Sony to include HDMI on all PS3s! (1 Viewer)

[Jesse Blacklow]

This is directly from almost every news source at the Tokyo Game Show. Here's Joystiq's take on the big news: Wowzers. Well, there's Blu-ray's first $500 player, and so the plot continues to thicken. Personally, I'll still be getting the top-end one, because I'm still going to be gaming on it a lot.

 

[Jerome Grate]

Probably one of the few good decisions made by Sony. Too bad it's still a limited release in the US.

 

[Chris S]

Also interesting is that they announced the price for the Japanese market as ¥49,800 or roughly $425. I'm hoping this translates into a price drop in the US as well. Could Sony's strategy all along have been to announce a higher price as to keep Microsoft from lowering the 360 price? Nah... that gives Sony too much credit.

 

[James St]

20 GB PS3 Drops Price in Japan Only

 

[Frank@N]

As I mentioned in another thread, this is basically a $100 price drop!

 

[Jeff(R)]

Here's a video of the PS3's (not final) user interface:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player.p...e=wmv&id=13649

Jeff

 

[Chad R]

Okay, I got a question about this thing. Will gamers without an HDTV be able to play games on SDTV? And if so, they shouldn't be able to donwconvert Blu-Ray movies to SDTV, right? These answers should effect the supposed bump this unit is supposed to give Blu-Ray in the war, right? I mean, if there's a bunch of people with the system that don't have HDTVs, it doesn't really effect the penetration of Blu-Ray right?

(I'm format neutral right now, just itching to get a High Def player and want to make the most informed choice I can as to which one.)

 

[Seth=L]

I have a question. Does the $500 PS3 have HDMI 1.3 or just 1.1 or 1.2? That could make a pretty big difference for the future.

 

[Austan]

The PS3 will also have non-HD outputs and you will still be able to enjoy games without HD.

Blu-Ray movies should be downverted and ported to non-HD outputs.

Those questions have nothing to do with Blu-Ray adoption. You asked about compatability.

PS3 does play a role in the format war. Everyone is on agreement that the HD media adoption is going very slowly. The last time I saw a figure (outside a forum/blog) it was 65,000 HD DVD and 10,000 BP1000 sold. These numbers will continue to grow but at a snails pace. PS3 will launch in Nov 17 with an estimated 500,000 units and another 1.5 million by end of year. Even if Sony doesnt reach those figures, the point is that the demand is there and millions will be sold.

Q: How does PS3 play a role in the format war?
A: IMHO: There are always 3 ways to vote: YES, NO and no-vote. But sometimes there are only 2 outcomes to your "3 ways to vote". Let's say there is a sale that ends on Saturday and today is Monday and you ask your signficant other if you can buy it and they say "let me think about it" (which is a no-vote for now). Saturday approaches and still "no-vote" is made. When Sunday comes the sales is over so no-vote is equal to a NO. A YES can still be made on Sunday but the sale is over and you will have to pay more. Most people are "waiting for the dust to clear before they buy into a HD format. Any one of those people that buys a PS3 can now enjoy a Blu-Ray movie for $35. So even though they casted a "no-vote" for the format war, their "no-vote" is a YES for Blu-Ray. Why is it a YES for Blu Ray? If they chose to go with HD DVD, they would need to spend another $499 (you can find it cheaper) to watch HD-DVD movies. And remember these are people "waiting for the dust to clear". Another example: If you own a PC and are not really a gamer, but everyone is talking about a new game and you wanted to see what the hype is all about, would you go out and buy the PC version for $35 or would you go buy a brand new Mac for $499 and then buy the game for $35?

The HD DVD defense is that there is an external XBOX360 HD DVD drive available. But it cost $200. So the curiosity factor is severely hampered by the extra cost. PS3 owners just need to see a movie on Blu Ray the like and put it in their cart.

I beleive that it will be HDMI 1.3 on both models...

 

[Frank@N]

Chad,

I saw a post elsewhere regarding SDTV owners and the PS3 (or the 360 for that matter).

Apparently it will be possible to setup the console for SD resolution, but what would be the point?

The entire purpose of these new systems is HD gaming & HD movies (although the 360 didn't ship with HD DVD).

Game developers are also not doing much Q&A testing on SDTVs, as evidenced by that recent 360 zombie game that has unreadable text on SDTVs.

If I stumble upon a PS3 on launch day, I might buy it and stow it for a few weeks till I cave in on a HD display.

But if you have no specific plans for a new display, you might as well wait for the price drops and avoid the madness & high prices.

Will the sales of PS3 and 360 systems be hampered by limited HDTV installations? Nintendo is probably hoping so...

 

[ppltd]

I doubt the installed base of HDTV's in homes will have any impact on the PS3 or 360 buyers. The initial buyers are loking at the games, with HD as a side benefit. Certainly, a year ago, there were fewer HDTV in homes, and the only thing that slowed the 360 sales were lack of availability.

Thomas Eisenmann

 

[Cheech]

I admit I never understood Sony's train of thought here.

If you want to buy a HD DVD/Blu Ray player, buy a player, not a game machine. While "some" people may buy Blu Ray movies for it, that certainly isn't going to be the machine's primary use. UMDs failed, and those actually had a REASON for PSP owners to buy them - if you're on a bus with your PSP, you are a captive audience for the media formats that device offers. At home, there is no such restriction.

What will be telling is how well Microsoft's HD-DVD attachment sells. Those people ARE going to be using their 360 as the primary HD movie player, and therefore will be buying media for it. If it's a success, that means good things for both formats IMO, though in not necessarily the same way.

My gut tells me that Blu Ray will be another failed format in a long line of failed (consumer) Sony formats. The real question is whether or not the HD disc formats will ever hit critical mass, or remain niche products like laserdisc.

 

[nolesrule]

UMD failed because not enough people wanted to watch a VHS-quality full-length feature on a 2-inch screen at DVD prices on a vendor-locked system (PSP). It is not a good comparison to either Blu-ray or HD DVD given the future of hardware support for both systems.

 

[Rob_Walton]

If UMD has failed what does that mean for HD DVD! I'd say the sales are at least an order of magnitude lower over a similar time-span.

BTW scuttlebut is that Sony are re-launching UMD having agreed lower pricing with the studios. We'll see how that pans out for them...

 

[ppltd]

I guess the same it means for BR. Absolutly nothing. I do not see any way to compare these systems.

Thomas Eisenmann

 

[Kyle McKnight]

They made a PSP with a 2" screen?

 

[Rob_Walton]

I agree, it just surprises me that UMD failure is sometimes held up as a sign of Sony's inability to launch a format, when it's success far outstrips anything these new formats have achieved. Personally I suspect both BD and HD DVD will remain niche for quite some time, and the console player options will be the major sellers.

 

[nolesrule]

OK, 4-inch. It's still pretty darn small for watching movies.

 

[Chad R]

Yeah, that's what I thought. The answer to my question would leave me more befuddled and indecisive.

 

[Cheech]

The only reason UMD is held up is because it's the LATEST failed Sony format, in a long line of failed Sony formats (speaking strictly in the consumer space). Electronics geeks, myself and I'd wager most of this forum included, have been around this stuff a LONG time and roll our eyes when Sony announces the latest licensing-grab. Betamax, minidiscs, ATRAC, memory sticks, UMD, blah blah blah. The key to a successful format is interoperability; the reason most of these formats failed is that Sony just was too greedy.

The impending Blu Ray failure is kind of a unique beast. First, the only machine on the market was not made by Sony. It had/has a critical bug, this is true, but the worst part of the Blu Ray launch was the HORRENDOUS QA on the discs themselves. Sony should have waited and done a proper launch, now they hang all their hopes for this format on the PS3 since their first standalone Blu Ray player is frankly going to suck. It doesn't even have all the features the $200 XBox 360 add-on will have (ability to decode TruHD and play CDs). Since the primary purpose of the PS3 is to play games and not movies... well, you can see the writing on the wall of any store that sells both Blu Ray and HD-DVD.

I was at Best Buy at lunch today with a coworker, and they now have this neat section where there are Blu Ray titles on one side, HD-DVD on the other. The coworker said, "Man, the selection on these guys isn't very good. The Blue disc movies seem geared to 15 year old boys, and the Red disc movies are better, but man they've just got to let the 80s go."

The only estimation I can make in figuring out why Sony continues to botch format launches is that they are held in Japan without peer, and the Japanese will gobble up anything they make regardless of how the competition measures up. In the USA and Europe, we ain't buyin'.