Sony announces new Blu-ray module, should drive down costs

Sony has announced the development of a new Blu-ray reader / writer module that is not only smaller than previous components, but promises to be cheaper as well due to a simplified manufacturing process. The new laser housing is less than three millimeters thick, according to the Japanese manufacturer and co-developer Nichia Corporation, enabling it to be incorporated into smaller devices such as portable players. Sony predicts that we'll first start seeing 9.5-millimeter laptop BD drives which employ the module later this year.

[Via Tech.co.uk, thanks Kiwi616]

[Neebs @ Jan 25th 2008 12:07PM]

Maybe this will save Blu-Ray---oh wait.

Blu-ray doesn't need saving.

[pigfister @ Jan 25th 2008 2:34PM]

maybe this cost cutting exercise is to reward all them early adopters that are left with bricks because they cant update profiles!

i will never support DRM-Ray with added global price fixing tool "region coding" and the MPAA choice of hardware because of the extra layer of DRM BD+ on Blu-Ray discs.

I would also advise all ppl in countries where it is legal to download films to change all the x264/mkv files to HD-WMV so you can stream them to your 360 or burn them to DVD so i can watch them on my 360. I wish they would bring them out as HD-WMV as they look just as good as mkv. Or you can simply stream from your pc thus never having to own any crippled by DRM sony propertarian hardware.

WTO Awards Caribbean Country Right to Ignore US Copyright: http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/27/1514235


The BPI Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.

The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.

The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX.

[Izzy @ Jan 25th 2008 3:19PM]

Hey Piggy, Why can't you update profiles? Updates are available just by burning them into a drive and running them.


Dammit, I fed the trolls!

[teej @ Jan 25th 2008 3:37PM]

maybe this post will bring out the Bluray fanboys-- oh wait.

[Temple @ Jan 25th 2008 4:20PM]

>>maybe this post will bring out the Bluray fanboys-- oh wait.

Pot, meet kettle...

[Temple @ Jan 25th 2008 4:26PM]

@pigfister

You need to stop trolling multiple boards with your cut-and-paste BS spam propaganda. You already posted the exact same comment of Digg, Afterdaw, Blasteroids, and even on Engadget previous (just search a part of your own comment in google to find more).

In fact your same comment of digg was buried by 21 comments.
http://www.digg.com/gaming_news/Hitler_explains_the_downfall_of_HD_DVD?t=12050630

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/10/sony-bmg-to-add-drm-free-mp3s-to-amazon/

[shawnmos @ Jan 25th 2008 12:08PM]

Finally. Maybe we will see cheaper Blu-ray players within the next 5 years now.

[KushielsScion007 @ Jan 25th 2008 12:21PM]

Lol....at first I thought you were dead serious and then I saw the 5 years...

[rcappo @ Jan 25th 2008 12:59PM]

If there is no more competition, why would they want to lower prices? Maybe the old players with the obsolete profiles will be cheap, but the new ones don't need to be if they are the only HD format left.

[caleb @ Jan 25th 2008 1:29PM]

Just because there isn't a format war, doesn't mean there isn't going to be competition driving down prices. If you check the Best Buy site, you'll see that there are actually more brands manufacturing Blu-Ray players than there are HD-DVD. In fact last I checked, other than dual format Sammy, and LG players, the only company manufacturing HD-DVD players is Tosh.

[insertAlias @ Jan 25th 2008 1:38PM]

caleb hit the nail on the head. Competition won't come from another format, it will come from competing brand names. Just like it does for standard DVDs right now.

[Smart People Play Tuba @ Jan 25th 2008 2:12PM]

Exactly, caleb and insertAlias,

Hopefully now that manufacturers will be focusing solely on Blu-ray, we'll have MORE competition, not less. And hey, didn't Sony just deny a price drop to $299 for the PS3? So you know what that means . . . PRICE DROP!

[DWells55 @ Jan 25th 2008 2:36PM]

Blu-Ray player prices have already been falling and hopefully this will continue the trend. What really interests me is that this supports the rumor of a PlayStation 3 price drop. I'm no Sony fanboy, in fact, I've done my fair share of making fun of the PS3, but given the price of Blu-Ray players and how close the PS3 is to them, I'd be sold instantly if they dropped the price on the PS3 a bit. Now that HD-DVD is pretty much out of the race, I can pretty much justify the purchase and hell, maybe even pick up a game or two for when I need a break from Call of Duty 4.

[Wwhat @ Jan 25th 2008 12:23PM]

So can this thing burn too? or what

[Magnulus @ Jan 25th 2008 12:26PM]

I would assume so. It says reader/ writer in the article.

[Wwhat @ Jan 25th 2008 12:40PM]

Hmm, that doesn't mean it can for sure write BD, might just write DVD-R and CD's.

[Wwhat @ Jan 25th 2008 12:44PM]

I guess it does burn:
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sony.co.jp%2FSonyInfo%2FNews%2FPress%2F200801%2F08-007%2Findex.html&langpair=ja%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF8

Funny how google translates Blu-ray disk as BURUREIDISUKUREKODA

[UnnDunn @ Jan 25th 2008 1:20PM]

Say the phrase "Blu-ray Disk Recorder".

Then say "BURU-REI-DISUKU-REKODA".

Yeah, that's how the Japanese language works, especially with non-generic terms. They take the English and Japan-ify it.

[leksdraven @ Jan 25th 2008 2:38PM]

BURUREIDISUKUREKODA = Romaji (Romanized Japanese [Katana, it seems]) = "Blu-ray disk recorder"

BURU = Blue
REI = Ray
DISUKU = Disk
REKODA = Recorder

Sorry for being a smart-ass, I just had to point this out.

[pigfister @ Jan 25th 2008 2:37PM]

its just a shame that many players including sony's own Sony BDP-S300 does not support BD-R media so you will never be playing copies or home movies on this hardware!

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=BDPS300

READ BELOW SONY PDF: Operating Instructions:

http://www.iq.sony.com/srvs/DocsConnect/docget.asp?manualid=99519&DL=

and lookup "This player can play the following discs and files" and then look at "Examples of discs that the player cannot play" and you will see at the top BD-REs/BD-Rs, neither will it play DVD-RW, DVD-R film backups with stripped css or restructuring or without region coding!

[Pavan @ Jan 25th 2008 3:55PM]

Glad you cleared that translation up...and all this time I thought

REKODA = Reader

[Wwhat @ Jan 26th 2008 2:47AM]

I gathered what it meant, I just thought it was an amusing way of putting it, engadget should always call it that: BURUREIDISUKUREKODA

it's catchy :)
And it would look amusing on the devices too, would fill the whole front of the tray with letters.

[NHAnimator @ Jan 25th 2008 12:27PM]

Game, Set, and Ma.......

[UnnDunn @ Jan 25th 2008 1:24PM]

Blu-ray has about as much chance of winning as the Patriots do next weekend, after Strahan gets done pounding Brady's bony white ass into the turf. ;)

[Kunikos @ Jan 25th 2008 2:07PM]

@UnnDunn: I /knew/ Football was for butt-pirates!

[NHAnimator @ Jan 25th 2008 2:34PM]

To UnnDunn:

That's what the other 18 teams said. (BTW: You can find them all on the golf course now.)

[caleb @ Jan 26th 2008 9:23AM]

Unfortunately for you, it takes less than Zero character to be a Pats fan.

[Charlie Lesoine @ Jan 25th 2008 12:38PM]

Maybe this will go into the new macbook pro.

[david @ Jan 25th 2008 3:24PM]

I agree. That's the second thing I thought of after "sweet, looks like lower cost players coming soon..." Anyone care to respond as to why Charlie's comment is lowest rank?

[Jay @ Jan 25th 2008 1:18PM]

@rcappo

Of course there's going to be copetition, there's the small matter of dvd to take on next, the average consumer may be not so keen to pay high prices for little benefit in their eyes

[Mojo_Yugen @ Jan 25th 2008 2:44PM]

Exactly. The Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD wasn't the format war. The format war will be Blu-Ray vs. plain old DVD.

[Trev @ Jan 25th 2008 1:19PM]

Here comes the new PS3 slim for $199.

[retro77 @ Jan 25th 2008 2:40PM]

Is this the same process that made the Ps3's cheaper for them to make but yields no savings to the customer?

[Aashish Jain @ Jan 25th 2008 2:44PM]

They are losing money over each console even with the new production processes, just less than they did at launch.

[Kizorblade @ Jan 25th 2008 3:28PM]

Actually, I hear they're breaking even around now

[Square @ Jan 25th 2008 5:34PM]

I thought that Blu would never lower costs....bwaaah. Oh wait, that was a portion of the HD DVD crowd that had irational dillusions about how Sony would keep the costs sky high forever (at the same time forgetting about how DVD costs dropped dramatically despite there was only one standard).

[wabguard-email @ Jan 25th 2008 6:35PM]

Hahaha prices dropping?! Yeah right.. without competition... theres no need for sony drop prices. Thanks to Sony paying off warner brothers, we will now pay the "sony premium" on all bluray discs and drives.

Maybe one day when bluray drives are as cheap as dvd ill get one...

[zerosozha @ Jan 25th 2008 7:35PM]

So what caused DVD to drop in price, genius?

Just because there's no competition between formats does not mean that there won't be competition between film studios.

[Poom @ Jan 26th 2008 2:05AM]

Just as caleb has pointed out, Sony isn't the only manufacturer producing Bluray players.