Written by Wagner James Au
Posted Friday, January 11, 2008 at 11:03 AM PT

 

Hollywood Embraces Blu-ray…and Format Obsolescence, Too?

blue-ray.jpgWith news that Universal is planning to sell its movies in Sony’s Blu-ray format, and Paramount sidling in that direction as well, Blu-ray has managed to bring all the Hollywood studios under its own standards banner, rendering its supremacy in the format war against HD-DVD indisputable.

Maybe I’m missing something, but this strikes me as a disastrous victory for Blu-ray and Hollywood alike, borne from ignorance of the game industry and a myopically arrogant assumption that movies per se still drive the high-technology market in video. The studios are putting their weight behind a standard which is now almost certainly destined to remain niche for years — if it doesn’t go totally defunct in the process.

Why? Well, consider who owns Blu-ray players: The bulk of the format’s install base are owners of Sony’s Playstation 3 game console, which has the drive built in. (In the U.S. there are 3 million PS3s, compared with just 500,000 standalone Blu-ray players.) But as anyone who follows games knows — none of whom work in the film industry, apparently — the PS3 is selling horribly in comparison to other install bases.

Last holiday season, the 8-year-old PS2 was still selling better than the PS3, for God’s sake. For the second year since going on sale, gamers have decisively rejected the PS3 for the Xbox 360, which currently has double PS3’s 9 million-unit install base (and can play HD-DVD with an upgrade), and even moreso for the phenomenally popular Wii, which plays neither high-definition format. (Follow the console war numbers on VGChartz.com.)

At least PS3 gets the Blu-ray to a good headstart, right? Well, sort of. But as far as Hollywood’s concerned, here’s the worst part: According to an NPD report from last August, 60 percent of PS3 owners are not even aware their console has a Blu-ray player. A marketing campaign would boost awareness and excitement for Sony’s high-definition DVD, of course, but to expand this market, the company will have to target early adopter hardware fans, who are generally males aged 18 through 34…many of whom already own an Xbox 360 or a Wii. Thanks to Sony’s format bullying, there are now some 30 million-plus next-gen console owners who must somehow be goaded into spending $600 or so on another game console, mainly so Transformers looks a bit better on their HDTV. (If they even own a high-definition TV, yet another consumer adoption hurdle.) Hard to see that happening, even with a Blue-ray price cut.

So what happens now? There’s hints that Microsoft may make the 360 Blu-ray compatible, but even if that happens, it’s unlikely to move the market much. Instead, broadband connection (360 and the Wii both have them) will route around the need for any disc format, with 360 owners preferring to buy high-def content from Microsoft’s fairly successful video download service, Wii owners enjoying Net-delivered video with StumbleUpon’s widget, and everyone else sticking with HDMi cable. Meantime, in their ambition to dominate by eliminating alternatives, Sony has probably remanded itself to owning the market for a niche format, like the Laserdisc of the 80s and 90s that never appealed to anyone beyond hardcore videophiles. (Anyone but me even remember those?)

Wagner James Au is GigaOM’s games editor and writes about Second Life for his blog New World Notes.

 

Sphere
Topic: Hardware
« Previous Post Next Post »

Comments & Trackbacks

  1. Blue Ray media is outselling HD-DVD media by a ratio of 2:1. While you may believe that BR is bad for the industry, it’s better than HD-DVD which simply wasn’t selling.

    Adam on January 11th, 2008 at 11:51 am - Permalink

  2. Please if you an Xbox fanboy just say so. dont try and make a point that cant be made. already games have came out that required the size fo the Blu-ray RFOM is the first at 16 + GB so the format will be used for more and more games. and you statement that the PS3 is selling ” horribly” it is selling at a higher rate then the Xbox 360 did its first year. I have 5 Blu-ray movies. the rest of you artical is not even worth commiting on. please if you are going to through around numbers get them right.

    Scott on January 11th, 2008 at 12:11 pm - Permalink

  3. You seem like a disgruntled Xbox or HD-DVD fanboy. There are several things taken out of context in your article.

    Sales
    Xbox 360 has been out for two years and PS3 one year. Of course they are going to have more sales. The sales would be more impressive if this would have occured in one year.

    The ps2 & wii still sells better because parent’s can’t afford to pay $$$ for the PS3.

    Media
    Internet based delivered media is the future but it will not be here in time for this generation of Consoles. Plus the wii and some of the xbox don’t have drives so the industry can not rely on these console’s to push this ideal.

    There is way too much investedin the Blu-Ray format. Too many companies to just abandon it in the next year or so. Blu-Ray will be used for at least the next 4 to 5 year if not longer. Maybe after that will the movement for broadband delivered content can truely take off.

    With the price of hard drives declining and the space of hard drives increasing, I agree with you that the future of media is streamed media. I just don’t agree that the Xbox and Wii will dominate this market.

    VinTheDean on January 11th, 2008 at 12:14 pm - Permalink

  4. Completely agree.

    Standard DVD technology will do just fine until the idea of buying bits on shiny lucite covered discs is rendered charmingly obsolete.

    Bill G on January 11th, 2008 at 12:17 pm - Permalink

  5. Wagner James has no idea of what he is talking about! Download movies is not like downloading songs, require huge bandwidth and time. Download movie online required credit card, most people don’t feel safe. Download movie has no bonus materials like director’s interview and BD-java games. U think movie studios and Walmart will embrace download full heartedly, they stand loose billions. Game reviewer should stick to games.

    smoothn00dle on January 11th, 2008 at 12:19 pm - Permalink

  6. Maybe Sony will use a little bit of the money saved from slimming down their PS3 lineup for marketing purposes. Or maybe Blu-ray will end up defunct in the end, just as will HD DVD and now (why oh why!?) and HD VMD. DVD’s and upscaling DVD players will outselling all high-def formats until digital media is advanced enough that physical media will die altogether. With the exception of our internet-enable HDTV’s, of course.

    Justin Davey on January 11th, 2008 at 12:27 pm - Permalink

  7. you are a real dumb ass.
    1. you write PS3 is not selling because gamers don’t like it
    2. then you say PS3 owners don’t care/know about the BD player -> implies that they care more about gaming
    3. you conclude that they will lose when they just won.

    => you are the dickest fumb duck

    tada on January 11th, 2008 at 12:38 pm - Permalink

  8. I laugh every time I see someone write, yet again, that downloadable content will make physical media obsolete before Blu-ray ever really takes hold. It’s like they don’t know any normal people. Go to a consumer electronics store sometime, take your pick, any one will do. Until movie downloads are near-instant and stupidly easy and very well advertised and actively pushed by consumer electronics stores on people who don’t know any better (which accounts for the vast majority of people), Blu-ray need not be too worried about it’s existence. Downloads will definitely win in the end, but that isn’t nearly as soon as some people keep making it out to be. If not because of clueless consumers, then because of the sheer size of HD content and the meager bandwidth referred to as “broadband” these days. Until a significant percentage of people have 30 - 50MBit/s connections, HD movie downloads really aren’t going to fly.

    Tim on January 11th, 2008 at 12:54 pm - Permalink

  9. Article is just plain wrong sadly.

    1. Most of the Blu-ray players out there being the PS3 is a bad thing? I dont see how. Early in the development of players, the PS3 was simply the best player on the market. Of course it sold well. It’s not like the supar DVD player that the PS2 was. PS3 is actually a REALLY good Blu-ray plare. And the sales back it up. I’ve spoken to many people who own more than one. One for their kids to play games, and another to play Blu-ray’s.

    2. 60% of PS3 dont know the PS3 even plays Blu-rays. Again, bad? How so? I see this as a 60% chunk of people already OWN Blu-ray players and dont even know it. And Blu-ray disc sales STILL double HDDVD sales. So when that 60% finds out, do you thiunk sales will go down? If my math is correct, they should go UP around 60%! LOL

    3. 600 dollar PS3? Was this article written last year? The PS3 hasnt cost 600 dollars for a while now.

    4. It’s not SOny’s high definition DVD format. Lots of companies were behind it’s creation.

    5. It’s Blu-ray, not ‘Blue-ray’. You might want to educate yourself on a subject before trying to sound like an authoriative and knowledgable source of information.

    Nick on January 11th, 2008 at 12:58 pm - Permalink

  10. No matter how good the MicroSoft backed HD-DVD is it is not as good as Blu-Ray. Your numbers are off and you obviously are a Microsoft Shill. Go away!

    Scott Beckstead on January 11th, 2008 at 1:07 pm - Permalink

  11. Follow the console war numbers on vgchartz? You have got to be joking. vgchartz is a joke, hack site.

    poketmon man on January 11th, 2008 at 1:11 pm - Permalink

  12. The Problem with Blu Ray and Hd DVD is that neither of them are at all much better than DVD. I have both Blu Ray and HD DVD in my home, and Films such as Transformers and King Kong for Hd, and Spider-man and X Men 3 for blu ray look and sound great. But they’re high profile titles, smaller films, tv programs and music simply don’t benefit as much if at all… upconverting dvds is enough if you have an HDTV.

    And what Blu Ray thinks it has achieved by winning the HD war i’ll never know, because after 10 years of bringing out dvds, there is no way people who aren’t fanboys in home entertainment, such as myself, are going to adopt the product even at a low price tag…

    Evolution on January 11th, 2008 at 1:12 pm - Permalink

  13. LMAO. All I read was “whaa, my HD DVD player I spent $50 on surely can’t be a doorstopper” “Whaa, I hate you Sony, you big meanie” “Whaa…” Seriously man, get a grip. Try to look over those numbers too, or else you’ll be confused for a fanboy instead of a journalist. O wait….

    LMAO, putz

    Alex on January 11th, 2008 at 1:15 pm - Permalink

  14. “600 dollar PS3? Was this article written last year?”

    No, last Wednesday, when a check on Amazon priced the PS3 at $590. In any case, the important numbers are these:

    EST. INSTALL BASE
    PS2 (plays DVDs): 130 million units
    Wii (plays no movie discs): 20 million units
    360 (plays DVDs without upgrade): 16 million units
    PS3 (plays Blu-ray): 9 million units

    Any claim that the Blu-ray is selling much better than HD-DVD belies the reality of the above numbers: it’s only doing well in a niche market.

    Regular GigaOM readers will immediately discern the delicious irony in accusing me of 360 boosterism (i.e., e.g., http://gigaom.com/2007/07/24/is-xbox-360-is-doomed/)

    Wagner James Au on January 11th, 2008 at 1:32 pm - Permalink

  15. come on wake up will u.. downloadable content wont be here 4 another 10yrs. just look at xbox live over the holiday period they couldnt keep up with the registration, u talking at a very very low % of users.. the only way it going to work is every country have to upgrade their broadband speeds .. besides what happen if your friend want to borrow a copy of the movie to watch it. give them your xbox or ps so they can watch it.. isnt better if u go to the shop buy yourself a copy then lend it to them.. u talking hd contents here massive amount of data 30-50 gig not from the internet where 700mb is the average..

    naruto on January 11th, 2008 at 1:41 pm - Permalink

  16. Well Wagner James, the comments are very negative.
    I too would have to say the articel was not well considered and missleading in some areas, but you did get some ponits correct.

    Some one asked me about Xbox and BD just asfter the U.S. finally realised DB won. (The U.S. seemed a bit slow on realising this. Read my blog for more details on DB)

    After doing my predictions of digital media in 2008, I have been looking into the Xbox and PS3 considerably.
    From my perspective, the Xbox in all areas, is out doing the PS3. Especially as the Xbox does DivX AND Xvid playing any torrent file you which to download while the PS3 is not compatible with xvid. (Tested it myself over christmas. Got both units)

    In real terms, as Xbox is now so dominent, I predict that Microsoft is likely to rush BD into the Xbox as standard.
    This would kill the ONLY good reason to purchase a PS3 that is left.
    I too am from Australia like Wagner James above. I find it hard to believe that only a small % know about the PS3 BD capabilities. Here we have a 95% BD penetration. (stats from friend that works at Pioneer) And that 95% are mostly using PS3’s in my book as.. The marketing would have gotten me to get a PS3 if I was in the market. It was very well marketed here. Every big TV store had PS3 in the windows playing DB on huge 50insh plasmas. Hard to miss.

    Now, considering these comments I expect to be called a Microsoft Fanboy. Sorry, far from it. I have posted long articles on why I think microsoft will not be dominent. But thats a long story and you can hit my blog if you want to know more. (Click my name above).

    James

    James Gardiner on January 11th, 2008 at 1:49 pm - Permalink

  17. Let me get this straight. The XBox360 had a full one year head start on the PS3, but is now only at 16M units. The PS3, with one less year to sell, is now at 9M units (more than twice as many as XBox360) and selling more rapidly (1.2M during the holidays), and you’re relegating it to “niche” status?

    And you point to the high end PS3 price but ignore the $399 PS3 that has really allowed the product to take off. Add to that the fact that Sony is going to be able to lower their costs, we can probably expect another price decrease this year that will make it sell even more.

    I don’t really see why some people need to try and belittle what Sony has done here. Their success with the PS1 and PS2 will be replicated with the PS3. I would not be surprised to see more PS3s sold than XBox360s and Wiis in the coming years.

    And saying that the PS3 is being beaten by PS2s and XBox360s is foolish without saying why. There aren’t that many games yet for PS3, not at launch and not after its first year. However, this is going to change this year, as more developers see that the PS3 is, indeed, a viable platform.

    VinceP on January 11th, 2008 at 1:55 pm - Permalink

  18. I meant to say “more than twice as many XBox360’s sold after it was out after one year”.

    VinceP on January 11th, 2008 at 2:03 pm - Permalink

  19. I think is the only smart company in the Hi Def content wars is Nintendo who didnt providfe disk playback but included a browser and have a streaming video channel in Japan where they have the required bandwidth to allow flawless upscaled streaming video .

    Im sure Nintendo is developing a High Def capable Wii and will release it when the market is ready for it and the HI Def prentration rate is higher …at the moment Hi def is 30% of the market .

    Matt_ on January 11th, 2008 at 2:04 pm - Permalink

  20. Ouch, this author must have been on the losing end of the Hi-Def wars. See what the experts mean when the consumer is the loser when there are two incompatible formats?

    Anyway, I won’t repeat the corrections made above already, but we all have a sense here that the PS3 will eventually win out and reign supreme. All HD-DVD and Xbox 360 fanboys can do now is watch as the PS3 train runs them down. The momentum is just not there for the 360 as there is the PS3.

    Paul on January 11th, 2008 at 2:29 pm - Permalink

  21. Wow. This post has attracted the wrath of the fanboys! Did this get posted on Digg or something?

    It’s important to note that Sony made similar mistakes with with the failed MiniDisc and DAT formats (although they had varied success in repurposing the formats for professional use). And recent media formats like DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD have failed as well.

    Eric Mortensen on January 11th, 2008 at 2:30 pm - Permalink

  22. Good god almighty you Sony fanboys are cranky. You guys are the main reason I got an original Xbox and completely skipped the Ps2.
    Yes, thats right, your so fucking obnoxious that I was willing to ignore EVERY SINGLE GAME in the Ps2 library. If Sony dominates again I will quit gaming. How is that for being a MS fanboy, assholes?

    Ten fold hate on January 11th, 2008 at 5:08 pm - Permalink

  23. I have no vested interest in either format but this really is the dumbest review I’ve ever read. Please write intelligently next time so you don’t waste anyone’s time.

    Tom on January 11th, 2008 at 8:00 pm - Permalink

  24. I only read about two paragraphs before I stopped. Here are three Pointers for you Wagner James.

    1. Do some research next time before you write another article again….

    2. Don’t be a fanboy.

    3.EAT SHIT AND DIE!!

    Harry Weiner on January 11th, 2008 at 9:51 pm - Permalink

  25. While there are a couple of errors in this article which seem to have got the rabid fanboys all worked up (not allowing for the $400 PS3 lite being one that comes to mind) I have to agree with the bulk of it.

    Sony’s efforts to force early Blu-ray adoption on consumers has lost them their dominance in the console market and i believe that most consumers are generally disinterested in updating to an HD format any time soon, whether there is a clear winner or not.

    Now, i expect to be labeled a Microsoft/Nintendo/HD DVD fanboy or retard by the hordes of angry Sony cheerleaders currently residing in this blog, even though i haven’t owned a console since the 16bit era and probably have 20 or so more years in retail than most on this thread.

    Steve on January 11th, 2008 at 10:44 pm - Permalink

  26. The nice man writes with big words. Quickly! Everyone lobby behind him so as to sate his grammatically correct ego!

    invasiveinfection on January 12th, 2008 at 1:27 am - Permalink

  27. the 360 plays Hd DVD with upgrade but the upgrade is a bad HD player. it recieved a Zero out of 100 from many A/V websites. not only that it doesent sell well. the 360 install base is bigger tahan the PS3 but the w60 with HD DVD drive is tiny.

    this article is writen by an ignorent fool

    Rorkimaru on January 12th, 2008 at 5:43 am - Permalink

  28. In the long-term the hard-drive will be the storage of the HD content we will get on-line from IPTV operators or from Video Downloads like Unbox. But still it will take a few years, when FTTH and multi-TB disks are available. Meantime Blue-Ray will be required, and it is good news for Sony, and for PS3, that they are winning the disc format war

    http://tech-talk.biz/2008/01/10/blue-ray-or-hd-dvd-the-hard-drive/

    Jose Miguel Cansado on January 12th, 2008 at 8:09 am - Permalink

  29. This discussion is a little speculative, and frankly, a little strange. It is probably too early to tell whether a next-gen DVD format will take off, but it might be work pointing out that the paid video downloads market is very small and appears to have seen very limited growth in the past year or two.

    Having recently worked for a few TV networks (one of which collects nearly $500 million in revenue per year from DVD sales), I will say that the paid downloads model would perhaps not surprisingly be a better business for the studios because the margins would be far higher (no manufacturing costs, no shipping costs, fewer middlemen, no product returns, etc), but adoption is limited and is unlikely to affect the DVD market–including Blu-Ray–for a few years at least.

    Media Research guy on January 12th, 2008 at 1:03 pm - Permalink

  30. I dont understand how a unified format is a bad thing. I work retail and as long as players and disc prices come down, blu ray will last for a while. Customers will not want to pay full price for something they download and dont physically own. When you talk about the install base being ps3, well their are 500,000 standalones in homes and rising, and those people are considered early adopters. The fact it is still packaged media, and will be available everywhere is why it will succeed.

    bmr76 on January 12th, 2008 at 1:41 pm - Permalink

  31. Wagner James Au stated: “No, last Wednesday, when a check on Amazon priced the PS3 at $590.”

    I’m not sure which Amazon.com you’re checking, but they have had the PS3 for less than $500 for several months. The 80gb is $499 and the 40gb is $399.

    The bottom line here, WJA, is that your article is ill-conceived, poorly written, and incorporates antiquated and incorrect data.

    The whole point of the format war is: what do consumers want? The answer is that consumers WANT a hi-def movie format. Blu-ray is the current answer to that desire, beating out HD-DVD not because of player sales, but because of movie unit sales. Content, as they say, is king.

    To believe for one moment that HD movie downloads are a viable replacement anytime in the next 7-10 years is equally laughable. Current offerings are slow, expensive, and littered with compression artifacts. Never mind the fact that there is no affordable or reliable storage method.

    Make no mistake: DVD is being overtaken Blu-ray, the same way DVD overtook VHS just a decade ago. Embrace it, because it’ll be another 10 years before something better replaces it.

    Sylin on January 12th, 2008 at 2:14 pm - Permalink

  32. [...] Hollywood Embraces Blu-ray…and Format Obsolescence, Too? [image]With news that Universal is planning to sell its movies in Sony’s Blu-ray format, and Paramount sidling in […] [...]

    Top Posts « WordPress.com on January 12th, 2008 at 3:59 pm - Permalink

  33. I’m always amazed by the number of people who believe “You’re wrong because you’re wrong” is an apt comeback.

    Wagner James Au on January 12th, 2008 at 4:46 pm - Permalink

  34. I’m tired of people writing these format war articles and implying that they are the only ones who remember laserdisc. Stop it. Just stop it.

    You know, everybody who went through my high school would remember them, because we often had to watch educational videos on them.

    Someone on January 12th, 2008 at 8:09 pm - Permalink

  35. The nice man writes with big words. Quickly! Everyone lobby behind him so as to sate his grammatically correct ego!

    Unbelievable, did you just make fun of someone for having good grammar?

    Ten fold hate on January 12th, 2008 at 9:56 pm - Permalink

  36. About digital downloads

    @Media Research guy

    “adoption is limited and is unlikely to affect the DVD market–including Blu-Ray–for a few years at least.”

    I agree but i can’t see Blu-Ray impacting DVD sales in that time period either.

    Steve on January 13th, 2008 at 12:53 pm - Permalink

  37. When I bought my first Mac in 1986, the gui based OS was light years ahead of the period’s best PC, and the PC losers attacked the Mac in the same way as the xbox fanboys attack PS3 or the indirect attack of “…Blu-Ray sucks so I won’t buy it…”. And much like VHS v Beta video contest, Beta was a superior technological platform as the Blu-Ray players is now. When the fanboys disparage the PS3 or Blu-Ray, it is simply jealousy. They have picked the loser side once again.

    meauxsquared on January 13th, 2008 at 1:26 pm - Permalink

  38. This is an amusingly terrible article. It’s as if it were designed to be attacked. Well the author “is wrong” and if people pointing out examples isn’t good enough what is? Aggregating internet rumor about Paramount and Universal is a bad start. The snarky retorts by the author on the comments section lends even less credibility. But besides being wrong, there just doesn’t seem to be a coherent argument motivating this random collection of internet copy and past inaccuracies. If Hi-Def optical is a niche dead end market because the PS3 is selling “horribly”, what does it matter if Hollywood supports Blu-ray as opposed to HD-DVD? What would the disaster be? If instead the author means to argue that choosing HD-DVD would have been better for Hollywood because of the Xbox add-on and stand-alone players have higher adoption, this would at least be some kind of argument. But at the centerpiece of this article seems to be some sort of view that digital downloads will be more important than any particular format. Again, even if so, there doesn’t seem to be any harm to anyone by offering a physical format alternative that is standardized. How does Blu-ray choice by Paramount and Universal (which is only rumor) hurt Hollywood and Blu-ray?

    Unpleasantly Amused on January 13th, 2008 at 2:35 pm - Permalink

  39. Dear moronic article writer,

    “Thanks to Sony’s format bullying, there are now some 30 million-plus next-gen console owners who must somehow be goaded into spending $600 or so on another game console, mainly so Transformers looks a bit better on their HDTV.”

    — Transformers is an HD-DVD exclusive title. It’s not even available on blu-ray. Just thought I’d point out one of the many MANY errors in your article.

    Jeebs Simpson on January 13th, 2008 at 2:49 pm - Permalink

  40. I have heard much over the last few weeks about how either format will die as streaming media takes over. This is the same argument that some had about the MP3. While many do download digital copies of their music, CD’s are still around and selling. You will always have people who prefer to own physical copies of their media. With all that said, there is still a digital divide through the country. Enough so of a divide that you can still find commercials for dial-up internet access. Whether modem or just slow broadband, the entire country or world will not have access to fast enough download speeds for streaming media to out date disks anytime soon.

    Nate A on January 13th, 2008 at 3:26 pm - Permalink

  41. I think everyone is missing the point. Blu-Ray is a superior format with the backing of most major motion picture companies, but that’s not what got VHS to beat the Beta, or the internet to beat your analog pad and pencil lifestyle. No, technological advances don’t mean a thing without content. And in the case of high-def, regular def, and even the internet itself the one deciding factor is clear: Porn.

    Because of Porn the VHS crushed Beta. VHS was inexpensive to produce, distribute, and record. Beta, however better in terms of quality, did not get the Porn nod, as it were. If it weren’t for porn you wouldn;t have had tons of streaming video codecs, plug-ins, add-ons, etc for every media player under the sun. Make no mistake, technology and porn are inextricably tied together.

    Right now it looks like BD is winning, but if Porn swings the other way and goes HD-DVD, my money is where the pervs go.

    In my opinion BD is the obvious choice. With a single layer giving you tons of space on one disc think of all the TV shows that could have an entire season on one BD as opposed to 2 or 3 HD-DVDs? Viability is key to Hollywood merchandizers. BD has shown that it is as of now the best chance for companies to get in onthe HD market as it becomes the standard of the market. But people may start jumping ship if it gets too expensive and Blu-Ray is unwilling to shell out the $150 million to keep each studio in an exclusivity contract the way HD-DVD did.

    Downloads are weak sauce and not a real option unless everyone starts getting 10mb/s downloads from their regular ISP. Otherwise your highdef movies will take a week to download on your cable modem with a shared connection with everyone on your block doing the same thing - waiting. There’s something to be said for the physical discs, they aren’t dead by any stretch of the imagination. And if you’re into the bleeding edge and really want that movie downloaded and taking up valuable gigs of space on your stellar state-of-the bleeding-edge-art machine, go right ahead. Personally I cant afford that many terrabytes of movies. But I do have a DVD case that stores all those movies quite nicely…

    word,
    Geoff

    Geoff on January 13th, 2008 at 3:39 pm - Permalink

  42. … This was the worst article ever. If you consider your self a writer of any sort please use actual facts and while you are at it; don’t be a fanboy and try to see things clearly. Administrators please clean up this article and get rid of writer (unless you like him, then you can spend money for him to learn how to write articles :) )

    Mark Alayev on January 13th, 2008 at 4:00 pm - Permalink

  43. Two Words!

    Selectively Myopic.

    Cyberbian on January 13th, 2008 at 5:07 pm - Permalink

  44. “Transformers is an HD-DVD exclusive title. It’s not even available on blu-ray.”

    Hmm, I thought the reason for mentioning that movie would have been obvious to Blu-ray ideologues: Its director, Michael Bay, is among the biggest Hollywood advocates for Blu-ray:

    http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/10/23/michael-bay-still-pushing-for-blu-ray/

    Wagner James Au on January 13th, 2008 at 10:25 pm - Permalink

  45. Funny how the blu ray fanboys talk bad about the writer being a fanboy.

    All I see on the posts are a bunch of crybabies….

    Larry on January 14th, 2008 at 3:03 am - Permalink

  46. “No, last Wednesday, when a check on Amazon priced the PS3 at $590.”
    Bullshit. There isn’t a PS3 for sale that costs 600 bucks and anyone who did even a modicum of research would know this. They cost 400 or 500 depending on the model so you quite literally exaggerated the price by 50% more. Don’t cry “but I checked online” own up to your fuckup and retain some journalistic credibility.

    Spytap on January 14th, 2008 at 12:20 pm - Permalink

  47. Shrug. Googling “amazon ps3″ returns this list first, pricing new PS3s between $565.00 and $698.00:

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0009VXAM0/ref=dp_olp_2

    Wagner James Au on January 15th, 2008 at 12:40 pm - Permalink

  48. Both Sony and Microsoft are so interested in consoles because they can combine games with discs and downloadable material. They really want to be in everything and whatever works better they will pursue with new versions. Hard discs or other accessories will be added as required in new models as the market tendencies imply. As for Blu-ray itself, I think it will never achieve the title range we currently have with DVDs. So in the meantime DVD upscaling will work fine while downloads will gain momentum.
    http://electronrun.wordpress.com/

    Dimitrios Matsoulis on January 16th, 2008 at 11:57 pm - Permalink

  49. Is this Wagner James Au guy on crack? HD-DVD is CLEARLY the better format. This is not even debatable.
    The only thing Blu-Ray has is more storage. As a format for watching HD movies (which both have plenty of storage for), HD-DVD is better in every possible way.
    Here is one of 50 examples. Run picture in picture through your Blu-Ray player. Oh wait, you can’t.

    Smarter on January 18th, 2008 at 2:03 pm - Permalink

  50. Blu Ray sucks donkey dick
    there expensive as shit and there just old films on a new format disk , the dicks !

    BluRaySack on February 29th, 2008 at 10:44 am - Permalink

  51. [...] into rejecting the HD-DVD high-definition standard in favor of its own Blu-ray disc standard. As I wrote back then, “broadband connection…will route around the need for any disc format.” I just [...]

    Blu-ray’s Dead, Long Live PS3 Downloads « NewTeeVee on April 21st, 2008 at 8:02 pm - Permalink

Leave a reply








Safari hates me

If your comment doesn't show up immediately, it may have gotten caught in our trusty (but occasionally overly ambitious) spam filter. Please drop us a note and we'll retrieve it.