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Why Microsoft Hates Blu-ray

Posted by Zonk on from the daggers-drawn dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The private feud just became public. Apparently, Gates yelled at Sony's CEO because the new copy protection Blu-ray has adopted would prevent players from streaming content to the Xbox 360. Since the PS3 will have Blu-ray support but the Xbox 360 only has a plain DVD drive, this means PS3 will be the only console that can play HD movies. Also, Paramount just announced support for Blu-ray and Warner Brothers may also jump ship. Will VHS vs. Betamax turn out differently this time?"

14 of 515 comments (clear)

  1. Gates actual quote was: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "They only thing Blu at MS are the screens of death!"

  2. Yeah but... by ScislaC · · Score: 5, Informative

    PS3 won't be the "only" console that can play HD movies. Microsoft has previously announced that future versions of the 360 will have HD-DVD drives.The HD-DVD version of the 360 may be released to coincide with the PS3 launch for all we know.

    --
    ART on dA
    1. Re:Yeah but... by Trepalium · · Score: 5, Interesting
      You've gotta love that vaporware sales pitch. "Yes, their product can do something ours can't do now, but our product will be better than theirs when out new features come out in a little while!" Of course, all this is moot because HD movies aren't available yet, and given the inertia against DVDs that the studios and rental places had, I seriously doubt there'll be any serious availablity next year or even three years from now.

      As much as I like watching Microsoft and Sony fanbois duke it out, it's getting a little tired.

      --
      I used up all my sick days, so I'm calling in dead.
  3. DRM, DRM, DRM. by Poromenos1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    God, I'm so sick of these DRM wars. It seems like the sole criterion on which to judge the two schemes is whether its DRM is good or not. Screw this, I'm not going to watch another movie, paid or stolen. They can shove their higher-resolution fascism where it belongs.

    --
    Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
  4. Family Feud.... by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 5, Funny

    yesterday: Ballmer threw a chair at Google.
    Today: Gates yells at Sony

    Sheesh, of those billions of dollars, the Microsoft guys should invest a couple thousands on a psychologist...

  5. DRM vs DRM vs DRM by segedunum · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Who gives a toss? They can all destroy each other as far as I'm concerned. All Microsoft cares about with its strategic use of HD-DVD is that Windows Media becomes the eventual default, one true DRM and media format. They do not want to have to use anything else. Do you think Bill Gates gives a damn if the XBox 360 isn't able to stream to the PS3?

    I for one welcome our new DRM overlords. There'll be so much incompatible shite nothing will work. Nice one.

  6. Nintendo by Shadow+Wrought · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I wonder if Nintendo is actually going to win the next gen console fight. By the time Sony and MS have finished beating each other to death trying to appeal to the hardest core 1% of the gaming market, I'd predict that there will be some pretty big slices of pie left over for the company whose console is cheaper, more intuitive, and has games that instead of being the most visually stunning FPS shooter evar (sans plot and gameplay) are just fun.

    I think the format wars are just the beginning.

    --
    If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
  7. Dual format players will become the norm by 91degrees · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Blu Ray and HD-DVD have the same physical dimensions, the same tracking systems, the same video output, the same codecs and pretty much the same copy protection mechanisms. Even the lasers are the same frequency. 90% of the internals of the box will be identical. All they need are two lasers, or switchable optics, and even the cost of this will go down. Building a dual format player will not be that great a technological challenge.

    1. Re:Dual format players will become the norm by Babbster · · Score: 5, Insightful
      The idea that people are going to care about movie playing on this next generation of videogame consoles is ridiculous to me. The only reason people cared even a little bit at the time of the PS2's release was that DVD players still cost a bit more ($100-150 at the low end) and because there were so few decent (let alone good) games available for the system at launch. It was slightly easier to justify buying the $300 PS2 to play SSX since it could play DVD movies.

      Today we have a situation where nearly everyone has a standalone DVD player, including the people who bought a PS2 with that purpose in mind (once they found out that the PS2 did a piss-poor job of playing DVDs or their PS2 crapped out on them). The only way it's going to matter in the "next-gen" console market over the next two years is if one of the new formats very rapidly develops an extensive catalog of movies, which will probably go slowly given production constraints and the need to continue supporting DVD. Even then, those who are interested are going to need a capable (DVI/HDMI) HDTV to take advantage.

      There are good reasons to wait on buying a videogame console, the biggest being the high launch prices. Whether the system has DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray or PR-DVD (People's Republic DVD) is at best a tertiary consideration.

  8. Re:Blueray won't work smoothly in Wondows????? by segedunum · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is there a reason to assume that Blueray drives or disks will not work smoothly in Windows

    Well for one, Microsoft have named HD-DVD and do not plan BluRay support.

    No one knows the exact specifics, but there is a reason Microsoft chose HD-DVD - and it isn't because it is the best technology. One possible reason is that Microsoft wants a technology that gives Windows unrestricted access to content, and then that content could be ripped to the hard drive and then protected by Windows DRM bypassing any other DRM systems. Microsoft wants to be the only game in town, especially on Windows.

  9. Poor old Joe Consumer by payndz · · Score: 5, Insightful
    After reading TFA, it's clear that the person who loses out the most in the BR/HD battle is... the consumer. Because the fight to win over the content providers will seemingly be won by the company that can place the most restrictions on what the consumer can do with the product that they've bought and paid for.

    It's confirming all the stuff we've known (and worried) about for a while. No backups. Controlled streaming over a home network. Phoning home, and all that implies. All backed up by DMCA or DMCA-like legislation as it spreads around the globe at the behest of the media corporations (hello, Finland!).

    Fuck 'em. I already own pretty much all of my favourite films and TV shows on DVD already. They can't force me to go hi-def and re-buy everything I've already paid for... can they?

    --
    You must think in Russian.
  10. You know by Now.Imperfect · · Score: 5, Funny

    The great thing about standards is there are so many to choose from!

  11. Who wants a new video format anyway? by PhotoBoy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's only been about 3 years since DVD reached its supposed "critical mass" in the market and the players became extremely cheap to buy. Isn't it a bit soon to be trying to replace DVD? I mean VHS lasted for something like 20 years, DVD has managed about 6. I presume the movie industry views high def movies as another means of getting people to double-dip on their films.

    I can see the public rejecting the new formats though. Many people have only had DVD players for 2 or 3 years, they aren't going to want to go and buy a new player and start waiting for their favourite films to be re-released in HD, especially if they run the risk of buying the "Betamax" of this war. I would guess Sony's big gamble is that the PS3 sells by the truck load and thereby they get a significant user base with Blu-ray drives.

    I'm sure we'll see lots of dirty tricks like HD films having lots of extras and the normal DVDs being left as essentially bare bones to "encourage" people into upgrading.

    What is the driving force behind wanting a new format anyway? Is it because the film industry has bought into the bullshit that DVD piracy is somehow hurting legal DVD sales? Is it because the studios can sell us all the films we just bought on DVD again but this time in high def? I suspect it's probably both...

  12. Staying power of a standard.. by cjdavis · · Score: 5, Insightful
    "We want a standard that's going to be around for 10 or 15 years," says one studio exec.

    Ten or 15 years.... TEN OR FIFTEEN YEARS?!?! They really do smoke crack at those studios. Let me try to remember the various storage media I've had over the last 15 years...

    1990: fifteen years ago, the removable media choices were 5.25" floppy at 1.2MB, or the just-starting-to-be-affordable 3.5" floppy clocking in at a whopping 1.44MB.

    1995: CD-ROM drives with 650MB of storage were appearing. 600 times larger - two orders of magnitude larger than floppy disks.

    2000: DVDs were becoming mainstream with ~9GB of space, another order larger.

    2005: blu-ray is going mainstream with the PS3 and standard drives for PCs. With a current capacity of 50GB, its another order larger.

    So in 15 years, we've had a 10,000 fold increase in storage capacity. I understand that blu-ray is designed to accomodate multiple layers in the future, but those are power of 2 increases, not power of 10. And really doesnt handle actual science/technology advances which would be incompatible by definition.

    Does anybody actually think that removable storage tech will not advance another four orders of magnitude in the next 15 years? Or that future network tech won't swamp the 50GB capacity either? I mean, why would I carry that 1.44MB floppy around any more when I can copy that much data to and from my server over the net in about 3 seconds?

    Having the same removable storage media not change much in 10 - 15 years from now sounds horribly myopic and stifling.