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Toshiba May Delay HD-DVD Launch to 2006
Mictian writes "According to Reuters Toshiba may be delaying the launch of it's HD-DVD players that was originally slated for the end of this year. One of the reasons cited was that talks with Hollywood and major studios about the timing are still ongoing. It now seems that the players may not be shipped to retailers before 2006, at least not in the US. The Japanese might still get their hands on 'em by christmas. In any case it looks like a setback for the HD-DVD camp (Toshiba, NEC & Sanyo) if one of their few advantages over the Blu-ray camp (Sony & Matsushita), an earlier product launch, is essentially eliminated. Sony has been rumoured to consider a Q1 2006 launch for Blu-ray in the form of the PlayStation 3 console. There was an earlier Slashdot story about the rivals giving up on a unified format."
Will this delay be all that blu-ray needs to become the market standard?
Maybe next Slashdot history could be: Duke Nukem Forever delayed
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Without time advantage HD-DVD is dead. BluRay will be the standard.
I mean, would you buy inferior device now (HD-DVD/February), when you will be able to buy better one is just a month (BluRay/March-April)?
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Should be Duke Nukem, Forever Delayed
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It's really a shame that one of the groups can't swallow their pride and agree to a compromise. In my personal opinion, the perfect compromise would be HD-DVD with Blu-Ray sized layers and data storage. I think people will be disappointed at how fast HD-DVD discs will fill up. Regardless of what format becomes popular, though as of now, I would say Sony as the edge because of PS3, I'm sick of the whole "we didn't include a DTS track to the lack of space" argument. All HD discs should contain stereo, DD, and DTS tracks for both the video, and all extras. All content should maximize the bitrate, no more 5 MB per second or less... To stay on topic...I think this is both a great decision by Toshiba (primarily because I don't think the consumer is quite ready for HD discs yet) and a really bad decision because it eliminates, or at least greatly lessens, one of its major advantages - that it is being released first with a great list of available titles (Sopranos, Forrest Gump, Batman Begins, etc.). I hate to wait, but I either want the format war to conclude or for dual format players to launch before I venture into the HD movie world!
They almost never win, and I generally hate their products.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
How will this damage the XBox360 in the long term? Microsoft has already said that the initial models may ship with just a standard DVD drive with later production models being shipped with a HD DVD drive. But if they have to further delay the HD DVD enabled XBox360 will this just simply cause even greater confusion for the two model market they have already created with their Core and Premium systems?
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Blu-ray (BD): backed by Sony and Philips, 22Gbytes capacity, expensive, 54 Mbit/s read speed. [ Wikipedia article ]
HD-DVD: Toshiba, NEC, Sanyo and Microsoft, 15Gbytes, cheaper. [ Wikipedia article ]
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I was at Fry's the other day and I looked at DL blank media. FIFTY DOLLARS for 15 blanks.
Sure, the DL burners are cheap, Fry's had some down to the $40 range. BUT, they screw you on the media.
I was looking just out of curiosity, I don't need one.
Sure I would like to back up 8+ gigs on a disc but they had 120gig hard drives for TWENTY dollars (after rebate)
My MO is buy big, cheap hard drives, back up to them, remove them and store them in a fireproof safe.
And for the nay-sayers, I have old full heigh 5.25 hard drives from the 80's that still boot and the data is still perfectly intact. Drives over 20 years old that I've made no serious effort to pamper. They are just on the floor in a closet with other old junk. And they still work.. BTW, one of them is a Maxtor 133megabyte (still works fine) drive that cost $1,900 new. Like an idiot, I traded a Tek Oscope for it back in the mid 80's..
On top of that, consumers should expect punishment for tinkering with their Blu-ray players, as many have done with current DVD players, for instance to remove regional coding. The new, Internet-connected and secure players will report any "hack" and the device can be disabled remotely.
For me, this is a wait and see. It was only this last year I bought a DVD player and DVD-RW. Why? Cheap and they now work. When the CDRW first came out more coasters were made than working images. I know, I made a few coasters but don't have that problem today.
For most of us, we will wait and see. But part of the reason I bought my first DVD-RW was that I could get programs like DVD Decrypter. The only program I know that can burn DVD_ISOs of Linux and Solaris reliably.
That was short lived as the article at http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/11914 will show how this industry is doing.
So this person will opt out until less restrictive and functional tools are available. I will be quite content to let someone else break this in.
Do we know what the DRM tech is on the blu-ray, and is it bypassable for legitimate fair-use backups?
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...Mostly because 1) we will soon see a new generation of Blu-Ray media that doesn't need a caddy to protect the disc itself and 2) Blu-Ray's higher storage capacity in recordable form is highly-desirable for computer users who manipulate a lot of multimedia data (large-sized digital still images and full-motion video in digital format).
By the way, in many ways the whole Dolby Digital versus DTS arguement is kind of moot, mostly because if properly mastered Dolby Digital sounds just as good as DTS (ever hear the sound quality from the Star Wars prequel DVD's?).
HD-DVD discs are considerably cheaper to manufacture than Bluray discs since they use the same media as the ubiquitous DVD.
BlueRay uses a different, thinner material. This in turn requires manufacturers to install new (EXPENSIVE) machinery to convert an existing DVD factor to Bluray.
In contrast, I'm not even sure DVD manufacturers need to do anything at all aside from use a different master to press with. Giving them the added flexibility to shift back and forth to meet demand of DVDs and HD-DVDs from the same factory.
Sony is pretty smart. While the guys pushing competing technology are held up with the usual industry standardization delays, just release your version as a stand-alone product. Having a marketing lead like that is the kind of advantage money can't buy.
A compromise between Bluray and HD-DVD is impossible like you suggest. The very difference between the two is the thickness of the protective media. THAT IS ALL.
A compromise "hybrid" format would merely be one format winning over the other and the two camps splitting the royalties. Obviously realizing this Sony and Toshiba et al could never agree on A) which format bites the dust and B) How to split the royalties.
Toshiba wanted its format to win because they represent the DVD manufacturers that did not want to switch to a new media format. Thereby saving money on new equipment.
Sony wanted its format to win because they're Sony. And they've had a stick up their ass to win with one of their gay ass proprietary formats for over 30 years.
Sony probably wouldn't agree to giving up another format with the confidence that the PS3 would trump HD-DVD anyway. Not to mention giving up Bluray would totally fux the PS3 and give advantage to an HD-DVD Xbox360.
There you have it. HD-DVD has an instant manufacturing base. Every DVD factory in the world can make HD-DVDs today. Maybe one or two can press Bluray. Why should Toshiba give up? Sony has PS3, the successor to PS2 which caused the DVD revolution. Why should Sony give up?
And that's what they both thought when they walked away from the negotiation table.
Delay? Blu -Ray recorders have been out for a while here. Saw it like 4 months ago at Bic Camera. http://www.sony.jp/products/Consumer/BD/
it's $28 per 100 pack.
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" If they're smart enough to know about high definition TVs and DVDs, 'HD DVD' is not a tough concept to grasp."
You just proved my point. The majority of consumers who've bought TVs in the last 5 years, including my Dad who just dropped big bucks on a huge Sony, had no idea that their new TVs weren't high-definition. They don't even get the difference yet.
Have you noticed how when a movie comes out on DVD, the commercials still say "available now on DVD and Video"? They say Video because the average person never got the hang of the acronym "VHS" and found it easier to refer to those black tapes as videos.
Exactly what is the average clueless appliance buyer's threshold for meaningless acronyms? 5 random letters? 6? Do you, a technology geek, even remember what PCMCIA stands for, or do you just call it a "PC Card"? Exactly.
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It's funny to hear that HD-DVD *may* be be delaying the launch...since NEC has already announced that they will be selling HD-DVD burners in November of this year. And at a fairly reasonable price, $600. Not bad for a first-gen hi-def burner. Not to be outdone, Pioneer has also announced a BluRay burner. A shame that there is no source for either formats media. (permalink here)
On the data storage side: double-layer DVD blanks are still hideously expensive. Can you imagine how much Blu-Ray blanks will cost? By the time they come down to a reasonable price, Fry's will be selling 800 gig hard drives for $50.
The DRM is hacked...... otherwise whats the point? I have a dvd recorder I can do pretty much anything I like with, (provided I'm willing to mess about a bit with programs/disks etc
From http://www.i4u.com/article4108.html
... Also, no HD-DVD movies will be released in 2005 so you can play nothing on it in this year. Duh.
The NEC HD DVD Drive HR-1100A will be shipping in limited numbers in November. The HD DVD drive can play HD DVDs with 2x speeds.
How will this damage the XBox360 in the long term? Microsoft has already said that the initial models may ship with just a standard DVD drive with later production models being shipped with a HD DVD drive.
It won't damage the XBox360 in the long term, because Microsoft has said that the later production models MAY be shipped with an HD DVD drive.
In other words, because Microsoft has not committed to anything, they can afford to take a "wait and see" approach. HD-DVD can damage itself without necessarily hurting Microsoft. Microsoft can decide to go with HD-DVD when and only when it's shown it's actually going to succeed in the market, or switch to Blu-Ray at the last moment if it wins.
As for whether delays will hurt Microsoft, well, promising and then delivering late or not at all has never hurt Microsoft in the past.