News Microsoft says no Blu-ray for Xbox 360

[CardJoe]

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/10...for-xbox-360/1

Again, Microsoft has confirmed that the Xbox 360 will not be getting a Blu-ray attachment as the company sees no future in the technology.

[DougEdey]

I think you should just bump this every few months, follows the old "MS Are doing blu-ray"/"No we're not!" cycle

[steveo_mcg]

When they say the technology do they mean the x360, it can't have more than a couple of years left in it now whats the point in expanding it.

[johnnyboy700]

Well digital download is all well and good if you have a good connection but mine is diabolically bad (when I joined Sky broadband they tested my line and it came out at 512MB) so until we get better broadband speeds into homes I'll stick with optical media thankyouverymuch.

[Gushy]

Ignoring the speed of people's internet connection, who would have the hard disk space to keep a copy of their whole movie collection in HD?!

Ok Some of use here might cos we're geeks, but normal people?

[ChaosDefinesOrder]

hmm... yes... so according to microsoft you'll have to wait aaaaages for 40GB of data to download (assuming you want 1080p 24fps video with uncompressed 5.1 and/or 7.1 audio and all the extras - you know, the benefits of Blu-Ray media) before you can watch the movie instead of just picking up a disc and slotting it in...

Yes I can see the logic in that
/sarcasm

[Joeymac]

I'm not sure about the longevity of Blu-Ray.... but I do know that Microsoft's points system stops me from ever buying (renting) a movie on my xbox. I've brought some games on there, but they were things I really wanted and buying points for them made me extremely annoyed.

Actually I've worked out the average lovefilm rental cost me per disc, and it's not that far out the prices I would pay by using apple tv or xbox live. However I can't see how much things cost if they are presented in points, since I don't recognised Microsoft as an entity worthy of it's own currency... there's no chance I would go with them.

[shigllgetcha]

toshiba disagree

http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/10/report-blu-ray.html

[quack]

Left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing?

[cjoyce1980]

Originally Posted by Joeymac

I'm not sure about the longevity of Blu-Ray.... but I do know that Microsoft's points system stops me from ever buying (renting) a movie on my xbox. I've brought some games on there, but they were things I really wanted and buying points for them made me extremely annoyed.

Actually I've worked out the average lovefilm rental cost me per disc, and it's not that far out the prices I would pay by using apple tv or xbox live. However I can't see how much things cost if they are presented in points, since I don't recognised Microsoft as an entity worthy of it's own currency... there's no chance I would go with them.

I'm half with you on this.... with PSN you know what you are spending.... the whole points thing on live and wii doesn't put me off, but i fine my self working out how much it is.

i would prefer MS to get rid of points but i dont think it will happen, but if they could have the price next to the points maybe, i think this would aid alot of people.

[DougEdey]

Originally Posted by shigllgetcha

toshiba disagree

http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/10/report-blu-ray.html

There are no details, that is rumour, no official press statement from Toshiba or Microsoft, heck, even the article states:

Originally Posted by XBIT

Unlike Toshiba Corp., which is still strictly against Blu-ray disc (BD) format

So why would Toshiba join with Samsung???

[LeMaltor]

Originally Posted by ChaosDefinesOrder

hmm... yes... so according to microsoft you'll have to wait aaaaages for 40GB of data to download (assuming you want 1080p 24fps video with uncompressed 5.1 and/or 7.1 audio and all the extras - you know, the benefits of Blu-Ray media) before you can watch the movie instead of just picking up a disc and slotting it in...

Yes I can see the logic in that
/sarcasm

Indeed, my conn aint going to handle that, I'll be capped probably half way through too

[liratheal]

I would put money on a BR drive coming to 360. Microsofts consistant denial of the whole thing is just making me more expectant of an announcement for one.

[[USRF]Obiwan]

Or they know something we do not (yet)

[mikeuk2004]

We believe that we shouldn't force consumers to pay for things they don't want.

#

Right, so forcing windows on us is ok?? and by forcing a business to upgrade to the latest windows because you wont support the older versions?

I see how MS gives the customer what they want.

Anyhow,they can do the digital downloads all they like, but the network in the uk is not built for it. There is no way we will be able to have HD video downloads because of the slow internet speeds and caps and throttling in this country. MS is forcing us into getting our broadband conection cut off or serverly limited.

So Ms are doing just that, forcing us to pay for something we dont want.

Ill grab a disc because I can take it to a friends and watch it or share it with my parents. Downloads is restricting us which is not what I want.

[MajestiX]

distribute with nand flash imo way better median than disks.

[Faunus]

Originally Posted by mikeuk2004

Anyhow,they can do the digital downloads all they like, but the network in the uk is not built for it. There is no way we will be able to have HD video downloads because of the slow internet speeds and caps and throttling in this country. MS is forcing us into getting our broadband conection cut off or serverly limited.

I've been downloading HD content from Xbox live for a good six months, without any issues at all. The UK's network is being upgraded on a permanent basis, as BT are currently spending billions on their 21C stuff. We're perfectly well capable of dealing with it.

As for the argument about waiting for download times, over "just popping a disc in":

<insert family fortunes fail sound effect>

In the time it would take me to get in my car (or on a bus), get in to town, navigate through the swarms of people, purchase a Blue Ray disc, and navigate all my way back again, I could have watched half of the semi-buffered film in HD over Xbox Live Marketplace.

I suspect that a lot of these comments are made from the Microsoft haters, which is fair enough. But you can't deny that people just don't want to buy plastic discs any more, as proven by the effect of MP3 downloads over CD sales. Why? Because it's more convenient.

[Flibblebot]

I'd much rather have a physical disk sitting on a shelf rather than have a downloaded copy. DVDs and BluRay discs don't suffer from crashing and wiping, once I've bought it, it'll never expire. I can play them as often as I want on whatever player I want without having to jump through hoops or break the law.

And I'd never play movies (whether downloaded, DVD or BluRay) on my Xbox anyway, the fans are just too damn loud.

[Blademrk]

Originally Posted by Flibblebot

I'd much rather have a physical disk sitting on a shelf rather than have a downloaded copy. DVDs and BluRay discs don't suffer from crashing and wiping, once I've bought it, it'll never expire. I can play them as often as I want on whatever player I want without having to jump through hoops or break the law.

+1.

I'd rather have the physical media too.

[titanium angel]

Originally Posted by Flibblebot

I'd much rather have a physical disk sitting on a shelf rather than have a downloaded copy. DVDs and BluRay discs don't suffer from crashing and wiping, once I've bought it, it'll never expire. I can play them as often as I want on whatever player I want without having to jump through hoops or break the law.

And I'd never play movies (whether downloaded, DVD or BluRay) on my Xbox anyway, the fans are just too damn loud.

Id agree with that, I love having my DVD collection in a physical form even though nearly all of them have been ripped to my media pc anyway, Ive only ever downloaded 1 film through my xbox and i wouldnt do it again. Ive never been the person that searches for a film to watch on the night i want to watch it, Im more of a root around hmv when im in town person, and if something catches my eye ill pick it up while im there

The other thing is I bought a PS3 based more around its blu ray player than as a console, Ive had it for about 6 months and ive bought and watched 2 Movies! in the same time ive bought over 20 DVDs!