PS3 Conspiracy theory

[prerich]

As I look at the format war, I'm begining to see a trend. This trend seems to be that the PS3 is the only Blu-ray player that does exactly what its supposed to do and cost 399.00 at its lowest point. I'm not including HD-DVD in this because right now that point is mute. I'm talking about competition between other BD players. A chilling announcement was made that some current BD players will not be able to be upgraded to profile 2.0, but PS3 is able to receive all of its firmware updates in a timely and unabtrusive manner. This makes the Sony PS3 the BD player of choice. What's evil about this? They force the customers hand to purchase a PS3 when a well developed, cheaper, standalone could be made available, but this would cut into the PS3's profit margin - wouldn't it? Sony makes the bdp-300 which cost as much as a PS3, but the PS3 plays games, does this and that - so the consumer buys the PS3 because its a better value (not knowing that the bdp just has an inflated price - it could be sold for $210 to $250 easy).

My question is this - Is this format war really about HD-DVD against Blu-Ray and getting one format? Of is this war about PS3 against the world - getting one machine for everything? It appears that Blu-ray has won the war but HD-DVD wont die quietly, but if it does - who will be the next piece of comptetition...DVD? DVD is a mature format and clearly saturated in the market. DVD will see its death soon enough. The PS3 is the genocidal maniac of the Blu-ray world. It will turn on all other BD players after its major enemys are trampled...like a new born scorpion...under foot!

The next attack Blu-ray (with trojan PS3) will wage is against the likes of it's CE supporters - Sony will attack Pioneer, Samsung, LG, and others that support BD. The point will be this - they can play blu-ray but they have problems - The PS3 doesn't. People thought that the Blu-ray player was the enemy but no - its just the trojan horse that carries the PS3. Sony...you guys are brilliant - better than Jimmy Neutron and Thomas
Edison rolled into one! I'm wondering has anyone else out there thought of this as an interesting issue. I may be wrong but.... I actually enjoy Blu-ray, but its likely conclusion bears questioning.

[TheMoose]

What you need to remember is first & foremost the PS3 is a true next generation gaming system, that requires tremendous horsepower under the hood.
Look at the top gaming PC's, they cost upwards of $5000 for the fastest processors with the best graphics cards & their video isn't much better than the PS3's.
Take Folding@Home as an example, it uses all of the PS3's computing power & does so without melting the PS3 (There is a reason there is no Folding@Home option on the Xbox!) it also does the folding much faster than my Quad core desktop can.
Games are a moving target so being able to upgrade was not a luxury like it is on Blu-Ray players.
Sony stated the PS3 would have a 10 year life span, that would be impossible without upgrades.

Now, I gave $600 for my launch PS3, according to many sources Sony lost $250 on every PS3 sold so there has not yet been a profit margin on the PS3.
The $399 price point is a relatively new one introduced around the Xmas season.
Sony hoped for the profits to be made up by software sales, both Games & Blu-Ray movies.

"Pioneer, Samsung, LG, and others that support BD" knew this going in & also know that soon the standalones would be cheaper than the PS3 & that they had better audio & video quality.
When the format matures the standalones won't have any problems lowering the price & have better quality.

You can hardly fault Sony for taking a big gamble that turned in to a brillant marketing move that may well have won the format war for Blu-Ray.

I will probably spend more than the $399 PS3 when I get my standalone because I'll be looking for the best quality at that point.
The PS3 Was just a starting point that got me interested in Blu-Ray, not the final destination.
Brilliant!!

[prerich]

Originally Posted by TheMoose

The PS3 Was just a starting point that got me interested in Blu-Ray, not the final destination.
Brilliant!!

Then they get you with their new high end, supervideo, emacculate audio audition of the PS3 - trapped!

[TheMoose]

Originally Posted by prerich

Then they get you with their new high end, supervideo, emacculate audio audition of the PS3 - trapped!

No, Trapped is owning a HD-DVD player that will be obsolete in 6 months!

[Mornelithe]

Well, I think for the normal consumer, someone who can't afford to have multiple BR players around the house, that the PS3 will ultimately be the most attractive offer, given it's additional functionality, and the ease of updating it. Now, I do hear alot of people saying that standalone players can't be upgraded....but isn't it just that it's not as easy to upgrade? IE, have to burn something to disc, or a thumb drive or whatever? Right? Either way, when the cost of BR parts/production go down, the standalones HAVE to drop their price, because you know that Sony's more than likely going to be looking to chop the price on the PS3 again, as soon as possible, and hopefully before the avalanche of exclusives that is 2008, hits.

It's going to be interesting to see...but as you can already tell by sales #'s and the word from Sony that the PS3 constitutes a major chunk of BR software sales (non-games). I highly doubt it will change _that_ much over time...I just think it's additional functionality makes it to be what Sony always wanted...the all-in-one gadget for your living room.


Morne

[prerich]

Originally Posted by Mornelithe

Well, I think for the normal consumer, someone who can't afford to have multiple BR players around the house, that the PS3 will ultimately be the most attractive offer, given it's additional functionality, and the ease of updating it. Now, I do hear alot of people saying that standalone players can't be upgraded....but isn't it just that it's not as easy to upgrade? IE, have to burn something to disc, or a thumb drive or whatever? Right? Either way, when the cost of BR parts/production go down, the standalones HAVE to drop their price, because you know that Sony's more than likely going to be looking to chop the price on the PS3 again, as soon as possible, and hopefully before the avalanche of exclusives that is 2008, hits.

It's going to be interesting to see...but as you can already tell by sales #'s and the word from Sony that the PS3 constitutes a major chunk of BR software sales (non-games). I highly doubt it will change _that_ much over time...I just think it's additional functionality makes it to be what Sony always wanted...the all-in-one gadget for your living room.


Morne

You have explained the plan almost perfectly - when CE's drop their price Sony will drop the PS3 prices. Now with downloads on the horizon and profile 2.0 - that makes PS3 even more profitable than any BD player. This plan is slick and sic (not sic in the bad way but like - slick). It's almost perfect. The only thing that's stopping the takeover is gamers.