Sony CEO sees ‘stalemate’ in disc fight (1 Viewer)

[Sanjay Gupta]

1) All Blu-Ray drives are completely backward compatible with DVD.
2) Blu-Ray already offers more space than DVD and as a matter of fact, more than HD-DVD also.
3) Even with the most pessimistic' numbers, the PS3 having already sold 6 million is guaranteed to sell atleast an additional 6 million worldwide over the next one year, which by any stretch of the imagination is a figure that is going to take HD-DVD atleast longer than the next one year. Thus it is quite plausible that the cost of production of the Blu-Ray drive, mind you we are only referring to the drive, will have substantially come down to the levels of atleast as low as that of HD-DVD drives, if not even lesser. The already falling prices of a Blue-Ray drive can be judged by the launch of a £125 Blu-ray ROM drive by 'Philips and Lite-On Digital Solutions'. Based on most other product pricing, one can reasonably expect this Blu-ray ROM drive to be priced at around $125 in the US. NOw this is a price at which one can really see Blu-ray ROM drives being included in mainstream PCs. Another year of PS3 sales in addition to the potentially huge numbers of Blu-ray ROM drive sales and you can imagine the price point a Blu-ray ROM drive might go down to.
Edited to add the following link: http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquir...-ray-rom-drive

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

There have been several reports by various analysts that predict quite a rosy picture for the PS3 post 2008. The following is the first link that I was able to come up with by a quick search on the net. The report seems quite a relatively recent one considering the date on the story. --> http://ps3.qj.net/Analysts-Xbox-360-.../49/aid/102749

I am sorry to say, but at times it seems like people living in the US tend to forget that there is a world outside and beyond the East & West coast of the US. In case anyone is wondering what this has to do with anything. Simply that the PS3 has all along sold relatively well outside the US and that is inspite of the higher prices that Sony charges outside the US.

 

[Brian-W]

Not sure why that is, but if that's a patch, that's pretty unacceptable, especially for a PC product (no need to submit for approval like Sony/MS/Nintendo). Product can be manufactured 3 weeks before it needs to be on store shelves.

Anyway, to get this back on target, my point in all of this was the PS3 did not need a BD drive in order to be a good game machine.

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

@ Cees Alons
Can you please help me understand the reason why the 'European Blu-ray Chairman calls HD DVD Group's actions "unbelievable"' thread was deemed fit for closure, while this thread is not? Please believe me when I say, it's not that I have any problems with the closure of that thread or for that matter the 'not' closing of this thread. But I really am not able to tell the difference between the two threads. Both threads refer to statements made by BDA representatives and both are related to the HD wars. In fact, atleast based on the posts made in that thread compared to the one's made here, there is far more HD war like talk in this thread.

 

[RobertR]

I wonder what these "analysts" predicted prior to the PS3's launch. History is FULL of examples of people paid "good money" to be completely wrong.

 

[Douglas Monce]

Who spends $30 or $40 on HD discs? Thats crazy. Most of mine were $19.95. If its more than $25 I don't buy it.

Doug

 

[Jari K]

This is interesting, thanks for charing.

Still, based on what I´ve seen now (and with e.g. online-games like "Warhawk"), PS3 really does a outstanding job with graphic and game play combination. HD-graphics look great and game play is smooth. While I love Wii, I truly feel that it was a mistake from them to stick with SD when it comes to resolution..

I´ve personally always disliked (again, my opinion only!) these hyper-fast PC online-games, where you really don´t see what´s going on - you just die in a matter of seconds. You have to be some kind of professional-yoda in the game BEFORE you can actually enjoy it. (Again, purely my opinion!). With "Warhawk", I´ve found some interest to these online-games again. I admit, that I have played the game mostly with my friends (not "unknowns" from the net), but still.

My point is, that at least for me, PS3 has delivered in BOTH HD and game fronts.

To me it´s a bit funny that people talk about these "sale numbers" and "analyst predictions" and forget what the people, the actual consumers say. My claim is, that people who actually BOUGHT PS3 have been more than happy. Sure, not everyone (it´s impossible), but most. Who then cares what some analyst says? Just give me good films and games and I´m happy. For me, PS3 has some good games and Blu-ray has some good movies.

 

[Cees Alons]

You should have PMed me.

But here's your answer: that thread was about a person on one of the format sides ranting against the other side (and probably not very much aware of what's going on in real life as well).
So it's war talk and hardly interesting to discuss further outside the common designated threads for that.

This thread is about a CEO of one of the main commercial parties of the format competition calling it a 'stalemate'. That's peace talk and extremely interesting to discuss here outside the war zone.




Cees

 

[ppltd]

I have been one that puts little faith in 'Analysts' perdictions. On any given subject one can find an equal number of Analysts on both sides of the equations. We tend to pick the ones that support our own findings and dismiss the ones that don't. So much for Analysts and Experts.

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

Although I might not agree completely about the second thread being totally devoid of war talk, your reasoning as a whole seems quite logical.
Thank you.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Neither do I (I've never spent more than $20 on an HD disc, aside from preordering the 5-disc Blade Runner set), but somebody must be or else there wouldn't be so many discs sitting on the shelves of Best Buy, Circuit City, Walmart, Target, etc. at full retail price.

Remember, we're not talking about HTF hobbyists; we're talking about the general public.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

There seems to be a trend in some PC games of putting part of the game on the disc that you buy and making you download a huge amount of content when you install it (see Steam games like Red Orchestra). I'm not sure what the logic is, aside from maybe reducing piracy or giving the publisher the ability to update the code up to (and beyond) the last moment.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I am pretty sure that the PS3 is outselling the X360 in Europe these days (and it certainly is in Japan).

It's hard to bring the Wii, which (for now at least) is killing both of them everywhere, into this equation because it isn't a hi-def machine.

Depending on who you ask, the PS3 price cuts may have actually been slower than Sony originally planned for. Who knows. . .

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

I can assure you and I have the information from as reliable a source as you can get, that Sony has been ready since the beginning of summer to make price cuts far sooner and much deeper than what they have. THe only reason that they have not done so is due to the immense pressure from the CE manufacturers including Sony's own CE division.

PS: Please do not ask who the source is since I cannot disclose it in an open forum. All I am willing to say is that he is a very close friend. Although inadvertantly I had disclosed who my friend is in another thread, which also I have now edited to remove my friend's identity at his personal request.

 

[bigluigi]

I totally agree with the above assessment. After all, it was just a short 11 months ago that the BDA held a press conference and issued a statement that Blu-ray was victorious as the premiere high definition format of choice. Now contrast that with the head of Sony, Howard Stringer, publicly admitting both formats are in a stalement. That's quite an admission. I know of one web-site where he would have been banned.

 

[bigluigi]

Yes...Sony's strategy of selling an expensive gaming/BR machine outside the US has worked very well for them.
I read a post on another site that I thought was very interesting. A Home theater enthusiast was describing how Blu-ray became the dominant defacto format in the UK by simply selling PS3s to younger gaming enthusiasts in such numbers that the pitifully few local retailors that catered to home theater products had no choice but to offer Blu-ray products almost exclusively.
HD-DVD didn't have a chance as both formats are still very expensive over there and remain so. Is it only here (USA) that Toshiba is making a stand with pricing?
Just curious Mr Gupta but is this what happened in India and how much, in US dollars did you pay for your PS3? What does the A2 sell for over there?

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Which of course begs the question why Sony thought the PS3 was the "killer" strategy. My kids are Nintendo heads and have been bugging me for a Wii since it came out. They could care less about the PS3, because all the games they want are available for the Wii, which leaves me with no justification for bringing a PS3 into the house other than for HT purposes, which would annoy my wife to no end.

On the other hand, a $200 HD DVD player would require no justification because it's not a $400 game console and would be exclusive to my HT room. However, before I get to that point, I need an HD display, which is going to be @ least a year off in any event (gotta buy a house first) and hopefully by the time I'm ready for that, the format war will be over.

Just a perspective from an "average" HT enthusiast.

 

[ppltd]

Quote:



Originally Posted by Aaron Silverman
I am pretty sure that the PS3 is outselling the X360 in Europe these days (and it certainly is in Japan).




I stated the only place the PS3 is outselling he 360 is Japan.

I have included the last five weeks of sales data on the consoles The numbers are worldwide. I am not certian how they break down by region. One final comment, the last weeks entry includes a full week of sales of the 399.99 PS3. Sony's problem is totally a lack of quality games that gammers want.

11/10/2007ConsoleWeeklyTotalWii276,85513,841,210360227,98513,180,051PS3136,3935,688,467PSP136,23826,233,21111/3/2007ConsoleWeeklyTotalDS421,28854,483,114Wii280,88213,564,355360203,65712,952,066PSP199,16626,096,973PS3138,4815,552,07410/27/2007ConsoleWeeklyTotalDS413,70954,061,826Wii306,53513,283,473PSP201,10425,897,807360184,58912,748,409PS3143,0675,413,59310/20/2007ConsoleWeeklyTotalDS439,27553,648,117Wii290,05012,976,938PSP210,47925,696,703360190,62412,563,820PS3151,4375,270,52610/13/2007ConsoleWeeklyTotalDS396,92853,208,842Wii228,52012,686,888360212,21612,373,196PSP 211,81125,486,224PS3152,5995,119,089

 

[Cees Alons]

You could use a PC monitor as a temporary solution (I used a DELL 24" 1920x1200 flatpanel LCD monitor, HDCP-compliant, until my new TV arrived). All you'll need additionally is a HDMI -> DVI cable.

It went to my new PC later. No value lost.

BTW, the HiDef image is even more beautiful than a 480i NTSC image on your regular low-def TV already. Probably caused by the much better horizontal resolution and the increased color definition, part of which the TV can handle apparently. (No real comparison with a 1920 x 1080 image, though.)


Cees

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Amen! The last must have title (as I've said before) released for any Sony console was Guitar Hero 3..... for the PS2. [Yoda]An utter failure as a gaming console this PS3 is.[/Yoda]