Sony Centre UK celebrates Blu-ray's victory

Engadget reader Raheem spotted this cheap shot on the door of Sony Centre in London, just in case anyone's not sure of the latest developments in the high definition format war. Ouch, still, they may want to fax that over to Dreamworks Animation, cc: Jeffrey Katzenberg. Check after the break for another pic of the atrocity.
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[Philippe @ Feb 27th 2008 10:01AM]

So grown up...

[jared @ Feb 27th 2008 10:03AM]

There's nothing wrong with celebrating a victory.

[ruisu2012 @ Feb 27th 2008 10:07AM]

So English... (and this is an English person saying this)

[Dorz @ Feb 27th 2008 10:20AM]

This is exactly the kind of thing that makes people despise Sony with a passion. Its just so cheap and unprofessional.

They have forgotten to mention that the "War" is not over by any means, in fact it has only just started. Now Blu-Ray has DVD to contend with and it will be a FAR greater hurdle to overcome than HD-DVD. The greatest challenge or threat to either of the formats was and still is DVD.

[Anthony @ Feb 27th 2008 10:20AM]

There are a lot of people (probably 299+ million in the US alone) that don't have much of a clue about what Blu-Ray & HD even were other than something everyone said not to buy. Sometimes you have to bonk people on the head with information before they know.

I think Best Buy, Wal-Mart & equivalents the world over should run full page ads declaring the war over to boost sales of players & discs.

[primetime4 @ Feb 27th 2008 10:27AM]

Like HDTV's war against SDTV's? It's a progression of technology dude. If physical formats continue than it is only a matter of time before DVD's are phased out. And this would not mean that Blu-ray won against DVD either.

[Philippe @ Feb 27th 2008 10:30AM]

...and I can brag too: see my comment of 2 1/2 years ago: http://www.videobusiness.com/index.asp?layout=talkBackCommentsFull&articleid=CA634677&talk_back_header_id=1684

[Khris @ Feb 27th 2008 10:38AM]

@ Philippe

You had a 50% chance of making the right choice you douche! Should we start referring to you as Nostradamus for your brilliant future telling powers?

Way to call it!

[Philippe @ Feb 27th 2008 10:51AM]

@Khris

You missed the point, troll.

1. The Sony poster is cheesy, wouldn't pass the marketing department. There are much more better way to brag winner's rights.

2. The "war" was unnecessary to start with, as HD disc don't bring noticeable improvement over DVD.

3. My 2 1/2 year old comment didn't predict anything, just pointing out that Sony choose the push their format down consumers' throat by bundling it into their PS3. Had Microsoft done the same with HD DVD, you'd still have a stale mate for which we wouldn't really care (see #2 above.)

[Dorz @ Feb 27th 2008 11:08AM]

@Philippe

2) HD-Media looks superior to DVD, you only have to look at the specs to work that out. I have Transformers on both DVD and HD-DVD and there is simply no contest between them. The HD version blows the DVD version clean out of the water where picture quality goes. People and objects almost have a 3D quality to them, so to say that HD has no noticeable improvement over DVD is frankly wrong.

[Paris @ Feb 27th 2008 11:29AM]

I also thought HD was far better than normal DVDs. That was until I saw an upscaled DVD on my PS3. A difference is still noticeable but not really by much.

[mattclarkie @ Feb 27th 2008 11:47AM]

One Sony Centre doing something does not make Sony Cheap and Childish. Sony had nothing to do with this, in fact the stores are a Franchise like McDonalds.

If this was an official Sony Poster then it would be a bit twaty, but it isn't.

[richard knights @ Feb 27th 2008 11:56AM]

"HD blows DVD out of the water" blah blah blah

Yeh it looks great but so does good upscaled DVD. And the issue is will the consumer really care enough to invest in the difference. I know I don't at present and I'm a freaky nerd.

[hemmy @ Feb 27th 2008 12:07PM]

Upscaled DVD doesn't hold a candle to Blu-ray or HD DVD.

[AlexP @ Feb 27th 2008 12:19PM]

Everyone loses because HDTV market penetration is still shitty.

High-def games or movies don't look different if you're using a SD CRT TV, and CRT sets happen the be the majority of sets on the market today (and by far, plus people still purchase CRTs).

The only thing HD's good for is maxing out your credit to enjoy the little HD content available right now (yes, I know most channels are offered in HD, but most of the time it's not even true HD being broadcasted).

This is coming from a guy with two HD-ready TV sets but only an HD TV topset and no HD player (but an Xbox 360 - aside from the fancy effects Guitar Hero 3 looks the same on a PS2 as it does on the 360 with a standard def set).

Point is, as long as it doesn't look like shit, nobody cares (Youtube proves it).

[richard knights @ Feb 27th 2008 2:23PM]

VHS >>> DVD (huge difference)

DVD ON CRT >>>> DVD UPSCALED ON HDTV (sweeeet, I'm happy)

UPSCALED ON HDTV >>>>> FULL ON BLU-RAY (nice but there's a credit crunch on and the kids needs shoes)

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Feb 27th 2008 3:15PM]

richard knights, I'm sure you meant to use the 'greater than' sign in the opposite direction (Ex: VHS > DVD); but, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

[Dorz @ Feb 27th 2008 4:28PM]

I think the arrows are indicating "to", so VHS to DVD.

[Garst @ Feb 28th 2008 2:06AM]

What did you expected? Now that Blu-ray has outlasted HD-DVD, it now has to focus all it can to get enough people to actually buy the discs to justify making them.

[LiqwidZero @ Feb 27th 2008 10:05AM]

Sony is still full of douche bags.

[Jevanzz @ Feb 27th 2008 10:34AM]

Rich, full of win douchebags!

[fanman @ Feb 27th 2008 11:30AM]

Fortunatly, a HD-DVD doesn't have a head to put on a spike.

[Kiwi616 @ Feb 27th 2008 10:06AM]

Every time I hear "The War is Over" it reminds me of that guy from the Matrix: Revolutions that states:

"The War is Over....Neo Saved us!"

Just wanted to put that out there.

[phanbouy @ Feb 27th 2008 10:47AM]

we don't speak of Matrix 3

[LiqwidZero @ Feb 27th 2008 10:58AM]

The Matrix is on HD DVD... which I have.

[Ellianth @ Feb 27th 2008 11:10AM]

What are you going to do with your HD-DVD (I hate writing that, I'm glad it's dead. They should have chosen a better name) player now?

[John B @ Feb 27th 2008 3:30PM]

Yeah, LiqwidZero, what are you going to do with your HD DVD player now? Because, you know, your HD DVD player won't play your existing HD DVDs any more. Wait ... yes, it will ...

Okay, well it won't upscale regular DVDs any more. Wait ... yes, it will ...

Fine, your HD DVD player won't work any time soon, just like those old DIVX players. Wait ... yes, it will as long as you take care of it ...

Well, then I guess you're going to keep your HD DVD player and continue to enjoy it as long you feel you're getting value out of it. It's amazing how that works.

[Raheem @ Feb 27th 2008 10:08AM]

I'm famous.

[John Johnson @ Feb 27th 2008 10:14AM]

So how many Engadget writers just set this as their desktop background?

[Flashpoint @ Feb 27th 2008 10:18AM]

I knew Blu Ray would win the first time I heard its specs compared to HDDVD.

When your maximum capacity is more than twice that of your opponent, there really is nowhere else this can go.

I insist as I did before that HDDVD FAILED BECAUSE MICROSOFT DIDN'T OFFER AN HDDVD DRIVE as a STANDARD DRIVE.

SONY took a gamble with the Blu Ray as a standard drive and that is what increased Blu Ray's market penetration - 100% per PS3 sold. The same thing can be said about DVD's relation to PS2. PS2 put the first DVD player in millions of homes and therefore had tremendous trade value.

[Khris @ Feb 27th 2008 10:25AM]

The PS2 needed DVD, DVD didn't need the PS2.

[tamoghno @ Feb 27th 2008 10:38AM]

oh ! really ? thanks for those information . nobody on engadget knew those.

by the way , where were you when HD-DVD player got below $99 & everybody rushed to buy HD-DVDs , why didn't you saved our millions of $$$, why didn't you warned us ?

also , can you tell me what you're gonna do with all the remaining capacity of your blu-ray ? i'm afraid most HD movies wont be able to utilize a single layer of content , let alone the 50 gb.
More Capacity don't always mean Better Quality.
just like Better product don't always win.

[TrentD @ Feb 27th 2008 10:41AM]

- 50 GB is NOT double 30 GB.

- Also, almost 50% of current Blu-ray releases are on 25 GB, single-layer discs. 90% of HD DVD releases are on 30 GB dual layer discs. The Average HD DVD has greater capacity at this point than the average BD disc.

Thank you for summing up the general stupidity of the average Blu-ray supporter (no offense to those Blu-ray supporters who actually make legit arguments).

[Zeus.:God @ Feb 27th 2008 10:45AM]

When you first heard the specifications? You mean the specifications that are SO similar that made the cost/value ratio of HD-DVD superior?

When it comes down to movies, the slight bitrate difference causes almost no visible difference in quality, and the audio compression is 95% the quality of the lossless of Blu-Ray, which is not even discernible to the majority of consumers.

If you're talking about storage, a single layer HD-DVD is 15GB, while Blu-Ray is 25. You can easily add more and more layers to get the capacity you want, and once you get to or near 50GB, you have reached your limit in usefulness. A 200GB optical disc is not only pointless, but inefficient due to the reading and writing speeds of current and future Blu-Ray players and disc drives. HD-DVD had sufficient storage space and near equal quality, at a cheaper price.

The icing on the cake is the fact that ALL HD-DVDs were guaranteed to work on ALL future players, and also had more features than Blu-Ray from the start, and still does currently.

HD-DVD was easily the better format, and much more consumer friendly.

[Dorz @ Feb 27th 2008 10:50AM]

-Please predict the winning lotto numbers for this weekend if your so good, I'd really appreciate it.

-The capacity has nothing to do with blu-ray winning, the average consumer will not see a difference between a blu-ray film and a HD-DVD film despite blu-ray having a higher bit-rate.

-The xbox 360 is a GAMES CONSOLE, that is how it is marketed, that is how it is mainly used. Why should Microsoft waste time putting a HD-DVD drive in it which would also have brought it much closer in price to a much more widely used and recognized brand i.e playstation? Microsoft wanted an early march on the PS3 and so far it has worked out for them, despite them cutting corners during the 360's development. Another reason why there is no HD drive in the 360 is because of XBL where people can download HD content.

- The PS3 helped but there are more factors to Blu-Ray winning than simply sticking a drive in a PS3. I also have to ask the question... How many PS3 owners use their blu-ray drive for watching films on a regular basis? None of my mates seem that fussed about it and it is very hard to get accurate information about such a thing for a global market when a format is FORCED upon them. At least with the 360 HD-DVD drive you could be pretty sure that people were buying it to watch HD.

-You could be right about the PS2 making the uptake of DVD quicker, but DVD had no competition; moving from VHS to DVD was an obvious and logical move to make because DVD had so many more plus points than VHS ever had. As pointed out above the PS2 needed DVD not the other way around. Moving the market over to Blu-Ray will take years because DVD is firmly planted in peoples lives and in my experience many people who aren't techies simply don't care for HD, many still haven't heard of it or understand it let alone understand was blu-ray is.

[collide007 @ Feb 27th 2008 11:30AM]

My choice was always blu ray for the same reason, superior capacity (HDDVD theoretical limit: 60GB, Blu-ray: 200GB but only because I was thinking of it as a data storage standpoint. Also think about more episodes on a single disc when it comes to TV shows, saving shelf real estate.

There is also the matter of that special coating that boasts more scratch resistance than HDDVD, which lets face it, is one of the biggest threats to physical media.

But all matters aside, blu ray just sounds better, and in the widespread consumer market, marketing is a big contender. Thats just one of the reasons why apple products are popular. An average customer wanting an mp3 player looking at the iPod Classic against a Sony Walkman NWZ-A818, hmm what they gonna choose?

I do however give Toshiba credit for having a complete standard, Sony were shaky on that front.

As far as the poster goes, i can see the funny side, I do think its a little tack, but i doubt they had the authority of the big bosses for it anyway so don't base your opinion of the values of an entire corporation on the actions of some perhaps over passionate employees.

[Carbonize @ Feb 27th 2008 12:55PM]

@collide007 - http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/16/blu-ray-disc-coatings-starting-to-rot/

[Poom @ Feb 28th 2008 5:34AM]

The PS2 did not need DVD.

[Fernando @ Feb 27th 2008 10:20AM]

Still saying Digital Downloads FTW!

[Tjordan0331 @ Feb 27th 2008 11:06AM]

Yeah, the US doesn't even have the bandwith to support mass digital downloads, even taking to effect that the shit you can stream off of netflix, apple Tv and the likes even in the HD content can't even come close to physical media (DH or SD). Digital download may take over, but not for years and years and years and well decades. Also don't forget about the millions of people in the US and other countries that even if they wanted to still couldn't get a broadband connection and are left with crappy dialup. Yeah, digital downloads is going to take right off!

[Dr.Awesome @ Feb 27th 2008 11:13AM]

I was pulling for analog downloads...

[Fernando @ Feb 27th 2008 11:17AM]

Do your research please before blabbing senseless crap! Professional comparisons were already made of AppleTV and physical media and On Demand HD Cable and guess what, the differences were slim to none. So I would not say decades away, maybe years or even less then that, thanks to services like FIOS. People that live in farms or rural areas, that are on dial up are highly unlikely to be buying HD content, and are definitely not the majority of the market. There was a recent study and a majority of the US more then 50%, are in fact on highspeed internet (DSL+). I have an Apple TV on 5Mbps cable connection, and I rented a HD movie and it buffered up for watching in less then 2 minutes and it never again stopped and the quality was pretty damn close to that of my PS3. So to say that it will take "decades" is just plain ignorant.

[Eric @ Feb 27th 2008 12:20PM]

I totally agree. I have yet to understand the BluRay/HD DVD debate. It's the same source on two different storage mediums. Who cares? I don't care if it's via HD DVD, BluRay, or a USB thumb drive...digital is digital. Give me downloads straight to a hard drive any day over a 1990's delivery method. By the time I run to Best Buy to purchase, or blockbuster to rent, I could have it downloaded via Xbox Live or Apple TV.

[Khris @ Feb 27th 2008 10:23AM]

That arrogance is exactly why I no longer purchase any Sony products.

As far as HD goes, I'm more than content to stick with regular DVDs until downloadable HD content becomes mainstream.

[Kelmon @ Feb 27th 2008 11:05AM]

Do we really call this "arrogance"? Blu-ray won the war with HD-DVD so declaring this isn't really arrogance - just simply stating a fact. That most people had never heard of either format is neither here nor there...

[Khris @ Feb 27th 2008 11:18AM]

Yes, complete and utter arrogance. There are gracious ways to win, and then there's the arrogant "Told you so" way to win. If you think Sony is in any way gracious, look at their proprietary format habits over the last decade or two and you'll see that they're only concerned with themselves.

[TheDude @ Feb 27th 2008 10:35AM]

Doesn't really look 'expensive' enough to qualify as a Sony job. Looks like someone else stuck this on. The store is closed, after all.

[Raheem @ Feb 27th 2008 10:38AM]

The poster was on the inside, someone else on Flickr has uploaded a pic too, I noticed. I asked my mate if I should take a picture with my hand on the glass to show it was on the inside, but we decided I was being overly cautious.

[Craig @ Feb 27th 2008 10:41AM]

What? Someone managed to stick it on the inside of the pane of glass whilst the store was closed. If it was done by someone else surely they would have noticed it when they locked up.

[harry @ Feb 27th 2008 11:24AM]

This is just a shop that sells Sony products, hardly an official Sony voice. They're just trying to do what every other shop on Tottenham Court Road (major tech shopping road in London) is trying to do and that's sell more products. Indeed, what any shop the world over is trying to do. Most people walking past probably have no idea what BlueRay or HD-DVD is, so this is just a cheap attempt to get some attention.