So Blu-ray won the battle.

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I expected this to happen after Sony sold so many PS3 over xmas.
There we have it now, the battle is over.

Tokyo, Japan (AHN) - The Sony Blu-ray emerged victorious in the battle of the DVD formats Tuesday, when Japanese company Toshiba Corp. announced that it was conceding to the company and pulling out its HD DVD.

Sony's victory will result in the adoption of the higher resolution Blu-ray technology, which offers a 1080p resolution - the highest ever produced.

Toshiba announced that it will cease production and sales off its HD DVD by the end of March.

"This was a very difficult decision to make," said Atsutoshi Nishida, Toshiba's Chief Executive, during a news conference held in Tokyo. "But when we thought about the trouble we would cause to consumers and our partners, we decide it is not right for us to keep going with such a small presence."

According to Xinhua, the Blu-ray had also been adopted by Warner Bros. Entertainment, abandoning the HD DVD - something that Nishida admitted had "tremendous impact." The move put Warner with other entertainment companies, such as Walt Disney Co. and Twentieth Century Fox, in opting for Blu-ray technology.

Universal Studios and Paramount Studios have been left as the only companies that have not stopped sales of HD DVD. Universal, however, announced that it would be focusing on the Blu-ray, meanwhile remaining vague about its HD DVD sales.

The Blu-ray DVD formats have been made available to many outlets, such as Wal-Mart, who announced that it had returned its three remaining Toshiba HD DVD players last February 12.

According to The Monitor, Blu-ray players will be making their way to the outlet store on March 5.

The clear resolution of the Blu-ray has been noted, together with the current price demand to enjoy the technology, as for maximum effect, one would need a 1080p-capable television set, with the top models carrying the $2000-plus price tag.

The Blu-ray, named after its blue-violet laser light, is being used for PlayStation 3 games.

Link: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7010084783
 
I guess those of us with Xboxs looking for a Blu Ray player, will go the PS3 route now ...
 
Dolby said:
I guess those of us with Xboxs looking for a Blu Ray player, will go the PS3 route now ...
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Guarantee you in six month Microsoft will have an external Blu-ray player. Clever don't you think, not putting the drive in the console? Eggs in one basket kinda thing.
 
timgaul said:
Guarantee you in six month Microsoft will have an external Blu-ray player. Clever don't you think, not putting the drive in the console? Eggs in one basket kinda thing.
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Well, yes ... but Sony hasn't lost with their gamble of Blu Ray. In fact, their gamble paid off ultimatly.

Anyway, the comment was on pricing : a stand alone player is probably going to be in the region of R4000.00 and the MS add on (judging by other exessive pricing) will be R2500.00 or so.

I'd rather spend the R1500.00 extra and get the PS3 ...
 
timgaul said:
Guarantee you in six month Microsoft will have an external Blu-ray player. Clever don't you think, not putting the drive in the console? Eggs in one basket kinda thing.
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Yeah, but how unfair to have to fork out for one, if you already bought the HD-DVD add on:(
 
timgaul said:
Think its victory will be short-lived:

Holographic Versatile Disc
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You punting this technology, but nothing has been said about it, nobody is talking about it, and most important of all, people are buying Blu-ray titles and players despite this HVD being in the works.
Dude, sony won this one, they will make money and those people with HD-DVD are stuck/screwed over!
 
catweasel said:
You punting this technology, but nothing has been said about it, nobody is talking about it, and most important of all, people are buying Blu-ray titles and players despite this HVD being in the works.
Dude, sony won this one, they will make money and those people with HD-DVD are stuck/screwed over!
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My point is that technology is moving at such a fast pace that Sony has taken its eye off the ball. It will cling onto this technology that even in its deathbed due to the major investments it has made. I'm not the only one making these claims and, perhaps it won't be holographic discs, but it will be something else.
 
timgaul said:
My point is that technology is moving at such a fast pace that Sony has taken its eye off the ball. It will cling onto this technology that even in its deathbed due to the major investments it has made. I'm not the only one making these claims and, perhaps it won't be holographic discs, but it will be something else.
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To think that any company, let alone a leading electronics company like Sony will take its "eye off the ball" is laughable. These companies have massive R&D budgets, and i am sure they are monitoring the latest developments even closer then you!
 
catweasel said:
To think that any company, let alone a leading electronics company like Sony will take its "eye off the ball" is laughable. These companies have massive R&D budgets, and i am sure they are monitoring the latest developments even closer then you!
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They have taken there eye off the ball, look at the mere development time of the PS3 while waiting for the Blu-ray drive. It obviously indicates that Sony is more interested in protecting its investment that actually competing. Its happened to so many other console developers in the last 30 years and Sony seem to have forgotten. Think Atari, Sega, etc, etc.

This whole war has kept them wholely occupied while other companies have slowly been slipping in things like Holodiscs, IPTV, and so forth. Maybe its defeat won't come in the form of a disc at all?
 
timgaul said:
My point is that technology is moving at such a fast pace that Sony has taken its eye off the ball. It will cling onto this technology that even in its deathbed due to the major investments it has made. I'm not the only one making these claims and, perhaps it won't be holographic discs, but it will be something else.
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You're wrong and right. I doubt that holographic disc wil ever be commercialised for one big reason: content support. Blu-ray didn't win because the format was necessarily better, but because that it had the most support from Hollywood. Coupled to a critical mass of installed players that couldn't be matched by Toshiba, the defection of Warner Bros is the thing that killed HD-DVD.

However, having said that, it is likely that Blu-ray will be the last packaged media format. Digital downloads will inevitably become ubiquitous, the question is only when. Sony's gamble (and despite what a lot of people are saying) I think it is fairly safe. I think packaged media has a good 5-8 years of mass market dominance, and will continue to be a fair proportion of the market going forward past that.
 
arf9999 said:
You're wrong and right. I doubt that holographic disc wil ever be commercialised for one big reason: content support. Blu-ray didn't win because the format was necessarily better, but because that it had the most support from Hollywood. Coupled to a critical mass of installed players that couldn't be matched by Toshiba, the defection of Warner Bros is the thing that killed HD-DVD.

However, having said that, it is likely that Blu-ray will be the last packaged media format. Digital downloads will inevitably become ubiquitous, the question is only when. Sony's gamble (and despite what a lot of people are saying) I think it is fairly safe. I think packaged media has a good 5-8 years of mass market dominance, and will continue to be a fair proportion of the market going forward past that.
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hmmm?

This whole war has kept them wholely occupied while other companies have slowly been slipping in things like Holodiscs, IPTV, and so forth. Maybe its defeat won't come in the form of a disc at all?
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timgaul said:
hmmm?
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Do you honestly think that Sony isn't investigating IPTV and downloads? If so, you are very naive. While Blu-ray gets the headlines, there are actually other divisions within Sony working on other developments. But if those developments are not ready for market (and in terms of mass market, they're not), somebody is going to sell packaged media... and I'm sure Sony is happy to take their license fee off every disk, as well as every player produced while that is the case.

Your arguments, while superficially coherent, do not work in the real world - and the real world is where the money is.
 
These media conglomerates and their bastard offspring products only have limited time left themselves.

You can't screw your main income source forever and not expect a reaction, and with them stepping up their levels of obnoxiousness that day will come sooner rather than later.
 
icyrus said:
These media conglomerates and their bastard offspring products only have limited time left themselves.

You can't screw your main income source forever and not expect a reaction, and with them stepping up their levels of obnoxiousness that day will come sooner rather than later.
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Yup, they'll have to start selling tinfoil hats.... ;)
 
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