Is Sony preparing to raise a white flag?

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by tigeraudio2007

Has Blu-ray really been receiving better reviews? There are so many problems with the format "lack of" standard, I find that hard to believe. The compression scheme that Blu-ray uses does have a higher bitrate, but a subpar to HD DVD, compression alogrithm.

As for ratings, it is all subjective. Someone who loves a movie will give it a higher rating than someone who hated the movie. Same goes for quality. Someone who knows what they are talking about will be more critical of the quality versus someone who only is seeing the surface.

PS3 sales are not that low. But what I am referring to is that profit margin. Sony takes a loss on each PS3 sold (ie: it cost more to make it than what it is selling for). They do this in hopes of taking the lead and phasing out the competition. The prices will have to go up afterwards to make up for some of the losses, and because there is no longer a competitor.

Neither HD nor Blu-ray is doing what was originally expected. It is not just HD DVD.

Of course consumer's don't like war. It has become especially difficult after the past wars, which have made typically early adopters more of fence sitters.

In the end, the technology is too expensive (as consumers are used to $99 or less even DVD players that work) and the players and technology are not reliable and take too long to load and play.

I'm not certain that one technology by merger would benefit consumers. It would be a further delay in the re-building and integrating of both technologies. Basically starting all over again. And if one format eliminates the other then prices are going to go up again.

I don't see what the big deal about having both formats really is. For about $500 to $600 you can buy a player in both formats and then who cares which title is on which format, you have both players. I have 2 players and they both work, load discs in under 2 minutes and look great.

Sorry when I said HD in general I was referring to both formats. They're both well under their original and subsequent estimations.

I don't think they want to merge, it's too late for that now. I think they want to take the war out of the equation. The only way to do that is neutrality. Perhaps it will be hardware only at first, but that isn't really the issue to consumers. It's the software...

[TheMoose]

Could you provide a link to that story?
I'm not seeing everything you posted in this Yahoo news version, Or this MSNBC version, Or this NY times version, Or this version from Forbes or any of the other news outlets that I checked.

Specifically I'd like to see where you are getting that Sony is thinking about making a HD-DVD player or where they say that Sony may be going neutral.

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by TheMoose

Could you provide a link to that story?
I'm not seeing everything you posted in this Yahoo news version, Or this MSNBC version, Or this NY times version, Or this version from Forbes or any of the other news outlets that I checked.

Specifically I'd like to see where you are getting that Sony is thinking about making a HD-DVD player or where they say that Sony may be going neutral.

I know people at Sony. I mentioned it was "behind the scenes."

Stringer is serious about taking the "war," out of all this and ending what he refers to as a "stalemate," and that the war is blocking growth in the HD segment.

Thanks for the links to the articles though, because I was unaware of them.

[faberryman]

"It's obvious that sales are either hurting because people don't care about the performance increase (hard to believe) or they don't like the format war. I really think a lot of people aren't buying in either because they don't want to pick a loser."

Perhaps this is a bit off topic, but at what screen size does HD or BD become noticeably better than SD. If you have less than an x" display, then does a high definition format make any difference to you? What size displays are selling.

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by faberryman

"It's obvious that sales are either hurting because people don't care about the performance increase (hard to believe) or they don't like the format war. I really think a lot of people aren't buying in either because they don't want to pick a loser."

Perhaps this is a bit off topic, but at what screen size does HD or BD become noticeably better than SD. If you have less than an x" display, then does a high definition format make any difference to you? What size displays are selling.

I have Dish Network at my current location. The unit sends an HD feed to my HT with 110" screen. It also sends another signal to a 2nd location in SD. The 2nd TV is a 30 inch tube HDTV. I can record in High Def and watch it on the 2nd TV, but it won't be in High Def. So for local channels I can do that and switch back and forth from the Receiver feed to OTA feed and compare. The difference is actually quite noticable on a small screen.

The problem is DVDs look a lot better than that Receiver. So it's hard to say exactly. I know some people claim you can't tell the difference between a 720p and 1080p on TVs smaller than a certain size. I swear I can see the difference.

The real question is, for the common consumer who took so long to buy HDTV, is it a big enough improvement over SD for them?

Remember we're talking about the downloading music crowd.

[Brian H]

In response to Tigeraudio. The issue isn't having two different kinds of players, it's buying software that may someday be unplayable.
If I buy into Blu ray and 5 years from now, when my $99 blu ray player (yes someday they will be only $99) is no longer working, will I be able to replace it to play my collection of software? Or will I have to go and re-purchase these treasures on a different format.
Maybe people are not ready to move on from S-DVD. It hasn't been around all that long. Maybe it has only run it's course from the view-point of the consumer electronic companies and Hollywood, who wants everyone to go out and re-purchase their favorites on a new format, on a new machine.
I for one do not see that much of a difference in Hi def vs standard def, when you factor in the cost of purchasing a new monitor.
I am one of many, who are waiting this war out. I WILL NOT buy into a format that might be the next BETA, SACD, DVD-Audio, DIVX disc (remember those), Mini disc, DCC cassette, etc.
I also think that the industry is fighting another battle, and that is with respect to what the consumer wants. I think the sales of thin TVs has more to do with style and pleasing the wife with a smaller footprint, than it does with better performance. We are living in a download, disposable society. The youth of our society are not interested in quality. They are into what's "cool" and when it no longer is, they delete it. If a recording artist is no longer in vogue (Britney Spears), it's easy to just delete tracks off of their iPod.
I think video will go the same way. Compressed downloads that can be deleted to make room for the newest High School Musical.
This is just my disillusioned, disappointed view. I wish that the consumer electronics industries would learn from the past, and only come to market with a unified effort. But alas, this is the epitomie of consumerism and in the end it works. We just have to be patient and jump in when we're ready.