Cost questions dog Blu-ray DVD's lead

CNet News.com ^ | November 28, 2005, 4:00 AM PST | John Borland

[Ramius]

If history is ever a guide... it should be here. Pick the standard that *isn't* Sony. They have a long and proud history of really blowing it on industry standards. I'd bet this will be no different.

[Admin Moderator]

In the future, post computer threads in the chat forum under the computer, internet topics.
Thanks.

[Paul C. Jesup]

Moreover, component costs for Blu-ray can be nearly double HD DVD costs, because elements are still hard to find, the executive said.

I would like to know what 'rare' materials exactly are going into the Blu-ray discs creation that are so hard to find and will increase the cost of the discs.

[Gay State Conservative]

I bought Beta.....

[SteveMcKing]

I, for one, am converting all of my movies and data to Edison cylinders.

[Yo-Yo]

Sony has on occasion had a winner:

Sony invents 3.5 inch Disk Drive

[HAL9000]

Consumers will pick the standard based on the availability of content.

If the movie industry distributes their content on Blu-Ray discs, it will win.

[supercat]

Sony has on occasion had a winner:

I guess Sony had learned from the Betamax that trying to be an exclusive supplier of something doesn't work if someone can come up with an alternative (Mr. Robertson and Mr. Phillips demonstrated the principle many decades before). And they weren't yet fighting themselves since they weren't in any sort of software business.

I don't like the notion that Sony can kill disks by remote control, but Blu-Ray includes that as a deliberate feature. IMHO, that should eliminate it entirely from consideration.

[supercat]

If the movie industry distributes their content on Blu-Ray discs, it will win.

If the movie industry distributes content on Blu-Ray and not on HD-DVD, then HD-DVD won't win. But that doesn't mean Blu-Ray will.

I expect a lot of customers, ESPECIALLY those with high-definition sets, will remain perfectly happy with their current DVD players and see no reason to upgrade to Blu-Ray.

I suppose if movie companies wanted to stop releasing stuff on DVD, they could, but I really don't think that's likely to happen as long as customers want to buy movies in that format.

[Yo-Yo]

I don't like the notion that Sony can kill disks by remote control, but Blu-Ray includes that as a deliberate feature. IMHO, that should eliminate it entirely from consideration.

Amen!

Although Betamax was ultimately a consumer flop, based solely on price of players, Betacam, based on the same cassette shell, lives on today in almost every TV station in the country.

Sony does do some strange things, though, from time to time.

[I Drive Too Fast]

Supposedly, Playstation 3 will include a built-in Blu-ray capable dvd player and perhaps 1 or 2 games and 1 or 2 high def movies in the package. I will see what is available next year when I buy one.

I bought a betamax when they came out and the quality and slow speed was a lot better than VHS. I think VHS won because it went 6 hours instead of 4 1/2 hours on beta.

[I Drive Too Fast]

oops make that quality at slow speed

[HAL9000]

I expect consumers with HDTVs will make a gradual transition to the high-definition discs over the next decade, especially after the old analog broadcast frequencies are shut down in 2008 or 2009.

[dennisw]

More entertainment craps to amuse your over amused selves with. Blu Ray DVDs- A giant step forward for mankind

[SteveMcKing]

I'm rather surprized how fast DVD will be eclipsed. CDs had a 20-year run, and their main competition (for now) is iTunes.

I'm further impressed that no cartridge or caddy will be needed. Supposedly, they're just using a harder plastic on the disc's surface.

Since DVDs are certainly sufficient for most people, I'll bet that Blu-ray will be adopted mainly for data storage. Movies will instead be streamed or follow an On-demand model.

[supercat]

I expect consumers with HDTVs will make a gradual transition to the high-definition discs over the next decade, especially after the old analog broadcast frequencies are shut down in 2008 or 2009.

Unfortunately, the current plan is to prevent movies from being shown in high definition on most current HDTV sets, and forbid the creation of convertor boxes that would allow high-definition viewing on them.

So owners of most current high-definition sets will have ZERO reason to want to switch.

[supercat]

Movies will instead be streamed or follow an On-demand model.

The real question will be whether the movie studios will come to regard the viewing public as a customer rather than an enemy.

If I buy a DVD, there's no way the vendor can decide to censor it retroactively. What's on the DVD is what will always be on the DVD, assuming it's well-kept.

Movie companies don't like that notion; they'd rather have a 'pay for use' model than an 'ownership' model. This despite the fact that customers clearly favor the ownership model.

If the movie companies don't allow people to OWN movies on Blu-Ray or HD-DVD, I don't think many people will buy them.

[Paul C. Jesup]

I don't like the notion that Sony can kill disks by remote control, but Blu-Ray includes that as a deliberate feature. IMHO, that should eliminate it entirely from consideration.

Sony must not think it has enough class action lawsuits for right now...

[Paul C. Jesup]

I don't like the notion that Sony can kill disks by remote control, but Blu-Ray includes that as a deliberate feature. IMHO, that should eliminate it entirely from consideration.

Sony must not think it has enough class action lawsuits against them right now...