Sony cuts price of Blu-ray player
Another battle in the ongoing Format War
Sony has cut $100 (£50/€74) off the recommended retail price of its new next-generation DVD player in an attempt to forge ahead in the Format Wars. The BDP-S300 now costs $499 (£250/€370) - half what the company's first dedicated Blu-ray player cost when it was launched six months ago.
Consequently, the PS3 is now no longer the cheapest Blu-ray player available. Interestingly this was Sony's main justification for the high price of the console and it can't be denied that being the most inexpensive player on the market certainly helped sales.
Sony said growing demand for the next generation Blue-ray technology and falling production costs had made the price cut possible.
On the other side of the front line, Toshiba sells its rival high-definition (HD) DVD player format for less than $300. However, LG has produced a device that plays both - albeit it doesn't support all the offered features on a next-generation DVD.
The introduction of two next-generation formats has split both the electronics and film industry in an echo of the VHS/Betamax format war that took place in the early 1980s, where despite being a better qulaity format, Betamax lost out.
Supporters of Sony's Blu-ray format include Samsung, Dell and Apple, while NEC, Sanyo and others have been backing Toshiba's HD DVD.
Movie distribution companies like Disney and 20th Century Fox have sided with Sony, while the supporters of HD DVD include the likes of Universal.
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COMMENTS
techno's are always losers
I gave up long ago chasing the best cpu, graphics card, mboard etc. They never increased my experience of the time/availability of software optimised for it.
The standards body needs to get off it's behind sooner and ratify "something", otherwise we fall into the same thing as vhs and betamax. Betamax was superiour, but vhs had blasted the market by the time they made a decision.It was forced upon them.
Early adopters always take a risk, but...........
1080i
There may be other models I don't know about, but the cheapo HD-DVD player sold in my area (Toshiba) will only output at a max of 1080i.
This is fine for most people I suspect, and obviously a consequence of offering a relatively low cost model - but I would prefer to spend $300 on something that gives me 1080p.
As for which format is winning - the answer is neither. They both seem reasonably popular, some titles look better on one format - but there doesn't seem to be any consistency in that, it definitely varies depending on who does the mastering and how experienced they are.
I have blu-ray with my PS3 and it seems to me there are roughly an equal number of movies that aren't available on each format.
So far I haven't been disappointed with the quality, and as TV upscales lower resolution media itself (making upscaling DVD players pointless for me) I wasn't particularly bothered about the old firmware's inability to do this.
Actually that's one thing people ought to remember if they go that route. Make sure your HD TV doesn't automatically upscale resolutions - because if it does you are wasting your money if you buy HD-upconverting DVD players.
Who gives a fig ?
Who gives a fig , it is only another SONY loser like PS3 , which has yet to empty any factory warehouse of the launch overstock in any country where it is sold!
But then again the key to success for this so last century technology , is the next generation of super home computers and the integrated home media control consoles!
Sell it to the computer users at an acceptable price level , provide widely available reliable low cost media; and it may just become the next standard , if not you can consign it to the junk pile of all the other SONY bad ideas past their use by date!
But since SONY is a such a greedy total and absolute control freak , it will never happen ,and they will be overrun by the next generation holographic systems , before they can even open their eyes!
Such so last century technology that this is , who really cares anyway?
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