Is Sony Ready To Pull The Plug On Blu-ray?

[JerryDelColliano]

Originally Posted by akbungle

Sorry to take such a small snip of your quote but this is exactly the same thing I have noticed on different HDM review sites. They do all these reviews talking about the picture and sound quality then you look at what they use to review and it's like a 26" Samsung CRT tube and a Sony HTIB!!?!???!
Just amazing.

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I am REALLY glad you noticed.

It was a little scary showing my home to the world but I wanted to make the point about walking the walk and talking the talk.

I took $13,000 in commissions from 1/2 a sale at Cello Los Angeles - back when I worked for Mark Levinson - and parlayed that into what we have today. No VC. No IPO. Just hard work and a LOT of reinvestment. By that I mean working with reviewers, helping them with their systems and getting a lot of help from MANY companies over the years to stay cutting edge.

That's why when people challenge our cred - ask Lenoard Maltin what he thinks of Bill Warren our Home Video editor. Ask him why he is a contributing editor to his guide? Do other publications have that and FOR FREE!!!!! ????

I am not complaining. I am just thankful that people notice because before I bust out $10,000 for HD disc players, installs etc... I could just take the money home but I didn't and I don't. Hell, I spent $3,000 on a PS3 last year and you will note we have a home theater oriented 5200 word FULL FEATURE posted in 36 hours!!!!! Can a print mag do that? That is a solid NO.

[TheMoose]

Originally Posted by Lotus

I'd love it if BD was priced aggressively, had all studio support, etc. I'd buy it hands down.

The problem is their is a less expensive unit out there that gives you 95% of the performance and it has some Studio support the other side doesn't have.

How about the fact that Blu-Ray has some studio support that the other side doesn't & has more studio support than HD-DVD?

So I don't understand why you BD backers attack the information. It's just as stupid HD DVD backers attacking facts. It's dumb.

well "one guy at Toshiba told me" isn't facts, it's rumors by someone that is biased because Toshiba signs his checks!

Go to AVS and start calling people names over there.
You sound just as dumb and ignorant as the idiots who said BD DL discs wouldn't work.
It's just juvenile.
It's just as stupid HD DVD backers attacking facts. It's dumb

Just is doing the name calling here??

I think they care about attachment rates. I think they care that one side seems to be gaining steam in sales for hardware. With the attachment rates they can see that if Toshiba produces a steady amount of hardware sales (100,000 per month would do it) then they'd surpass BD in software sales by April/May.

Are they still building the $99 units or just selling off stock that was sitting in warehouses?
If they are not building new $99 units they most likely will not keep that rate of hardware sales up.
I believe that the majority of people that bought the $99 models will not buy many if any HD-DVD's, they will have the freebies that came with it & rent any others, that's not going to help software sales much.
I'll say it again, the studios care about sales of their movies, not Toshiba's hardware.

Hmmm... Paramount and Dreamworks already did.

Only for 18 months & only after they were paid $150 million.

Wow PS3 had one good week and everything is fixed.

There were over 120 million Playstation 2's sold & I'd bet a very large percentage of those owners are wanting a PS3, with the price drops & new games coming out the PS3 will start to snowball.

BD players just aren't selling. PS3 is distorting software sales numbers, and yes the Studios do care, because there are already millions of PS3s out there, and another 300,000 for the month of November won't mean that much. They will approach a point of diminishing returns.

The PS3 is distorting software sales numbers??
If by that you mean a lot more PS3 owners are buying Blu-Ray movies than anyone expected then I agree.
As for diminishing returns I'll again point you to the PS2 base of over 120 million most of whom want a PS3, it'll be a long time before there are diminishing returns.

Sony needs to get a $300 unit or less out there ASAP. The consumer cares about price.

While I don't have anyone in management at Sony on speed dial I'm betting a $299 or $249 Blu-Ray player will be out soon & people will pay $50 to $100 more for it because they have more studio support.

I don't know who you are or what your industry contacts are but you have no credibility by using headlines like "Is Sony Ready To Pull The Plug On Blu-ray?"
If you actually knew anything about the CE business you'd know that Sony has no intentions of "pulling the plug".

[TheMoose]

Originally Posted by JerryDelColliano
Don't discount the power of porn. It won for VHS and seemingly HD DVD has a leg up (so to speak) in that world. More porn gets sold in the US than music these days.

I don't think porn will be a major player in this war, they were in the VHS vs Beta because video tape was the best & easiest way to get porn back then.
Now porn is all over the internet for cheap or for free.
Besides, the first time someone sees Ron Jeremy in HD will be the last time they buy HD porn!!

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by akbungle

I have no problem with the HD-DVD 51GB discs.
The fan boy comment was on what you said.
With the unnecessary color commentary, and now are you contradicting yourself about the DL BD discs or was that just another convenient jab?


... laughed it off as more negative BS from the BD camp...
... but I suppose the BD triple layer and quad layer BDs will work just fine right?" Then he laughed some more.
Just as there was no reason the BD DLs shouldn't have worked fine (but some online were saying wouldn't work with their players).
It's more negativity from opposing camps because they fear losing or some nonsense.

I sound just as dumb and ignorant as the idiots.... ?
Wow talk about negative.

Wow. Ok so you call me names because I quote someone who is very much in the HD DVD camp?

Weird. And yes you do sound just like those guys who thought that a disc made for a certain format wouldn't work on players for that format. It's just not that smart. We've been given no real reason to believe otherwise.

Wait. At CES 2006 there was a slide show, it was the first to mention the 51GB discs, and it stated if memory serves something like "if technical stability can support production," or somesuch. That is where the rumors started that the discs might not work. I however asked someone about it at CES and was told it was referring to replication and not to compatibility with a player.

Since then the rumor has spread and mostly by people who have no idea what they're talking about. Just as there was a rumor that BD DL discs wouldn't work on current BD players when they came out, because a VP at microsoft called the discs "a fantasy," months before their release. He should have said "vaporware," but his term caused a lot of people to make some pretty absurd claims.

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by TheMoose

How about the fact that Blu-Ray has some studio support that the other side doesn't & has more studio support than HD-DVD?

That is the reason for the Stalemate, both sides have exclusive agreements. Currently price is driving the standalone player fight.

well "one guy at Toshiba told me" isn't facts, it's rumors by someone that is biased because Toshiba signs his checks!

Ok, you're right. Toshiba signs his checks so he is going to lie about what he helped develop? What makes more sense, that Toshiba designs a disc to work with their current technology, gets it approved, and has Studios working on titles for it, with one preparing to show some titles at CES, or that Toshiba designed a disc that would make all previous models obsolete and put it into production?

Just is doing the name calling here??

I can't think of any other way to describe them. Perhaps I should refer to them as a Lemming? When this was the BD DL discs I thought the people spreading the same type of rumors were idiots. So if someone does the same thing for the other format, I'm also going to think of them as idiots. No real reason has been given that an extra layer won't work just fine.

Are they still building the $99 units or just selling off stock that was sitting in warehouses?If they are not building new $99 units they most likely will not keep that rate of hardware sales up.

They also dropped the price of the A3 to $199 for that weekend, and a good chunk of that 90,000 was A3s. 30,000 HD DVD players have sold since the weekend from what I hear, and NPD should be reporting that soon. That means $199 moves the players pretty briskly as well.

I believe that the majority of people that bought the $99 models will not buy many if any HD-DVD's, they will have the freebies that came with it & rent any others, that's not going to help software sales much.
I'll say it again, the studios care about sales of their movies, not Toshiba's hardware.

Right but you're wrong. We already have that week's software sales numbers in and they did in fact buy software. Wal-Mart and Best Buy (the two major places with the $98 players) have had trouble stocking the better HD DVD titles.

Only for 18 months & only after they were paid $150 million.

Right because Sony didn't counter offer. The number is much less than that when you consider that Sony was willing to counter.

There were over 120 million Playstation 2's sold & I'd bet a very large percentage of those owners are wanting a PS3, with the price drops & new games coming out the PS3 will start to snowball.

Why isn't SEGA doing great then? Their Genesis player was a huge market holder. Wait, the gamers don't care about previous generation consoles. They care about what is in the current console and not the previous one.

The 360 already has a much, much, much bigger chunk of realestate than they had with the XBOX. The PS2 still outsells the PS3 every month too.

The PS3 is distorting software sales numbers?? If by that you mean a lot more PS3 owners are buying Blu-Ray movies than anyone expected then I agree.

Oh God no, they're buying about 1/10th the number of discs that Sony was telling the industry the PS3 would do. It's not the BD Trojan Horse it was labelled as. It is helping push the product however. The low number who do buy still out number the current standalone player numbers. Thus the distortion.

Sony put it in the PS3 for an edge in the format war, and it's worked. If they hadn't then you'd have already seen some Studios declare neutrality from their camp.

As for diminishing returns I'll again point you to the PS2 base of over 120 million most of whom want a PS3, it'll be a long time before there are diminishing returns.

Except PS3 sales have slowed down, and will pick up for the holiday season, that's a given. However they will slow back down again. The PS3 is just not moving like it was before. It's currently ranked THIRD in the next gen battle. At some point the Wii is going to take the top spot from the 360.

It's a different landscape, and by looking at previous numbers we can see that there will be a point of diminishing returns. Because the PS3 sold it's majority of consoles within 3 months of release. The heat has died down substantially.

While I don't have anyone in management at Sony on speed dial I'm betting a $299 or $249 Blu-Ray player will be out soon & people will pay $50 to $100 more for it because they have more studio support.

I hear next Summer, but I don't think that is soon enough.

I don't know who you are or what your industry contacts are but you have no credibility by using headlines like "Is Sony Ready To Pull The Plug On Blu-ray?"
If you actually knew anything about the CE business you'd know that Sony has no intentions of "pulling the plug".

Not my headline. This is an editorial by AVREVOLUTION. I don't think Sony will be dropping anything, but I think they're trying hard to fix the stalemate issue.

[akbungle]

Originally Posted by Lotus

Weird. And yes you do sound just like those guys who thought that a disc made for a certain format wouldn't work on players for that format. It's just not that smart. We've been given no real reason to believe otherwise.

Once AGAIN I have no problem with 51GB HD-DVDs nor have I said that I did, so I don't know why you keep going back to this point since I have never said anything to the contrary, it doesn't make you look very smart.

Originally Posted by Lotus

He should have said "vaporware," but his term caused a lot of people to make some pretty absurd claims.

But since you mention this perhaps until consumers have playable 51GB HD-DVDs in their hands you should henceforth call them vaporware.