GamersDailyNews asks gamers about Blu-Ray - Do they want it or not?

MazzingerZ - 451 days 12 hours ago

They won't because it would make even more obvious that the magic USD 199 price tag is just an illusion, 199 + HDD + BR add-on = more expensive than a PS3.

To get a BR add-on that can compete with SONY's BR quality on the PS3 wouldn't be cheap, with the HD-DVD add-on you could say they were different formats, that both had pros and cons, etc,etc... but not if it's a BR in both as in that case you compare BR vs BR...so they wouldn't get a way with cheap components

MSFT speaks as if it wasn't yet decided which is the standard HD format, as it is right now, it's BR, today even the average Joe knows what a blu-ray is, when Toshiba stoped manufacturing HDDVD early this year it became world wide news, all of the sudden HD format started to became a normal term to see in news paper and on TV...

before that only AVS people knew a "war" was going on...after february 2008, the average Joe got to know there's a HD format called Blu-ray...many have no idea what HD-DVD is...or better said: was.

I use seldom the BR capability on the PS3, but I love to get my games in ONLY ONE disc, scratch-proof and the most important, that what I bought, after 2 years, feels as fresh and modern as then... the PS3 is a piece of HW far from be considered obsolete, Kutaragi is a genius.

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Hobgoblin - 451 days 23 hours ago

Are you using the Blu-Ray feature for watching many movies? It'd be insteresting to be able to gauge how many PS3 users are using their console as a media player as much as a games system.
And do you think Blu-Ray swayed your decision to buy a PS3? Perhaps Blu-Ray is actually the saviour of the PS3?

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WAR_MACHINE77 - 451 days 22 hours ago

Yeah I watch movies with my PS3 but I wasn't really swayed by Blu-ray, more of an icing on the cake kinda thing.

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BattleAxe - 451 days 16 hours ago

I own 6 Blu-Ray movies and personally it was one of the reasons why I bought a PS3. I still buy DVDs from time to time because of how cheap they are now, and the PS3 upscales them. Even with the upscaling the picture you get from a Blu-Ray movie is so much clearer and sharper. If I owned an XBOX I'd want a Blu-Ray add-on. The way I see it is why not? If you want that movie experience then at least you have choice.

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bishop-br - 451 days 16 hours ago

@Hobgoblin

I really don't know no one that have more BDs than games on PS3.

If someone is saving anything here, it's the other way around. PS3 is, indeed, firstly a gaming machine (as far as for anyone I know).

BD is, as Warmachine said, a plus, an extra feature. We really don't aim for it, but having it on the console have opened all of a new market, which we keep visiting every now and them.

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Ju - 451 days 14 hours ago

BD was a key factor in my decision for either 360 or PS3. It was obvious I'd go with a HD TV for the next gen consoles. And it was sure one more criteria to use my whole equipment to the max when spending that much money. I've to get a 7.1 system yet, though. I got an el cheapo 2.1 now (which is still better then "just" speakers).

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BaschPS3 - 451 days 11 hours ago

As stated above, Blu-Ray was more of an icing on the cake. I was in it for the games. Nowadays, though, I've been using the Blu-Ray capabilities quite a bit. Probably more so than I use it to play games. Not that I don't like any of the games. In fact, just the opposite. I love my collection of PS3 software. However, I have interests beyond just games: anime, movies, and televised dramas. The PS3 now sits as my hub for all four media types. Since games takes up only a fourth of that hub, I spend more time using the Blu-Ray capabilities. Still, I love Sony, and appreciate all of their great games they have given to us so far (Uncharted, Ratchet and Clank, Resistance, MGS4, etc...).

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Rockstar - 451 days 20 hours ago

I feel sorry for you.

It's quite sad really.

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Some_One_Plays - 451 days 20 hours ago

What I find ironic is that the PlayStation 3 has more full downloadable games than the XBOX 360, which is none. Warhawk, Socom: Confrontation, or even Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. The last one I remember was Burnout: Paradise nothing the XBOX 360 does, yet Microsoft is the one pushing digital downloads. Sony is pushing physical/digital and excelling in both departments.

Whether you like it or not retail will always be here because networks can be shut down/turned off. My Blu-ray player can only be turned off by me or no current. You also get more freedom with physical media than with digital media. As with the games having 50GB (PlayStation 3) of data is a plus to me not 8.54 (XBOX 360). Just look at Halo 3 and Killzone 2, dramatic difference.

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Fanboy Slaughter - 451 days 17 hours ago

I bet you cried when Attack of The Show had an HD-DVD funeral.

Go ahead and take your Digital Downloads, and then cry about it when your Hard Drive containing all of your movies buys the farm and you have to spend countless hours re-downloading (and possibly re-buying) all your lost pseudo-HD media.

And also, prove HD-DVD, as a format and based on it's specs, was and somehow is still better despite being a dead format.

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dcbronco - 451 days 15 hours ago

Since that was at the release of the 360 I'm not sure why people believe it should have been included. That was mean DD is the present. Microsoft offers Xbox games and TV shows for download. They didn't go with a full on download only system. They stuck with the current format and offered some of what the future has to offer. Sony put all of it's eggs in the Blu-ray basket and has lost billions because of it. So while Microsoft lost maybe 2.5 billion on R & D and RRoD. Sony lost well over 5 billion on the Cell and Blu-ray. In fact, if it hadn't been for RRoD, the 360 would have made over 1.5 billion in profits to this point and would be well on it's way to recouping some of the loses on the original Xbox. The PS3 on the other hand is a long way from making back any of the Sony's money. And if they have to do a price cut, it will just add to the bill. Microsoft is setting the ground work for DD with the current Live. They will push that further in 3 years or so with their next console when a 1 tb hard drive will cost them $30. Sony went from Blu-ray and UMD to selling movies by download themselves. They know the profit margins are far better on DD and they know Apple and Microsoft have been making a profit on DD while they have made nothing on Blu-ray.

@ Some one plays- Like you said, your power can be turned off. Look up the history of the Internet. The original purpose was to make a system that couldn't be knockout in a time of war because it was capable of going multiple routes. While your power lines aren't.

@ Fanboy Slaughter- Blu-ray has a faster transfer rate and more space. But the difference in the sound quality that the extra space allows can be made up by higher bit-rate audio on HD DVD. Most people can't tell the difference anyway and the ones that can know that higher bit-rates take care of the uncompressed sound problem. On the space issue, HD DVD had 3 layer disc that gave them 51 gbs. And the 3 layer HD was still cheaper to make than the single layer Blu-ray.

The main disadvantage of Blu-ray was cost.

It cost over a million each to change the production line to make Blu-ray(thousands of lines). Hd DVD was exactly like DVD so there were no changes needed.

Each Blu-ray blank cost as much as $3 more to make according to Sony, originally it was $10 according to Sony so they made the process better. An HD DVD cost $1 more. And each layer was an additional $1.

Each Blu-ray master for movie production cost as much as 25,000. And the process was hard in the beginning when there were a lot of disc that didn't work right and had to be trashed. HD was like DVD and it was much cheaper to make masters day one.

HDi, the interactive component of HD DVD was ready with in months of the release of the format and all players could use it. BD-live started to show up in players this year and all players before it(besides the PS3) can not use the BD-Live features. 100s of wasted dollars.

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Biphter - 451 days 14 hours ago

.. Then please explain how WipEout HD manages to Play and look amazing?

Microsoft talk about forcing. How about this; If buy an Xbox360 i'm forced to use DVD. With PS3 I have a choice, I can play DVD or Blu-Ray.

Another big one, Hard disks... I recently chose a 320 GB standard laptop HDD and it cost me a packet of peanuts. It slotted comfortably into my PS3 with no problems. In a few months time I could (If I so choose to) buy a higher capacity HDD and that too will be gladly welcomed by my PS3.... Microsoft offer 1 "choice" for hard drive upgrades and charge triple the amount of standard 120GB hard disks.

Something is wrong with their logic.

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DeathroW22 - 451 days 14 hours ago

Funny how it seems sony are beating microsoft at their own plan, you know with dd. I don't see microsoft putting up full games on their store.

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Gaara_724 - 451 days 13 hours ago

betamax was better than vhs but u dont c any one geting made over that let the hddvd go

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Hobgoblin - 451 days 21 hours ago

Actually, that's a very good point. Sour grapes after HD-DVD failed, I guess.

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DaTruth - 451 days 19 hours ago

Lots of people out there with a $400 paper weight that says HD-DVD on the front and they're quite bitter. Was there ever any doubt how this would end, they let their Sony hate throw away their money.

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Sitdown - 451 days 17 hours ago

"If he doesn't think that new optical formats are part of the future, then why did they make an HD DVD add-on."

It is called capitalizing on the current market......no different than people taking advantages of trends, while positioning themselves for the future. If gamestop could get you to buy an Atari, when clearly we are passed that.......I bet they would sell it to you.

@datruth
I am not sure why you think they are paper weights....after bluray won...I went out a bought a hd dvd player. 1.)It still plays movies, despite being the losing format. 2.) You can find super cheap hd dvd movies, with better features than what bluray is offering....come on now, bluray live is still not doing what hd dvd was doing when it first came out. 3.)It is a cheap upscaling dvd player.

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Max Power - 451 days 17 hours ago

you mean limiting the size of downloadable games?

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Sitdown - 451 days 17 hours ago

believe that they increased the size before......and do not see what would prevent them from doing it again. Just because size is limited now, does not mean that they are not positioned for the future.

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aiphanes - 451 days 17 hours ago

When the price of a bluray player drops below $150...and when the disc prices drop below $20...People will switch to bluray from DVD. All this will happen by this time next year.

Bluray players are already less than $199....

Not everybody has a fast internet connection or even cable or Sat. So DD will not be for everybody.

CDs are still alive, so DVDs will also be alive, but bluray will eventually replace DVDs, because sooner or later everbody will have an HDTV.

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DaTruth - 451 days 17 hours ago

In the inevitable, Bluray has an incredible Christmas and Dark Knight bluray sells incredible numbers threads, we won't see AgentVX.

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zag - 451 days 16 hours ago

"To many other ways to watch movies, Sat/Cable pay per view, Internet, digital downloads. Blu-ray will never be huge, though it won't disappear very soon either. But it won't replace or outsell DVD, that is for sure."

All the studios have agreed to dump DVD production in 2010, and focus on just blu-ray production that was decided last year.

Also wait till FullHD2 comes out youthink 1980x1080 is big now, try 2080x1800 LCD screens have been in testprduction for a while now and should be on sale in Japan next year, Seen a Samsung screen it was 2.5meters long and about 1.5 meters high real big at least twice the size of a 50" screen easy.

FullHD movies are around 12gig compressed now what size do you think FullHD2 movies will probably over 25gig compressed.

Are you really wanting to pay $30 for a download that will take 4+ hours to download and what most 360's wouldn't even fit 1 download on the HD.

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Fanboy Slaughter - 451 days 16 hours ago

What a lot of people seem to forget (seemingly willfully) is that DVD failed to overtake VHS in sales until 2002, five whole years after the format was introduced.

So when 2011 comes around, if Blu-Ray hasn't overtaken DVD by then, THEN something can be said, in the meantime, let time tell.

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Hobgoblin - 451 days 16 hours ago

That's true - CDs are still here. Indeed, every time a new format comes along, the first thing people say isn't "Oooo! What excellent quality!", it's "Oh great. So now I have to buy everything all over again?". That happened with CD and DVD, and now people are kinda getting wise to it. Plus, there are so many option now. Once DVD, and VHS for that matter, won out, it's not like there was any other option.
Blu-Ray even has to compete with iTunes, and as this tech improves, Blu-Ray might struggle to keep up.
There's no denying that SD broadcasts looks terrible on an HD TV though, so that's got to help the new HD formats.

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Oner - 451 days 16 hours ago

DVD vs VHS sounds ever so similar to BD vs DVD

Source link - http://news.cnet.com/8301-1...

I will just post it here as most probably won't bother following the link.

"DVD will fail? Sounds a lot like Blu-ray

1. Consumers aren't willing to rebuy movies

They will be the same tired movies that everyone already owns and will be loathe to buy again. [...] Because the titles available will be ones that people already own, they will naturally sell less than a new release that is still hot from the theaters. This will result in even a bigger cost for companies because the less they sell, the more each feature costs to implement on each title.

Right. Just like nobody repurchased their albums on CD or VHS tapes on DVD. This one seems to get dragged out for every new format and is quickly ignored once it takes off. We're not saying that people will rush to replace their DVDs with Blu-ray discs, but it seems obvious consumers eventually give in and repurchase media if the new format is worthwhile. The only difference we'd note is that well-kept DVDs don't deteriorate after use like VHS tapes did, so perhaps consumers will be somewhat less likely to replace their DVDs that still look as good as the day they bought them.

Verdict: Same argument now used against Blu-ray.

2. Not enough movies

All the companies involved with DVD are promising a catalog of 250 titles at the launch with maybe 50 to 100 actually available in the stores in the beginning. [...] And even if they do manage to finish 250 movies in time for the launch, what will those movies be? Top Gun? Rocky?

When any type of new format launches, early adopters are stuck with a pretty limited initial selection. It happened with DVD, and it happened with Blu-ray, which still only has about 650 titles available two years after its release. And we're seeing it all over again with criticism of the selection on online movie services, such as iTunes, Vudu, and the Netflix Player. This argument seems pretty shortsighted overall--if a new format offers a new compelling experience, the content will follow.

Verdict: Same argument now used against Blu-ray.

3. Can't record

Consumers will look at DVD and see that it doesn't record. That will instantly arouse suspicions in their mind that if the movies they want to watch are not available on the DVD discs, then the machine will be useless to them and a waste of money.

DVD recorders are old technology now, but when DVD first came out one of the knocks against it was that it didn't record like VHS--which was a killer feature before DVRs became ubiquitous. Blu-ray recorders are available now in Japan, but we haven't seen any signs of them coming to the U.S. in the near future. But the real issue is that Blu-ray recording just doesn't matter as much with high-def DVRs and so many TV series being released on high-quality DVD and Blu-ray sets.

Verdict: Same argument now used against Blu-ray, but less people care.

4. Nobody cares about special features

Another question is, how many consumers actually want and use all the special features that DVD might offer? CD players offer all kinds of special programming and playback options, yet most people never touch these features. A cheap VCR is seen as too intimidating to most Americans. They just want to watch the movie, not select different versions, languages, and such. The LD market has proven that these extra features are desired, but only by a small segment of the population.

This point has been made about Blu-ray right here on CNET, in Executive Editor David Carnoy's Fully Equipped column. While I tend to agree that special features aren't a big draw for DVD or Blu-ray, it tends to be the icing on the cake, rather than the main draw of the format. DVD didn't succeed because of special features--and neither will Blu-ray--but they're a nice extra.

Verdict: Same argument now used against Blu-ray.

5. Picture quality isn't that much better

And now we get into the most controversial aspect of the entire DVD debate. Picture quality, or the lack there of. When DVD was first announced, it was claimed to offer D1 Master Tape quality. A short while later, the companies said it was much better than VHS but worse than LD. Now they have swung the other way again and are claiming D1 quality again. Quite simply, this will be impossible on commercially prepared, feature-length films.

It seems insane to argue that DVD isn't a huge leap over VHS in terms of image quality, but it's less crazy than you think. It takes content makers a while to fully understand how to use new technology, which is why many first-run CDs and DVDs are surprisingly mediocre. The same thing happened with Blu-ray--anyone who saw the first version of The Fifth Element on Blu-ray can attest to that. But now that we've seen a steady flow of exceptional looking Blu-ray discs, it's going to be harder to find people who aren't impressed by the image quality of Blu-ray on a big-screen HDTV.

Verdict: Same argument now used against Blu-ray.

6. The industry is just greedy

DVD is just a bad idea. It is being forced upon a uncaring and unwanted public and is an inferior product that simply isn't needed or desired. DVD exists only for one reason. Greed. Motion picture studios are always looking for a way to sell the same stuff over and over again and they think DVD is the answer.

More cynical observers might characterize Blu-ray as just the industry's latest attempt to make money on the same movies yet again. But the industry didn't introduce DVD out of the kindness of its heart--it did it to make money--and few people look back on successful formats like DVD and CD as a devious scheme by motion picture studios.

Verdict: Same argument now used against Blu-ray.

So, since the same arguments that didn't matter with DVD are now being used against Blu-ray, does that mean Blu-ray is destined to be as successful as DVD? Not quite. The simple fact is that Blu-ray's main draw is that it offers significantly better image quality than DVD, and whether consumers think that's a worthwhile upgrade will make or break the format. All the other arguments essentially don't matter, just like they didn't with DVD."

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DaTruth - 451 days 15 hours ago

If it were up to these people we would still be using record players and old projectors. There's a whole sub-culture of people hoping that every new and improved tech doesn't make it to market.

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superaktieboy - 451 days 15 hours ago

Why don't you just die? FAIL!

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Hobgoblin - 451 days 16 hours ago

There'll probably always be a place for physical media, but downloads are increasing in quality - it won't be long before they're up to HD standard.
Plus, as the article says, how about stores selling AVI and Divx (in HD, or maybe even dual format now the capacities are getting so big) on memory cards. You can watch it in whichever device you want then - PS3, X360, even your smartphone.

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OnslaughtX - 451 days 13 hours ago

The majority of people are also too dumb to work a computer. DD will never take off. Fact.

See, I can do it too!

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DaTruth - 451 days 12 hours ago

Upscaled DVD is the biggest fraud in the industry. The majority of people can't see the difference between DVD and upscaled DVD.

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Fanboy Slaughter - 451 days 16 hours ago

"you need to get a grip and not look at the small picture even if you think it makes ur d!ick look bigger"

Ha ha ha.

Bubbles for that

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Narutone66 - 451 days 8 hours ago

More like get a brain. See his avatar, looks like he is a closet masochist and MS is a sadist. They really go together.

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ozps3 - 451 days 13 hours ago

Ricdog,

Is a perfect example of what happens when a brother and sister have $ex and have a mentally retard child named Ricdog.

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Sarcasm - 451 days 10 hours ago

15.1

And it's good that they "keep it in the family" cause we don't want any of his offspring infecting our world any more than it already is.

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Pain - 451 days 16 hours ago

...

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Killjoy3000 - 451 days 10 hours ago

We shouldn't even acknowledge these f*ckin' idiots anymore.

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rawd - 451 days 17 hours ago

oh no u didant

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Narutone66 - 451 days 8 hours ago

the $199 SKU, that's why they want you to buy their over priced hdd by saying that DD is the future. And the funny thing is, a lot of hardcore 360 fans believe them.

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