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Laser Shortage to Stall High-Def Disc War?
An anonymous reader writes "DigiTimes reports that several major vendors, including Sony and Matsushita, have suspended shipments of the blue laser diodes that drive both high-def disc formats. The rumored laser shortage could result in shipment delays for new models of Blu-ray and HD DVD players and drives past the upcoming holiday season, cooling the next-gen DVD format war until 2007."
Won't ANYBODY think of the sharks!
They are driving themselves insane out at sea, they were all psyched to go into battle with some kick ass frikkin laser beams on their heads now they have to continue practicing with mop-handles tied on.
Shame on you Sony.
liqbase
I KNEW we were using too many on those damn sharks.
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
Wouldn't happen to be intended to delay the adoption of the new players until next year would it, by which time maybe they will figure out how to actually sell a usable product...
Just get those green laser pointers over Thinkgeek and rename the product "green ray". Really, blue is cute, but green is okay too...
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
meanwhile somewhere on the outskirts of Tokyo, the head of Microsoft's XBOX division and the head of Nintendo's Wii division are shaking hands whilst laughing as their lackeys bolt the doors on a warehouse full to the roof with blue laser diodes.
Warhammer forums
As if they didn't have enough problems already, now they have to deal with a laser shortage?
Poor Sony.
This is turning out to be all stuff and nonsense, and I think I'll just skip HD-DVD and Blu-ray one and wait for the next next generation, when maybe somebody with half a brain is involved. DVD is perfectly good enough for me, thank you very much.
..are doomed to repeat it!
I wonder what this will do to the PS3?
Illegal collusion to fix the market - Wouldn't happen to be intended to delay the adoption of the new players until next year would it, by which time maybe they will figure out how to actually sell a usable product...
There was no way in heck I was going to get one of these damn things anyway.
But now, now I feel I must have one! Aaarrrggghhhhh!
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
DigiTimes reports that several major vendors, including Sony and Matsushita, have suspended shipments of the blue laser diodes that drive both high-def disc formats.
Bad enough that Sony is shoving an over-priced PS3 down consumers throats. Now they're throttling the market for other players. The Sony monopoly must die!
Or, at least, cut the damn prices on the PS3.
ha ha!
Clearly this is very bad news for Sony.
Because... you know, everything is, somehow.
Has anyone checked to see if any sharks and/or snakes are missing?
Sounds like BlueRay has a bad case of the blues...
"We are all geniuses when we dream"
- E.M. Cioran
I don't exactly see anyone chomping at the bit to buy into HD video at this point, especially seeing that the movie selection is low and most DVD afficienado's already have a very large collection of discs at this point. This war is being aimed towards gear heads and gadget collectors. There is no real compelling reason to switch formats, especially if it means paying more for media. I think DVD is good enough for the population now and that people realize that. Especially seeing that the adoption rate for HD is well under where everyone speculated it would be years ago. This "war" is going the same way the surround sound cd war went. No where. No one really felt like investing money rebuying cd's, which sound good enough. On top of that, the music nuts that would normally be into this kinda thing have invested enough money in their "stereo" rig where they don't always want to invest twice again that much money in a surround sound system. It's very rare that you'd get a chance to listen to music in your livingroom (where your surround system is probably set up to begin with) with family around anyway. I guess the point to this rant (and common theme throughout this rant) is the word "enough." I think society as a whole is suffering technology burnout. Things change so quickly that the general population wants to sit on the sideline, see where all these rapid advances eventually take us, and then buy in. Then again, seeing our current political situation, maybe war is the right term for this. A fight that no one wants but big brother insists on.
Wise men say, "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
The rumored laser shortage could result in shipment delays for new models of Blu-ray and HD DVD players and drives past the upcoming holiday season, cooling the next-gen DVD format war until 2007.
Great! That's just in time for me to NOT BUY ONE.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
Pioneer has suspended shipments of Sony-compatible pixels for its high-definition displays.
Do you have a flag?
Sharks? Losers. How about:
Does this mean I can no longer buy all their playsets and toys?!
-Peter
1. Increase PS3 and Blu-Ray drive costs.
2. Declare ultimate hardware DRM system (no lasers) ensuring that drives cannot read or write any discs.
3. Openly fret that prices are too low.
4. ???
5. Profit!
One Format to rule them all, One Format to find them, One Format to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.
Come to Australia so we can strip search you and rob you of your internets, pr0n, rights and freedoms.
This is just a ploy to limit supply and keep the prices up for a longer time.
The idea that Microsoft is even close to Nintendo on this is purest fantasy.
The XBox 360 has a DVD instead of an HD-DVD drive for one and exactly one reason: Because they decided to ship in 2005 instead of 2006. Microsoft is almost as big a bunch of media-control freaks as Sony, it's just that both their successes and their failures on that front have been less flashy.
SONY has been hard at work overpricing their new Playstation and by incorporating such strong Digital Rights Management into BluRay. Add to that the fact people are perfectly happy with DVDs, so by my calculation, 40 little blue LEDs will be plenty. And that accounts even for replacements due to Playstations that catch fire.
BluRay = Digital Betamax
You could worry about the prices of the PS3 or the X-Box 360 (non-crappy model) or you could just wait for the Wii to come out. :)
I wonder how much of this is a shortage of lasers vs. sonys desire to keep HD-DVD products off the shelf util they can get a price matching (or as near as they can get) competing products to market. Maybe I need a tin foil hat but I've seen similar tactics used in the businesses I've worked for.
I remember watching "Beyond 2000" many many years ago when they were talking about the initial development of ultra-thin lasers for high-density optical media. They discovered a really easy way to make a fine blue beam: shine a UV laser (cheap) through about 20 metres of optic fibre (also fairly cheap, and can be coiled up to save space), and hey presto! ultra-fine blue laser beam at low cost. Funny that they're using specialised blue laser diodes and they're now discovering a lack of supply...
I'm thinking if there's anything on HD that I really want to see, I'll just buy it and then download it. Then I'm supporting the movie or show I like, I don't have to buy either player, and I have it in the format I prefer -- MPEG4 on my hard drive.
Laserdiscs of the 21st century?
You do know Laserdiscs had a successful 20 year run in the videophile market, only usurped by DVDs less than ten years ago?
A 20 year run for a technology is pretty good, even if joe six pack doesn't use it.
We'll have an amnesity period for Jedis to allow them turn in their light sabres, but after that we'll really have to get serious..
I wonder how this will affect the launch of the PS3... specifically, since it was intended to launch about the same time as the Wii. So instead we might have the Wii launching earlier, for less. I wonder what kind of effect it would have, but I bet it wouldn't be good for Sony.
Nichia, which currently holds 80% of the global blue laser diode supply, reported that its yield rate for blue laser diodes reached 30%
Could some knowledgable person briefly explain why a 30% yield for blue laser diodes is something to crow about? What, exactly, keeps yields so low for such a "fundamental" device? They fab chips with millions of elements and get better yields...
-k
Generally, bash is superior to python in those environments where python is not installed.
You do realize part of why there are shortages right? As the article says, Sony is holding back most of them - can you imagine why that might be?
Freaking 360 fanbois.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
With all of the people on Slashdot so rabidly Anti-Sony, I cannot believe no-one has picked up on the obvious consiracy theory yet.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Lets see, both systems have players delayed until next year meaning low sales this year.
Except one system, Blu-Ray, gets millions of players out thanks to the PS3 (who Sony is holding the diodes in reserve for). What happens when you have two sides and one of them has a few orders of magnitude more consumers buying media for it?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
> Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
... and atomic bombs. Gotta get you into the modern age at least :)
...because Sony wants the PS3 with Blu-Ray to copy the success of the PSP with UMD, but on a bigger scale?
Just because people own a PS3 doesn't mean they will automatically buy blu-ray media, which is more expensive. After you buy your over priced consule; you then have a price point of $60-$100 dollars for games. What 'I live in my mother's basement' guy is going to be able to afford replacing his dvd collection on top of purchasing his PS$ system and PS$ games??? You are assuming Sony planned far enough ahead to have enough blu-ray diodes when they haven't even began production of the system. I believe you will see extreme shortages of the PS$ system. Now if only I can find a place taking preorders, I can sell them on ebay and demand payment in souls.
Yeah, I was abit heavy handed, but someone had to give him the real meal deal. So mod me up for being right.
I eat Karma for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That's why I don't have any.
Just because people own a PS3 doesn't mean they will automatically buy blu-ray media, which is more expensive.
Really? I can buy a Blu-Ray movie for $20, about the same as a DVD. Also what you and many others forget is the power of Netflix - at first people will only rent Blu-Ray DVD's, but then when they see the increase in quality they will happily pay a few dollars more for a leap in video quality.
After you buy your over priced consule; you then have a price point of $60-$100 dollars for games. What 'I live in my mother's basement' guy is going to be able to afford replacing his dvd collection on top of purchasing his PS$ system and PS$ games???
If you'd stop to think about where you were going with that insult you were trying to get in, you'd have realized that guys living at the parents have a huge amount of disposable income because they have no rent or food costs. So that was just a really poor idea on you part.
I myself own a home (notinhabited by my parents), but will still be able to afford a PS3... It's called a "job". How much do you spend drinking, or on Tivo, or Cable? I pay for none of those things and have quite a bit more money to spend on other entertainment as a result.
You are assuming Sony planned far enough ahead to have enough blu-ray diodes when they haven't even began production of the system.
The article says they are withholding them, so there you go.
I believe you will see extreme shortages of the PS$ system. Now if only I can find a place taking preorders, I can sell them on ebay and demand payment in souls.
That part you got right. Mostly because of demand though.
Yeah, I was abit heavy handed, but someone had to give him the real meal deal. So mod me up for being right.
You're still at one. Sorry I had to refute almost every point you made, next time please try using the left side of your brain a bit before posting.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Because Sony wants the PS3 with Blu-Ray to copy the success of the PSP with UMD, but on a bigger scale?
No, because Sony wants the PS3 which includes Blu-Ray (a technology endorsed by a huge range of studios and other companies including Dell and Apple) to succeed and not be in terribly short supply.
As noted those with a bent toward conspiracy would say an additional reason would be to keep the number of HD-DVD players low while Blu-Ray in the PS3 fills the market.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley