Blu-ray Disc ready to hit play

The drum roll, please. Blu-ray format finally set to launch next week--with seven movie titles.

The story "Blu-ray Disc ready to hit play" published June 16, 2006 at 6:28 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

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[Stan Johnson]

The first step to another Sony failure.

Blu-Ray isn't going to fly. Wait and see.

[freemarket--2008]

Reasons?

I can understand the anti-Sony sentiment given some of their recent (and past) blunders, but unless there is some major technical problem with Blue-Ray it has enough industry support to succeed. With Sony supplying drives in the PS3 many people will buy at least one disk just to check it out.

Those who have invested big money in HDTV systems will want some of their favorite movies in HD format. I doubt it will displace normal DVDs any time soon though. Many will wait to see which format gains the upper hand.

[ddesy]

Can you back that up?

Can you back your statement up with meaningful reasons for the format to fail? With a higher capacity, more consumer electronics companies jumping on the technology, and a game system on the way with support built in, I think it might just have a chance.

Before you reference Betamax,you should know that it didn't completely fail, contrary to popular belief. Betamax was chosen by many professionals due to it's superior picture quality. There was also Super Betamax, just as there was Super VHS.

Also, the Philips/Sony audio CD seems to have been a success, and SACD isn't doing too poorly in audiophile circles.

[umbrae]

One can only hope...

I hope people see the Nex-Gen DVD for what it is... a way for companies impose their license on you and make you buy your entire library's over again. Neither format offers anything great. Most people will not truely see much difference in quality: even with equipment coming right off the shelf (HDTVs, etc.). And in the long run, they will not own this content. If you look at patents, either company will be able to turn off your ability to watch content you bought at a store should you do things like try to make a backup copy or play in a friends machine. There are even patents to use micro-transactions for each play of a song and movie.

If you choose a format, choose HD-DVD. Why? Is has a more affordable manufacturing process and uses existing technology. If Blu-Ray wins, expect to pay $60-90 for movie until the distance future. Sony even has plans to put rentals out of business (once again review their patents). Think I am full of it? A single recordable Blu-Ray disk will be $50 for a 25gb and and $70 for a 50gb. These are number released from Sony. If a single BLANK costs that much, what makes you think ones with content will not be higher. Manufacturer has also spoken out on the process and say there is little opportunity to make the process cheaper.

And all this from a company that uses hacker techniques in their DRM (Digital Rights Management) tools that have been used to exploit the securty of thousands of their loyal customers. It just amazes me that after all of this, people still support and buy Sony products.

[Broward Horne]

Blu-Ray The Winner

This is a dicey call but I made it anyway.

Blu-Ray the nominal winner based on rates of change in internet hype -

<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.realmeme.com/roller/page/realmeme?entry=blu_ray_vs_hd_dvd" target="_newWindow">http://www.realmeme.com/roller/page/realmeme?entry=blu_ray_vs_hd_dvd</a>

[jeffhesser]

wolf in sheeps clothing

this will succeed because the movie industry wants it to succeed. touted as great new media for consumers and High-Def enthusiasts but it is really a way for the movie industry to justify the continued distribution of movies in their beloved secure format. maybe that's not all bad but HD-DVD sounded like it would have offered an easier transition to HD-DVD burners for the consumer and other benefits across the board. though I wish it wasn't so I fear this media will emerge victorious when the dust settles in a year or so.

[Stalin Hornsby]

'Clone Wars'

Ugly Houses vs. Naked Bloggers

[mystereojones]

Blu-ray looks good

Not sure which format is ahead but with the PS3 supporting Blu-ray, that could sway things.
<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.techknowcafe.com/content/view/517/42/" target="_newWindow">http://www.techknowcafe.com/content/view/517/42/</a>

[Jackson Cracker]

wait for Philips?

Philips has a good track record in the DVD player arena
when it comes to being consumer-oriented and supporting
various formats and codecs. Nice to see they will have
players and recorders out in the third quarter of this year.

[Earl Benser]

Useless and over priced....

Sony has a long way to go to get realistic.....

[epiccollision]

and your comment is useful because?

how unrealistic are they being...they have the higher capacity...they have more corporate supporters...the have a 100 million unit selling game system legacy and all you have is... not much of a strong argument...I am by no means a sony supporter...i'm merely looking @ the facts

[pilgrim303]

Crap!!

Overpriced, not to mention a sony product. I'm sure it looks great, but I won't buy until there is one format (period!). Don't forget....w/ bluray, backing up movies (legally purchased) will be a thing of the past!

[lcrabs]

Crap ?

What makes you think it won't be with HDDVD ?
Both implement identical copy protection schemes.

[epiccollision]

Ummm

your not "allowed" now to back up your movies now..CSS was supposed to prevent this..CSS sucked so badly that getting around this protection is not very hard...any commercial dvd copying software states it is not to be used to duplicate protected discs...weither they are "legally" purchased or not

[epiccollision]

Umm

your not "allowed" now to back up your movies now..CSS was supposed to prevent this..CSS sucked so badly that getting around this protection is not very hard...any commercial dvd copying software states it is not to be used to duplicate protected discs...weither they are "legally" purchased or not

[Joe Blow]

Well, It May Be Moot By Early 2007 ...

as Samsung has announced it is developing a universal combination Blu-Ray/HD-DVD player:

<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=28855" target="_newWindow">http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=28855</a>

Samsung's already shipping one of the first Blu-Ray players, but don't plan to make an HD-DVD-only player, as they believe Blu-Ray will eventually "trounce" HD-DVD, especially once capacity gets up to 50 GB per disc for the price of a 25 GB disc, and potentially 100 GB and beyond, in a few years. This was inevitable, just as it was to solve the -R/+R/-RW/+RW debacles for writable CDs and DVDs.

Now, all we need is for some schlub (or inside agent) to "accidently" put the source and keys for the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD DRM crap up on an obscure server somewhere, as happened with CSS years ago (CSS was never actually hacked/cracked - DeCSS was developed when some Norwegian kid found the CSS source and keys on an Internet-accessible company server - it's much simpler to reverse engineer something for which you have the semantics of all of the bits).

More of the Best,
Joe Blow