Sony Wants Microsoft In Blu-Ray Camp

The prices of BlueRay players and recorders are plummeting already compared to the near £1000 asking price for an internal system. I'm studying Music Technology and we've had a BlueRay rewriter for quite some time (thats what happens when a department is underfunded for 15 years; they now get whatever they ask for). It's great for massive Pro Tools sessions although you can still fit them on a DVD. However, as surround sound channels go on the up, raw 24bit/96Khz WAV files will push the session sizes up....

Long story short, IMHO if BlueRay doesn't succeed as the choice for movie distribution it will sink into the background as the choice for audio enthusiasts/professionals. Mac is big with this crowd too who are more keen on BlueRay than HD-DVD.

If HD-DVD doesn't succeed in sales for the movie market it doesn't have anything to fall back on. Perhaps Microsoft will use it for the next generation XBox. No reason why it can't be used as a proprietary format.

Here's an internal IDE drive for £565 thats reads both BlueRay and HD-DVD and writes to BlueRay. It seems convergence on writing is the hurdle for hybrid systems.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/05/lgs-super-multi-blue-ggw-h10n-a-blu-ray-writer-and-hd-dvd-r/

So it becomes a choice for audio pro`s, but that`s not going to help sony any, i cant see production of BD based on that, Sony is set to lose Billions if this was the case, its not a war of formats only, its a business war, sony doesnt want to sell BD because its a cool media or even because its pratical and and choice media for quality, they want to sell it because it will make them a s**t load of cash, and the same for toshiba, a lot of people are basing this war on the what it can do, but no this war will be won on cash, cold hard cash, it will be based on who can sell it cheapest and make the most profit.

Look at it this way, lets say bluray can store 20 HD quality movies on a disc and has True HD on each movie stored with Java fun and other Net based goodies along with over a million fetaures per movie all on one disc (just pretend)

Now Tosh`s HD DVD can only store one movie at TrueHD audio wIth a few features & net goodies.

ok so lets say Sony sells its players at £500.00 + £20-£30 a disc
and Toshiba Sells players at £150.00 + £10 - £15.00 a disc

what will the mass consumer buy? the cheapest of course, its the wrong time for this format war, people still like DVD there is no rason for the majority to upgrade yet, VHS had 20 - 25 years and people were ready for something new (DVD) but as people arent ready to go into HD fully yet, when they notice this media they are going to go into it cheap, sure the hardcore will want a top notch setup but that hardcore will still spend £400.00 on a DVD player, where as your average consumer is in asda buying a DVDD player for £15.00, so although enthusiasts will buy high its not going to help Sonys business.

im unsure which way to go at present and so is the majority, Price will decide this and the war will begin truly in 2008.

as for the future of the loser i cant see it becoming anything other than a coaster and paper weight, the next gen of consoles i feel will take on the winners disc based media, or just perhaps with flash media coming down in price and increasing in size so quickly will we see a return to carts?, (little carts but carts the same? i doubt it but the possiblity is there?)

as for the original point of this artical, MS would never enter the bluray camp, because they could never allow sonys format to become the winner puposly, it would basically guarantee Sony a place in the games industry for many years to come, with teh money they would make from this, id MS stay away at least there is a small chance the PS3 will fail giving MS a huge foothold in the industry and next gen Sony would have a massive hill to climb ot get back to where they were, and while it makes sense for MS to take this format for next gen i think they would prefer to use HD DVD and keep Sony at a money making distance, after all MS will clear finacial making problems if they can will the console war this time round or at least take second place behind ninty.

Of course they didn't design it just for that. It could end up that way like DAT tape was meant to replace standard crappy tapes as the next-gen format until they decided to go for optical media (CD) instead. They're still being made even 25 years later because they've been kept alive by a niche group who needs them (in this case, audio enthusiasts again).

Sony have a history of failed formats: DAT tapes vs JVC tapes (regular old tapes) and later CDs (albeit Sony co-developed CDs), VHS vs Betamix, MiniDisc vs CD (even fighting their own format because they're so greedy they'd prefer to be the sole copyright owner), UMDs as portable movie distribution and now BlueRay.

I do accept that BlueRay is a different playing field. I think you're right, it'll come down to whoever can sell the units and discs for cheaper and thats HD-DVD at the moment. However, everywhere I look (XtraVision, HMV etc....) its BlueRay that has the most shelf space and it has more titles and is enjoying more sales than HD-DVD.

I would consider myself a bit of a tech-head but even though I have a hi-def TV the thought of buying a HD-DVD drive for my 360 (despite the reasonable price) hasn't crossed my mind. In fact, I don't know anyone who has one or is considering getting one. I think we'll find that BlueRay and HD-DVD hybrid players will become more prevalent and they will account for the most sales, ultimately. Then it'll just be down to cheaper discs.

First of all hybrid players suck and the LG combo Blu-Ray/HD that is out is gimped of features. No one wants an integrated player that does it all. Well actually they do if they work well, but they never do. They're usually made crappily to keep price down, thus breaking frequently and forcing people to buy better quality players. It's also my selling technique; "Do you want to buy the s**tty player at the better price and buy a new one when it breaks in a few months or do you want to spend a little more and have it last three to five years?".

Secondly, it's always a war of cash,... WITH EVERYTHING! Every company wants to cut costs and make product as cheap as possible. That's a solid business model. And with the push for HD nowadays, affordability is the name of the game. That's why companies like Westinghouse, Philips, RCA, Vizio, etc. exist.

It's much more than cash with BD/HD here. Marketing plays a large role as does features and the libraries of movies each one holds. They will naturally become cheaper, sub $100 range within a few years I suspect. And it's not that people don't want to go HD movies, it's that their not convinced yet. The difference is there, just look at a side by side store demo. And as for the VHS lasting 20-25 years. It's Moore's Law baby. You can't use old technology as a measuring stick, especially if there's a slick marketing campaign to boot. Look how well Apple does it with it's iPods, iPhones, and computers.