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Blu-Ray Launch Expected Next Week
grammar fascist writes "According to a Reuters article, two Blu-ray players and 'various titles' are expected in stores next week, June 20th. From the article: 'Blu-ray, one of two much-hyped high-definition DVD formats, debuts next week, but the launch is expected to be muted amid device delays and consumer confusion, industry analysts said on Thursday.' On the 20th, Samsung, not Sony, is launching a set-top player (Sony's is due this fall), and Sony is launching a Blu-ray compatible VAIO PC. Sony's fall set-top player will probably cost $1500. No word on the cost of Samsung's player yet, but I wouldn't expect it to be cheap."
There was an article a couple days ago on TGDaily that stated the Samsung's first blu-ray player to be a grand.
I don't know why an article on Slashdot is reporting Sony's to be $1500 when Best Buy is already taking pre-orders for both the Sony BDP-S1 & Samsung BD-P1000 models each equally priced at a thousand dollars. Even the Froogle search for it seems to come out on the one grand consensus.
It seems a lot of articles have been against Sony while this fear of Sony's set top player being overpriced is relatively unfounded. As we all know, this shall prove interesting if the PS3s offer the same functionality for much less.
If both players debut at $1,000, perhaps this will be a war one in quality instead of price? Ah, who am I kidding--whoever licenses pr0n easiest/fastest will come out on top (no pun intended).
I don't intend to run out and buy one because the only movie I've seen advertised for blu-ray is the second Underworld movie. And I don't even know which kind of blu-ray player it's for (customer confusion indeed)!
Just a side note, the same Reuters article is in The Washington Post and I've linked the print format to avoid having to click through pages and view less ads.
My work here is dung.
I don't know about you, but I am not at all excited by this. When DVD came out I couldn't wait for writers to come out so I could get one, but if we're going to be in the middle of a format war I don't even want a player. I think sales are going to be somewhat less than satisfactory.
Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
I'm personally waiting for a dual-format play before I buy a next-gen format. Unlike with VHS/Beta both formats are the exact same dimensions so I think it is just a matter of time untill we get a player that can play both.
I'm not going to be using it anytime soon, but I noticed the other day that Netflix is starting to roll out their support for blu-ray.
I just want someone to win fast.
Pure 1080i or 1080p content on a TV with the full 1080i/p resolution (Sony SXRD TVs and some of the new DLPs) is absolutely amazing.
Despite many claims on here, the jump from a normal DVD on a 1080p television to a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray disc is more significant than VHS to DVD. A full 1080p picture has around 10 times more pixels per square inch than a normal DVD (which is 480p).
Bless you, members of the home-video bleeding edge, who will muddy your hands during the legendary Format Wars so that we mere home-video mortals can finally decide how to best replace our DVD players in 2009. Thank you.
Please do be sure to post your blow by blow accounts of how you will be beaten within an inch of hope by this process, so that we may make snide comments while we secretly are grateful for your courage to wander into this firestorm of global-scale corporate tiddlywinks.
Winner takes all. "Begun, the Format War has."
I am from a small, grease-loving country in the north called Ca-na-da.
I have been working on BD-J stuff for BluRay movies.
M HP for a quick overview
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globally_Executable_
First of all, once you have gotten use to watching BluRay 1080p movies, anything less feels like an eyesore. You will probably be able to pickup a 1080p TV by the holidays this year for just under a grand. The TV manufactures all know that the market is about to be flooded with millions of cheap BluRay players, 499 component and 599 HDMI PS3s, and are all moving to put sets out that target that huge Playstation demographic.
Second, the Java layer, that Microsoft seems to hate so much, on BluRay discs is letting us do all sorts of very cool stuff far beyond the simple menu systems that current DVDs have.
Start watching for BluRay releases and make sure to check what cool additions the Java stuff we are doing are implemented on the new discs.
I've heard all of this stuff before when DVDs were trying to be adopted. Classics are:
- LD and VHS work great.
- There isn't that much improvement over LDs.
- No one knows if DVD will take off...
- I am not interested in buying new equipment again.
So on and so fort, lots of teeth nashing and woe. But hey we lived through it and few will say we are worse off. HDTV is the biggest change to NTSC since the modification to handle color. On the two HDTV displays I have I already see the quality problems with DVD even when the player upscales. I'm already hungry for devices that generate true high definition content. I'm not sure why people are saying they need to wait because I've heard all of this before and it was just fine.
As for Sony, they design devices that have to meet certain requirements. They needed a "next gen DVD" system and this is what they came up with. Why are they evil for trying such a thing? Or why aren't the HD-DVD group evil as well? Sony is far from perfect often where they often "miss" instead of "hit" but that is the name of the game of innovation.
Jeez, I keep seeing this on Slashdot. What happened here? Did slashdot become full of middle-managers who believe anything if it is repeated enough times? I expect better from people who are SUPPOSED to understand technology.
c tion-14009/Index.html and look to see which names you recognise. Just about every brand except Toshiba is here.
Go here http://www.blu-raydisc.com/general_information/Se
Samsung will be first (oh but it's still a Sony standard). And Philips, and Sharp, and Panasonic, and Pioneer, and Mitsibushi, and LG, and Zenith
Who else?: Hitachi, JVC, Yamaha, Zenith, and that's without even starting on the RECORDABLE PC drives...
- Paul