Sony regrets Blu-Ray and the whole HD Format War?

So it appears that CEO Mr Stringer is having second thoughts and doubts about his so called leading edge format. In a recent interview he says that he wished that they (Sony and the delusional Blu-Ray) had collaborated with HD-DVD. To be honest, Stinger has a good point. If BR and HD-DVD did work together on a "single" format, things could have worked out. They could have taken BR's only advantage in the 50GB capacity and combine that with all of the advanced features of the HD-DVD format to produce "the next gen format". But instead, Sony and company tried to "Stuff" Blu-Ray down the throats of consumers via studio support. Stringer even acknowledged that since Paramount changed sides, things are now locked in a Stalemate. So if we are in a stalemate now, what happens if WB makes the change? Could HD-DVD slowly push BR towards Betamax status? BR could simply end up as the format that the PS3 uses for games.. :eek: One thing that really bothers me about Stringers interview is his comments about how Blu-Ray should be winning on Merits. What Merits? As I just stated, 50GB capacity is the only advantage and that advantage is slipping away as the HD-DVD group is working to push the 51GB disk out. Everything else has been all HD-DVD with their requirements set at launch of the format in 2006 instead of waiting a year and a half like BR to finally decide what to support and what not to support. Last, the insane Toshiba player prices from Walmart, Best Buy and Circuit City probably have something to do with Stringers recent state of mind. ;)

from HiDef.com : The High Definition World... Simplified! by species8472

European HD DVD Group talks attach rate numbers

We focus on the U.S. market, but the European HD DVD Group just issued some numbers that caught our attention. Yes indeed -- more fuel for the format war, just in time to stoke the fires again. The European faction of team red didn't talk unit sales, but is proudly touting attach rate numbers, and with good reason. After doing the math across six countries and accounting for both standalone and console-based players, HD DVD enjoyed an attach rate of 3.8 vs. Blu-ray's figure of 0.6. Ouch. Spain posted the highest HD DVD attach rate (5.7 compared to 0.4 for Blu-ray). Now, one number doesn't tell the whole story any more than one region will dictate the entire format war; but it's an interesting number still. When you consider that HD DVD releases are less restricted by distribution rights in Europe than here in the U.S., the European playing field is closer to the "let the consumer decide" model we'd really like to see. Expect a Blu-ray response in 5... 4...

from Engadget HD

Zune Originals

Zune's next move takes their support of emerging artists and literally puts it on their sleeve. Zune Originals is a collection of 27 original works by 18 international artists designed to be engraved onto the back of the device. On the Zune Originals site, visitors will be able to customize their Zune by size, color, illustration and with up to four optional lines of text—all free of charge, at least for the time being.

Zune.net
Zuneoriginals.net

Zune Firmware 2.1, and Zune Marketplace Update is Online

Have Fun Playing with all the new stuff...

Zune Firmware 2.1, and Zune Marketplace Update is Online

Have Fun Playing with all the new stuff...

CNET Review Zune 80 Gets An 8.3 -- Excellent

Last November, Microsoft released the first-generation Zune to a predominantly iPod-toting nation. While the first-generation Zune is not without its devotees, the device came to epitomize Microsoft's awkwardness at marketing itself as hip. Having survived its freshman hazing, the Zune is back for its sophomore revenge, and the iPod has every reason to be frightened. With a new design, higher capacity, wireless sync capability, larger screen, and integrated support for audio and video podcasts, the new 80GB Zune ($249) is finally giving everyone a true alternative to the iPod.

http://reviews.cnet.com/mp3-players/...tag=prod.txt.3

Spiderman III Blu-Ray fails to BEAT TRANSFORMERS HD-DVD in one week sales!

According to Video Business, Spiderman III Blu-Ray has failed to beat Transformers HD-DVD in "one week" sales. Transformers HD-DVD stormed out of the gate to 190,000 in one week sales according to Paramount. Spiderman III Blu-Ray has apparently sold 130,000 copies in the first 6 days of sales. 130k is a damn good number for an early format to generate but the fact that the VERY popular title that set Box Office Records this past summer with over 150 million in the first three days could not beat out Transformers HD-DVD which has a MUCH smaller hardware install base. This has to be VERY disturbing to Sony and the Blu-Ray Group. With tons of HD-DVD Players sold last week, HD-DVD software sales will continue to increase. Now, many have disputed Paramounts claims of 190k in the first week. So, I say that we take off 50k of sales which means that Transformers is still the winner at 140k to 130k and again HD-DVD has the MUCH smaller hardware install base. What happen to all of those titles that the delusional PS3 Blu-Ray loving fan was suppose to buy? I tell you what happened, it is called "GAMES". With COD4 available on PS3 this week in addition to Guitar Hero III last week, many gamers are too wrapped up in gaming to watch movies or share their PS3 with others

Warner Bros let their Blu-Ray license "expire"?

Word is getting around that WB let their Blu-Ray license expire last night. The cost is a mere 40k so I doubt money was the issue. As many of you know by know, WB will make a decision this quarter as to which to jump, HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. To be frank, the comments from Dan Silverberg at WB can be taken either way but were also taken out of context by a Blu-Ray loving reporter. So beyond the interpretation of recent WB comments, let's look at the real reasons WB would choose HD-DVD over Blu-Ray.

1. WB has consistently put more support behind HD-DVD than Blu-Ray. Batman Begins and V for Vendetta are perfect examples of titles released on HD-DVD months before Blu-Ray. The Matrix is still ONLY available on HD-DVD because the Blu-Ray player profiles did not have mandatory support the advanced features of PiP and True HD. These features are mandatory on ALL HD-DVD stand-alone players.

2. Cost of Manufacturing - Blu-Ray yields are bad. Apparently 2 or 3 of 10 are good. The cost per disk is also high. Blu-Ray is over 5.00 per disk vs 1.00 to 1.50 for HD-DVD.

3. Cost of implementing interactive features such as PiP (overlay for commentary or tech specs/GPS like Miami Vice or Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift) and Web Interactivity is much cheaper. To program these features for Blu-Ray one must use a programmer who MUST write near a hundred lines or more of code. To implement HDi which is similar to HTML, one does not need to be a programmer which means less cost per disk.

4. Incompatibilities - Many early adopters of Blu-Ray will have issues with playback in the future due to Blu-Ray hardware being very different from manufacture to manufacture because the specs were not mandatory till TODAY. New players that are released after today will probably be ok but old players could see unexpected problems. Beware..

5. HD-DVD Player Price - We all know that player prices are dropping like crazy. Tomorrow the A2 can be had for 98.00 and you can buy the A2 from Amazon, Best Buy, Circuit City and Walmart (starting Saturday) for under 200.00. LOW PRICES is ALWAYS the beginning of mass adoption and with most consumers not taking full advantage of their HDTV's, these cheap players are the perfect opportunity to acquire the latest and greatest for cheap. ;)

6. WB has already said that Home Players sales are the sales that REALLY matter and that PS3 title sales cannot be predicted because you do not know how many PS3 owners will buy movies. When someone purchases an Toshiba HD-DVD or 360 HD-DVD Player you know those consumers WILL buy movies or they would NOT have made the purchase at all. The PS3 is a game machine first then Blu-Ray Player second. For Blu-Ray to make a huge dent with PS3 consumers would need to purchase more than one (PS3) or you will have people fighting over watching movies or playing games (in many households, not all). Nielson and other stat trackers do not count the PS3 as part of the Home Player sales.

Now, everyone is locked on the 2 to 1 software lead Blu-Ray has over HD-DVD. This means nothing when the format is FAR more expensive to produce content for and with the PS3 the Blu-Ray camps has like a 10+ to 1 hardware lead when it comes to players. With such a large hardware lead their lead should be much more but it is NOT as the PS3 is not really producing the numbers these studios expected. In fact, if it were not for the PS3, Blu-Ray would be dead ALREADY!

Considering all of these factors and reasons for WB to side with HD-DVD I would be VERY shocked if WB choose Blu-Ray over HD-DVD. I could be totally wrong but then again, logic generally prevails.

from HiDef.com : The High Definition World... Simplified! by species8472

HD-A2 $99 right now @ BEST BUY too!!

Check those stores and grab em' if you can:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1158323325814

ZDnet reveals HD-DVD & Walmart's Plan all along (from April)

Does anyone remember this article from April? Someone knew about this deal months ago.:eek:
This thing was planned months ago.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/carroll/?p=1683

Quote:

---

April 25th, 2007
Wal-Mart favors HD-DVD
Posted by John Carroll @ 8:48 am

Wal-Mart may not have an official stance on the respective merits of HD-DVD versus Blu-Ray, but actions speak louder than words. According to a recent report, Wal-Mart will be buying 2 million HD-DVD players at a price of around $50.00 per unit. Of course, consumers won't see a price that low, and there is some debate as to what the exact price will end up being, but it seems very likely that consumers could see sub-$200 HD-DVD players very soon.

Why did Wal-Mart favor HD-DVD? This article by Rob Enderle offers an explanation. DVDs have served as as great way to drive store traffic, to the extent that they are willing to make almost no money from DVDs, and they would like to do the same thing with HD formats. Unfortunately, a format war has hindered growth in the space. To see just how limited that growth has been, consider these sobering statistics from Eric Bangeman on Ars Technica:

Compared to sales of movies on DVD — by far the most popular format — the numbers for the next-generation discs are a mere drop in the bucket. The top selling DVD for the week ending March 30 was Happy Feet, which moved over 4 million units that week alone. For the week ending March 11, Borat was the big winner, and the number two title, Peter Pan, sold 2.2 million discs.

If you do the math on Happy Feet and the Blu-ray version of Casino Royale, the latter title took three months to sell just under 1.5 percent of what Happy Feet was able to sell in its first week. Another dose of perspective: in the seven days after its release on DVD, Borat sold more discs than all HD DVD and Blu-ray titles combined since the launch of two formats last year.

Wal-Mart saw an opportunity to use its market power to break the logjam, and they chose HD-DVD because of its cost advantages, as Enderle explained:

For Wal-Mart the only real metric is cost. Wal-mart doesn’t really make money off of the movies and do not sell high-end home theater equipment. They are known for aggressive prices and, as mentioned above, they subsidize their DVD sales. They needed something that could sell for under $200 soon and they needed the lowest cost of the new formats. This is where HD DVD shines, not only had Toshiba agreed to license to low cost manufacturers early on, but HD DVDs are pressed on the same lines that regular DVDs are, they require no major equipment change out and the blanks, when compared to Blu-Ray are less expensive as well.

This made the decision simple, Blu-Ray was just too expensive to make this work and any technical advantages were insignificant against Wal-Mart’s need for the lowest cost offering. For them it is about price and that is where HD DVD clearly has the sustainable advantage.

Blu-Ray is clearly the sales leader right now, a status driven almost entirely by sales of PS3 devices, which includes an integrated Blu-Ray drive. As noted before, this isn't a sign of the PS3's raging success so much as the extremely low numbers of players sold which support either format, giving Sony's third-place console the chance to tip the balance in the HD disc war.

However, the PS3 costs $600.00. Granted, you get gaming capability as part of the package, but what happens once standalone HD-DVD players push below $200.00, or if the $50.00 cost to Wal-Mart prove true, even lower?