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Sony's Blu-Ray accepts WM9 (1 Viewer)

Grant H

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Cool. HUGE news. Now, they just need to get studio support. This could get interesting or really ugly. I'm betting they don't want to be Beta all over again.

The capacity of Blu-Ray and the efficiency of the Microsoft codec would be great for consumers.
 

Jack Briggs

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Robert, as I was reading about this in yesterday's Los Angeles Times, I was wondering why no one at a 50,000-strong site devoted to home theater hadn't posted regarding this important subject. Thanks for alleviating my concern.

At the least, there's going to be a format war. I just hope for the market's sake that both formats can find their appropriate niches. The general public, most of which still has not even heard of HDTV, is going to be very, very confused if new discs that don't sport the DVD Forum's logo start appearing on the shelves.

Somehow, because of this, I think HD-DVD will prevail, since the public is so familiar with those three important letters: D-V-D. Blu-ray, even if superior, will throw them for a loop.
 

Joshua Clinard

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I agree Jack. The DVD trademark will really sell the product. And I don't think major retailers will pick up Blu-Ray at first. But they will likely sell HDVD almost immediately.
 

Gary->dee

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Somehow I think Sony will incorporate 'DVD' with the term 'Blu-Ray'. Maybe something like "Blu-Ray DVD" or "B-DVD".

Btw dumb question: Blu-Ray is actually hi-def is it not? Or is it merely a larger storage capacity format?
 

Brian-W

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Not if they go into (insert store name) and find one HD-DVD player (Toshiba - NEC doesn't make consumer equipment), and the salesman says "but we have another HD-DVD called Blu-Ray, and we have players from Sony, Panasonic, Zenith, RCA, LG, Samsung, Pioneer, etc."

The other thing is that people will likely associate any HD optical format as "HD-DVD" just like people who want to overnight a package usually say "Fedex it" even if they mean another carrier (USPS, UPS, DHL, etc.)
 

Marc Colella

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The one advantage HD-DVD has over Blu-Ray is that it's supposed to have a 6 month head start in the market.
 

RobertR

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"Blu-Ray" does have a certain nice, marketable ring to it. Maybe they will find a way to make it sound like DVD. There are many factors that will go into the success of each format: Marketing, studio support, fabrication costs, robustness, etc. etc.
 

Shane D

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my concern is microsoft getting their hands into it. not really something I want to see.
 

Dennis Pagoulatos

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A 2ghz processor will be worth less than $25 in about 12 months...that shouldn't be an issue. Of course, it won't matter what it actually costs to produce these HD-DVD or Blu-Ray players, the fact is that they will cost in the thousands when they are first released.

-Dennis
 

ChrisJefferys

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Yep, I saw a Blu-Ray recorder for sale in Japan last November and it cost over $4000.00. I think that since then, they are already down to about $2000.00 though.
 

Shane Martin

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I think people said the same thing about Dvd AUdio and that hasn't really helped.

For some reason I see the HD DVD market shaking out like the SACD/DVD audio market in that we'll have universal players coming out to support both. I won't be buying the first gen players that is for sure.
 

Jack Briggs

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Well, you're at least correct on one count for sure: Sony execs have made it clear that they do not like paying out a few pennies to Warner Brothers for each DVD sold. But with this obstinate approach I think Sony is setting itself up for another Betamax sort of embarrassment. And maybe that's where Blu-ray might shine, the way professional Betamax still lives. That is, as a video tool for professionals.

Who knows, though. I just want to see high-def make itself a viable format on an optical disc. And the public still is experiencing DVD mania.
 

Joe Schwartz

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Even though we're still heading for a format war, this is great news! Now Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are on a much more even footing.

You'll need a fast CPU to play them on a computer (if we ever see Blu-Ray or HD-DVD computer drives), but the stand-alone Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players will use dedicated hardware decoder chips instead of general-purpose CPUs.
 

Joshua_W

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I'm thinking the same thing, that we'll be seeing Combo players that can handle both formats. They're both going to be five inch discs, aren't they? It's not like cassettes where you have two different-sized cases, so it may not turn into a Beta vs VHS unless the Blu-Ray folks won't allow hardware manufacturers to make players that can handle both formats.

On the other hand, Sony does sort of tend to want to produce proprietary formats like Beta that tend to bite them in the ass in the short run.
 

Dan Rudolph

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And since they're sing the same codecs, they could use the same decoder hardware. You'd just need a multi-wavelength laser and a computer that understands the file structure of both formats.
 

David Forbes

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Wow, lots of wrong and outdated info here. I'm off to lunch but will post info later this afternoon.
 

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