Sony throws party for Vaios, fakes Blu-ray demo

Who'd you think you were fooling, Sony? You go throw some big huge party celebrating the 10 year birthday of the Vaio and the launch of the Vaio UX Micro PC and your new flagship Blu-ray playing AR series 17-inch powerhouse laptop, replete with demo of early Blu-ray title House of Flying Daggers. And then you get done caught red-handed by a meddling reporter who discovered the Blu-ray playback is actually coming straight off a typical, normal old DVD R. It's a sham, Sony, the whole thing's a sham! How are you gonna make a case for your laptop -- let alone Blu-ray as a format -- now that you tried to pawn off a DVD as a Blu-ray tech demo to a room full of industry professionals? We hope at least it was playing back a high def trailer, or something; now go to your room, you're gonna have some serious alone time, little mister.

Update: To be honest, we never thought this one would take off the way it has, but it looks like we underestimated the forensic skills of the collective. The latest word is that someone claiming to be from Sony has posted a comment on Gearlog saying that there were two laptops, one with the DVD-R of "House of Flying Daggers," and the other with the Blu-ray version, so that folks could make a side-by-side comparison. Gearlog's reporter apparently popped the latch on the DVD version, and didn't check the Blu-ray one. We have no way to independently verify this version (or Gearlog's original take), though Notebook Review does have some pics clearly showing two laptops on display at the Sony shindig. All of this leads us to one conclusion: Next time, Sony should just invite us to their parties, and we'll get it straight. And we may even like the tinfoil-flavored cake, too.

[Ted @ May 16th 2006 3:31PM]

ha-ha sony got caught!

[ajblackjk @ May 16th 2006 3:31PM]

wow, i can't believe it. and i was so supportive of Blue-ray. i'm a little disenfrachised.

[Vince @ May 16th 2006 3:32PM]

I'm not even surprised and that sad!

I'm def not buying a blu ray machine now, fine with my dvd's. How far are they trying to go anyway, emulate the eye?

[Tim @ May 16th 2006 3:33PM]

Sounds like this reporter just brung a blank CD with him and a marker and wrote down the name of the movie they showed. I doubt Sony could use a normal DVD and people would think it was high-def like Blu-Ray.

[ipodman715 @ May 16th 2006 3:34PM]

Big shock!

[Shawn @ May 16th 2006 3:35PM]

Sony sucks a$$, they are always pulling lame crap like this ...

Will Blu-Ray ever work? Or is it fake? - hehe

[Aaron @ May 16th 2006 3:36PM]

Hahahaha that's hallarious, and yes very very sad. I can't believe that.

[Jason @ May 16th 2006 3:36PM]

Now that is funny... I wonder... if it was in hi-def how much of the movie fit on that disc??? Im sure people would be surprised to find out how much space you really need to next gen DVD movies...

As a format in general Sony's edge is in the available space... thats it... and HD-DVD is plenty big to hold a full movie with xtras... is it really worth the extra price for that space?

[mcloki @ May 16th 2006 3:36PM]

I feel sorry for Sony. They keep shooting themselves in the foot at every chance. The guy who let this happen should be fired. They just aren't firing on any cylinders lately. Maybe they need to split the company into two wholly separate companies. Sony Software and Sony Hardware. Maybe these problems wouldn't happen then.

[James @ May 16th 2006 3:38PM]

Whats even funnier is that the disc is a verbatim
(i think)and not a sony DVD-R.

[Harrison Wilson @ May 16th 2006 3:39PM]

I agree with post #3, the story does seem a bit weird and the pics could be staged. Sony would be smart enough to not leave evidence like that lying around where anyone can get to it if they are trying to make a case for a technology whose competitor already got a head start.

[DJ @ May 16th 2006 3:40PM]

When you think about it... if there really WERE a blu-ray disc in that laptop, someone would have stolen it.

Regardless, they should have done a better job at making sure nobody could open that drive. It's just like retail stores. When you goto a store, like Best Buy, the HDTV's are not really playing HD content. They're most likely playing off a crappy DVD player, with a composite (worst) video cable.

[Regula Oblique @ May 16th 2006 3:42PM]

Seriously as Tim (Commenter #3) said there's no way that is true, I mean come on look at the writing on the disc if sony really did that don't you think they would have the real dvd in there or atleast wrote on it neatly and not scribbled, sounds really fake like the guy just opened up the demo player and put his own disc in there. Im calling this article a sham

[oshean @ May 16th 2006 3:44PM]

Zoiks!!! Ruh-roh Sony, if this is true you're teh sux0r once again!
Proprietary formats, UMD, crippled PSP, root kits, the PS3 price point and now a fraudulent Blu-Ray demo. I don't care that these thing are from different Sony business units, it all has Sony's name written all over it!

[slocko @ May 16th 2006 3:47PM]

if the story is fake, couldn't Sony sue the reporter? He would be risking his job pulling such a foolish prank.

[doubtful @ May 16th 2006 3:48PM]

Fanboys to your battlestations! Defend Sony at all costs, even your integrity!

They probably believed they wouldn't be caught. You can't trust anything from Sony until the product is on the shelf.

Even then, take it with a grain of salt.

[Chris @ May 16th 2006 3:48PM]

#12:

wow, you do need a sense of humor...

[Segura @ May 16th 2006 3:49PM]

looks like BlueRay encryption is cracked already!

[Blair @ May 16th 2006 3:51PM]

Losers, first they price the PS3 at such an ungodly price that no one will be able to afford it, then they fake Blu-Ray playback with a regular DVD. What's next? A supposed Blu-Ray game for the PS3...except its a PS2 game?

[shelly @ May 16th 2006 3:51PM]

sony,
thanks for one more "who cares about the consumer" mishap. Its good to know you care.


$ukker

One more reason to question myself when anything im about to purchase says "sony"

-michael

[YacozA @ May 16th 2006 3:58PM]

Wow...

looks like the xbox fanboys (and girls?) are out in force for this one....

wat do ppl have against sony anyways?

i think both hd formats are a big scam

[TMoney @ May 16th 2006 4:04PM]

What I would assume happened is this:
Sony wanted to show off their Blu-Ray drive, but its not ready yet. They used a regular dvd, but burned a hi-def movie onto it. They either used a different codec than Blu-Ray uses, or put about a quarter of the film on it. Who would watch the whole things anyway.

What I am 99% sure of is that it was not faked by the guy who took the picture. This just shows how far from the consumer Blu-Ray really is. It also exposes how tiny of a leap in technology Blu-Ray is from DVD compared to the leap from VHS to DVD. What can a Blu-Ray do that a DVD-9 can't? Hold 2.5 times more data and restrict usage. DVD-9 is completely adequate for storing full length Hi-Def movies with features. My proof of this is the Terminator 2 Hi Def edition. So I ask does anyone know why we need Blu Ray/HD-DVD?

[nabil @ May 16th 2006 4:06PM]

why would sony use a ViewSonic DVD+R? i think the reporter is lying.

[nabil @ May 16th 2006 4:08PM]

err actually its Verbatim. my bad.

[Brian B @ May 16th 2006 4:10PM]

C'mon people. you readers are supposed to be the electronics elite.... Its obvious this is a sham. SONY would have used a real House of the Flying Dragon DVD rather than a burnt copy. A HUGE company like SONY doesn't have time for one of their employees to burn a copy on his DVDR. It would have made more sense for them to just get a ready made DVD. Lets not even bein to address the issue that it visibly wouldn't look right to everyone expecting BR.... especially since they were most likely showcasing this on some ENORMOUS display.

Smell the Starbucks people; you've been had.

On a brighter note, when is the NYC Engadget meet up? Huh Mr. R Block?? Listen, send out your apartment address, and make it a nice cozy BYOB party. I'll even splurge and bring something better than Natty Ice. I'm really beginnning to think all these other get togethers have been fake.... conspiracy theory...

[splob @ May 16th 2006 4:10PM]

BD-9 (HD video on a standard DVD) *is* part of the Blu-Ray spec, so technically it is a Blu-Ray disc, if it is actually encoded at 720p or higher.

[DinnyHoon @ May 16th 2006 4:13PM]

"HA! Only joking! Bluray never actually existed! We just used it as an excuse when we were too lazy to release consoles on time."

As a Sony fanboy, I'm deeply upset.

[Nodnetni @ May 16th 2006 4:15PM]

The MPAA is going to be all over them for this I hope.

[Skeptic @ May 16th 2006 4:16PM]

Funny thing is that theres no clear picture as to what the disk is coming out of and whether or not the picture was actually taken at the Vaio party. Another thing thats rather odd is that the read link for this post leads to another blog that purports to qoute the information from another story that isn't even linked to. This story is just a big he said she said anti-Sony flame rumor. Hats off to Engadget for posting very fragmented and easily falsified information.

Well... guess I'll go and get myself a sharpie and a cd-r disc and take a picture of the "Gran Turismo HD" labeled disc in a open disc tray and claim that the E3 demo was running on a Sony Vaio!!!

[Sean @ May 16th 2006 4:17PM]

If you go to the link notice the first image doesn't match the second. The table or bar the top laptop is sitting on doesn't match the second on, so you can't say its the same laptop as the selective cropping of the image doesn't lend itself to any credibility. And this guy is hardly a reputable reporter, but if it is a fake he better have a damn good lawyer.

Of course this makes no difference to me, I'm buying a MacBook Pro and waiting until HD-DVD or Blu-Ray finish duking it out for total consumer domination.

[David @ May 16th 2006 4:21PM]

As pointed out on the site this is from the tables in the shots are different. Plus do you really think Sony would leave their brand new, not even out yet, technologically advanced laptop out for anyone to tamper with? Is there a picture of the whole laptop with the tray out? I really don't think a huge company like Sony would goof like that. Plus where is the account directly from the reporter??

[Blademonkey @ May 16th 2006 4:21PM]

Well if it IS a HD movie encoded to the point where the contents can be considered BLURAY, then that means Sony will not have to release BLURAY Discs, right? right?

{= )

[Mark Brown @ May 16th 2006 4:22PM]

you know those engadget giveaways where you guys used to ask what your favorite post was? This gets my vote forever.

awesome.

[Julio @ May 16th 2006 4:23PM]

Read the latest article that the guy who found the DVD-R posted on PCMag...

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1959609,00.asp

I'm calling BS

[Joe V @ May 16th 2006 4:23PM]

#19: You can't burn HD video to a regular DVD. It wouldn't matter if it was only part of the movie, because it's not just the quesiton of space; the video codecs supported by DVD top out at 480p resolution.

[Akshat @ May 16th 2006 4:23PM]

#29 - its freakn newsworthy, and its freakn hilarious!
IS there any independent verification tho? Where is the actual Pcmag story?

[James @ May 16th 2006 4:25PM]

# 28: The first image on the link is a cake not a computer.

[J @ May 16th 2006 4:25PM]

Check the link again...more pics.

[bryan ribas @ May 16th 2006 4:27PM]

The prob have a hi-def short clip on the dvd-r. They are not going to play the whole thing so they cut it to the length they wanted and burnt the clip to a dvd-r. you can fit about 12 mins of hi-def on a dvd-r.

[Frank @ May 16th 2006 4:28PM]

They probably dont want somebody stealing the blue-ray disc and cracking it before it even launches. Memory is memory. that dvd-r probably only contains 10 minutes of hi-def footage.

[Ian @ May 16th 2006 4:28PM]

What? Sony lieing? Who would've thunk it.

[Brian @ May 16th 2006 4:29PM]

the real news is that vaio cake. that sh*t was tasty.

[Swissboy @ May 16th 2006 4:30PM]

AMERICANS ARE SUCH DUMBASSES (INCLUDING RYAN BLOCKHEAD...DUH..DUH)

I can buy a blank Blu-Ray disc NOW.....YES NOW. IN SWITZERLAND.

I can ALSO BUY BLU-RAY TITLES......NOW.

No players available just yet but the discs are in my local Media Markt AS I SPEAK.

REPORT GADGETS ENGADGET, OR STFU BECAUSE YOUR BLOG IS FULL OF RETARD REPORTERS WHO DON'T KNOW SHIT AND REPORTING EVEN MORE OF IT (APPLE BLAH BLAH...)....NO WONDER YOUR HIRING.

[Scabies @ May 16th 2006 4:30PM]

Ha, look at the linked website. There were two laptops, and it looks like one playing off a DVD-RW, the other (supposedly) playing off a BR-D
image viewable by clicking my name

[J @ May 16th 2006 4:34PM]

42, yes but the one on the left looks like it has a blu-ray sticker on it and the other doesn't.

[T.H. @ May 16th 2006 4:36PM]

I think this is fake. I mean, Sony wouldn't lie to us, the consumers would they? Next someone is going to tell me Sony got hauled up to court about fake movie reviews. All lies I tell you. Lies!

[Isurus (at work) @ May 16th 2006 4:37PM]

"33. #19: You can't burn HD video to a regular DVD. It wouldn't matter if it was only part of the movie, because it's not just the quesiton of space; the video codecs supported by DVD top out at 480p resolution."

Are you sure about that?

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/musicandvideo/hdvideo/abouthdvideo.aspx

[DynamicStability @ May 16th 2006 4:39PM]

#43 OGAY MORON LISTEN UP
http://gearlog.com/photos/gearlog/images/11656/original.aspx
http://gearlog.com/photos/gearlog/images/11655/original.aspx

You were fooled by a cake?

[REP @ May 16th 2006 4:42PM]

Bwhahaha....No surprise. Desperate times call for desperate measures and I think this just exemplifies how bad off Sony is as a company. I can see all these fanboys getting their grubby hands on the first PS3s and finding the box loaded with a couple of bricks. Too hilarious!!! Way to go Sony!!!

[Sizer @ May 16th 2006 4:42PM]

Watch out! De Nile is flooding its banks!

Sony has been this dumb in the past. Cries of 'this is so stupid that it is not possible it must be a clevar trick' (I guess the reporter was paid off by MS or Nintendo) just plumb the depths of your defensiveness these days.