Bye bye competition, hello monopoly. On one hand, less confusion is good, compatibility with everything is nice. On the flip side, what's keeping Sony competitive with pricing/support of their current/future Blu Rays?
Given that the MSRP on most of Sony's new DRMed, Region Coded, BD movies is $45.00, I'd say it's time for the consumers (the same ones that have "chosen" Blu-Ray) to bend over and grab their ankles.....
Well iTunes and Windows Digital Media are still there. I replaced my HD-DVD player with an AppleTV and media server. I have no need to use Bluray, well, ever.
Physical media is dead to me. I look forward to it being dead for everyone else as well. I'm just wondering what BestBuy is going to put in all of that empty space once CDs and DVDs are gone. I suppose the US's lack of broadband investment will force the relics to stay around for awhile. And then there are those folks who can't let go of Vinyl so ...
Where are you planning to back up all those downloads? A bluray burner would be the perfect back-up solution.
I gave up on digital distribution because of this, you store a huge library of movies then one day your drive crashes and you loose it all in the blink of an eye. You also keep running out of space, and have to constantly upgrade or add drives. No digital distributed media could be sold or exchanged between users. I cant even lend out legally obtained digital media. Worst of all the video and audio quality of downloaded media is no where near to what you get from discs.
For now and the next 10 (at least) years disc media will reign as a method of distributing SOLD video media (rentals will most likely be replaced by electronic distribution). When network bandwidth, extremely large reliable storage (holographic storage?) and more flexible DRM standards are available, then downloable media will reign.
How does Regional encoding, extra DRM, unfinished specifications, no backwards compatability, poor menu systems and interactivity, higher prices yet with exactly the same video/sound quality benefit consumers exactly...
Its a strange day when people cheer the loss of a much cheaper, less copy protected and yet identical quality format for a more expensive, unfinished product simply because of some misguided brand loyalty programmed into them from advertising.
Honestly, I think I'll skip this generation of video if its all been decided by movie studios playing games. Surely they would be better sticking to making films than messing with technology issues.
Yeah, cause DVD had a hell of a time coming down in price too.. amirite?! Oh wait, it had VCD for competition.... hmm. Which would equate to DVD being Blu-rays competition now wouldn't it, on a relative basis?
I sure will be glad when stupid goes out of style.
Blu-Ray is not a Sony format, its a consortium format that they are a major player in. They all have to play by the same rules and now they are competing against each other. Competition will now intensify and prices will drop faster sicne they don't have to worry about who was going to win.
Finally, someone who understands this isn't just some stupid Microsoft vs Sony war. 99% of the people on here are championing on standard or the other for absolutely no good reason. While the physical discs of Blu-Ray may be superior to HD-DVD (currently anyways), the interactivity model for Blu-Ray is a pile of crap. Unlike HD which uses xml, the Blu-Ray interactivity spec is just like OCAP (which was a complete joke) and requires a java engine to process. That coupled with the additional DRM is going to make streaming a giant pain in the ass. When physical discs go away and we're still saddled with this format (yes folks, format does not just mean what disc they go on) it's going to make the transition to streamable, sharable content much harder.
I'm not sure how you would consider this a Monopoly? Toshiba is the only manufacturer pumping out dedicated HD players and even the Onkyo player that was scheduled to be released is a Toshiba rebadged. Meanwhile, Bluray players are currently or scheduled for release by Sony (of course), Samsung, Panasonic, Pioneer, LG, Marantz, Denon and god knows who else in the future. Meanwhile, HD DVD? Toshiba! PERIOD! Oh, and an add on for your Xbox (what ever). At least that's how it's been since the inception of HD DVD.
Sony developed the technology and have been actively marketing it and doing it well. If that means paying studios for their support? why not! Toshiba has done this with Paramount but at the end of the day, their marketing plans failed. Nothing more.
Why are you not calling VHS, CD or DVD a monopoly? Philips still received royalties for DVD technology. Is that a monopoly? NO! The only difference here is two major innovators did not see eye to eye on technology this time and decided to go their own way and go to war if neccesary.
So please. Let's stop with the Monopoly non-sense.
OK.. I'm done.. Going to watch a bluray movie now. ;-)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kalamaty @ Feb 15th 2008 11:46AM
Bye bye competition, hello monopoly. On one hand, less confusion is good, compatibility with everything is nice. On the flip side, what's keeping Sony competitive with pricing/support of their current/future Blu Rays?
mike @ Feb 15th 2008 11:47AM
Price people are willing to pay?
Boscorooty @ Feb 15th 2008 11:54AM
Given that the MSRP on most of Sony's new DRMed, Region Coded, BD movies is $45.00, I'd say it's time
for the consumers (the same ones that have "chosen" Blu-Ray) to bend over and grab their ankles.....
R
Dave @ Feb 15th 2008 11:54AM
The fight now is between Blu-ray companies. The choice is here ... but on a brand level with the better format. Sorry hd dvd fanboi!
cduran01 @ Feb 15th 2008 12:03PM
Competition will still be alive and healthy. The Bluray group has a lot more players than HD-DVD group (which is why they are basically winning).
Prices will and currently are coming down on bluray stuff, and they have to now that they need to compete with DVD which is truly the big competition.
jus10 @ Feb 15th 2008 12:03PM
Well iTunes and Windows Digital Media are still there. I replaced my HD-DVD player with an AppleTV and media server. I have no need to use Bluray, well, ever.
Physical media is dead to me. I look forward to it being dead for everyone else as well. I'm just wondering what BestBuy is going to put in all of that empty space once CDs and DVDs are gone. I suppose the US's lack of broadband investment will force the relics to stay around for awhile. And then there are those folks who can't let go of Vinyl so ...
Arjun @ Feb 15th 2008 12:16PM
Panasonic, Pioneer, Phillips, Samsung, LG, Sharp, Denon, JVC and well you know... most media player companies.
cduran01 @ Feb 15th 2008 12:18PM
@jus10:
Where are you planning to back up all those downloads? A bluray burner would be the perfect back-up solution.
I gave up on digital distribution because of this, you store a huge library of movies then one day your drive crashes and you loose it all in the blink of an eye. You also keep running out of space, and have to constantly upgrade or add drives. No digital distributed media could be sold or exchanged between users. I cant even lend out legally obtained digital media. Worst of all the video and audio quality of downloaded media is no where near to what you get from discs.
For now and the next 10 (at least) years disc media will reign as a method of distributing SOLD video media (rentals will most likely be replaced by electronic distribution). When network bandwidth, extremely large reliable storage (holographic storage?) and more flexible DRM standards are available, then downloable media will reign.
majic73316 @ Feb 15th 2008 12:32PM
Trying to overtake DVDs will keep sony honest
AJ in the East Bay @ Feb 15th 2008 12:35PM
@cduran01:
Q: "Where are you planning to back up all those downloads?"
A: RAID
Phantom @ Feb 15th 2008 12:51PM
@AJ in the East Bay:
RAID is not a reliable backup solution. Regardless of how many drives in the setup, RAID is still plague by single point of failure.
BenHobbs @ Feb 15th 2008 1:08PM
How does Regional encoding, extra DRM, unfinished specifications, no backwards compatability, poor menu systems and interactivity, higher prices yet with exactly the same video/sound quality benefit consumers exactly...
Its a strange day when people cheer the loss of a much cheaper, less copy protected and yet identical quality format for a more expensive, unfinished product simply because of some misguided brand loyalty programmed into them from advertising.
Honestly, I think I'll skip this generation of video if its all been decided by movie studios playing games. Surely they would be better sticking to making films than messing with technology issues.
foe1one @ Feb 15th 2008 1:06PM
Yeah, cause DVD had a hell of a time coming down in price too.. amirite?!
Oh wait, it had VCD for competition.... hmm. Which would equate to DVD being Blu-rays competition now wouldn't it, on a relative basis?
I sure will be glad when stupid goes out of style.
BenHobbs @ Feb 15th 2008 1:09PM
So how come all this "COMPETITION" between vendors like Samsung, Sony, LG, Pioneer etc... hasn't driven down the cost of Blu-Ray players already then?
Dave @ Feb 15th 2008 2:20PM
Apple TV only goes as high as 720p. Don't understand how it can replace Blu-ray...
Izzy @ Feb 15th 2008 2:32PM
@cduran01
Amen.
Blu-Ray is not a Sony format, its a consortium format that they are a major player in. They all have to play by the same rules and now they are competing against each other. Competition will now intensify and prices will drop faster sicne they don't have to worry about who was going to win.
Jeremy @ Feb 15th 2008 2:34PM
@BenHobbs
Finally, someone who understands this isn't just some stupid Microsoft vs Sony war. 99% of the people on here are championing on standard or the other for absolutely no good reason. While the physical discs of Blu-Ray may be superior to HD-DVD (currently anyways), the interactivity model for Blu-Ray is a pile of crap. Unlike HD which uses xml, the Blu-Ray interactivity spec is just like OCAP (which was a complete joke) and requires a java engine to process. That coupled with the additional DRM is going to make streaming a giant pain in the ass. When physical discs go away and we're still saddled with this format (yes folks, format does not just mean what disc they go on) it's going to make the transition to streamable, sharable content much harder.
upz @ Feb 15th 2008 2:41PM
Because there is a thing called "cost." And blue diodes are not free to manufacture.
And what are you talking about with "no backwards compatability?" Am I supposed to be upset my Blu-ray player can't play VHS tapes?
upz @ Feb 15th 2008 2:44PM
My previous post was to our friend, Mr. BenHobbs.
Reid @ Feb 15th 2008 4:25PM
Phantom,
Which RAID single point of failure? You mean the controller?
Here's how to fix that:
Step 1: Replace controller
Step 2: Go back to enjoying your media
Somehow I fail to see the problem.
aus @ Feb 15th 2008 4:59PM
You got the right. Anyone who prefers one option dominated by a company renowned for overpricing is an idiot..
TonyD @ Feb 15th 2008 9:59PM
I'm not sure how you would consider this a Monopoly? Toshiba is the only manufacturer pumping out dedicated HD players and even the Onkyo player that was scheduled to be released is a Toshiba rebadged. Meanwhile, Bluray players are currently or scheduled for release by Sony (of course), Samsung, Panasonic, Pioneer, LG, Marantz, Denon and god knows who else in the future. Meanwhile, HD DVD? Toshiba! PERIOD! Oh, and an add on for your Xbox (what ever). At least that's how it's been since the inception of HD DVD.
Sony developed the technology and have been actively marketing it and doing it well. If that means paying studios for their support? why not! Toshiba has done this with Paramount but at the end of the day, their marketing plans failed. Nothing more.
Why are you not calling VHS, CD or DVD a monopoly? Philips still received royalties for DVD technology. Is that a monopoly? NO! The only difference here is two major innovators did not see eye to eye on technology this time and decided to go their own way and go to war if neccesary.
So please. Let's stop with the Monopoly non-sense.
OK.. I'm done.. Going to watch a bluray movie now. ;-)
TonyD
Sain @ Feb 16th 2008 12:38AM
Are you serious?
Where is DVD's competition?
Where was the confusion?
When has their been two movie formats?