Some of you will recall the "50 releases by the end of the year" quote from Ron Epstein of HTF. Well, here is his final write-up regarding CEDIA and the Fox summit:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/bluray/index.html

Here are so quickies:

1. Players held back to perfect hardware
2. Video on par with HD DVD, BD-J on par with IME, w/ lossless audio
3. Indeed 40 to 50 titles from Fox/MGM by year end
4. 1000 MGM titles already mastered to HD and ready for Blu-Ray
5. PS3 works great as a Blu-Ray player

Some interesting stuff there. I was really hoping that we would get the list of 50 movies they were planning on putting out. But until we actually start seeing some results from Blu-ray i just can't get too excited about them.

OK. Stupid question time. Obviously, I haven't been keeping up with my PS3 news, but could someone tell me whether or not either flavor of the PS3 will output a 1080p signal?

Good to hear the PS3 sounds OK, I've gone from possible early adopter to probably waiting a while, but if it's true it's good to know.

Didn't Ron ask Fox again to see if they meant 50 titles by the end of the calender year or fiscal year (June)? I believe he's still waiting for an answer if I'm not mistaken.

So the Samsung launch was considered a "Pre-Show"? WTF?

So what codec do the MGM titles use?

Still overpriced. When they do all of that and have a player that is in the HD DVD range pricewise, then maybe I'll be interested.

As of right now the MGM titles are using MPEG2.

Do any of the titles have the awesome D-Box feature???

I've been looking towards the future (as Fox puts it) and I'm debating whether or not to buy a $10,000 D-Box theater seat...

Sounds like everything they have been saying for the last year.

Both. Can you imagine? A Blu-Ray player the same price as an HD DVD player with all the bells and whistles.

No 5.1 Analog...which kind of sucks.

Yeah, but neither does the A2. So you end up paying $1000 for analog out either way you go.

Thanks for the info. Looking forward to those titles.

The A1 disappeared?

I believe the last shipments are being received next week (trying to remember what Value Electronics said), and then they are gone.

Edit: I just went back and it looks like the A2s are due sometime this week. So I would say the A1 is effectively gone once inventory is cleared.

Imho, it is all immaterial until they lower their entry level BD Players to a similar price point (i.e. $500) as the A1. Also, I'm still not convinced that they will sell many more PS3 game consoles for the added BD capability versus those who would purchase the system for playing games only. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think the demographics for a potential BD player buyer and a PS3 player buyer are as intertwined as Sony thinks.

I can imagine a scene whereby a young adult is showing the PS3 to their parents/relatives and also shows off the BD capabilities. The parent is impressed with the BD image, but has no interest in the games at all. Then they ask what it costs to get a BD player separately. The young adult replies they go for $1000 to start and that ends the conversation and subsequent interest in obtaining a separate BD player. We shall see if Sony's gamble pays off.

I'm pretty sure Robert said that his last shipments were coming, but already presold. I don't remember when but it might be next week, if not this week.

Costco still has the A1 for sale on their website.

is the reference to "1000 MGM movies mastered in HD ready for BluRay" really news? Doesn't every other studio have a huge amount of movies mastered in HD already? Especially films from the last few years, aren't all of them already mastered in HD?

"As for a winner? That is something we will most likely not know until early next year."

If Ron really thinks there will be a "winner" decided by early 2007, he is completely deluded.

Yes, this is exactly the case. Having 1000 HD masters is not the same thing as having 1000 Blu-ray discs authored and awaiting distribution. Every major studio should have thousands of HD masters in their collections by now.

Yeah, and do you know how many he's getting? Six.

Really flooding the market.

I don't think a winner is guaranteed by early 2007. But it could happen. What if, in December, this happens:

- HD DVD sales accelerate versus BD, HD DVD now outsells BD 30-to-1 (even with the PS3 out there)
- Buena Vista, MGM, Lions Gate all switch over. Criterion and Dreamworks become HD DVD only.
- Players are widely available at $300-$400, Blu-Ray is still PS3 or $1000.

At that point, there's no valid reason to look back.

At the same time:

- HD DVD sales decelerate versus BD. By 2007, BD has outsold HD DVD 10-to-1. A million players are in homes plus 30% of PS3 users are buying an average of twenty BD titles.
- Universal switches to HD DVD and BD.
- New BD players offer HD DVDs features at the same price.
- Buena Vista, MGM, etc. stay put.
- WB begins releasing 2-3x more titles on BD than HD DVD. Best Buy and CC stop carrying HD DVD as corporate policy.

Neither of these is likely to happen, but they could.

And what if the Raiders come back and win the Superbowl? Yeah.