Studios Reject Blu-Ray?

zippyjuan · 11-30-2004, 04:24 PM

Last Updated: Tuesday, 30 November, 2004, 07:54 GMT

E-mail this to a friend Printable version

Film studios snub Sony DVD format

Next-generation DVDs can store vast amounts of information
Three Hollywood studios have chosen to embrace next-generation DVD technology backed by Toshiba, snubbing a rival product promoted by Sony.
Paramount, Universal and Warner Brothers are to use a high definition DVD format backed by Toshiba and NEC.

Their decision is a setback for Sony which famously lost the battle to set a standard for video cassette recorders when its Betamax lost out to JVC's VHS.

Toshiba expects sales of HD-DVDs to hit 300bn yen ($2.9bn; £1.5bn) by 2010.

Clearer pictures

Next-generation DVDs can record an entire film in high definition format, ensuring sharper pictures.

We concluded that HD-DVD had several major advantages

Marsha King, Warner Home Video

The technology is expected to become widely available from 2006 onwards.

The studios' decision to back the Toshiba backed product is hugely significant because along with New Line Cinema - a Warner sister company which is also supporting the HD format - they account for about 45% of packaged DVD content.

Sony has been banking on its Blu-ray Disc technology which has, to date, won support from Sony Pictures Entertainment and MGM Studios.

Universal is to release titles on Toshiba's HD-DVD format next year while Paramount said it would follow suit in 2006.

"We have done extensive research on Blu-ray and HD-DVD and we concluded finally that HD-DVD had several major advantages including in durability, reliability and manufacturing," Marsha King, general manager of Warner Home Video, told the Reuters news agency.

Competing formats

Sony also lost the most recent format war, when its DVD technology was snubbed by other Japanese equipment manufacturers.

This allowed Toshiba technology to become the current industry standard.

"We think this carries a great impact," said Yoshihide Fujii, a corporate senior vice president at Toshiba.

"There is strong desire in Hollywood for a single format."

Universal, Paramount and Warners said they would continue to work with the Blu-ray group, whose members also include Dell, Samsung and Matsu****a.

Twentieth Century Fox said recently that it was evaluating both major formats.

Butch · 11-30-2004, 04:53 PM

Ha . . . Matsu****a Matsu****a Matsu****a!

Showtime · 11-30-2004, 05:15 PM

I read sonys was far superior. Toshiba must have paid someone off or the studios didn't want to pay sony. VHS or beta all over again.

-j

psycho- · 11-30-2004, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zippyjuan

Last Updated: Tuesday, 30 November, 2004, 07:54 GMT
The studios' decision to back the Toshiba backed product is hugely significant because along with New Line Cinema - a Warner sister company which is also supporting the HD format - they account for about 45% of packaged DVD content.

How can it be that studios are rejecting Blu-Ray? It seems like 55% of content should still end up being on Blu-Ray based on current trends

hapoo · 11-30-2004, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the jello is jigglin

I read sonys was far superior. Toshiba must have paid someone off or the studios didn't want to pay sony. VHS or beta all over again.

-j

might be, but so was betamax.
Might be more expensive to produce, might be politics, might be less durable. Many reasons that we don't know about.
Of course lets not forget the DVD +/- RW battle. It just might end up the same way. Since they both use blue lasers we might see players that can play both formats.

zippyjuan · 11-30-2004, 05:53 PM

That is why I put the question mark at the end since not all of the studios have rejected it. The issue is far from settled. I think they will both come out and let the consumers decide which one they want. It will not necessarily be which is best- beta was actually better than VHS but Sony would not liscense it to anyone else so everybody made VHS machines and tapes because they did not have to pay to do it. At first you may find some movie titles available in only one format and that may help to force the decision- who has the better movies available on it. I did not edit the spelling of Matsu****a.

Wow- it got edited here again!

kimchicowboy · 11-30-2004, 05:55 PM

but would regular consumers really care about the advantages of blu-ray? i'm sure they're just worried about the price. i look at my dad, my sisters, and a majority of my friends. they don't know jack crap about this stuff besides the price.

hehhe

psycho- · 11-30-2004, 06:30 PM

http://www.hidef.com/discus/messages...tml?1097960077

From Dec 2003

Quote:

As most people know the DVD forum has approved HD-DVD. Sony is also devolping a competing technolgy called Blu-Ray. Blu-Ray uses MPEG-2 compression on 50gb discs to hold 4 hours of 1920 x 1080 high definition. HD-DVD uses MPEG-4 compression on 30gb discs to hold 4.5 hours of 1920 x 1080 resolution. The difference is that HD-DVD only requires tweaking of SD-DVD assembly lines while Blu-Ray requires entirely new assembly lines. This makes HD-DVD 20 percent cheaper to make. Oviously HD-DVD is superior in terms of prerecorded media.

In terms of recording HD-DVD uses 20gb discs at MPEG-2 to hold 1.5 hours of 1920 x 1080 while Blu-Ray uses 27 GB discs at MPEG-2 hold 2 hours of 1920 x 1080. This does give Blu-Ray an advantage in terms of recording but since HD-DVD-Rs will be 20 percent cheaper then Blu-Rays that kind of balences.

Which do you support.

Leebo · 11-30-2004, 08:04 PM

Good thing i'm too young to even know what betamax really was.

As for the bluray vs. hd dvd... didn't they also announce that ps3 was gonna go onto bluray disks? Kinda makes you wonder what xbox would....

revil · 11-30-2004, 08:53 PM

cheap blu-rays:
http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-...isc-024985.php
http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/sony...scs-009177.php

some good info at gizmodo: http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-...won-023974.php

Quote:

Technical

Since "technical" is quite broad, I'll begin by telling you about the all-important capacity. After all, for consumers like yourselves, this is one of the only technical aspects (well, aspects that vary between the two formats) of the disc you'll ever deal with. The capacity of a dual layered Blu-Ray disc is, for now at least, 50GB. The capacity of a dual layered HD DVD disc is 30GB. Already we see that Blu-Ray has 66% more overall storage capacity than HD DVD. But it doesn't stop there; Sony has announced that layering a disc beyond dual layering is possible, allowing up to a 200GB capacity on a Blu-Ray disc with 8 layers.

One of the technical advantages of HD DVD used to be how it was "backwards compatible with DVD," meaning, existing DVDs could be played on HD DVD players. I say "used to" because I don't consider this an advantage anymore—not only have plenty of companies already announced various technical elements (such as read heads, lenses, etc.) to be compatible with Blu-Ray, DVD, and CD, most Blu-Ray devices shown at this year's CEATEC JAPAN convention are also scheduled to be compatible with DVD. Backwards compatibility with DVD was one of the primary arguments HD DVD had against Blu-Ray, but as recent developments have suggested, that doesn't really apply anymore. In fact, just this past week, we reported on the "BD/CD Dual Format Disc," which is a disc containing both Blu-Ray and CD data layers.

So what are the other technical advantages of Blu-Ray? Supporters of HD DVD have claimed a primary strength of the format is on the production side, in that a DVD production line can be converted to an HD DVD production line "in 5 minutes." Also, the production of HD DVD discs is said to be around the same as that of current DVDs. While there is no response from the Blu-Ray camp about how long it would take a production line to "make the switch," Panasonic announced back in March of this year that production of Blu-Ray discs could have the same cost-per-disc price as current DVDs. Perhaps lower, even - remember that announcement about Blu-Ray discs made of paper from earlier this year? "The combination of paper material and printing technology is also expected to lead to a reduction in cost per disc and will expand usage," read the Sony press release. Likewise, Sony has developed a Blu-Ray mastering system requiring one fifth the space of current DVD mastering systems, that can also produce DVD masters.

There has been somewhat of a ****storm about the cartridge versus "bare" configuration of each disc type. Current Blu-Ray discs and recorders, already available to Japanese consumers, use cartridges that contain the discs themselves. I think every modern optical media goes through this stage - CDs used to have them, DVDs (DVD-RAM, that is) used to have them, and now Blu-Rays have them. But it looks like you can relax a bit if you are a cartridge hater, as all recent Blu-Ray product unveilings (such as those at this year's CEATEC) do not feature cartridge-type drives. HD DVD, although there are still no consumer products available, have not been shown to use a cartridge type setup. Whether you consider cartridges an advantage or disadvantage is up to you, but one thing is for sure - neither Blu-Ray nor HD DVD will be using them in the future.

Financial

When it comes to corporate backing, that of Blu-Ray far exceeds that of HD DVD. Currently, the Blu-Ray Disc Association has over 70 members. Pinpointing exactly how many companies are members of the "HD DVD Promotion Group" is difficult, because they don't appear to have a homepage yet. The DVD Forum (over 220 members) has approved certain HD DVD standards, but saying they are all backing HD DVD is very misleading—the DVD Forum was established in 1997 for establishing standards and formats for DVD. Not HD DVD. A poster at the HD DVD booth during CEATEC JAPAN 2004 showed about 47 companies supporting HD DVD.

But it's not just about how many companies are listed on some silly "supporter list," because as with most things these days, quality is more important than quantity. So who's behind Blu-Ray? In no particular order: Sony, Sharp, LG Electronics, Dell, HP, Kenwood, FujiFilm, JVC, Panasonic, Philips, Hitachi, Samsung, 20th Century Fox, and about 50+ other companies. Maybe a couple of those ring a bell? For HD DVD, familiar names include NEC, Toshiba, and Sanyo. Interestingly enough, most of the member companies on the HD DVD radar are media manufacturers, and are members of both Blu-Ray and HD DVD groups. One of the alleged primary backers of HD DVD (and member of HD DVD Promotion Group), Sanyo, even showed products at this year's CEATEC compatible with Blu-Ray.

As you can see, the financial power of Blu-Ray Disc Association members simply dwarfs that of those behind HD DVD. I know what you're thinking right here, though: "Well didn't Microsoft announce the next version of Windows (Longhorn) would support HD DVD? Doesn't that mean they support HD DVD instead of Blu-Ray?" And you'd be right, about the announcement part at least. Microsoft may be a member of the DVD Forum (which as was explained earlier doesn't really matter), but their announcement of Windows support for HD DVD is just that - the OS will support the format. As you'd imagine, the financial backing of Microsoft to either format would give it an enormous advantage over its competitor. As I just said, though, Microsoft did not announce they would be backing HD DVD; they just said Windows will support it. There's no reason they couldn't come out tomorrow and say they'll also be supporting Blu-Ray.

Commercial

None of what I just said matters if consumers can't buy movies or other content on the formats. As history has proven time and time again, new formats are driven by content - DVD (as a movie format) did not get popular by just "being there." Each producer had to make the decision to make the switch from VHS to DVD. Blockbuster had to make the switch from VHS to DVD, though they certainly took their sweet ****ing time. All this is to say, without content, neither format is going anywhere.

Blu-Ray is once again miles ahead of HD DVD in terms of scheduled content offerings.

blu-ray_graph01.png image
Data Source: DVD EXCLUSIVE Survey

This graph shows USA DVD market share broken down by content provider.

blu-ray_graph02.png image

And the same graph colorized to show content providers, where Blu-Ray is indicated by blue (imagine that), and red indicates nothing. It would appear at first glance that Blu-Ray hasn't got jack on HD DVD in this department, but take a second look - not only have Blu-Ray Disc Association members secured 30.2% of the USA's DVD market share, HD DVD hasn't got any yet. In fact, there haven't been any announcements from any content providers about offering HD DVD content. There have been no official announcements of the same respect for Blu-Ray, but it's obvious at least Sony Pictures Entertainment and MGM will be providing content, given Sony's recent purchase of MGM. I think it's also safe to assume that there's a good reason Fox announced they would be joining the Blu-Ray Disc Association. While these three companies may hold "only" a 30.2% market share, a Panasonic representative at this year's CEATEC stated that these same three companies hold 46.1% of the current title base.

As you can see from the graph, though, there are still a couple key players for offering movie content. Namely, Warner Brothers and Disney.

Of course, there is plenty more to optical discs than just movies. It's not like DVDs are used for only movies, after all. Once again Sony has demonstrated their influence of the industry in this area, by confirming the Playstation 3 would indeed be using Blu-Ray as its choice format. If that isn't enough for you, let's think about some of the hardware that has been presented.

Consumer level Blu-Ray products have been out in Japan since as early as April 2003, from Sony. Around the same time this year, Panasonic debuted their Blu-Ray recorder. I think the best representative of how far Blu-Ray has come physically, however, was shown at this year's CEATEC JAPAN 2004. Sony, Panasonic, Sharp, Pioneer, TDK, Mitsubishi, JVC, and Mitsumi all showed up to represent the format -- HD DVD was represented only by Toshiba, NEC, and Sanyo. JVC even announced this past week that they have created a new Blu-Ray compatible lens with one tenth the volume of current lenses, allegedly making "portable Blu-Ray products" possible.

So there you have it. Technically, financially, and commercially, Blu-Ray already has HD DVD beaten. Unless NEC and Toshiba pull out some trump card for HD DVD within the next year—and clearly, we don't see it happening—expect Blu-Ray to replace DVD.

bachviet · 12-01-2004, 06:15 AM

I'll stick with whatever works and is cheaper.

Chgoman · 12-01-2004, 08:59 AM

Here's the catch. Blu-Ray is a more advanced technology, but it is not backwards compatable. Who in their right mind would back a technology that would make all the worlds DVD's obsolete? SONY!!! The only reason that MGM is behind them is because Sony is in the process of buying MGM.

Toshiba's technology is fully backward compatable with currrent DVD's and that alone will allow them to win this 'format battle'. Some day sony will wake up and realize that noone really wants their proprietary memory sticks and readers and Blu-Ray. We want things that are compatable with what we already use and standardized across the industry. Until then, the 95% of us that aren't die hard Sony fans will just keep on laughing...

revil · 12-01-2004, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chgoman

Here's the catch. Blu-Ray is a more advanced technology, but it is not backwards compatable. Who in their right mind would back a technology that would make all the worlds DVD's obsolete? SONY!!! The only reason that MGM is behind them is because Sony is in the process of buying MGM.

Toshiba's technology is fully backward compatable with currrent DVD's and that alone will allow them to win this 'format battle'. Some day sony will wake up and realize that noone really wants their proprietary memory sticks and readers and Blu-Ray. We want things that are compatable with what we already use and standardized across the industry. Until then, the 95% of us that aren't die hard Sony fans will just keep on laughing...

don't be narrowminded. blu-ray is a new technology. of course it won't be compatable with dvd's. however, the makers of the drives can make their devices backwards compatable by adding support for both of them.

kei2 · 12-01-2004, 11:55 AM

Any impact on the next wave of video game systems? Or still too early to call there?

raimin · 12-01-2004, 02:51 PM

well the fact that dvdforum and hd-dvd are also backing the microsoft codec, might influence them

kimchicowboy · 12-01-2004, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kei2

Any impact on the next wave of video game systems? Or still too early to call there?

no doubt that PS3 is gonna be taking on blu-ray format.

Airencracken · 12-01-2004, 04:28 PM

I'll do what I did with dvd's I'll be a late adapter. Remember divx?

Chgoman · 12-01-2004, 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by revil

don't be narrowminded. blu-ray is a new technology. of course it won't be compatable with dvd's. however, the makers of the drives can make their devices backwards compatable by adding support for both of them.

I'm not being narrowminded. How many times does Sony have to come out with a competing technology that is either no better than the standard that most are using or marginally better with significant extra cost before they realize that it just doesn't work. They did it long ago with Beta, they did it with their Memory sticks and now they are trying with Blu-Ray. The reasoning is if they can convince the whole world (who in this case has already signed on to the competing technology), then they can make huge licensing fees.

Toshiba on the other hand put together a panel a few years ago and invited any company to join in order to work together in developing the next standard so that they wouldn't be a standard war. Most major companies with the exception of Sony joined this panel and have been working together for about 3 years now.

Unfortunately, with Sony buying MGM, they produce enough media that they may just decide to sell thier Bly-ray DVD players and put out their DVD's on blu-ray technology which would create a nightmare for the consumer. Do you buy the DVD player that plays only Sony & MGM distrubutions, or do you buy the DVD player that plays everyone except Sony & MGM?

kimchicowboy · 12-01-2004, 07:14 PM

don't forget that matsu****a and samsung are also behind the blu-ray device. they're not small companies that have propriety-only stuff like sony.

if/when blu-ray does come out, i'm hoping my dad can get a nice employee discount from samsung.

kei2 · 12-02-2004, 01:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kimchicowboy

>Any impact on the next wave of video game systems? Or still too early to call there?

no doubt that PS3 is gonna be taking on blu-ray format.

Yeah what I meant is... is there any word on which format third-party developers will be more likely to support? Or will it simply continue to be a Sony-dominated software market because that's the current state of things?

Maarchk · 12-02-2004, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chgoman

Who in their right mind would back a technology that would make all the worlds DVD's obsolete? SONY!!!
We want things that are compatable with what we already use and standardized across the industry.

Thats funny, i can't seem to make my vhs tapes fit in the dvd player... Could you help me out with that? or is it possible that vhs is obsolete...

Just checking...

Chgoman · 12-02-2004, 04:22 PM

Yeah, but VHS was around a long time before DVD's took over and most people didn't have an extensive VHS collection as VHS tapes were really expensive until much later in the VHS life cycle. On the other hand, many people have a very extensive DVD collection. I'm not saying that Blu-Ray isn't a good technology, I'm just saying that given an option that is backward compatable that most of the industry is supporting vs. a technologically similar option that is not backward compatible and has much less support at likely a higher cost, the first option just makes sense.

revil · 12-02-2004, 07:59 PM

like i said chgoman, don't be stupid. any manufacturer would be stupid not to build in backwards compatability.

Jihforce · 12-03-2004, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by revil

like i said chgoman, don't be stupid. any manufacturer would be stupid not to build in backwards compatability.

Hafta agree with this.
For manufacturers to do that, it would be financial suicide.

halfmoon · 12-04-2004, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by revil

like i said chgoman, don't be stupid. any manufacturer would be stupid not to build in backwards compatability.

Sure, but adding hardware and software to be backward compatible will increase the cost of the units. Seems that's about all anyone is concerned with these days, cost.

kei2 · 12-04-2004, 07:43 PM

2nd laser, I don't think it'd add much to the cost.

revil · 12-05-2004, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by halfmoon

Sure, but adding hardware and software to be backward compatible will increase the cost of the units. Seems that's about all anyone is concerned with these days, cost.

perhaps you didn't read the article i posted...

Quote:

One of the technical advantages of HD DVD used to be how it was "backwards compatible with DVD," meaning, existing DVDs could be played on HD DVD players. I say "used to" because I don't consider this an advantage anymore—not only have plenty of companies already announced various technical elements (such as read heads, lenses, etc.) to be compatible with Blu-Ray, DVD, and CD, most Blu-Ray devices shown at this year's CEATEC JAPAN convention are also scheduled to be compatible with DVD. Backwards compatibility with DVD was one of the primary arguments HD DVD had against Blu-Ray, but as recent developments have suggested, that doesn't really apply anymore. In fact, just this past week, we reported on the "BD/CD Dual Format Disc," which is a disc containing both Blu-Ray and CD data layers.

mcs328 · 12-06-2004, 02:54 PM

long live the MD format!!!

bachviet · 12-06-2004, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcs328

long live the MD format!!!

kimchicowboy · 12-09-2004, 03:55 AM

well, disney joined hopped onto the blu-ray side:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...y_041209073447

11-30-2004, 04:24 PM	#1
zippyjuan Picture of the Day Guru Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Sunny San Diego Posts: 8,756	Studios Reject Blu-Ray? Last Updated: Tuesday, 30 November, 2004, 07:54 GMT E-mail this to a friend Printable version Film studios snub Sony DVD format Next-generation DVDs can store vast amounts of information Three Hollywood studios have chosen to embrace next-generation DVD technology backed by Toshiba, snubbing a rival product promoted by Sony. Paramount, Universal and Warner Brothers are to use a high definition DVD format backed by Toshiba and NEC. Their decision is a setback for Sony which famously lost the battle to set a standard for video cassette recorders when its Betamax lost out to JVC's VHS. Toshiba expects sales of HD-DVDs to hit 300bn yen ($2.9bn; £1.5bn) by 2010. Clearer pictures Next-generation DVDs can record an entire film in high definition format, ensuring sharper pictures. We concluded that HD-DVD had several major advantages Marsha King, Warner Home Video The technology is expected to become widely available from 2006 onwards. The studios' decision to back the Toshiba backed product is hugely significant because along with New Line Cinema - a Warner sister company which is also supporting the HD format - they account for about 45% of packaged DVD content. Sony has been banking on its Blu-ray Disc technology which has, to date, won support from Sony Pictures Entertainment and MGM Studios. Universal is to release titles on Toshiba's HD-DVD format next year while Paramount said it would follow suit in 2006. "We have done extensive research on Blu-ray and HD-DVD and we concluded finally that HD-DVD had several major advantages including in durability, reliability and manufacturing," Marsha King, general manager of Warner Home Video, told the Reuters news agency. Competing formats Sony also lost the most recent format war, when its DVD technology was snubbed by other Japanese equipment manufacturers. This allowed Toshiba technology to become the current industry standard. "We think this carries a great impact," said Yoshihide Fujii, a corporate senior vice president at Toshiba. "There is strong desire in Hollywood for a single format." Universal, Paramount and Warners said they would continue to work with the Blu-ray group, whose members also include Dell, Samsung and Matsu****a. Twentieth Century Fox said recently that it was evaluating both major formats. __________________ I add new pictures to my photo gallery pretty regularly. You can see them here if you are interested: http://www.pbase.com/jeffryz

11-30-2004, 04:53 PM	#2
Butch Rear Admiral Lower Half Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: New York, NY Posts: 2,915	Ha . . . Matsu**a Matsua Matsu**a! __________________ I used to be into sadism, necrophilia and beastiality, but then I realized I was just beating a dead horse

11-30-2004, 05:15 PM	#3
Showtime Lakers fanatic Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: L.A. ->SoCal<- O.C. Posts: 7,338	I read sonys was far superior. Toshiba must have paid someone off or the studios didn't want to pay sony. VHS or beta all over again. -j __________________ NBA REPORT 10-11/ The 3-Peat! 1948 1949 1950 1952 1953 1954 1972 1980 1982 1985 1987 1988 2000 2001 2002 2009 2010 Reigning NBA CHAMPS!

11-30-2004, 05:55 PM	#7
kimchicowboy Admiral Join Date: May 2000 Location: in the middle of the pacific ocean Posts: 5,344	but would regular consumers really care about the advantages of blu-ray? i'm sure they're just worried about the price. i look at my dad, my sisters, and a majority of my friends. they don't know jack crap about this stuff besides the price. hehhe __________________ "I pick my nose too but never eat it." - bachviet, 3/30/04 if anyone wants to go scuba diving in oahu or wants to learn who to scuba dive in oahu, PM me.

11-30-2004, 08:04 PM	#9
Leebo Lieutenant Commander Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: La Jolla, Ca Posts: 821	Good thing i'm too young to even know what betamax really was. As for the bluray vs. hd dvd... didn't they also announce that ps3 was gonna go onto bluray disks? Kinda makes you wonder what xbox would.... __________________ oHai!

11-30-2004, 05:53 PM	#6
zippyjuan Picture of the Day Guru Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Sunny San Diego Posts: 8,756	That is why I put the question mark at the end since not all of the studios have rejected it. The issue is far from settled. I think they will both come out and let the consumers decide which one they want. It will not necessarily be which is best- beta was actually better than VHS but Sony would not liscense it to anyone else so everybody made VHS machines and tapes because they did not have to pay to do it. At first you may find some movie titles available in only one format and that may help to force the decision- who has the better movies available on it. I did not edit the spelling of Matsu****a. Wow- it got edited here again!

12-01-2004, 06:15 AM	#11
bachviet What's Da Pho*? Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: SoCal (714) Posts: 13,296	I'll stick with whatever works and is cheaper. __________________ Dell Dimension 9200 \| Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (2.4GHz) \| 4x1GB DDR2 \| 256MB nVidia GeForce 8800GT Dell Studio 17 \| Intel Core i7-720QM (1.6GHz) \| 2x2GB DDR3 1066MHz \| 1GHz ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 Intel P4-C 3.0GHz \| ECS 865PE-A \| 3x512MB PC3200 \| 128MB PNY GeForce 6600GT

12-01-2004, 08:59 AM	#12
Chgoman Lieutenant Commander Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Mission Viejo, CA Posts: 696	Here's the catch. Blu-Ray is a more advanced technology, but it is not backwards compatable. Who in their right mind would back a technology that would make all the worlds DVD's obsolete? SONY!!! The only reason that MGM is behind them is because Sony is in the process of buying MGM. Toshiba's technology is fully backward compatable with currrent DVD's and that alone will allow them to win this 'format battle'. Some day sony will wake up and realize that noone really wants their proprietary memory sticks and readers and Blu-Ray. We want things that are compatable with what we already use and standardized across the industry. Until then, the 95% of us that aren't die hard Sony fans will just keep on laughing...

12-01-2004, 11:55 AM	#14
kei2 Rear Admiral Lower Half Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 2,102	Any impact on the next wave of video game systems? Or still too early to call there?

12-01-2004, 02:51 PM	#15
raimin Captain Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: san francisco Posts: 1,627	well the fact that dvdforum and hd-dvd are also backing the microsoft codec, might influence them

12-01-2004, 04:28 PM	#17
Airencracken Admiral Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: California Posts: 6,681	I'll do what I did with dvd's I'll be a late adapter. Remember divx? __________________ "I remember my first orgasm, I just wish someone was there to share it with me..."11-05-2003 05:33 AM - Topane They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. - Benjamin Franklin Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, & the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opiate of the masses. - Karl Marx Hell is other people - Jean-Paul Sartre

12-01-2004, 07:14 PM	#19
kimchicowboy Admiral Join Date: May 2000 Location: in the middle of the pacific ocean Posts: 5,344	don't forget that matsu****a and samsung are also behind the blu-ray device. they're not small companies that have propriety-only stuff like sony. if/when blu-ray does come out, i'm hoping my dad can get a nice employee discount from samsung.

12-02-2004, 04:22 PM	#22
Chgoman Lieutenant Commander Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Mission Viejo, CA Posts: 696	Yeah, but VHS was around a long time before DVD's took over and most people didn't have an extensive VHS collection as VHS tapes were really expensive until much later in the VHS life cycle. On the other hand, many people have a very extensive DVD collection. I'm not saying that Blu-Ray isn't a good technology, I'm just saying that given an option that is backward compatable that most of the industry is supporting vs. a technologically similar option that is not backward compatible and has much less support at likely a higher cost, the first option just makes sense.

12-02-2004, 07:59 PM	#23
revil shibuya girl Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: Oregon Posts: 6,851	like i said chgoman, don't be stupid. any manufacturer would be stupid not to build in backwards compatability.

12-04-2004, 07:43 PM	#26
kei2 Rear Admiral Lower Half Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 2,102	2nd laser, I don't think it'd add much to the cost.

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12-06-2004, 02:54 PM	#28
mcs328 Admiral Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Maryland Posts: 6,578	long live the MD format!!! __________________

12-09-2004, 03:55 AM	#30
kimchicowboy Admiral Join Date: May 2000 Location: in the middle of the pacific ocean Posts: 5,344	well, disney joined hopped onto the blu-ray side: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...y_041209073447

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