Sony Pushes Back Release For Blu-Ray Players

Sony has announced that their first model of Blu-Ray player will release in August, not later this month as originally announced. The BDP-SP1, retailing for $1000, will now ship on or about August 15th. Bad news for fans of the new format, and even worse news for the PS3. Since Sony's lackluster E3 showing, a string of bad news has seemed to conspire against the company's next-gen console. From the Gamers with Jobs article: "With the PS3's high-end model coming it at a whopping $400.00 less than a stand-alone Blu-Ray player, Sony needs to release these players as soon as possible. If they wait too long, the PS3 will begin looming on the horizon, causing even devout early adopters to question the intelligence of buying a stand-alone Blu-Ray unit. Sony also needs the largest possible installed base, come launch-time for the PS3. For the Blu-Ray player to be the PS3's version of the PS2's DVD player, casual technophiles need to be able to see the virtues of the Blu-Ray format. If there are few players, and few titles, this might not happen."

Comments

Will PS3's Blu-ray Even Work Though?

[eldavojohn]

If they wait too long, the PS3 will begin looming on the horizon, causing even devout early adopters to question the intelligence of buying a stand-alone Blu-Ray unit.

Assuming the PS3 blu-ray player actually works, then it will be an issue for Sony to consider.

My friend bought a first generation DVD player and it's still functioning to this day. I think it even has some of the codecs built into it (MP3, AVIs, etc.). His PS2's DVD functionality went out long ago. And that was after he participated in the first recall.

Buy a game console for its games. Buy a media player for its media playing abilities. Let's stop encouraging the console makers to bloat their consoles. Concentrate on one thing and--for the love of the game--get it right!

Re:Will PS3's Blu-ray Even Work Though?

[MrSquirrel]

Movies and gaming have a deserved mutual understanding -- as time goes on, they both need more space. This is why console makers keep going into the markets of the next gen video media. Take DVD's for example -- Sony and Microsoft didn't choose DVD's over CD's because they wanted to be able to market to consumers that wanted to watch movies -- they needed more space (I know of a few PS2 games that take up multiple DVD's, I don't even want to think about how many CD's that would take). True, they COULD develop their own proprietary format, losing countless amounts of dollars in R&D and ending up with something that is pretty much a DVD anyway (except not). Your competitors would just eat the licensing fees and go with DVD -- they would be able to market to the consumer "hey, we play those DVD movies in addition to having games that fit on one disk (usually)". Blu-ray promises the ability to cope with the ever-increasing capacity requirements of modern games (although I think it'll be a while before a game actually needs that much space).
Take Nintendo for example -- they went with their own proprietary mini-disc format... and look where it got them: the bottom of the console market. I think the PS3 would be much more attractive if they went with a DVD drive, like the Xbox 360... but I'm sure eventually the BR capacity will be used (pr0n?).

Re:Will PS3's Blu-ray Even Work Though?

[fistfullast33l]

Concentrate on one thing and--for the love of the game--get it right!

I know I'm going to get flamed for this, but I have to disagree. I love my PSP. I can surf the web for downloads, watching movies (UMD and ripped DVD's), listening to streaming audio, listening to my MP3's at work, and even playing a game occasionally. It's the only portable device I own other than my cell phone and I think it works great. It satisfies my needs perfectly. The wireless gaming is especially addictive, and I'm really getting hooked by Force Commander's play-by-email because I can keep the game going while satisfying my wife's nagging requests. As for media centers, I realize the niceness of a receiver to organize your devices, but I really yearn to take all of my machines and consolidate them into one. Do I really need 6 boxes sitting next to my television? Cable, DVR, DVD, VCR, Xbox/PS3/Wii/whatever, and then the receiver, plus speakers and the television? How large does my media cabinet have to be?

Not the only manufacturer of Blu-Ray players

[Cy Sperling]

Though Sony's stand-alone is being delayed until August, Samsung has a standalone Blu-Ray player coming out on June 25th.

Panasonic has one coming in September. Sony's lateness is not the sole barometer for the standard's success or failure.

How is that bad for the PS3?

[SuperKendall]

So how is the delay of a Blu-Ray player bad for the PS3? It seems to me that the only effect would be to actually help the pS3 by having external Blu-Ray players still very expensive when they launch the PS3.

Now if Blu-Ray drives themselves cause the PS3 delivery date to be pushed back, that would actually be a problem. When we see that news the headlined may apply. Until then, this is just more sensationalist FUD about Sony who has become Zonk's favorite whipping boy.

Re:How is that bad for the PS3?

[Abcd1234]

I think the argument is that, if this player is going to be $1000 at launch, and it's launch date is pushed out even closer to the PS3 launch, early adopters might just forgo the stand alone player and buy a PS3 instead. This pushes new sales of BR players out, further delaying the establishment of the format, while damaging Sony's bottom line, since, unlike the standalone player, the PS3 is almost certainly going to be a loss-leader. Further, this will stick Sony with lame-duck product, which I can't imagine is a good thing.

Do people really want a new format?

[Nutmegan]

I think Sony's biggest problem with getting widespread adoption of Blu-Ray is that the vast majority of users are happy with the current DVD format. The improvement from VHS to DVD was obvious. Replacing your DVD collection with an expensive Blu-Ray collection that may never catch on with most people seems ludicrous. People might find Blu-Ray equipment in the closet with their Betamax VCRs and their old minidisc players.

Is schadenfreude OK?

[Anthony Boyd]

I was offended by Sony's horrible DRM/rootkit situation, not because they tried to install rootkits (although that was bad enough) but because of their response when caught: "So what? Consumers won't even comprehend your techno-babble complaints."

I was offended by Sony's horrible pricing for the PS3, not because the pricing was so high (although that was bad enough) but because of their response when people took issue: "So what? Sony fanboys are going to pay no matter what the price."

I was offended by Sony's blatant plagarism of the Wii controller, not because of the 2nd-rate implementation (although... you get the idea), but because of their flat-out lying about it: "We didn't copy Nintendo. We're the real innovators."

All of these situations have a common thread: arrogance. A cavalier disrespect for the customer. A lack of ethics. There are no laws that say companies must be ethical, or must respect the customer. So I guess we can write off Sony's behavior as "it's just business." But there are also no laws which say I have to buy into it. So I hope that what goes around, comes around.

-Tony

Re:Why Do We Want To Get Rid of Sony?

[nuzak]

> Why does anyone want Sony destroyed?

I don't want them destroyed. I want them humbled. I want them to learn their BetaMax/ATRAC/UMD lesson for good. I want this arrogant zaibatsu to know it's mortal.

I own a PS2, I like the PS2, but after the conduct of Sony these past couple years, with their new price tags adding even more insult, they've lost me as a customer. Not my devotion or fandom or loyalty -- no one has that, it's just consumer electronics after all -- but just me as a customer. Sony has become synonymous with screwing their own customers, and I don't feel like bending over for the PS3.