Pioneer to build a HD DVD/BR combo drive

[RobertR1]

Very interesting considering that Pioneer was firmly behind Blu Ray for quite some time. We'll never know the inner politics (this war is based off politics, not product, for those following) but this is rather big news especially considering Pioneer is strongly rumored to be the OEM for Sony's standalone player.

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/Details.aspx?NewsId=17880

 

[London Geezer]

Very interesting considering that Pioneer was firmly behind Blu Ray for quite some time. We'll never know the inner politics (this war is based off politics, not product, for those following) but this is rather big news especially considering Pioneer is strongly rumored to be the OEM for Sony's standalone player.

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/Details.aspx?NewsId=17880

It's interesting but hardly surprising. It's always been a matter of time and politics, not a matter of technology.

Some companies like Samsung have been behind Bluray from day one but we always knew that one day, hybrid players would come out. I mean, it can't get much easier than this: both players require exactly the same image processing, and the first two players or each format actually use exactly the same processing! All that changes is just the physical reading part of the player, but as we've seen, that is hardly something to get worried about, as we have had players that read, write and re-write CD, DVD for years and now Bluray all in the same place. Bluray to HDDVD is a piece of cake in comparison! (Well, not really "piece of cake" but you get my point!)

 

[Rangers]

What would the prices be like?

I really dont want to be stuck with the "wrong" format. So a dual drive solves that.

Of course, Blu-Ray's are out of my price range anyway. I can only afford HD-DVD.

Since Blu-Ray players are ~1,000, I guess it couldn't be any less than that, eh? And probably a good deal more. Still, it's the concept of course and future price drops that are important.
________
Elainee

 

[London Geezer]

What would the prices be like?

I really dont want to be stuck with the "wrong" format. So a dual drive solves that.

Of course, Blu-Ray's are out of my price range anyway. I can only afford HD-DVD.

Since Blu-Ray players are ~1,000, I guess it couldn't be any less than that, eh? And probably a good deal more. Still, it's the concept of course and future price drops that are important.

Well if money is an issue, you shouldn't really buy into either of them now anyway. They will come down in price quickly, especially after the PS3 comes out, as it will be the cheapest next-gen-DVD player out in the market and will invariably push prices of both HDDVD and Bluray players down, as well as push for the release of cheaper players altogether.

Personally, for me price is a BIG problem, and i won't look into any next-gen thing for a long time cause in the first year or so it's all ridiculously overpriced.

 

[Arwin]

Looks like some of the major studios are also really banking on the PS3:

http://home.businesswire.com/portal...d=news_view&newsId=20060831005244&newsLang=en

All these titles are announced for November, all seem to support MPEG4 (AVC), and some of them really use some of the new advanced features ...

A few highlights:

-- KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (Director's Cut): To accommodate the full 3 hour and 42 minute run time of Ridley Scott's Director's cut version of his epic masterpiece, KINGDOM OF HEAVEN is one of the industry's first dual-layer BD releases and is authored in HDMV presented with DTS HD Lossless Master Audio.

-- THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN: One of the industry's most advanced BD releases, THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN is authored in BD-J with DTS HD Lossless Master Audio and AVC (MPEG 4 compression) and includes commentaries by the cast and crew, a unique search index which allows the viewer to sort scenes from the movie into 72 categories ranging from actor (e.g., Shane West, Sean Connery) to character (e.g., Allan Quarterman, Agent Tom Sawyer) to locations (e.g., Paris, Venice), among others. Additional features include an interactive first person shooter game boasting 12 unique play modes, up to 99 bookmarks, an animated pop-up trivia track, and HD trailers of upcoming BD releases.

-- SPEED: This BD-J release boasts DTS HD Lossless Master Audio and MPEG 4 compression. Special features include commentary tracks and commentary chapter selections by Jan De Bont, Graham Yost, and Mark Gordon, as well as an animated pop-up trivia track, up to 99 bookmarks, a 56-category search index (see description on THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN) and a java game entitled, Speed: Take Down, touting six game play modes. The title also includes HD trailers for upcoming BD releases.

 

[Geo]

What would the prices be like?

I really dont want to be stuck with the "wrong" format. So a dual drive solves that.

Yes and no. It's certainly helpful, but eventually one "loses" and in all likliehood you'd be facing buying a new drive down the road that no longer has the loser support in it --and now you've got a bunch of expensive coasters. If you're a true movie-holic, the big long-term investment is in the library, not the player. . .

 

[jb]

Well lets home someday we actually do see a dual format player. I know one company had one annoced then pulled it back

 

[SPM]

What would the prices be like?

I really dont want to be stuck with the "wrong" format. So a dual drive solves that.

Of course, Blu-Ray's are out of my price range anyway. I can only afford HD-DVD.

Since Blu-Ray players are ~1,000, I guess it couldn't be any less than that, eh? And probably a good deal more. Still, it's the concept of course and future price drops that are important.

As a cheap way to get dual format, you could of course get a PS3 now and if BD loses the format war, you could get a Toshiba HD-DVD player later when prices drop. If BD loses out, the PS3 would still be a great games machine so you are not really losing out. You are effectively paying $100 for the BD player in PS3.