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Shino
Fade into this fantasy, caught in the web of time
Age: 49
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Joined: 15 Sep 2002 |
 Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2005 9:12 am Post subject: Blu-ray vs HD-DVD heats up a bit. |
But Blu-ray is still well in the lead.
Good news though. They are now saying that BD-ROMs will only cost pennies more than DVDs to make. Which means we won't see that as part of a price increase of PS3 games. 
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6136201.html?
| Gamespot wrote: | High-definition disc war heats up
Analyst projects Sony's standard as eventual successor to DVD, but supporter HP now wants Blu-ray to have some HD-DVD features.
The next-generation DVD format war looks to be one of attrition, with ground gained one day and lost the next for both sides. Sony's Blu-ray and Toshiba's HD-DVD technologies both offer dramatically increased capacity over standard DVDs, and both have been vying to become the next standard of choice.
Yesterday, CNET News reported a score for Blu-ray. Neither side has launched its players to the consumer market yet, but analyst firm Forrester has already predicted Blu-ray will claim victory in the coming war.
"After a long and tedious run-up to the launch, it is now clear to Forrester that the Sony-led Blu-ray format will win," Ted Schadler, a Forrester analyst, said in a report. "But unless the HD-DVD group abandons the field, it will be another two years before consumers are confident enough of the winner to think about buying a new-format DVD player."
Schadler's assessment was swayed by a number of factors, including the recent news that HD-DVD-supporting movie studio Paramount had decided to make Blu-ray discs as well and Sony's plans to include Blu-ray drives in its PlayStation 3 console. Schadler also said he now expects the cost of manufacturing Blu-ray discs, formerly estimated to be significantly higher than HD-DVD costs, would wind up being only pennies more per disc.
The momentum would swing back later in the day as Blu-ray supporter Hewlett-Packard asked Sony to incorporate some HD-DVD-specific features into its new format. Specifically, it wanted the mandatory managed copy feature that lets users copy a DVD to their computer's hard drive and distribute it across home networks, and support for iHD, a technology allowing for new interactive features that's announced as part of Microsoft's upcoming Vista operating system.
Maureen Weber, general manager of personal storage in HP's personal-systems group, explained the request to Reuters. "We're still supporting Blu-ray, but we're very serious that we want these technologies," she said. "If in the end they're supported in one and then not the other, we'll have to make a choice."
While Toshiba and Sony have huge financial investments riding on these technologies (and a potentially huge windfall if one format claims dominance), both formats might end up losing. In a speech last week at Howard University in Washington, DC, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates told the crowd that the way of the future is neither HD-DVD nor Blu-ray, but digital distribution. "The format that's under discussion right now, HD versus Blu-ray, that's simply the last physical format we'll ever have," Gates said. "Even videos in the future will either be on a disc in your pocket or over the Internet and therefore far more convenient for you."
By Staff -- GameSpot
Posted Oct 20, 2005 1:25 pm PT
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Shino
Fade into this fantasy, caught in the web of time
Age: 49
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Joined: 15 Sep 2002 |
| Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 5:45 pm Post subject: |
Blu-ray is looking pretty strong...
| Gamespot wrote: | Next-gen DVD wars heat up at CES
Studios announce first Blu-ray films as show opens, Toshiba counters with HD-DVD players; existing region system to be reshuffled?
With Sony incorporating its Blu-ray media format into the PlayStation 3 and Microsoft publicly pondering an HD-DVD-equipped model of the Xbox 360, the battle for supremacy between the two formats is likely to have repercussions for the gaming industry.
That battle is heating up today as the Consumer Electronics Show opens in Las Vegas to opening salvos from both camps.
Unsurprisingly spearheading the charge for Sony's Blu-ray was Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, which announced an initial lineup of 20 titles to be released alongside the first Blu-ray players this spring. That full first wave includes The Fifth Element, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Desperado, For a Few Dollars More, The Guns of Navarone, Hitch, House of Flying Daggers, A Knight's Tale, Kung Fu Hustle, The Last Waltz, Legends of the Fall, Resident Evil Apocalypse, Robocop, Sense and Sensibility, Stealth, Species, SWAT and XXX. Sony Pictures also announced Black Hawk Down and The Bridge on the River Kwai for a summer 2006 release.
Also in the summer, Sony Pictures will start adding bonus Java games to its Blu-ray discs and begin releasing some titles for the format at the same time as their standard DVD counterparts. To update its sizeable back catalog of titles, the studio will initially give the Blu-ray treatment to four older titles per month beginning this summer, and move up to 10 titles per month by the end of the year. Also being readied for a summer release is the complete Stargate Atlantis TV series in high-definition.
Independent distributor Lionsgate announced its own support for the Blu-ray format as well, detailing its first 10 titles, set to start hitting shelves in the spring: Lord of War, The Punisher, Devil's Rejects, Saw, T2: Judgment Day, Reservoir Dogs, Total Recall, Dune, Rambo: First Blood, and See No Evil, starring the WWE wrestler Kane. Twentieth Century Fox has also said it will release 20 Blu-ray films in a first wave this year that will include films like Fantastic Four and Ice Age.
There was news on the HD-DVD front as well, as a primary backer of the technology, Toshiba, unveiled its first two HD-DVD players for the US market. Beginning in March, the HD-XA1 and HD-A1 players will hit stores for $799.99 and $499.99, respectively. Both units are backward compatible with regular DVDs and upconverts the signals from them to an output resolution of 720p or 1080i for HDTVs. Perhaps taking a cue from the Blu-ray-equipped PS3, some HD-DVD players will have USB ports "for convenient connection of gaming controllers," according to Toshiba.
Not all the format wars news is coming out of Las Vegas. Japanese site ITmedia has reported that Blu-ray discs will shakeup the current DVD regional lockout system. DVDs and DVD players carry one of nine different region codes, each corresponding to a different set of countries and territories. To play a disc from a given region, a DVD player must come from the same region (or be a Region 0, or all-region, player). According to ITmedia, Blu-ray discs will shuffle which countries are in which regions so that North and South American, Japan, Thailand, Malayasia, Korea and India are all in Region 1, with Europe and Africa in Region 2, and China, Russia and others in Region 3.
This should make it easier for importers and cinephiles to get their hands on foreign films, as the current DVD Region 1 is essentially confined to American and Canadian releases. It is currently unclear what changes HD-DVD will make to the standard DVD region system, if any.
By Brendan Sinclair -- GameSpot
Posted Jan 4, 2006 1:06 pm PT |
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Ultrawolf
Mr. Roarke
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| Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 6:23 pm Post subject: |
The idea of Blu-ray is slowly starting to grow on me.
It would be great to have entire seasons of television on fewer disks.
It could help consolidate movie libraries. Less disks=less space issues.
And for people like me who live in teeny dorm rooms, it's awesome ^__^.
I really do hope that PS3 games aren't priced at 60.
Keeping them at 50 could help undercut 360 game sales. |
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