwards.

Are you really sure you want to have this debate here?

Not only is it completely off topic, but it's misinformed.

 

[London Geezer]

Not when Sony is going to be using MPEG 2 for Blu-ray. What is the point with MPEG 2 which is already used on DVD's NOW and we know DVD's can scale to 720P and 1080P already.

Blu-ray is just DVD+, that is really all it is. When you add in HDTV's 1080p support, the video is going to be bigger to take up all that extra space, so what you are getting is just DVD+.

If they would have kept the format with MPEG 4, then we could say that it is the superior format, but they threw that right out the window. Imagine a high bitrate MPEG 4 compression with all that extra space. You could have all StarWars films on one disk, now you can only have one movie on a disk, that sucks and Sony sucks for going backwards.

Err all that rant would make sense if the studio didn't have a choice of codecs to use on their own discs... And if Bluray players only supported MPEG2...

But as it stands, the studios can use whatever codec they want, because the players support all the codecs needed for SD or HD movies, from MPEG1 to H264.

Nice try though!

 

[Proforma]

Read the press release.

Are you really sure you want to have this debate here?

Not only is it completely off topic, but it's misinformed.

It's not being misinformed, I guess you didn't read the press release.

 

[Proforma]

Sony influences studios, from movielink to PSP

Err all that rant would make sense if the studio didn't have a choice of codecs to use on their own discs... And if Bluray players only supported MPEG2...

But as it stands, the studios can use whatever codec they want, because the players support all the codecs needed for SD or HD movies, from MPEG1 to H264.

Nice try though!

Well, it's pretty much being a standard on MPEG 2. Sony works with all the studios and you can say what you want, but MPEG 2 it pretty much is.

Call me when a studio that isn't influenced by sony releases all their movies in MPG4 format.

So much for that superior format. doh! I am not a fan of HD-DVD either. I am just not happy that Mpeg 2 will be the main codec for bluray and I think that was a horrible decision. It's only really for piracy reasons (they said quality, but what they really mean is piracy).

It's a lot easier to pirate smaller files such as H264 than it is HDTV resolutions in MPEG 2 format.

So DVD+ it is.

 

[Hardknock]

Well, it's pretty much being a standard on MPEG 2. Sony works with all the studios and you can say what you want, but MPEG 2 it pretty much is.

Call me when a studio that isn't influenced by sony releases all their movies in MPG4 format.

So much for that superior format. doh! I am not a fan of HD-DVD either. I am just not happy that Mpeg 2 will be the main codec for bluray and I think that was a horrible decision. It's only really for piracy reasons (they said quality, but what they really mean is piracy).

It's a lot easier to pirate smaller files such as H264 than it is HDTV resolutions in MPEG 2 format.

So DVD+ it is.

Interesting, so Sony is using Mpeg2 to fill up the space of a Blu-Ray disc (50GB for one movie?) to try and curb piracy...

I can see how this would stop casual pirating... but otherwise I hope they rethink this and put all that space to better use.

 

[Proforma]

yes, pretty much.

Interesting, so Sony is using Mpeg2 to fill up the space of a Blu-Ray disc (50GB for one movie?) to try and curb piracy...

I can see how this would stop casual pirating... but otherwise I hope they rethink this and put all that space to better use.

It's actually starting out with 25 Gigabytes of space I do believe. But yeah, that is pretty much the problem I have with the technology. It's a waste.

This is 2006 and we should be using MPEG 4 and not old MPEG 2 codecs, it should only be there for DVD compatibility.

HD-DVD isn't any better of course, they only offer 15 gigabytes and they only are supporting 720p in the first players. This is what I have read from CES.

However, at least with HD-DVD they are using MPEG 4 at least and 1080P will be forthcoming at some point.

 

[Bobbler]

It's not being misinformed, I guess you didn't read the press release.

Sony's studios may be using MPEG2, but BR as a standard supports Mpeg2, VC-1, and Mpeg4 (h.264). Additionally, the average bitrate for DVD is around 6-8... meanwhile BR is going to be using 35-40 for its Mpeg2, or whatever bitrate they want to use for h.264/VC-1. So far, only Sony's studios have said they'll be using Mpeg2... Unless you want to provide some information that all studios _are_ using Mpeg2 (hell, or any studios besides Sony's), I suggest you don't assume things.

It's likely that the studios using Mpeg4 won't be using 35-40mbit streams any ways, as it just isn't necessary to get quality picture.

It's also likely that Sony's reason for using Mpeg2 stem from it being cheaper to license, and cheaper to produce something on it (as the tools are far more mature and they have experience with it). It being on BR alone will reduce the piracy (assuming that the AACS stuff even gets cracked any time soon) -- anyone who _can_ actually rip a BR/HD-DVD movie isn't likely to care that the movie is 25gb vs whatever it takes up using h.264. I doubt we'll see people ripping the movies any time soon.

 

[Proforma]

Whatever floats your boat

Sony's studios may be using MPEG2, but BR as a standard supports Mpeg2, VC-1, and Mpeg4 (h.264). Additionally, the average bitrate for DVD is around 6-8... meanwhile BR is going to be using 35-40 for its Mpeg2, or whatever bitrate they want to use for h.264/VC-1. So far, only Sony's studios have said they'll be using Mpeg2... Unless you want to provide some information that all studios _are_ using Mpeg2 (hell, or any studios besides Sony's), I suggest you don't assume things.

It's likely that the studios using Mpeg4 won't be using 35-40mbit streams any ways, as it just isn't necessary to get quality picture.

It's also likely that Sony's reason for using Mpeg2 stem from it being cheaper to license, and cheaper to produce something on it (as the tools are far more mature and they have experience with it). It being on BR alone will reduce the piracy (assuming that the AACS stuff even gets cracked any time soon) -- anyone who _can_ actually rip a BR/HD-DVD movie isn't likely to care that the movie is 25gb vs whatever it takes up using h.264. I doubt we'll see people ripping the movies any time soon.

Whatever floats your boat.

I am just telling it like it is. I know a guy who used to work for Movielink which is owned by Sony and works with all the Studios and has a huge amount of influence on the other studios. The majority is going to be MPEG 2 so good luck with the MPEG 4 on Blu-ray.

 

[one]

Whatever floats your boat.

I am just telling it like it is. I know a guy who used to work for Movielink which is owned by Sony and works with all the Studios and has a huge amount of influence on the other studios. The majority is going to be MPEG 2 so good luck with the MPEG 4 on Blu-ray.

If you read CES reports you know Matsushita already did the demo by MPEG-4 AVC HP on BD-ROM.

 

[Bigus Dickus]

Additionally, the average bitrate for DVD is around 6-8... meanwhile BR is going to be using 35-40 for its Mpeg2...

Wait... so if they use Mpeg2 to encode a 1080p movie on BR, then the bitrate is actually lower per pixel than is the case for current DVD's? Does that represent a decrease in quality vs. DVD (compression artifacts), or does the compression scheme work more efficiently with a greater number of pixels, or does that mean Mpeg2 will never be used for 1080p content (whatever decade that shows up)?

 

[speng]

Whatever floats your boat.

I am just telling it like it is. I know a guy who used to work for Movielink which is owned by Sony and works with all the Studios and has a huge amount of influence on the other studios. The majority is going to be MPEG 2 so good luck with the MPEG 4 on Blu-ray.

The format supports it companies will move to it when the need arises. So you can stop the misinformation now.

Speng.

 

[Bobbler]

Whatever floats your boat.

I am just telling it like it is. I know a guy who used to work for Movielink which is owned by Sony and works with all the Studios and has a huge amount of influence on the other studios. The majority is going to be MPEG 2 so good luck with the MPEG 4 on Blu-ray.

It has nothing to do with floating my boat. You've displayed a lack of rational thought many times before, so I can't expect you to understand.

What Sony does has nothing to do with what other studios do, regardless of what your, likely uninformed, movielink buddy says. The studios are free to choose whatever they want -- Sony has no real vested interest in forcing them all to do Mpeg2; there is no reason to do it outside of company preference/cost/ease of creation. Not that it matters really, as it will likely not look distinguishably different regardless of the coder used...

 

[Bobbler]

Wait... so if they use Mpeg2 to encode a 1080p movie on BR, then the bitrate is actually lower per pixel than is the case for current DVD's? Does that represent a decrease in quality vs. DVD (compression artifacts), or does the compression scheme work more efficiently with a greater number of pixels, or does that mean Mpeg2 will never be used for 1080p content (whatever decade that shows up)?

I'm not quite sure on how the Mpeg2 coder works, so I can't really answer that (although I vaguely remember hearing that the higher the res the more benefit you can gain from a given compression -- not sure though; I'm sure someone around here can answer it).

All HD-DVD and BR movies are (supposed to be) in 1080p already -- some of the early players may only be able to send out a 1080i signal though.