Sony Plans 50GB Blu-Ray Releases for 2006

Alon Goldberg · 08-26-2006, 03:28 AM

Retail movie releases on dual layer 50GB Blu-ray discs will become a reality in 2006, according to Sony Pictures President Ben Feingold, quoted by VideoBusiness as stating that the studio will release at least two movies on the discs by the end of this year. He didn't specify any additional features, titles, prices or advanced codec support yet, but while another executive confirmed more Blu-ray features would be coming, we shouldn't expect to see discs using Blu-ray Java (BD-J) technology until January. They also commented on the criticism of the quality of some Blu-ray releases, noting that newer movies and more recent releases have received better reviews, while also putting some blame on the decisions of filmmakers and the monitors used during the mastering process. Movie houses are also waiting for more players (read: PS3) to hit the ground to be able to test compatibility before they start including highly interactive features. At least so far, HD DVD has been able to take advantage of their lead time on the movie side with (currently) larger discs, more efficient compression and some interesting bonus features. The real Blu-ray launch is coming this winter as several new players will be greeted by these much improved discs, we'll see how the format war stacks up then.

http://www.videobusiness.com/article....html?nid=2838
http://www.hdbeat.com/2006/08/25/son...by-year-end-n/

Vincent_P · 08-26-2006, 03:23 PM

So now it's the filmmakers fault that so many BD releases look so bad? OKAY...

Vincent

Sean Bryan · 08-26-2006, 09:33 PM

It's a good thing for HD DVD that reviews of the quality of that format's releases have been done using the good quality movies made by good directors on good monitors.

What a load of crap.

In general, the people reviewing BD are the same people reviewing HD DVD. And the those whose opinions count the most know what should be expected from film.

Look, any reasonable person among us knows that BD should be able to provide better quality/perform better than it has up to this point. I see no reason why the quality couldn't be as good as HD DVD. The problem has been bad/lazy/rushed decisions with the player and bad/lazy/rushed decisions by those responsible for how the discs are mastered (new clean transfer vs. old and dirty, MPEG-2 with limited disc space or VC-1, etc...).

Instead of trying to spin the the bad reviews so far, they should be focused on just DOING BETTER! Then the reviews will be more to their liking.

Alon Goldberg · 08-26-2006, 10:07 PM

Quote:

The problem has been bad/lazy/rushed decisions with the player and bad/lazy/rushed decisions by those responsible for how the discs are mastered (new clean transfer vs. old and dirty, MPEG-2 with limited disc space or VC-1, etc...).

The problem with Blu-Ray is greed, greed, greed.. that's all there is to it. All of the poor decisions have arisen due to greed by Sony, greed by the Studios, and not delivering a solution that's in the best interest of us, the consumers.

I wouldn't purchase Blu-Ray under any circumstances.

dpippel · 08-26-2006, 10:09 PM

What a load of hooey. Poor MPEG-2 compression on initial release titles, buggy players, and uber-expensive hardware are driving the nails into Blu-ray's coffin. I've never seen a more botched product rollout. Smells like Divx. Spin on Sony, while Rome burns.

**HTF Ads**

Shawn.F · 08-26-2006, 10:27 PM

If you guys will excuse me, I have to go fertilize my lawn with that statement from Sony.

Dave Moritz · 08-28-2006, 11:07 PM

I hope that Sony can get there act together as I would love to see what Blu-ray is capable of achieving. We need to see VC-1 encoded discs, dual layer 50 gig discs, high quality transfers and a player that will decode the newer audio formats. Sony can say the real roll out has not happened all they want. But the sad truth is they unzipped there fly and now they are standing with there pants around there ankles. Sony needs to wow us with an awsum product, because if they don't Toshiba may just walk away with the win by next summer. I might be buying a HD-DVD player now but I still believe that Blu-ray is the way to go. That is if Sony can keep from messing it up and flushing it down the toilet? And if that happens I am sure the studios that are not producing HD-DVD titles will jump right on board. I don't see studios passing up the chance of selling HD titles if Blu-ray doesn't make it.

Has anyone even seen a comercial for blu-ray players yet?

Jason Harbaugh · 08-29-2006, 12:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Moritz

Has anyone even seen a comercial for blu-ray players yet?

Players, no, but movies all the time. Still have yet to see any HD DVD player or movie commercials.

I'm anxiously awaiting BD50 with VC1 and a good transfer that actually blows my socks off. If that never comes, well then I give up.

Dave Moritz · 08-29-2006, 10:07 AM

Quote:

I'm anxiously awaiting BD50 with VC1 and a good transfer that actually blows my socks off. If that never comes, well then I give up.

Even though I started of being Blu-ray only. That is how I feel, if Sony can not deliver on there promise of a better performing format. I will not only give up on the format but I will not purchase the Sony Blu-ray player. And I will see it as Sony's failure to bring a product to market. Sony could end up loosing untold millions on a failed Blu-ray launch. We will see how it affects the company and if it forces them to be a hardware only company again? But again I would like to see Blu-ray succeed and as long as there are 50 gig discs and VC-1 encoding along with high quality transfers. Oh and as long as the player is not a peice of junk, I can see a Sony Blu-ray player sitting in my HT setup. It will not help if the player does not decode any new surround formats and if it does not include HDMI 1.3.

This is what I personally need to see in order to purchase a Sony Blu-ray player.

VC-1 encoded discs.
Dual Layer 50 Gig Discs.
Sony's player with very few minor problems or no bugs.
HDMI v1.3 included or at least the promise it can be updated.
Internal decoding of Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD and DTS-HD. If Toshiba can offer a $500 HD player with it then Sony can offer it on a $1k player!

As long as that happens at least 60% - 80% of my HD titles will be Blu-ray and if they both look the same it will be a case by case bases on titles. Sony has to prove that they will deliver and I will not assume that they will. Show me the product Sony!

RobertR · 08-29-2006, 10:14 AM

Quote:

I'm anxiously awaiting BD50 with VC1 and a good transfer that actually blows my socks off. If that never comes, well then I give up.

How long is never? Will you wait six months? A year? Two years? At some point people will lose patience and say enough is enough. I'd say if BD50 isn't out in quantity in 6 months, it'll be very bad for the format.

Alon Goldberg · 08-29-2006, 11:19 AM

"Ever since the Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray player launched there have been rumors that it did not ship with the ability to read 50GB discs based on a passage in the manual which only cited 25GB compatibility.. Over at The Digital Bits, they cite unnamed sources from as recently as two weeks ago stating that dual-layer 50GB discs weren't available for testing (even though it was originally delayed for further compatibility testing) before the player launched and now that there are, they just don't work. The good news would be that this is apparently fixable via a firmware update like another BD-P1000 problem we've heard about; but this problem is figuring into the delay of not only dual-layer movies, but other upcoming standalone Blu-ray players as well. Firmware update or not, we're pretty sure early adopting Blu-ray buyers didn't spend $1000 to only be able to read 25GB discs. We'd love to confirm or deny these rumors, in fact, we'll just go grab a dual-layer movie release and put it in right now...oh. Like so many other things about this format war we'll have to wait