Why does Sony so often drag its feet? (1 Viewer)

Sometimes I don't get Sony at all.

With their DVD players in the early days, Sony seemingly took forever to add features like MP3 and Divx. They added them much later than other brands like Pioneer and Panasonic.

Well guess what folks? None of their stand-alone Blu-ray players have MP3 or Divx playback. The Panasonic's can play EVERYTHING. It's happening all over again!

WHY?

Why would I update to a Sony Blu-ray player when they can't even include these (nowadays) basic features?

I think Sony is a great company. There products are quality. I have an old sony tv that is still working and it is almost 20 years old!

The Playstation 3 has those features.

Nobody else shares my frustration?

Not really, but then I do not care about those features. I just want my BluRay player to be able to play BD and SD-DVD discs.

Personally, I don't see what's the big deal about lack of MP3 support (or similar) in a standalone BD (or DVD) player. If anything, I'd rather they do *not* include support of such extraneous formats/features because they either cost extra $ to include or can potentially add problems (if done too cheaply). Such potential problems may or may not impact reliability or quality playback or user-friendliness/ergonomics, etc.

If what you really want is a multimedia deck, not a BD (or DVD) standalone, buy something like the PS3 since that's designed to provide the extra features/support. OR buy a player from a company that specifically targets the market you belong to, eg. Oppo perhaps.

Having said that, I'd understand more if you're complaining that Sony's not including SACD support in any of their standalones (since that's actually their own format).

_Man_

Sounds like you should buy the Panasonic.

But, many people, including myself, do not care about those features.

Nope. I can count on one hand the number of MP3's I've ever played on my DVD/BD players. Matter of fact, since I got my Sonos system, I can count on no hands the number of times I've played MP3's via a DVD/BD player.

And Divx? 99.99999% of the time, Divx = bootleg = stealing. I've got no use for that, I actually pay for my movies.

I'm with the others on this.
I have no use for over compressed mp3 music. I also have no use for a divx player. Your computer will probably play both, so hook it up to your system, and have at it.

I agree with the others. SONY does their best to put out a high quality product. I've always bought SONY because it's, overall, a solid product.

In regards to MP3 support; SONY builds their products to please the audiophile/videophile. Any place where they can cut costs is fine with me. I'd rather see SONY focus their attention on what really counts and not have to sacrifice space, functionality, or performance with a feature that (audiophiles/videophiles feel) is a waste.

It's similar to the multi-disc players. I'd rather spend $200 on a single disc player, rather then $200 on a mutli-disc player because I know the single disc player didn't need to make sacrifices in order to retail it at $200.


So while you ask "Why is SONY dragging it's feet?" - I'm asking "Why aren't the other companies focusing on what really matters?"

I guess my beef with Sony is that they don't put in SACD support in their BRD players. It's not like they have to pay themselves a license fee or anything. SACD is THEIR format - why aren't they supporting it in newer players?

I would imagine that it has to do with world markets.

Plus, I once read that SACD playback requires some special hardware (something about watermark verification??). I'm not sure, but I doubt SONY's decision has less to do with licensing and more about jacking up their prices with hardware that doesn't have anything to do with BluRay playback.

I dont care about those features. Sounds like you do, and you have options. Sorry man.

Both my BDP S300 and 350 are fantastic Blu-ray players. The 350 does a fantastic job of upconverting as well, IMO.

RE: the lack of SACD support, seems like Sony has basically abandoned the format now. They don't even make *any* players for it anymore. NVM that part as I seem to be mistaken about that. Still, the currently marketed versions of the PS3 do not seem to support it anymore. And there's also talk of a new Blu-spec CD format that's being supported by Sony now (though it doesn't look like anything w/ higher fidelity than plain old Redbook CD). And of course, there also the possibility that the hirez multichannel audio market will simply migrate to the BD format instead.

Anyway, if the new Oppo player turns out great all-around (and includes DSD bitstreaming via HDMI), maybe that will be my first BD/uni standalone. Currently, I just use my old Denon SD2910 for audio-only playback via analog connections.

_Man_

That's a good point. SONY may be making way for something better that will actually utilize the players current abilities withou the need for adding additional (expensive) hardware.

My frustration comes because I actually love Sony video products. I have a Sony TV and DVD player. I want a Sony Blu-ray player, but I hate the idea of losing features with a new purchase.

I don't understand why Sony's players can't have these features while the Panasonics can. I'd consider the Panasonic, but I use the subtitle function (for unintelligible dialogue) all the time, and apparently there's no direct subtitle button on their remotes.

Guess I'll just have to wait, and hope that Sony's next range will have what I want.

Like was alluded before, I don't think it makes much market sense for Sony to include stuff like MP3 and divx in their players. Personally, to me, that would cheapen the brand (and the players). MP3 and divx are just too heavily associated w/ piracy, cheaply made Chinese players, etc etc. And they probably do not add anything of real value for the great majority of Sony customers -- people just do not buy Sony, especially for a format that's still considered so new, for these fringe features you want.

And AFAIK, Sony does not sell any a/v content using MP3 or divx, so why would they bother to support them? They have enough concerns w/ supporting other more legitimate formats as it is -- some of them their own like SACD, the old MiniDisc, etc. If Apple had their way, the iPod probably wouldn't support MP3 either.

_Man_

That's what I've been trying to explain. To add support for MP3 playback, Panasonic probably has to drop something elsewhere (i.e. functionality, quality parts, etc.) to make sure the player has a competitive price.

I recall back in the day when smaller TV's went from stereo to mono audio jacks. The sales rep. said that the manufacturers were looking for ways to keep their TV's at reasonable prices (to compete with other brands) and most of them axed the stereo support because consumers didn't care (note: this was before DVD players)

That MP3 support is going to cost you somehow, so why would SONY want to either raise the price of thei players or cheapen out on another aspect of the player to add something that a lot of people won't care about.

I'm seeing here a lot of Sony fans trying to rationalize Sony's laziness.

Their DVD players have these features. Sony just dragged their feet adding them, and I'm sure they'll EVENTUALLY be added to their Blu-ray range. Price points? Have one model with and one without (like their DVD range).

OK, maybe Divx isn't that important, but for goodness sake, MP3's are everywhere these days. They're becoming more common than CD's. Most people under 30 ONLY have MP3's. It's always nice to have the option to play them when required. To not have the option, is just to be sold short.

Yes, MP3 is everywhere, but I'm not so sure about MP3 on a CD/DVD disc though. Do you really know that many people playing MP3 that way, instead of iPod or similar, some other HDD-based media hub or HTPC, etc.? What makes you think that's really what potential BD player buyers are looking for anyway (besides you)? Heck, they hadn't even put out a Profile 2.0 player yet (outside of the PS3 update) until just a few months ago. They have more important things to take care of than the fringe stuff you want, eg. figuring out how to give us a resume function (after a stop) for BD-J titles.

_Man_