*Rumors Spin-off* 360 & Blu Ray
- Thread starter patsu
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If not an addon, but a SKU with the BRD instead of DVD, I could understand it (obviously reading DVDs for games still). However a second optical drive stuck on seems to awkward. I guess it would have the advantage of full programmability regards firmware upgrades, but standalones should be getting quite cheap by then and not be tied to a console.
I can't see it being a successful peripheral.
I can't see it being a successful peripheral.
Depends on how it's integrated into the 360's overall media experience. It may also support Natal UI when it comes out.
If the rumor is true, I wouldn't worry too much about the mechanics. They need to invest a lot of money to develop and stock this SKU. Don't think they will do a shoddy job, especially given PS3's success here.
If the rumor is true, I wouldn't worry too much about the mechanics. They need to invest a lot of money to develop and stock this SKU. Don't think they will do a shoddy job, especially given PS3's success here.
Perhaps, although I'd rather use the existing remote over motion or voice control. And I'm not worried about build quality. I just don't see why a $100 BRD drive would be bought over a $100 BRD player. Likewise I don't see why anyone would spend £100 on PlayTV when a standalone DVR with 160 GB HDD can be picked up for the same amount of money. Now that PlayTV is price competitive with DVRs, it's a compromise with some economic reasons. If the XB360 device were to be a cheap BRD player for existing XB360 owners, I can see it selling. I guess it all comes down to pricing. Though seeing MS's typical markup at the moment, I expect them to want the drive to be profitable. Selling it cheap mean no gains for them, possibly even reducing download content? Whereas a BRD SKU would be feature competitive with PS3 - a single, full multifunction device.
If it's an accessory, it's limited to the existing 360s. There's not much 'wait and see' there. There are 360s with no HDMI ports. The others have version 1.2. These are pretty hard limits. I could see marketing glossing over the 1.2 thing and just promising ultra quality -- counting on people who buy the add-on not realizing that they're missing anything.
Shifty's option makes some more sense, but I have issues with it also. And add-on is meant to stop 360 owners from getting PS3s. A new SKU is meant to draw in new users.
Shifty's option makes some more sense, but I have issues with it also. And add-on is meant to stop 360 owners from getting PS3s. A new SKU is meant to draw in new users.
Is it really growing in scale? If I recall from the last NPD BR media was only comprising 4% of the market? It had a flat growth rate last month? As far as I can see digital distribution is what is growing worldwide and not necessarily BR.
Wasn't the HD DVD drive usable on PC as well
If so, why wouldn't they have the same functionality in this case? (And of course, offer full built-in support in Win7. 
)Usability and the overall media experience can be important. If they integrate it with Natal, you don't have to use it since it won't be mandatory (Not all Xbox has Natal anyway).
Unlike previous storage standards, Blu-ray has a software stack. e.g. You can interface iPhone/iPod to a BD-Live application, you can access IMdb and other websites from within the movie.
New requirements like Managed Copy also introduces new scope in copy management (e.g., better integration with DLNA ?)
MS and partners should be able to deliver a better software experience than Sony.
As for pricing, the chipsets are getting better and cheaper with each releases. There will come a point where they will outperform Cell for specific tasks. Depending on the timing of this thing, it can be rather attractive if MS so desires.
They can toy this with Windows Media Center too.
Argh... no time to look it up. You can google the stats yourself. Also NPD is only US ? Digital distribution and BR are both growing.
Unlike previous storage standards, Blu-ray has a software stack. e.g. You can interface iPhone/iPod to a BD-Live application, you can access IMdb and other websites from within the movie.
New requirements like Managed Copy also introduces new scope in copy management (e.g., better integration with DLNA ?)
MS and partners should be able to deliver a better software experience than Sony.
As for pricing, the chipsets are getting better and cheaper with each releases. There will come a point where they will outperform Cell for specific tasks. Depending on the timing of this thing, it can be rather attractive if MS so desires.
They can toy this with Windows Media Center too.
Argh... no time to look it up. You can google the stats yourself. Also NPD is only US ? Digital distribution and BR are both growing.
Ahh, that's a good point. If it's an MS standard peripheral, it'd be a lot more useful.
Wasn't the HD DVD drive usable on PC as well
Well... why would MS want to do that? We're talking about a loss-leader, because of the price-point, right? What advantage does MS get if people buy an extra-cheap BD drive that can be hooked up to PC? Will it push Windows 7 adoption? Does MS get any money from selling BD movies? Hooking up to the 360 at least might mean one less sale for the PS3, which might translate to purchases Microsoft does get a cut of.
Gradthrawn
Veteran
Performance. There's a reason the PS3 is still one of the better BD players out there, it loads movies quickly. The same cannot be said (yet) for many of the super cheap ones that have been frequently referenced. IMO, if they can get this out at $150 or less (1/2 the price of the PS3) and have it as quick loading as the PS3 then that would make it a strong alternative to the PS3 for current 360 owners looking to get into BD movies. Why pay twice as much for redundant functionality just to get "a handful" of exclusive games as a side bonus?
Even before the price comprises, the ability to easily transfer my saved videos to my PSP or other media player (or USB media) would be enough for me to spring for the PlayTV, and I already have a DVR (that I would also keep). Of course, that's just me. Not saying that's necessarily representative of the target market. And that's besides your point anyway, I suppose.
Blu-ray adds more legitimacy to Windows/360 being a media center. Right now, there's a hole from the enthusiasts' perspective.
But... don't blu-ray drives exist? Why does MS need to subsidize one?
A drive is not the same as a media experience. They can sell people MS's media vision (and of course their goods behind the vision).
I don't know if they need to use the add-on as a loss leader though. This is not HDDVD, where the pitch was "we are cheaper". I guess they can use the same strategy, but they don't really have to.
Let's wait for the dust to settle for a few days. Big Monkey Ballmer may regret what he said. ^_^
It's not a bad thing for the consumers really. MS is trying to reach out to the casuals too.
I don't know if they need to use the add-on as a loss leader though. This is not HDDVD, where the pitch was "we are cheaper". I guess they can use the same strategy, but they don't really have to.
Let's wait for the dust to settle for a few days. Big Monkey Ballmer may regret what he said. ^_^
It's not a bad thing for the consumers really. MS is trying to reach out to the casuals too.
I actually wasn't aware that W7 didn't support blu-ray playback. But according to their representatives you can extend Media Player to play Blu-Ray -- wouldn't that automatically integrate into the media center? If this integration is in fact powerful and easy, presto, you have a reason to buy Windows 7 anyway and MS doesn't have to spend a dime subsidizing players.
I think cost is an issue. If you get this add-on and plug it into any existing 360, the best you get is still 1.2. Even if it loads faster than your usual Blu-ray player (actually, I don't know -- are these other players 1.3?) you're still looking at bullet-points that IMO are important to someone who's choosing the 'quality' of Blu-ray.
I don't think Ballmer said anything about subsidizing.
Price is important but not everything. It really depends on MS how they want to position this thing. Can the add-on have its own HDMI out ? If the rumor's true, they will have some reasonable way to get video out of the damn box.
I doubt the majority of people attracted to cheap bluray players are going to care much about bullet points such as 1.2 versus 1.3.
The most pertinent factor to the success of a BluRay addon for the 360 will be cost. Furthermore, I doubt a BluRay addon will be subidized but price to be profitable like any other addon MS sells. Bluray drives can low as $90 and players as low as $150 in retail, which means the cost to someone like MS would cost appreciably less to acquire the drives and produce an addon. This is a totally different scenario than with HD DVD drives. MS can market this to the existing 360 market as well as potential consumers so MS won't have a lone motivation of using these drives as a way to combat competition of the PS3.
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Why would you target the highend and try to satisfy a much smaller part of your markets by providing a more robust (to the consumer) but costly (to MS) experience?
The 360 market for a cheap player is probably a lot bigger then the 360 market for the most feature rich but costly player.
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