Blu-ray wins the war

Garyvdh said:
HBO and New Line have announced that they are backing Blu-Ray only now as well... it looks like this war is coming to an end quickly although I wish it were not so! :(

http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/15432/HBO-New-Line-Switch-to-Bluray-Exclusivity/

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i3fd4ee13311f0402cf2fa29e7586ecfc
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If your thinking is that the longer they took to decide the winner the cheaper the price would be, then I agree with you. Otherwise it's good news that the war is almost over. We can 'now' upgrade our living rooms as they say.:D
 
Nuro said:
Problem is, it might not help. BD+ can check the validity of your player firmware (checksums, memory footprint etc), and refuse to work. I'm not 100% on the technical aspects, just reading the whitepaper.
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That sounds a bit silly if you don't mind me saying so.. :p

It sounds like you're suggesting that a silly optical disk can somehow perform checks on the hardware regardless of anything else? Obviously it's the blu-ray player itself which actually executes the code on the blu-ray disk, and therefore it seems logical (to my mind anyway :o ) that if the firmware is properly hacked it will keep the "code" on the blu-ray disk happy by just passing it whatever values it expects to find? :confused:

Mind you I don't actually know anything about this.. so I'm just speculating here. ;)
 
LG have come out with a rewritable drive that can play/write to both HD and Blu-ray:

LG GGC-H20L 4MB Cache SATA Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM & 16X DVD±R DVD

Expensive though :(
 
redarrow said:
That sounds a bit silly if you don't mind me saying so.. :p

It sounds like you're suggesting that a silly optical disk can somehow perform checks on the hardware regardless of anything else? Obviously it's the blu-ray player itself which actually executes the code on the blu-ray disk, and therefore it seems logical (to my mind anyway :o ) that if the firmware is properly hacked it will keep the "code" on the blu-ray disk happy by just passing it whatever values it expects to find? :confused:

Mind you I don't actually know anything about this.. so I'm just speculating here. ;)
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It's a little more complex than that. For example, the key to decode the Blu-Ray is actually within the program on the disk. So, the disk runs, it wont decode unless you run the java VM on it, it then inspects the hardware on the player to make sure everything is ok, before providing a key to decode. so, to "flash" the device that does the reading, it must behave and have the criteria by standards of the Disc. Not only that, but it's implied that the disc itself can actually update your device. because the java is on the disc, it cant be hacked (easily) and that is what will make sure your are in line. And even if it hacked, it's only for that one disc and not any other (unless they are sloppy and use the same java code time and time again).

But, thats not saying it wont be pirated. Simply put, record the signal being sent to the tv. Or just wait till its aired on TV in HD and tivo (PVR) it to a blu-ray. Ultimately, it wont stop "backups" or piracy.
 
Whoops! I think I got it wrong. It can read HD.

GGW-H10N

Still expensive :(
 
heh give it a bit of time and a workaround will be available. i mean remember sony's previous attempts to secure their data.

i seem to recall a $20 mill odd piece of software on a audio cd being bypassed by a felt tip pen.

as clever as sony thinks they are, the hacking community is a bit cleverer.
 
eltherza said:
(unless they are sloppy and use the same java code time and time again).
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Hmm.. human nature comes in here.. :p I would not be surprised if that's what will happen a lot of the time.. I doubt that the movie companies (or the programmers they hire) are going to write entire new algorithms for each movie they release.. :D - probably just use the same one again and perhaps tweak it a bit here and there.. ;)


I just never understand why these companies waste so much money on stupid DRM techniques that ultimately do fail with time.. the only thing they get right is to make the use of their products by their honest customers that much harder. Good example is MS Windows.. cd keys - online activation etc.., what's next.. scan your id book to activate it or something?


Back on the topic again.. I do wish they'd just drop all these stupid optical disks and use some sort of solid state "flash" memory on a stick or something.. no more scratches.. Now that I would like.. :)
 
Nuro said:
If this is true and Blu-Ray is the winner, it is a sad day for consumer rights indeed :(
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I agree - the day Sony rules the roost in any arena is not a day for rejoicing. :(
 
bwana said:
I agree - the day Sony rules the roost in any arena is not a day for rejoicing. :(
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That's true, but I think blue-ray will have a pretty short useful lifespan. Hopefully.
 
This is not a good way to start the new year.

I say wait and see what HD-DVD does to stay in the game.
 
I think the focus has been incorrectly placed when it comes to the format war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. Yes, having more players in the market will result in more sales of Blu-Ray discs but that is only a short-term gain. The real winner will be decided when there is mass uptake of HD monitors / TV. That is the real reason why uptake has been slow while Blu-Ray and HD-DVD battle it out.

You might gain a Blu-Ray player with your PS3 purchase, but it's costing you more initially for the privilege to watch HD movies - but without a HD TV / monitor, you lose out on the HD aspect entirely.

Knowing Sony, believing they've now won the format war, there's no further incentive to lower the price of the PS3. At least until, cheaper standalone Blu-Ray players hit the market and the non-gaming market dives into that instead of the PS3 with pricey games so Sony will want to capitalise on PS3 profits as much as they can for as long as they can.

Now, if Toshiba were to collaborate for cheap HD TV sets with built-in HD-DVD players, that would throw this whole debate into another cycle. The one isn't any good without the other. The same can said for Sony's Bravia range of excellent quality TV sets - but that would simply make the already expensive sets even more costly and I doubt the market will support such a move.

Price drops is the only factor that will truly guarantee a definitive winner. Nothing stops Warner from shifting allegiances again if their movie disc sales are hurt.

I haven't chosen either format and am not backing either until there is need for me to do so. Even my XBox 360 wasn't incentive enough for me to spend R9000+ on a HD LCD TV - it's simply way too costly and I'll wait until the Digital Broadcast migration has begun and cheaper TV sets flood our local market (2009 / 2010 onwards) and by then I'm sure the reliance on physical discs for movies will be a lot less than today and more on backup for actual data. This means Sony's propriety standards will be a problem in the long-run.
 
LifelongGamer said:
I think the focus has been incorrectly placed when it comes to the format war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. Yes, having more players in the market will result in more sales of Blu-Ray discs but that is only a short-term gain. The real winner will be decided when there is mass uptake of HD monitors / TV. That is the real reason why uptake has been slow while Blu-Ray and HD-DVD battle it out.

You might gain a Blu-Ray player with your PS3 purchase, but it's costing you more initially for the privilege to watch HD movies - but without a HD TV / monitor, you lose out on the HD aspect entirely.

Knowing Sony, believing they've now won the format war, there's no further incentive to lower the price of the PS3. At least until, cheaper standalone Blu-Ray players hit the market and the non-gaming market dives into that instead of the PS3 with pricey games so Sony will want to capitalise on PS3 profits as much as they can for as long as they can.

Now, if Toshiba were to collaborate for cheap HD TV sets with built-in HD-DVD players, that would throw this whole debate into another cycle. The one isn't any good without the other. The same can said for Sony's Bravia range of excellent quality TV sets - but that would simply make the already expensive sets even more costly and I doubt the market will support such a move.

Price drops is the only factor that will truly guarantee a definitive winner. Nothing stops Warner from shifting allegiances again if their movie disc sales are hurt.

I haven't chosen either format and am not backing either until there is need for me to do so. Even my XBox 360 wasn't incentive enough for me to spend R9000+ on a HD LCD TV - it's simply way too costly and I'll wait until the Digital Broadcast migration has begun and cheaper TV sets flood our local market (2009 / 2010 onwards) and by then I'm sure the reliance on physical discs for movies will be a lot less than today and more on backup for actual data. This means Sony's propriety standards will be a problem in the long-run.
Click to expand...

Good post! So Toshiba should cut the prices on their HD tvs or build some combo TV-HD-DVD units! That might put them back in the running.
 
eltherza said:
But, thats not saying it wont be pirated. Simply put, record the signal being sent to the tv. Or just wait till its aired on TV in HD and tivo (PVR) it to a blu-ray. Ultimately, it wont stop "backups" or piracy.
Click to expand...

This is where the HDCP compliance comes in, the Drive, Card and Television is Copy Protected so in the end it wont be able to copy the stream because the stream from Disk to Device is encrypted, believe me they will probably be able to copy it eventually but it would be so cumbersome that it will just be impracticable for the average Jo! Though the HDCP is only for HD Streams, if you play it on a non HDCP device the data is then converted to 420p, our current TV's quality, so the low quality piracy will continue but you wont be able to enjoy the full HD experience.
 
LifelongGamer said:
without a HD TV / monitor, you lose out on the HD aspect entirely.
Click to expand...
This reminds me..

The last Disney DVD I purchased (I think it was Pirates of the Caribbean 3) had a nice AD on it in which Disney was trying to convince me why I needed "Disney Blu-Ray" .. so this AD showed a split screen: "on the left is regular DVD and on the right is Disney Blu-Ray!" :D :D

Apparently it never occurred to Disney that putting this "split screen comparison" on a DVD results in each half being effectively only half as good as regular DVD.. :rolleyes: :D :D
 
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