More Research Asserts that Blu Ray Adoption Isn't Apt to Surge

In your case, I am not talking about audio only. I was assuming you have a receiver that allows HDMI audio and video. If you do, you can run HDMI audio and video to the receiver, which will in turn run HDMI to your TV.

You can also run a separate component version to your TV's component in, and run the player's regular stereo outputs into your TVs stereo inputs to watch programs from the player to your TV via component while still preserving the HDMI version to your receiver to your TV. Don't tell me "you cannot mix" cuz I do this daily. It is not about mixing. it is about choosing which version your TV shows. I also have a TV antenna connected to my TV in case the DISH goes out. This is not "mixing". I simply select "Antenna" instead of "DISH" or "DVD" when i want to watch the antenna broadcast. Most TVs allow switching between different sources, and "mixing" is not involved.

However, if you watch everything together, this will not matter. My wife and I watch a lot of stuff together, but she does not feel compelled to join me for every viewing of Zulu, or Battle of Britain or A Bridge Too Far, etc.

I don't normally pay attention to subtitles listings unless it's a "foreign" film, but recently, I noticed that most studios do seem to provide more subtitling support on BD than they did on DVD.  In fact, I was asked by someone if I had any/many DVDs w/ Chinese subtitles, and I had very few and nearly all are Sony/Columbia titles (or Chinese movies) -- Sony seemed to be the only mainstream studio who cares to provide more subtitling support than just English and Spanish and/or French here in North America, but even they haven't done that much in recent years.

However, in my search, I noticed that I actually have a whole bunch of BDs that provided Chinese subtitles usually along w/ a long list of other language subtitles -- of course, that bunch is still small compared to my entire BD collection, but it's a lot bigger than it was for my DVDs.  And the supporting studios are not limited to Sony alone, but seems to be quite varied at least for now.  Maybe part of the greater support is due to the more relaxed region coding/distribution policy of the current BD marketplace vs what it was in the earlier days of DVD.  Regardless, it's still nice to see the increased support for subtitling even though I don't normally use that feature for English language films...

_Man_

Like I said, audio isn't the issue.  The "mixing" we're talking about is mixing HD video with closed captions, and even with a receiver with HDMI inputs and outputs, you cannot mix HD video with closed captions.

Man-Fai, the subtitle increase is definitely due to creating discs with more territories in mind.

As long as that increase includes and increase in English subtitles, we'll be happy.

 From IMDb this weekend. Keep in mind this is during the worst recession in the U.S. since the Great Depression (not to mention being felt worldwide though admittedly I don't fully comprehend the severity of it outside of our borders).

Sounds like BD is doing just fine.

Yeah, the addicts on HTF (of which I'm one) probably account for a generous portion of those sales.
 
I'm just thankful we're past that Amazon Gold Box sale week.

I think ultimately BD will achieve exactly what most of us think it will: market penetration somewhere between DVD and LD. It's clearly already past where LD was, though admittedly it's closer to LD than DVD as of right now. I think for the studios to consider BD a success, it needs to be at least in the middle between LD and DVD (assume that LD was 10% market share, and DVD was 90%, I think a 40-45% market share would appease most studios) within the next 2-3 years.

It has certainly already avoided the fiasco of what happened between SACD and DVD-A (as far as marketing, promotion, consumer education and sales go, the products themselves were wonderful).

VHS: approx 90% of U.S. homes at peak
DVD: between 80% and 90% of U.S. homes
Laserdisc: approx 2% of U.S. homes at peak
HD-DVD: approx 0.3% of U.S. home at peak
Blu-ray: 2.7 percent (7.8 if you include PS3s) of U.S. homes had a set-top player at the end of 2008, expected to be 6.2 percent (14.8 including PS3) by the end of 2009. 
Edited by Jeff Newcomb - 7/20/2009 at 11:18 pm GMT

Given a recent survey of PS3 owners in terms of BD usage (the web page is a bit overly enthusiastic, perhaps, but the numbers are what matters), I think it is legit to count them as players.

Agreed. I am a gamer (and so is my gf's brother who lives with us), and even I use my PS3 primarily for BD. They simply haven't made many great games (that are up my alley) for PS3. When we game we use the 360 and the Wii (95% of the gaming time is on those two platforms). But the PS3 is still "powered on" more than the other two because of the BD movies we watch.

I know this is anecdotal evidence but I know three other PS3 users and they also use the PS3 primarily for BD.

So if those estimates hold true, and BD can get over a 10% market share (including PS3s) by year's end, that will be a positive sign.

Another good sign, this time from The Digital Bits. Toshiba will begin to make BD players.

My primary BD player is a PS3, and since I own over 50 BD titles and only 1 PS3 game, I'd say I (and others like me) should definitely be counted! 

I'm with you, Craig.

 

My PS3 is my primary BD player.

I have one game.  I've got 193 BDs. 

I certainly hope they're taking us into consideration.

 

Add me to the list of thouse who use a PS3 as a Blu-Ray player only. I don't even own a game (have dl'ed 2 demos).

If the rumored price break comes to the PS3 next month, I'll be picking one up. I may buy a game but 99% of the time, it will be used for Blu-rays.

Ditto the comments about using the PS3 almost exclusively for movies so far.

_Man_

LOL it still hasn't lowered in price? Those rumors have been around since the beginning, I think :).
I thought about getting a PS3 myself when I was searching for a Blu-ray player. But the apparent noise and the fact I almost never play games made me decide against it.

Depends on how you look at it I guess.  If you didn't care about PS2 backward compatibility, the 80GB PS3 is indeed cheaper than it used to be.

Sony seems to be (more or less) following the PC sales model for the PS3, ie. keep the same pricing structure, but migrate the feature sets (outside of PS2 support) down the chain as tech/production advances allow.

_Man_

The noise issue was a bit bothersome (I know there are various anecdotal reports of more or less noise--in my small room, the noise was a bit much).  However, thanks to the magic of bluetooth technology, I solved that problem and made it more versatile at the same time.  A couple of inexpensive cable runs from Blue Jeans Cable (one HDMI and one toslink--my receiver is not HDMI capable...yet ;) ) and a bluetooth remote and voila--I have a BD player for my projector in the theatre as well as on my TV in the kids' playroom (they don't care that it's not HD) and the noise issue is no longer a problem.  I will concede my solution is a bit unorthodox and may not be suitable to very many people, but it works for me.  Having suffered through the load times of the player at my friend's house (admittedly, back in fall 2007), I like the speed of my PS3.  I'm still learning how to use it as a media centre (though I suspect things will run far more smoothly when I upgrade my computer).  If I were buying one today, I'd get the Oppo.  But I have no serious urge to displace my PS3 in favour of the Oppo until such time as I replace the living room TV with an HD display (won't be for some time yet, it's not a priority).  At that moment, I'll send the PS3 upstairs and get the Oppo (or whatever they have then) for the home cinema.

You shouldn't have any fan noise as long as it's somewhat ventilated.  The fan operates at different speeds and only kicks on high speed if it overheats.  I have an enclosed cabinet for my HT gear and as long as I leave the front door propped open about 4" for ventilation when it's in use there's no fan noise at all.  If I forget and leave the door closed, then yeah it'll sound like a jet engine after a while.

A minor inconvenience compared to the various issues with standalone players.

I'm waiting for that fabled price drop to get a 2nd PS3 to place in my bedroom. 

Quote:
Which players have fan noise and require open cabinets? I need to be sure not to buy that brand when it's time for my BR purchase.

Well if you have enclosed cabinets and propping a cabinet door open is a deal breaker then avoid the PS3.

Speed, reliability, compatibility and ease of firmware upgrades are more important benefits to me and offset the minor inconvenience.

My PS3 sits (and did in the HT room) on the top shelf open to all sides (I have it sitting horizontally).  I have the 80gb model with SACD playback capability (no longer available) and, from all the anecdotal reports I've read over the past few years, my specific model is one that has more reports of fan noise than any other (very unscientific method, I grant).  I recall reading that the most recent models are generally far less prone to fan noise and the 40gb non-SACD model that was available when I bought mine was said to be quieter than any other.  I wanted the SACD playback capability, so I gambled on the fan noise issue.

The noise is not constant (which, in a way, is too bad, as a constant fan noise is easier to ignore than a variable one) and it is not deafening.  But it is enough to distract from quiet passages in films and music in my small room.  And it is louder than both my projector fan and my HD-A2 fan.  In the end, the noise motivated me to find a solution that made the player more versatile, rather than less, so I don't mind.  I also learned that a 30 foot HDMI run could be purchased at a dollar a foot and work impeccably (same for a 30 foot toslink--which was good to know as I needed a second 30 foot length to solve a different audio connection/layout problem in the living room).  Thank goodness for Blue Jean Cables (there are some other online places with equally good pricing, but BJC had the best shipping costs to my house in Canada)--at the per foot price for both HDMI and toslink at local B&M stores, I was looking at 30 to 50 dollars a foot--instead of 30 dollars total, I was looking at NINE HUNDRED to FIFTEEN HUNDRED (TIMES 2)--for cables!!!  No thanks.

Interesting, I always chalked up the fan noise complaints to lack of ventilation, dust choked vents or defective units.

It very well could be certain units are more prone to it.

Random fan noise that couldn't be resolved would be a deal breaker for me.

FWIW I have the 20gig version discontinued in early 07.  I chose that because at the time there were reported issues with the 60gig (?) units that had wireless.  Not only that but it was $100 cheaper, during the height of the format war so there was only so much I was willing to spend on a shaky new format.

Sure the PS3 makes some fan noise, but so does my projector, and the apartment complex I live in isn't exactly quiet, so I personally find it a complaint not worthy of balancing out the advantages.

The fan noise is a requisite evil with the PS3. Remember it is more like a computer than anything else, and such needs cooling in order to avoid overheating. What would happen if they quieted it down? The XBox 360, that's what. Whereas the original versions of the 360 experienced anywhere from 20-50% failure rate (google Red Ring of Death), the PS3 failure rates have been much lower. If you need quiet, go with a standalone player, the PS3 is not going to please you.

I sit 12' from my PS3 and with any volume going on the receiver, I can't hear the fan.

Thanks, it is, so I'll keep that in mind.

I have to say that, in my HT room, the PS3 was only five feet away from me.  At 12 feet, I'm sure I wouldn't notice it.  (It's still only five linear feet away from my seat, but it's behind a closed door, so I don't hear it at all).