PlayStation 3 to feature Blu-Ray disc - Official!

[pc999]

Can anyone say how many copys of DVDs are made, this is ( or should be ) the main point in my post. I know a lot of people that almost dont have original DVDs but they have DVDs players, and buy DVD-R, and consoles...

Sorry if in my last post I has not been explicit

 

[London Geezer]

Can anyone say how many copys of DVDs are made, this is ( or should be ) the main point in my post. I know a lot of people that almost dont have original DVDs but they have DVDs players, and buy DVD-R, and consoles...

Sorry if in my last post I has not been explicit

Piracy is another matter altogether.

 

[Fafalada]

I know a lot of people that almost dont have original DVDs but they have DVDs players, and buy DVD-R, and consoles...

I mentioned that in my post - PC market was what drove down the writeable format prices (well, a lot of it is thanks to having +/- format war, and to lesser extent DVD-RAM which introduced the first sub 1000$ pc-recorders back in 2000).
But DVD was already a well established standard before that started happening. Content was readily available and fairly widespread (movies, console games etc.) and if anything, it was that what made PC market take notice(for questionable motives perhaps, but anyway), not the other way around.

 

[jvd]

You guys are all missing the point.


When u buy star wars eps 3 on hd dvd and then you go and watch part 2 on your old dvd . Its going to look like crap.

Just like watching a dvd of bladerunner and then putting in the vhs.

Of course your going to have to rebuy .

 

[KnightBreed]

You guys are all missing the point.


When u buy star wars eps 3 on hd dvd and then you go and watch part 2 on your old dvd . Its going to look like crap.

Just like watching a dvd of bladerunner and then putting in the vhs.

Of course your going to have to rebuy .

Assuming it's properly mastered, of course a HD-DVD will look better than a DVD or VHS tape. That is the nature of progress! Do you honestly expect technology to stand still because DVD is "good enough" for the folks without a large television?

Nobody is forcing your father to repurchase his DVD collection. Perhaps we can ask Sony and company to stifle their progress to save Joe Consumer from his inability to control his impulses.

 

[rabidrabbit]

Stop the technological advance to save jvd and his father from poverty!

I'm all for new and improved technology being available to customers as soon as possible.
...except ATi and nVidia could slow down a little, I'm not too willing to buy a new 500€ graphics card every year just to sample the latest übergraphics PC games.

 

[AlNom]

yeah, let the devs concentrate on the hardware that's already out....


ah wait, this is the console forum...

 

[Farid]

MS has said it will support HD-DVD in Longhorn. Maybe it will support Blue Ray as well if Blue Ray uses VC-9 as a codec.

Why does MS have (or not) to "support" BR? As long as the BR drives are IDE/SCSI peripherals, they will be recognized by windows without any problems.

 

[wco81]

Did MS fully support DVD playback in Windows XP? Didn't they decline because they didn't want to pay for the license?

Or am I thinking only of the Xbox where you had to buy the remote, which included a disc with probably the keys for decrypting DSS?

 

[Fafalada]

Did MS fully support DVD playback in Windows XP?

If you mean provide a player+codec to play DVD movies - no, they never supported that as a part of any OS.
Not that it really matters - so far every PC DVD drive I've seen comes with DVD playback software included.

I suppose HD-DVD support kinda comes by default since it's using MSs codec?

 

[jvd]

Stop the technological advance to save jvd and his father from poverty!

I'm all for new and improved technology being available to customers as soon as possible.
...except ATi and nVidia could slow down a little, I'm not too willing to buy a new 500€ graphics card every year just to sample the latest übergraphics PC games.

I'm all for tech advance. But to me its to much of a baby step. Esp if in 2007 they are goign to have red laser drives capable of 100gigs

 

[Farid]

I suppose HD-DVD support kinda comes by default since it's using MSs codec?

HD-DVD standard is not VC-9 only, AFAIK. H.264 is also in the party. And as you said any DVD-Rom drive sold since....ever, came with a DVD player software. So a BR drive will (must) also come with a BR playback soft.

So the whole: "MS is supporting HD-DVD in Longhorn" still sounds... useless.

 

[wco81]

What it means is that Windows Media Player will play back HD-DVDs, meaning it has not just the codecs but the keys for whatever DRM is required.

And WMP is the most widely used player so that's not insignificant.

Still, no doubt with Dell and HP supporting BR, BR playback is also assured on PCs, if not by MS directly, than by others.

 

[Farid]

Once again, even if Longhorn doesn't include the full "support" for HD-DVD playback, the only fact that a HD-DVD drive might be present in the setup will mean that there's a software capable of playing HD-DVD bundled with it.

Like today's DVD drives.

 

[Brimstone]

Saw this over at Team Xbox forums.

Although Sony has not said so formally, it is widely expected that the new system will include Blu-ray technology.
In addition to software support from Pony Canyon, HD DVD backers also appeared to get a boost last week from Microsoft.

A representative of Microsoft's Japanese subsidiary told the HD DVD gathering in Tokyo that the software giant's next-generation operating system, code-named Longhorn, would include support the HD DVD format.

A Microsoft spokesman in the U.S., however, said the decision to support HD DVD did not indicate an exclusive commitment to that format.

"We're still evaluating the final feature set of the forthcoming operating system, and nothing is set in stone at this point," said Jonathan Usher, director of Microsoft's Windows Digital Media division. "Microsoft remains neutral with respect to the technology we plan to support for high definition DVD playback in future versions of Windows, and we remain committed to discussions underway with other groups like Blu-Ray."

In addition to including support for Blu-ray in Longhorn, Microsoft is also in talks with Blu-ray's developers over the prospect of incorporating into format specs Microsoft's Windows Media 9 compression software.

Last year, the Blu-ray Disc Founders Group rejected a proposal by Microsoft, but recently agreed to reconsider that decision.

A Microsoft spokesman said those discussions were "going well," but the outcome remained uncertain.

Final specifications for HD DVD were originally scheduled to be released by the DVD Forum in July, but apparently have been pushed back."

http://www.videobusiness.com/article.asp?articleID=8310&catType=NEWS

Team Xbox forum thread Link

http://forum.teamxbox.com/showthread.php?t=283081


I'd like to see Sony and Microsoft work together to create the best technology possible. Blu-Ray and WM 9 together makes sense to me.

 

[j^aws]

What are the differences between the enhanced codecs available to blu ray? Licensing costs, image quality, compression ratios? :?

 

[wco81]

Has anyone done a shootout between VC-9 and H.264?

Will BR take one but not the other? Or more likely, both or neither?

Who is more desperate, Sony and the other BR companies to get on Windows or Microsoft to get VC-9 on BR?

And what is a higher priority for Sony, the console business where one of their major competitors is MS? Or the BR business?

 

[Brimstone]

Microsoft has spent something like $500 million to create WM9. Compared to MPEG-4 they are probably very close, although I do think WM9 is technically more efficent. Unlike MPEG-4, WM9 is a total solution taking into account all aspects of digital media. Anti-Piracy measures is something that Hollywood likes about WM9.

 

[Farid]

Who is more desperate, Sony and the other BR companies to get on Windows or Microsoft to get VC-9 on BR?

It's MS that want its VC-9 on BR, the BR Group can choose to stick with H.264 only.
As the article Brimstone posted stated, the BR Group already refused the first MS offer.

 

[wco81]

Well BR has Dell and HP on their side, so they can distribute BR playback on PCs even if MS doesn't. However, if MS was hardcore about it, they could muscle Dell and HP, like they did during the IE/Netscape wars.

As for DRM, I heard that both camps are signing on to AACS a new system which involves a unique disc ID and the ability to track how many times a particular disc has been viewed.

WM DRM supposedly has phone-home features?

Maybe the studios like all this stuff but it's not good for us consumers.