Blue Ray about to win in format wars

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GDK

10-01-2008

Originally Posted by son_t:
“What about those Xbox360 with their HD-DVD drives... can't they sustain the HD-DVD market?”

In a word? No.

The XBox has never had an integrated HD-DVD drive. It's only an external add-on, and, AFAIK, no games have been released on HD-DVD. By doing that, Microsoft made sure the XBox 360's fortunes did not depend on HD-DVD. They could relatively easily bring out an external Blu Ray drive for it. There were rumours, before CES, of an Xbox with HD-DVD built in, possibly made by Toshiba, but all mention of HD-DVD was dropped from Bill Gates's CES opening speech after the WB announcement.

Microsoft hedged their bets by not building HD-DVD into every Xbox, whereas Sony bet everything when they placed a Blu Ray drive in every PS3. It looks as if Sony's bet has paid off.

If Microsoft are genuine about supporting a packaged HD market, then it's possible a Blu Ray equiped Xbox could be on the way. Actually, it may be the only way for it to continue to compete against all the Blu Ray based games on the PS3. The extra capacity of Blu Ray (over the Xbox's plain DVD drive) will have an impact there.

eddiewood

10-01-2008

Universals contract is up for renewal at the end of January apparently, so expect something from them on 1st February!

berncol

10-01-2008

Originally Posted by eddiewood:
“Universals contract is up for renewal at the end of January apparently, so expect something from them on 1st February!”

If Universal's contract really is up at the end of the month then it would be financial madness for them to renew it.
The clues speak for themselves:
Microsoft have indicated they would go with the consumer flow (and we know which way that is).
Both Paramount and Universal didn't announce any new HD-DVD titles at the CES (despite wide expectations).
Following the Warner announcement, Toshiba cancelled their HD-DVD presentation and said they would be consulting the remaining group members (about what?)
Add to all that the media buzz about it all being over and you'd have to conclude that the format hasn't got anywhere to run.
The sooner we have a single format the better the industry and market will be (IMO).

dennisspooner

10-01-2008

Typical Sony shit.

Got my s300 BR player today.

No discs to play ,no HDMI lead to connect.

My HDDVD player had the lead and 2 discs in the box.

Thanks Sony ,but its what I've come to expect from them.

eddiewood

10-01-2008

Originally Posted by dennisspooner:
“Typical Sony shit.

Got my s300 BR player today.

No discs to play ,no HDMI lead to connect.

My HDDVD player had the lead and 2 discs in the box.

Thanks Sony ,but its what I've come to expect from them.”

I guess that Sony aren't desperate like Toshiba who give away discs, they don't need to put any effort into selling BD

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