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Samsung to Launch Dual Blu-ray HD DVD Player
narramissic writes "File this one under 'if you can't beat em, join em.' Samsung, one of the main backers of the Blu-ray Disc format, Friday said it plans to release an optical disc player this year that will play both Blu-ray Disc and the rival HD DVD format. With the announcement, Samsung becomes the second company to shift from a single-format stance (LG launched a dual player in North America earlier this year.) 'Our main concern is with the consumer and not a particular technology,' said Samsung spokesman Kwak Bumjoon."
How long before the device manufacturer's figure this pattern out
1) Create two competing technonologies that are equally sufficient but incompatible.
2) Stifle standardization
3) market more expensive devices that handle both, as both a marketing advantage, a manufacturing skill advantage,
4) and to inflate costs, assuming profit margin is proportional to gross, and the number of units sold is the same.
5) profit!
there is no ?????
A very interesting side effect is that MS can no longer dictate platform specs. This is remarkably new phenomena and worth watching.
Finally Could the slash dot filter PLEASE stop people from writing M$ instead of MS. (;_;)
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Sorry about the "M$" trouble, I didn't realize it offended anyone.. though I'm not anti-microsoft. I think Microsoft is beginning to learn that being a little to assertive with certain technologies, and pushing them on others.. is becoming pretty hard to do, now that the market is becoming more and more competitive. They're to the point where they're beginning to actually let things unravel and ride the wave in. Good or bad, I don't know.. but it's still interesting as you said.
"Please, shut up. Just when I think you can't say anything more stupid, you speak again." -Archie Bunker.
I believe you answered your own questions earlier in your post when you said:
I didn't have a DVD player until they were around the $100 mark.
By saying that you obviously acknowledged that over time the technology price dropped and it became more common-place, there was more competition, etc.Wow! A humble apology on slashdot--land of thick skins.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Do I have proof this is entirely Sony's fault? No, but you cannot show me any real reason for the big price difference in HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. They both use essentially the same technologies: both use 405 nm wavelength lasers, both support essentially the same audio/video codecs, and both use the same basic DRM. BD requires that "hard coating" for their discs, but that shouldn't affect player prices. Most the other "benefits" of BD are based on the way they are reading/writing data to the discs and should have little relative impact. It really is a case of Sony thinking they have this thing one.
It's going to be a longer, slower march. The number of people with no video disc players when DVD came out was pretty big; the number of people with displays that make HD worth it is considerably smaller and the people with the displays are the ones who don't care so much about the cost.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Huh... I never knew there was anyone offended by this, either. I suppose I can stop writing it, as well. Of course, part of me still wants to write something like that... *contemplates ranting about people paying $600 to be beta testers....*
:) But I'm still not convinced there's a point to either format. DVD is fine. It's the same problem with XP Vs Vista, or as it was with N64 Vs Gamecube, etc. There's not much incentive to switch, since it's not a big enough improvement to justify the cost.. Better resolution? Sure. Enough for most to care? Not really. More space? Yup. Do most DVDs actually use the entire 4.7 Gb? No. Better copy-protection? Sure. Does ANY consumer care? No.
Anyway, I can see the benefit to the hybrid player. Why sell two products when you can just have one? Less costs = more profits
That always reminds me of that 640k quote.M
It's as good as anyone really needs until prices comes down, then everyone will use HD, and pretty soon, everyone will find ridiculous watching anything in SD.