http://money.cnn.com/2006/07/07/tech...dgets.fortune/

This article ticked me off a bit...especially the part where he says that HD-DVD looked "just as colorful and sharp" as Blu-ray. How about MORE colorful and MORE sharp, Mr. Lewis?!

Then he goes on to make Blu-ray his pick between the two formats...unless he was just picking on POTENTIAL, I find it hard to believe that anyone could look at these two players and their titles in their CURRENT state and even say Blu-ray was equal to HD-DVD, let alone pick Blu-ray as the superior format.

I think that it is still way too early to be setting up camp with either side. I do think that Blu-Ray has the bigger potential, and will probably win due to the support it has. But who is to say at the moment. Both formats are still in their infancy. To be honest though so far i have not been particularly impressed with HD. Who decides which films to release on these formats, as the films that have been released so far are uninspired, and they offer nothing that truly justifies anyone going out and spending huge amounts of money on a hi-def TV, player and the movies themselves. A year from now i think everyone will have a better perspective and the real war will begin.

As I've seen from being a long time fan of the Baltimore Orioles, having all the potential in the world means absolutely nothing until it actually turns into something. I'm not going to foot the bill for season tickets just because this new pitcher has the "potential" to get them to the playoffs, despite his 3-15 record and 5.61 ERA the previous year.

Well i agree with you about the fact that a new format has to prove its potential before people will start backing it significantly. But i don't think that HD has done anything to really push the envelope either for the consumer. Its one of the problems i have with the X-Box 360 and the soon to arrive PS3. Its all fine and dandy giving us something thats prettier....but what else have you got? For me the biggest step from VHS to DVD was always the scene selection and the fact that you no longer needed lengthy rewinds and fast forwards. The new format is the same deal in slightly nicer packaging. Of course when high definition TV's come down to a more reasonable price and the players likewise, i will buy a player....just as i will buy the PS3. But whereas when i bought my first DVD player i had no qualms or doubts in my mind that i was taking a progressive step forwards...with next gen consoles and next gen movie players my mind is not as clear.

Also just to note that i believe that the PS3 will only have any competition really from the Wii (just watch how many people with 360's sell them later this year jumping ship), and that will be primarily due to the price difference and the fact that Nintendo have actually looked at creating something outside the box. Once the PS3 sells....lets see where HD will stand.

Again...i simply do not get this PS3 "having an effect on HD DVD" logic.

Here's one way it could have an effect:
I think it's pretty safe to say that a decent percentage of the PS3 early adopters will be people that already have High-Def TVs. Can we agree on that much at least? These people may or may not be interested in High Def movies, but they are willing to spend big bucks on the PS3 for whatever goofy reason. Now, all sony has to do is include a free Bluray movie with the PS3 (similar to what they did with the initial shipments of the PSP) and assuming the movie they include is an A+ title (like spiderman 2 with the PSP) and actually has a decent transfer, they have a good chance of making all those previously Bluray indifferent people into Bluray supporters.

Nope. You lost me right there. I don't even think 50% of them will.

The fact that Sony will be putting Blu-ray players into every home that buys a PS3 i believe will be substantial. Just look at how many homes have PS2's already. The PS2 was released way after the advent of the DVD player so the addition of a DVD player to most households was not that big a deal. By the time the PS3 is released Blu-rays will still only be found in a small number of homes. This will change all that. I think the way you are looking at it fits better to the X-Box 360. Trying to sell a seperate unit on top of the console itself will mean that you are limiting the number of people who will actually buy into it. There will be many people i expect that own 360's who will not buy the additonal HD player simply because they are gamers and have no interest in movies. By combining the Blu-ray with the console Sony has assurred themselves a wide market to sell movies to straight off the bat. Its one of the reasons i think that HD will have a hard fight ahead of them. Sony is bundling an already familiar brand (Playstation) with a new technology they want people to buy into. Most backers (Microsoft being the exception) don't have this luxury. And whereas Microsoft should have bundled the 360 with a HD player, they are instead selling it as a seperate. I am sure their marketing team would agree that if you can get a player into someones home you are half way there.

I don't have the energy to go into why this probably won't be the case. It's already been debated ad nauseum on this (and every other) site. I'd check out those threads.

Bottom line: Most PS3 buyers don't give a shit about BD.

And anyone who gives a damn about movies isn't going to use a video game console as the primary player of movies, especially when the predecessor wasn't exactly known for its quality in that arena. I sure as hell know I wouldn't. If I pay 600 bucks for something, it better yield some damn good quality stuff. HD DVD does that, and the PS3 probably will not, assuming it follows in the footsteps of PS2. Yet, HD DVD is 100 bucks less, perhaps even more than $100 less come October.

Booyah.

AKA

"blah blah blah blah, i dont want to face facts, blah blah blah blah"

Kinda funny that a Blu-Ray supporter is talking about facts, when said facts clearly indicate that HD DVD is far superior.

Uh, I don't think 50% will either. I said a decent percent. Not a majority. My guess is somewhere around 30%. Still 30% of 6 million (reported units ready at ship date) is a pretty big number.

Btw, according to USAToday

Who knows if that many will even sell? And then what % of that # will be into spending the extra money to watch movies in HD? There are too many "if's" in the BD camp at the moment. Obviously we'll all just watch and see but it doesn't look promising. Anything can happen at this point but there really isn't one positive thing that's happened to BD since its announcement.

I just got back from my local fortune teller and she had a message from the future I wanted to share. she stated that on Nov. 21, 2006 the PS3 will single handedly destroy everything non Blu-Ray related. she continued to say that all of us HD-DVD supporters will be eating a big steaming pile of poo on the same date. she continued on on about it and also stated that the second coming was scheduled for Nov. 22, 2006.

I think it's a pretty a given at this point that the PS3 will sellout of as many units as they launch with. Will that be 6 million? who knows. I actually doubt they'll be able to build that many units by Nov.

I agree with you, Bluray isn't looking that attractive that much anymore. I initially planned on getting a PS3 and using that for high def movies, but now, I've pretty much soured on the whole thing, and will wait on the sidelines until the unbridled masses choose 1 format over the other.

Agreed.
People are already predicting that it won't sell as well as Sony is expecting it to. And add that we still don't know if/how well these machines are going to work a) in general b) as BD players.

Still too many if's.

God, that article is terrible.

I know that people sometimes crack on bloggers or other 'alternative' internet media outlets as being unprofessional, biased, silly, whatever...

... but just compare that article with, say, the HD/BD player reviews that Josh did for this site. Josh's stuff is much clearer, easier to read, and about 8000x more complete. That is, it's an actual useful review that a person can use to decide a purchase.

I can't get over how poorly-written (and, ultimately, useless) that article is. Why is CNN/Money even bothering to print that fluff?

Well i agree that most of them won't give a shit about the BD.....but the fact of the matter will be that a Blu-Ray player will get into more homes faster than a HD player. The percentage of people that have already taken the step and bought either player is small in comparison to the amount of overall consumers. The PS3 will meet the needs of many people who do not want to spend addtional money on a seperate player. I fail to see why people are having a hard time grasping this. I am not a fan of either system yet because i don't think either one has proven anything substantial to anyone. But i can clearly see where certain marketing strategies are winning out over others. It seems clear to me that you are firmly in the HD camp....you have probably forked out the money for one and no one is going to change your mind. Well thats cool. I am just looking at this whole format war from the sidelines where i don't have a biased opinion.

Wow...that is a biased article right down to barely addressing the fact that the current BD player is $1000 versus the $500 A1 (they have the XA1 pictured with $800 next to it and the Sammy BD with $1000 next to it).

Disgusting.

Exactly...they should stick to financial articles and not start reviewing electronics. Leave that to the experts Mr. Lewis. Ridiculous.

I dont know why this is so difficult to understand, but the PS3 is way too overpriced for a videogame system...Hell the 360 is tipping the scales, and the reason why its not in more homes. Plus the fact is, its hard enough for game makers to make games for the 360, and will probably be just as hard, if not harder to make for the PS3.

I think most people that will be buying a PS3 will have a TV capable of showing the difference between a SD DVD and a BR DVD. Maybe not high def (1080) but... my friend sure thinks his Xbox 360 looks way better on his 4:3 set, so you still may get people to convert to BR with the PS3.

Nope. Do I need to keep reading?

I would say that a huge majority of early PS3 buyers will NOT be hooking them up to HDTVs, negating the impact of BD. Sony would have been smarter offering the BD feature on another pricing tier for those that wanted it.

Anyone serious about HT and wanting a BD deck has one. They aren't waiting for the promise of what PS3 can do, if it can even do it this year.