PS3 To Use Blu-Ray Technology

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PS3 To Use Blu-Ray Technology

Posted by simoniker on Thursday August 5, 2004 @05:08AM from the blue-la-di-da-da dept.

Daetrin writes "GameSpot has reported an announcement by Sony that the PlayStation 3 will use Blu-Ray technology, a next-generation optical disc format which 'can hold 25GB on a single layer and 50GB on the dual-layer discs', as many people have been speculating. What Sony hasn't said for sure is whether the PS3 will be backwards compatible with DVD movies and PS2 games. However, they indicated that they will reveal more details about the PlayStation 3 at a premiere in Japan on March 31st next year. (And, if nothing else, there will certainly be plenty of rumors before then.)"

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Wow! by Anonymous Coward · 2004-08-05 05:10 · Score: 1, Insightful

Technology created (in part) by Sony to be used in a Sony product!
Re:dual layer failure by seinman · 2004-08-05 05:14 · Score: 2, Insightful

You must have some shitty DVD players, because the seven that I either own now or have owned in the past never had that problem.
DVD players are so cheap by duckpoopy · 2004-08-05 05:14 · Score: 5, Insightful

Does it really matter if it will play dvd movies?If you can afford a $300+ console, you can afford a $50- dvd player.

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1. Re:DVD players are so cheap by Anonymous Coward · 2004-08-05 05:21 · Score: 1, Insightful
  
  But can you afford a tv with a shitload of inputs? I now have two four way switches nested so I can connect a DC, PS2, gamecube, dvd player, super nintendo, and Saturn to a tv with one A/V input. I'm thinking of getting a cheap second DVD player I can make region free, and likewise debating a second PS2 to mod.
2. Re:DVD players are so cheap by techiemac · 2004-08-05 05:33 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Ahh... but there is something that needs to be considered here. The "internal justification" aspect of marketing. I assume (and it may be a bad assumption) that most of the PS2s & XBoxen that are out there are not used for any sort of DVD playback even though they have that feature.
  
  But when it comes to either justifying the price to your spouse, signifigant other, parents, self, dog, goldfish, etc, it helps to be able to say "Well I'm not just using it for games... We can use it as our DVD player as well"
  It tends to make the $300 price tag hurt a little less. So while the feature will likely never be used, it has a marketing aspect to it (plus you don't want the "other" guy to be able to one up you with features). Marketing often tends to be what sells technology, not the other way around (though it would be nice if things sold based on their technical merit).
3. Re:DVD players are so cheap by drinkypoo · 2004-08-05 05:35 · Score: 1, Insightful
  
  It only matters if it can play DVD movies if it also can play PS2 and PS1 games. Also, your argument is 100% wrong, because if you are already spending $300 on a console, the last thing you want to do is spend another $50 on a DVD player that's going to sit right next to it, or under it. Of course, the PS2 was too small to put under the DVD player, and small and heavy enough to where putting it on top of the DVD player meant creasing the case of your DVD player. I sure hope the Xbox Next has the same form factor as a DVD player - wide, flat, short, and of medium depth. This would be much more reasonable than the form factor of the current Xbox.
  
  But, we're talking about PS3. Personally I feel that the PS2 was a craptacular DVD player and so you needed a separate one of those anyway, but if the PS3 is going to play PS2 games, people are going to expect to be able to replace their PS2 with it completely, and as such will want to play DVDs on it.
  
  --
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At what cost? $$ by curtisk · 2004-08-05 05:15 · Score: 4, Insightful

...to the consumer or is Sony just going to absorb it like most console makers do? Will this drive up the price per game? Also, since you are packing ALOT more data is the same space, wouldn't scratches and surface damage be even more crippling potentially?
Also, Sony should make sure that they don't have all the "Disc read error" problems this time through.

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1. Re:At what cost? $$ by seinman · 2004-08-05 05:21 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  "Also, since you are packing ALOT more data is the same space, wouldn't scratches and surface damage be even more crippling potentially?"
  
  Search Google for pictures of Blu-Ray discs. They come in little plastic cartridges, much like MiniDiscs and floppies. Unless you grossly mistreat them, you won't have problems with scratching.
  
  Is scratching even that big a problem now, on DVDs? Assuming you put them back in their cases when you're done, the things never seem to scratch. At least i've never had that problem.
Re:Hmm 50 gigs by scowling · 2004-08-05 05:17 · Score: 2, Insightful

If history is any indication, they won't.

You'd think that they could release one US DDR for PS or PS2 with "Butterfly". But noooo.

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www.kitchengeek.com -- Nosh for
Re:Who needs 50 GB in a game?! by ackthpt · 2004-08-05 05:19 · Score: 5, Insightful

When 640Kb should be enough for everyone? (Yeah I know I am mixing ram with disk size here, but it is a joke. Laugh)
A joke? Seems the joke is we now have HD beyond our wildest dreams (only thinkable in the realm of sci-fi, lest you be mocked) 10 years ago. ("Wow, a 340 Meg HD, that's HUGE!") Yet, we seem to only have the same stuff as back then, just with higher definition. Heck, I don't think you can install Windows XP on less than a 5 GB drive. We once ran an entire information system and had student accounts on a system with 2 x 88 MB drives. Games which were elaborate and inventive (not to mention gripping) fit in 64K, now require a CD or DVD. Yeah, it's for the 5.1 sound and the massive graphics, I know, and compilers no longer optimize for size, so even code can be large.
Just wait until everything is 3D...

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A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Behind the Curtain: A Developer's Story by grunt107 · 2004-08-05 05:23 · Score: 2, Insightful

50GB available for a game? Unless the games loaded HD video clips directly into the play scenario there seems to be a little excess capacity.
IMO, the PS3 game makers would start including videos of the developer, a storyline about the company, music (and music video) clips for the music embedded in the game, web content (even links to 'sponsors'.
Re:can't u put both lasers in the box? by Anonymous Coward · 2004-08-05 05:25 · Score: 1, Insightful

When he said opposite sides of the disc, i dont' think he mean top and bottom of the disc itself. I think me might have mean when you're looking down at the reader, on the left is Blu-Ray and on the right is your older standard.
An interesting question comes up... by vudufixit · 2004-08-05 05:31 · Score: 3, Insightful

Games are getting increasingly expensive to create. A game that could fill a Blu-Ray disc would undoubtedly require an unprecedented, possibly bank-breaking budget for the artists and programmers.
Re:Sony HD standard just trumped. by Anonymous Coward · 2004-08-05 05:33 · Score: 1, Insightful

Or just ya know...buy a DVD player that upsamples the current DVDs to an HD signal. DVDs look great upsampled to 1080i with a player that'll do it. Sure they aren't what native resolution ones would be, but I'm not complaining. I'm definately for bargain DVDs...hey wait a minute...that sounds pretty similar to VHS vs Beta. Whhhheeeeeee!!!
Re:If it is not compatible with Ps1/Ps2... by realmolo · 2004-08-05 05:41 · Score: 2, Insightful

You know, dumbass, you don't have to sell your PS2 when the PS3 comes out.

You can keep it to play your old games.

Why does everyone use the same stupid "I don't want to throw out my old games" argument?
well... by nuggetman · 2004-08-05 05:44 · Score: 2, Insightful

What Sony hasn't said for sure is whether the PS3 will be backwards compatible with DVD movies and PS2 games.

Isn't always keeping backwards compatibility to the previous system what got MS in to the DLL hell mess it's in now??

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...and that's all there is to it.
1. Re:well... by thatguywhoiam · 2004-08-05 08:44 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  PS3? reason being that in the PS2 the PS1 is to all intents and purposes done via emulation (probably with the aid of some additional clever chips)
  Not sure how it'll be done in the PS3, but in the PS2 the sound chip does double-duty as the PS1 CPU.
  PS3, it'll probably have an Emotion Engine just handling the controller ports. :)
  
  --
  If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
50 GB disks = anti-piracy by Capt'n+Hector · 2004-08-05 07:12 · Score: 2, Insightful

I'm no expert in disk usage/compression, but is it possible to be so inneficient in disk usage, that a game that would normally take 1 gig is expanded to 50 gigs in such a way that it is incompressable using normal methods? I'd say that if this is the case, then Sony has a great way to prevent piracy. Forget DRM. Forget lock outs, or strict rules. SURE! put it on your computer, SURE! give it to your friends, just have fun copying 50 gigs over DSL.

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1. Re:50 GB disks = anti-piracy by MikeBabcock · 2004-08-05 07:25 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Blu-Ray is actually designed to be a rewritable format from the get-go. I'm sure anti-piracy features are built-in as well, but I doubt size is one of them unlike the physical dimensions of a GameCube disc.
  
  --
  - Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
Re:Sony wouldn't... by shirai · 2004-08-05 08:26 · Score: 4, Insightful

You make it sound like supporting only MPEG2
is a good thing.

This reduces the quality of the video coming out of Blu Ray or MPEG4 by a factor of 3. MPEG2 is not as good at compressing video with a given bit rate. In other words, the new codecs can hold 3x the quality or content in the same amount of space.

But that is moot.

Blu Ray is planning to adopt either MPEG4, WMV(VC-9) or both in July of this year. They've agreed that using an old codec is a bad idea. See the current August 2004 issue of Widescreen magazine for details.

There is also a good interview with Microsoft on WMV. Whether you like Microsoft or not (and I'm guessing not for most), the Interview is informative.

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