News Blu-ray to the world - "We've won!"

[Da Dego]

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/01...world-we_won/1

CES 2008 - The HD format wars are dying down, and there is really no spinning the sales figures. Blu-ray has won...but is it time to welcome our new benefactors, or do they have more questions to answer first?

[DougEdey]

a hard-disc copy or transcoding to a portable version (the PS3 to PSP was used as an example) can and even should be considered as part of a consumer's right.

MPAA/RIAA TAKE NOTE PLEASE

Currently, I don't see why I should spend £15-£25 per disc to upgrade my collection to HD, most upscalers do a pretty damn fine job!

[willowthewhite]

I think I'll hold out a little longer just to make sure, but that news has got the blue-ray drive on my shopping list.

[Demon Cleaner]

/mspaint for the win!

[samkiller42]

Nice one Demon

This was not supposed to happen, however, if the Top Dog of BR is from Pioneer, then i don't mind so much.

Sam

[Da Dego]

Originally Posted by Demon Cleaner

/mspaint for the win!

THAT was awesome. It was exactly how I felt during the conference.

[pendragon]

pff.. i doubt the format war is over.. I would wager that most people don't even have hd/br discs (myself among them), so there's plenty of time for things to change

[antiHero]

I cant believe that BR wins I saw the same happen as with Betamax.

My biggest question is always whats abour pron To my knowledge Sony forbit all porn to be released on BR so what about those 900 billion dollar market?

[HugoB]

Originally Posted by antiHero

My biggest question is always whats abour pron

Begins with 'G' and ends with 'oogle'.

Linkage

[antiHero]

^^ Ahh so Sony had a change of mind and didnt wanted to do the same mistake as with Betamax(they forbit porn there too)

[E.E.L. Ambiense]

Originally Posted by DougEdey

Currently, I don't see why I should spend £15-£25 per disc to upgrade my collection to HD...

Damn, are prices really that high across the pond?! I pay, during new release week, about $20 for BR discs. Some can be had even cheaper OL instead of brick n' mortar. Back-catalog stuff tends to be steeper, but really depends on the studio/title.

Originally Posted by DougEdey

...most upscalers do a pretty damn fine job!

Depends on your TV, and more importantly, your disposable income! From a technical standpoint, upscalers only do so much, as well all know. 480P jumped to 1080I/P; i.e. adding info to what isn't there to begin with. Even the best Faroudja upscaling chip-integrated players can't compete with true high-def, obviously. When I plunged to BR the difference was like night and day, and that's with a 9-year old Samsung CRT HDTV!

The prices will drop soon enough. The real question is, can ya really wait?

[Veles]

However, we may have a little while to go before we should welcome our new benefactors with open arms...

I though that guy looked familiar

[Lucidity]

I have both formats, but personally I would of preferred HD-DVD to win, because I know what an evil company Sony can be, but that is just me. Anyway it's not over until the lawsuits are done. This could actually be a fatal blow to blu-ray if M$/Toshiba manage to sue the crap out of Warner for violating the contract, and thus Paramount would have to stay with HD-DVD because its reason for leaving would then be null and void.

[E.E.L. Ambiense]

Originally Posted by Lucidity

This could actually be a fatal blow to blu-ray if M$/Toshiba manage to sue the crap out of Warner for violating the contract, and thus Paramount would have to stay with HD-DVD because its reason for leaving would then be null and void.

Suing Paramount for possibly exercising their rights regarding the clause set as part of the contract, i.e. ability to opt-out?

[HourBeforeDawn]

like this was a surprise I knew BluRay was the better format oh and for those who say an upscaler is good enough for you probably dont have a decent sound system so it woudnt matter but for me I find the biggest improvement to BluRay is not just in the Video but Audio take a huge improvement as its usually what gets compressed the most of a DVD and seeing how an upscaler only for Video you dont get that impressive audio but anyhow as far as the price, DVD were bloody expensive when the Tech was new too and then started to go down and the same will happen here too.

[BioSniper]

Blu-ray although expensive isn't too badly priced unless you actually go to the shops.
With the current 3-for-2 sales on discs at places like HMV they work out at around £10-15 each depending on the titles you choose for your selection.

I have both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD now, but it's still a shame as I try to not support Sony and their evil ways where possible.
Still, maybe we can once and for all declare a winner which will eventually provide a clear choice for consumers and hopefully drive prices down due to manufacturers not sitting on the fence and charging huge sums in case they got their choice wrong and need to recoup the costs.

[hix]

You guys think you got ripped off for £15 a movie? That's like 97 Malaysian Ringgit. Our retailers are selling BD's at RM150 which is £23 and we have very limited selection! If HD-DVD was cheaper, I would've jumped ship a long time ago but meh, the price is just the same.

As for the headline news, I hope they'll get Paramount and Universal on board next. It's pretty imminent and dammit, it's about time we get to see Transformers on Blu-Ray!

[sandys]

Originally Posted by hix

Transformers on Blu-Ray!

I want that too, was gutted when paramount switched as I was ready to buy as soon as it came out.

[HugoB]

Originally Posted by sandys

I want that too, was gutted when paramount switched as I was ready to buy as soon as it came out.

You should have seen how fast everyone rushed into our TV room when we chucked that on in the office. I've never seen Bindi move so quick!

[Bladestorm]

I always understood part of the point of bringing a proprietary format to dominance, was that once the competition had been seen off they could increase the prices and/or inflict whatever copy/region protection etc they like on the consumers at will.

From that standpoint it will be interesting to see what happens in the coming future.

For myself, I've bought all of ooh 5? 6? DVD movies to date, so the chances of me picking up a new drive for anything but data storage are pretty minimal and I don't really see BR as becoming cheap in that regard any time soon. (nor really being a revolution like holographic could be in a few years)