I wouldnt hold my breath for Blu Ray...APPLE take note.
1. The reports are coming in that the BR DVD picture is....well, lousy-while the HD picture is said to be primo. You can buy an HD player NOW (and discs-soon)for under $500.
For all intents and purposes, $1000 Blu Ray players are as scarce as George Bush's IQ numbers-if there are even any to be had at all...
2. *VERY Important: SONY has yet to produce a single BR disc under the promised new HD Codec 1- the prime reason to buy BR HD in the first place-the ones they are selling now are just 'prototype', being rushed to market so they can say "We were first!" which is like selling a car without spark plugs-youll just have to be patient until some arrive.
Yes, a "Better Future" is just around the corner, as they like to say defensively-well I say- PRODUCE THEM-then we will believe-other wise, it is VAPORWARE.
So you are in effect buying v.1 BR discs down at Best Buy-while v.2 discs are still being worked on-possibly to arrive by Christmas.
Who would buy a BR disc that will be obsolete in a few months-that is-if the Codec 1 discs ever arrive at all-?
They are having manufacturing problems with these still- [Corpspeak: "we are 'fine tuning' them"] which is the reason for the delay.
2. SONY JUST GOT KICKED IN THE BALLS #1: (Reuters) a UK high court ruling Friday declared that the the giant SONY/BMG merger is not legal, and must be broken apart, worldwide.
If this ruling stands, SONY will be sucked dry, in order to either fight this, or to seperate, as they have streamlined and folded the two companies in together so tightly-like two Octopi in battle-or love, that it will drain much time, money and resources from the company to fight the ruling, or to re-separate as two distinct entities should they lose...it could in fact, this SINK SONY.
Because of this ruling, Warner Bros. have already backed out of a deal to merge with EMI.
And while spokemen at EMI declared 'This will be no problem,'
Warner Bros. spokesfolks retorted with-'We wouldnt bet the farm on that if we were you'
The deal is on HOLD and possibly withdrawn.
Anyway, this will be a HUGE drain on SONYs already shaky financial structure-they are literally betting the whole company on Blue Ray-hoping it wont become another Betamax. There is also much infighting in the ranks of SONY, according to reports. (also, they themselves admit they have lost 3% marketshare worldwide, since the merger (If thats so, why would they APPEAL the decision?!)
3. SONY JGKITB #2: Reports are coming from the chip manufacturing plant that for every FIVE PSP-3 chips created, only ONE is usable-SONY still has to pay for the other chips. (Wednesdays Gizmo.com)
(they are too complex, and they are rushing this whole thing to market too fast)
What this means is that SONYs expected cash influx from selling these will be nill-in fact, this will bleed the company big time.
What it will mean for the consumer, is that the PSP-3 may be very hard to find, as there will be supply and distribution problems, if this is not corrected PRONTO.
SONY was counting on being able to flood the landscape with these in order to better 'push' BR.
But apparaently not any longer.
And we all know what it means when a desired product is scarce-much higher prices.
SONY has alienated much of the CD community with the secret DRM implant from a few months ago.
They have alienated much of the DVD community with subpar DVD releases of late.
ie: too many pan and scan releases, or cancelled titles.
And will they finally decide on flagging these BR discs so the folks with non-upconverting HDMI Monitors (or no HDMI outs at all) will be unable to play their discs in prime mode, if at all?
If they do-all you thousands of folks with the non-upconverting/compliant "HD" Bigscreen TVs will have to donate them to GOODWILL, and buy a new one.
While these trial discs dont have the feature yet, the *whole rational* in BRs security architecture was to keep
people from copying or PLAYING 'unauthorized' discs.
When SONY finally chooses to implement this essential (in their minds) baseline feature:
1.You will be unable to download BR movies onto your computer from disc or Internet.
2.You will need to connect to the internet through your player to get "permission" from a SONY server to play any title-not just SONY-Columbia movies.
I do not know if HD discs/players have the same feature, but doubt it.
Aside from the intrusion into your privacy, your player would be shut down via a signal from SONY if you tried to play a 'pirated', a backup disc, or one copied/borrowed from a friend. (It is not clear whether you will be locked out from that title only, or your WHOLE player will be shut down-and become a piece of junk-until the situation is rectified with SONY over an 800 number-remember, however, -thought criminals-er, pirates-you will have no reason to complain-or have recourse-what you did was ILLEGAL, so no amount of whining may save you-or your useless player.
(While this is still conjecture-it is a likely and very real possibility-as they spent billion on just this sort of feature)
They WILL NOT be burned by a cracked CSS code and wholesale DVD copying again.
They are serious about "piracy"-and your friends borrowed copy of a title-maybe even if legit-will shut down your player just as if playing a dubious Chinese-made copy of PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN disc bought today.
I dont think APPLE or anyone, should jump into BR just yet-It is not OUR duty to shore up a flagging, unproven-or any-HD format.
Let the war of the marketplace and the better player decide, before you buy into another potential Laserdisc or Betamax-whether BR or HD, then make a decision
It clearly looked for a moment that HD was the underdog, but that has changed overnight.
While at this point I have a slight bias towards HD for no particular reason,
I am sitting out ALL HD out until:
1. ONE format emerges as the clear winner.
2. Second generation of players and discs are available - a year or two from now-and most of the kinks are worked out.
Oh yea-and the prices comes down.
3. If this waiting causes the format to fail-IT AINT OUR PROBLEM or RESPONABILITY.
4. They DO NOT implement Orwellian spying on my player or my movie choices via the internet-remember DIVX?.
5. I have the funny feeling that 90% of the masses will care little about HD,
as they are too busy working and LIVING to care that much.
DVD is fine and is GOOD ENOUGH to them-(and to even many of us.)
Hi-Def will be seen as a little too 'esoteric' to them-like Laserdiscs and SACD were.
Why fix what aint broke?
Even those of us with golden eyes, ears AND the disposable income will see no HUGE jump in quality like we (and J6P did) in the jump from VHS to DVD.
Hence, my 10% friends, we will be stuck in a "niche market'-like Laserdisc-or SACD.
So if were really short on luck, we will be:
a. essentially stuck with a betamax player or
b. stuck with a Laserdisc player-for all intents and purposes.
(which happened to me.)
And we all know how that turned out-LD was made obsolete by an even newer technology-DVD.
And dont forget the DVD Audio/SACD/Minidisc fiasco. ALL DOA-or soon to die.
I think more R&D on DVDs will make them to near HD quality.
GREED is stopping the companies from further R&D.
Yet here we are-the richest, most spoiled nation in the world, worrying about whether our picture is as sharp as it could be-or whether the sound is 'just right'-
while millions starve, are dying innocently in illegal wars, by the thousands, or being tortured by cruel rulers-and as we sit on the potential brink of WW 3-as Newt Gringritch* and others are waking up to see.(* an interview Saturday, in Seattle)
Oh, Im still a HT nut-BUT
-this kind knowledge sort of puts the REALLY important things in life into perspective, doesnt it?
WAKE UP.
Lets sit this one out.
