Blu-ray wins the format war

[Rob]

It is over. In this week alone, Netflix has gone completely Blu-ray, Best Buy is going to push Blu-ray over HD DVD and most importantly as of today, Wal-Mart is going Blu-ray only as well. (http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/High-Def_Retailing/Wal-Mart/Wal-Mart_to_Go_Blu-ray_Exclusive/1469)

It is already reported from reliable sources that Toshiba plans to finally drop HD DVD and in fact, is already building Blu-ray players to make sure they are a part of the high def sales. As much as there has been a battle here in the states, Blu-ray has dominated in Japan and Europe since the beginning.
Toshiba planning on drop HD DVD. (http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Toshiba/Report:_Toshiba_to_Drop_HD_DVD/1468)

It is about damn time. Finally, Blu-ray can start being mass produced and disk prices will start coming down, just like what happened with DVD.

[Jimlo]

Yay, finally!

[Terry Penrod]

.

Ditto on the yay.

Cheers, Terry

[chip5541]

Finally... it is over.

[TheWastrel]

So Sony win yet another format war.

[Rob]

Actually, this is one of the first Sony wins, if you could call it that. There is a big misconception that Blu-ray = Sony. Sony was just one company in a large list of hardware and designers of Blu-ray. They were simply the most vocal of the bunch, especially when they added it to the PS3, but it was far from Sony vs. HD DVD.

On the other hand, it was virtually Toshiba, and a smaller extent Microsoft that was behind HD DVD.

[Kalbrecht]

About bloody time a result happened.

[0x64657200 0x6A61636B616C00]

So Sony win yet another format war.

It'd be the first time.


DVD-A vs. SACD, draw. Both have essentially died.

BetaMax vs. VHS, VHS.

MiniDisc vs. everytying, everything.

Memory stick vs. SD, Compact Flash, MicroSD and others, not memory stick.

Rob, don't kid yourself, Sony is BluRay. Keiretsu.

[Rob]

I mean this as a compliment, but it seems every time you post I am looking up a new word. And maybe I am not understanding exactly what keiretsu means, but Wikipedia states: Keiretsu - is a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings. Doesn't that mean Sony is just one of the companies in hardware and Blu-ray design like I stated?

[Kalbrecht]

A keiretsu goes deeper than that in terms of vertical integration, sharing, and interlocking relationships and self-sustenance, far deeper than in Western economic terms. In practical terms it's more like family...or the Mafia. So with Blu-ray, then yes - Sony = Blu-ray in that Blu-ray represents the efforts of the entire family, of which Sony is a founding, and most prominent, member.

Keiretsu problems led to the string of bank collapses during the Japanese 90s recession.

That said, I never considered Blu-Ray a Keiretsu, actually. Seemed more like a standard, Western style cooperative to me. :shrug:

[Nyghtfall]

Well, according to ths Q&A (http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/15450546.html), anyone considering buying a Blu-ray player now that the format war is over should consider waiting another year until the Blu-ray Disc Association releases something called Profile 2.0. Apparently, Blu-ray comes in three different Profiles which define what type of content can be found on a Blu-ray disc and what can be viewed with a Blu-ray disc player:

1.0
1.1
2.0

All Blu-ray players currently available only support Profile 1.0, and when Profile 2.0 is released in December, Profile 1.1 discs may not be viewable in 2.0 players. The advise being given to wanna-be early adopters is to consider getting a PS3, which not only has a built-in Blu-ray disc player, but will also prove to be future-proof when it downloads a firmware update with its built-in internet connectivity when Profile 2.0 is released.

Personally, I'm going to wait another year. Meanwhile, I'm going to go ahead and get an upconverting DVD player by Oppo, now that I can finally afford one.

[NotSoFast]

Blu-Ray players can't do firmware updates? My mom's HD-DVD player can. Burn the software to a blank CD. Insert it into the player. Updates itself.

[Rob]

There is some misinformation there Nyghtfall. There are quite a few players that are out and 1.1 compliant, and any player that has a built in Ethernet connection and 1GB HD space is also future proof. My PS3 has been 1.1 compliant for awhile now.

For the players that do only support 1.0 and are unable to be upgraded, either through a built in Ethernet connection or a disk (such as Samsung’s players) they will still be able to play most movies, but they may not be able to access every special feature, in particular picture in picture. These options will simply be grayed out. There are some players which cannot view some of the newer movies due to the newer decoders, but that unfortunately falls under the early adopter syndrome, much like the lack of DTS in DVD players when they were first released. Realize though, the majority of players being released have the HD and Ethernet built in and the players that are completely un-upgradable are hard to find unless you hit EBay or something similar.

With all that said, the PS3 is easily the most future proof, and at $300 or $400 (depending on model) is probably the best buy anyway. The biggest reason I would say to hold off is the price of the movies. Luckily Amazon has quite a few buy one get one deals going on, and they also consistently sell below MSRP. When DVD’s first came out, they were also outrageously priced, but now you can’t go through Wal-Mart without tripping over a $4.99 bin of DVD’s. With the format war over, sales for Blu-ray will continue to go up and prices of players and movies will come down.

[Nyghtfall]

Sorry... guess I read too much into the article.

[Rob]

I rewrote my statement, because I misspoke about a couple of things. Came off a bit like a maniac as well, so I toned it down. Forgive me, I need some sleep. :D:

[0x64657200 0x6A61636B616C00]

That said, I never considered Blu-Ray a Keiretsu, actually. Seemed more like a standard, Western style cooperative to me. :shrug:

Look at who was siding with Sony though...it goes deeper than just companies making "nice nice".

Sony and Philips created a competing disc format to the DVD in the ealry 90's
Toshiba created the disc we now know as the DVD.
Sony and Philips abandonded their competing format at the behest of a larger group.

This time, not so much nice nice...as we see;


SPDIF. Sony/Philips Digital Interconnect Format.
SACD. Sony and Philips.
Redbook CDs. Sony and Philips.
MiniDisc. Sony and Philips.

You see a pattern here?

Sony made the blue ray laser diodes, Philips followed suit with more hardware. Sony had worked with Matsushita on the craptastic MiniDisc, amazingly they followed suit w/ Sony on the BDA.

Traditional Keiretsu? No. A more modern world wide Keiretsu, you bet.

[Kalbrecht]

A modern keiretsu, I'll give you that. I'm a little hesitant with using 'keiretsu' since there's a fair deal of Western involvement in there, but I see where your thinking is - the evolution of the keiretsu into a modern/global network.

The Sony/Phillips link is well known (and Matsushita to some extent), but the BDA founders went outside the normal 'family' that I was aware of.

At a smaller scale - I can see why Matsushita followed Sony with the BDA. While it wasn't the worldwide smash that Sony may have wanted, the Minidisc has taken a surprisingly long time to die in the tech-driven Asian market, even at the top end of the market.

You see a pattern here?

Besides a tenacity at pushing new proprietary formats? ;-)

[0x64657200 0x6A61636B616C00]

A modern keiretsu, I'll give you that. I'm a little hesitant with using 'keiretsu' since there's a fair deal of Western involvement in there, but I see where your thinking is - the evolution of the keiretsu into a modern/global network.


Ding!


The Sony/Phillips link is well known (and Matsushita to some extent), but the BDA founders went outside the normal 'family' that I was aware of.


Not by much. A lot of the BDA were members of the DVD Forum and Sony had quite a bit of sway with them there. There are only a couple of companies that would fit outside the normal boundaries, one being Apple, and who could have EVER guessed that what ever board MSFT sat on, APPL would go the other way...shocking I tell you. Simply shocking. ;)


Besides a tenacity at pushing new proprietary formats? ;-)

Doulbe ding.

[M0R0NI]

Well all I know is that I am glad it is over. I have been waiting to see who won before I started spending my money. Sure I am not alone on that either. But thanks for all the info here, now I know to make sure I can update whatever unit I decide to buy.

[Rob]

It is now 100% official. Toshiba had a press conference in Japan at midnight last night and announced they are dropping HD DVD. News from Paramount, Universal and Dream Works should be released any time now about their switch to Blu-ray.

One major disappointment I learned though was the digital touch up of the original Star Trek series was being funded by Toshiba as part of the deal for Paramount to stay HD DVD exclusive. Word is production has already stopped on the touch ups.

[Rob]

Universal has just dropped their exclusive support for HD-DVD and now has exclusive Blu-ray support. Only Paramount and Dream Works remain, and I am fairly confident they will make an announcement very soon.

Universal Abandons HD DVD. (http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Universal/Breaking:_Universal__Studios_Goes_Blu/1483)

[jeaniejam]

i knew it. finally.

[Kalbrecht]

One major disappointment I learned though was the digital touch up of the original Star Trek series was being funded by Toshiba as part of the deal for Paramount to stay HD DVD exclusive. Word is production has already stopped on the touch ups.

*Insert: KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN! *

[0x64657200 0x6A61636B616C00]

*Insert: KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN! *

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38110000/jpg/_38110815_kahn_celeb_paraguay_alsp.jpg

[Kalbrecht]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38110000/jpg/_38110815_kahn_celeb_paraguay_alsp.jpg

Personally I prefer this one for the hair. It's almost Ricardo Montalban in its glory. :-)

http://www.chincdzine.com/personal/Khaaan.jpg

[0x64657200 0x6A61636B616C00]

yeah but mine elicits the Kirk-ian manner in which that line was delivered.