Comments on: Toshiba announces 45GB next-gen DVD

By: megazone

megazone — Wed, 11 May 2005 01:41:49 +0000

Yeah, it’d make me hesitate too. Format wars are always ugly – Beta vs. VHS, DAT vs. DCC vs. MiniDisk… The latter is an interesting example. None of the three managed to grab enough marketshare to mainstream – and the war dragged on long enough for CD-R to become commercially viable for consumers. Minidisk is the only one that’s managed to remain in any consumer format really.

I think that Sony will release BD movies from Sony Pictures and MGM, if nothing else. Just like they’re the first to back UMD for the PSP, of course. And they can always make the dual-format discs that are BD/DVD so it will play on the friend’s DVD player.

By: gweepprefect

gweepprefect — Wed, 11 May 2005 01:27:22 +0000

You’re probably right. The PS3 will probably factor in heavily. I just hope BD isn’t just treated as a game-only format by people. I guess if movie content is available – and most importantly – affordable, people might buy it.

Then again, they might not. If it won’t work on their buddy’s DVD player, they might just opt to purchase a DVD. Sony would be foolish to stop supplying its catalog on DVD, so it might leave consumers in a pinch.

But, even if optical HD content is initially slow to take off, sneaking those BD-capable PS3′s into homes might be a great way to win the war long-term.

I mostly want the war to settle before release so I can buy one of the damn players and some content when they first hit the shelves, and not have to have to wait out a format war.

By: megazone

megazone — Wed, 11 May 2005 01:12:22 +0000

I think that if there is a war, it will suck all around – but BD will win. Because of all the reasons I’ve mentioned in the past – in summary:
1. PlayStation3
2. MUCH wider industry backing.
3. PlayStation3
4. Sony owns Sony Pictures and MGM – you won’t see HD-DVD from them, just BD.
5. PlayStation3
6. HD-DVD is pushing DVD to its limits, BD has a ton of growth room, so the longer a war limits adoption the more time BD has to out-pace HD-DVD.

And yeah, I think the PS3 is the key difference. The PS2 dramatically boosted DVD adoption. When there was talk of the XBox 360 supported HD-DVD I was a little concerned, but it is normal DVD media. The PS3 will put BD into millions of homes, totally apart for other player sales.

By: univinus

univinus — Wed, 11 May 2005 01:08:00 +0000

yeah, this seems like an odd announcement if they’re finalising an agreement for that compromise format you posted about earlier. wtf are toshiba thinking? blu-ray still kills them in the capacity stakes.

bloody hell, just when i thought i could relax.

By: gweepprefect

gweepprefect — Wed, 11 May 2005 01:01:47 +0000

That they are still warring this late in the game sucks for us.

Stupid dick waving contest, if you ask me. It’s going to blow up in their faces and both formats will die, because a huge portion of the population will not care, and will be content with SD DVDs.