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Blu Ray Price War

S

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
This is a post made by SonyCowboy in another thread, but it got me to thinkin'.

If getting 1080p movies with internet functionality, HDMI, built-in Java VM, as well as the most powerful game system ever designed is bare bones at a price half of other Blu-Ray players, count me in.
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I think Blu Ray is fast headed towards the winning post, but here's my question:

If you could get a Blu Ray HD player with net connectivity and a PS-fucking-3 built in for about let's say, $400, why the hell would you buy a standalone player?

So let's ask ourselves:

1. Will the other hardware manufacturers freak out?
2. Will this force them into an early adopter market with $200 players?
3. Will Sony be forced to jack the price on the PS3?
4. Will they have to cut functionality in some weirdo political deal?
5. Will all of this have an effect on the launch date for the PS3?
 
Numbers 1, 2 and 4, IMO.

If the PS3 is a full-on blu-ray player then that is going to be a kick in the balls for HD-DVD (and tbh the rest of the blu-ray camp)
 
If the Blu-ray group is still doing everything as they originally planned, all the stand alone players will have recording capabilities (which the PS3 wont have).
 
Stinkles said:
2. Will this force them into an early adopter market with $200 players?
Click to expand...

And not only for BR, HD-DVD will have to do it as well or they better don't try at all.

Fredi
 
Arcticfox said:
If the Blu-ray group is still doing everything as they originally planned, all the stand alone players will have recording capabilities that the PS3 wont have.
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Yeah that's an excellent point, but no HD recording either for DRM, licensing or other stupid reasons. And most manufacturers would want a piece of the standalone player-only low-end market.
 
I know a few households that bought a PS2 for the sole purpose of using it as a DVD player. As ridiculous as that may sound, that's exactly what they did and I can see it happening with the PS3 as well.

There will most definitely be a market for the low-end blu-ray players so manufacturers will go after it.
 
With BRD functionality i'm counting on a price tag between 400 and 500. You may see extras thrown in too ease the impact of the cost but I don't think anyone should be surprised if it is announced at 500 bucks.

The PS3 I thought is supposed to be read only BRD though? Most of the BRD specs call for it to be a recorder too so that would make a price difference between a PS3 and a true BRD player more reasonable. Plus if anyone remembers the DVD player in the original PS2 it was pretty buggy. It played most discs but early BRD adopters and AV enthusiasts may still opt for a more expensive but better and full functional BRD player.
 
People will probably still buy standalone Blu-Ray players for recording functionality.

That's one of the big selling tools for the Blu-Ray format, that it might finally replace the age-old VCR.
 
soundwave05 said:
People will probably still buy standalone Blu-Ray players for recording functionality.

That's one of the big selling tools for the Blu-Ray format, that it might finally replace the age-old VCR.
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I already replaced my VCR with a DVR...I have several DVD-RW discs with all sorts of shows recorded.
 
The stand alones will still have more movie specific features, and you won't have to deal with a PS3 front end, and it will have a remote. I may be mistaken, but I don't think the PS3 has a built in IR port. They will have recording features, and will have a front LCD. There's still plenty of reasons to buy a standalone bluray. I'll be buying a PS3 though, because I want to play games and watch movies.
 
OK, I havent commented on this HD-DVD/Blu-Ray thing before, but I feel like doing so now. This war will be remembered to be as important as SVHS vs Laserdisc. I don't see either of these formats becoming anything more than a niche thing. I have over 200 DVDs sitting on my shelf, and if the studios think I'm even going to CONSIDER replacing them anytime soon, they're out of their minds.

Maybe these new formats are important for the next gaming gen, because we'll need bigger media to put games on, but that's about it. They say that you can put a whole TV series on one disc, yeah, like the studios are going to do that when they can milk individual seasons.
 
If the PS3 is priced at $399 (which I think it might be), then other players must come in at or below that price or they will be decimated. I think Sony will sell the remote separately of course for around $25 or so.
 
Early BR-DVD-players will start at $500. And that's ok for people who will buy it early -- a/v enthusiasts. And yes, in 3 years most of the devices with BR will be PS3s. After 3-4 years when it's gonna move into the mass market BR-DVD-players will cost less than PS3. Overall PS3's gonna have huge share of the market.

So.
1,2,3,4,5 - No.
 
Link1110 said:
I have over 200 DVDs sitting on my shelf, and if the studios think I'm even going to CONSIDER replacing them anytime soon, they're out of their minds.
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I dont see why this is such an issue for some people. You dont have to repurchase that Hi-Def version of Flashdance if you dont want to. But if I have a BR player (or PS3) and the set to do it justice, the DVD obsolescence is gonna settle in post-haste. Once BR is out most new releases will support the hi-def format from then on, so no point in sticking with crusty old DVD. Yeah the old discs will look like shit in comparison, but if you're really dying to see Jennifer Beals in all her 1080p master copy glory then go for the refresh chief. :D
 
Don't forget that blu-ray players will upscale DVDs to 720p. That's a pretty sweet incentive to keep your collection

Although tbh if you can afford a blu-ray player at launch then you can probably afford an external scaler, and that'll look better than the scalers in blu-ray players :lol :D
 
I don't know about others, but I'm not going to replace my big ass DVD since it seems to be of concern, but than again you don't have to, just buy the new Blu-ray releases.
 
Console never produce a high-end video picutre thats why you buy a stand alone player. I never use my consoles for dvdr playback because the quality my 600 dollar stand alone outputs blows ps2/xbox away.
 
crunker99 said:
Console never produce a high-end video picutre thats why you buy a stand alone player. I never use my consoles for dvdr playback because the quality my 600 dollar stand alone outputs blows ps2/xbox away.
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Will there really be a huge difference between Bluray players quality? I mean they are basically just taking a digital signal and sending it through a digital connection direct to your TV arent they?
 
crunker99 said:
Console never produce a high-end video picutre thats why you buy a stand alone player. I never use my consoles for dvdr playback because the quality my 600 dollar stand alone outputs blows ps2/xbox away.
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That's going to be meaningless with a 1080p movie. It's digital son. The biggest difference will be stuff like drive noise and I/O.
 
Deathcraze said:
Will there really be a huge difference between Bluray players quality? I mean they are basically just taking a digital signal and sending it through a digital connection direct to your TV arent they?
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Yes.
 
So when will we see the 1st Blu Ray movie released in the US? I was hoping to get War of the Worlds on Blu Ray.
 
Considering the quality of PS2's DVD playback versus my stonealones? The answer is pretty fuckin simple. Recording/Better quality movie playback = Standalones for the win. Unless you just don't give a shit (which is ok too), then just stick with PS3 playback (as people did with PS2 playback).
 
OK, I havent commented on this HD-DVD/Blu-Ray thing before, but I feel like doing so now. This war will be remembered to be as important as SVHS vs Laserdisc. I don't see either of these formats becoming anything more than a niche thing. I have over 200 DVDs sitting on my shelf, and if the studios think I'm even going to CONSIDER replacing them anytime soon, they're out of their minds.

Maybe these new formats are important for the next gaming gen, because we'll need bigger media to put games on, but that's about it. They say that you can put a whole TV series on one disc, yeah, like the studios are going to do that when they can milk individual seasons.
Click to expand...

I felt like this initially too (I own maybe 150 individual DVDs with approximately 10 seasons total of TV DVDs), but my mom just got Hi-Def cable and I was over there today working on my thesis while perusing the HD offerings. The minute I turned to DiscoveryHD I was like, "Oh . . . shit." I'd never really experienced anything TRULY HD, only DVDs played through an HDTV. Then I went to HBOHD and watched "Chronicles of Riddick" and "I, Robot." I am completely sold on HD and while I'm not going to run out and replace every single DVD I own with a Hi-Def version, there are certain titles I will definately be replacing with Hi-def version ASAP, and the minute I have a Hi-Def player all new purchases will be Hi-Def.

My only big debate is what TV shows to possibly re-buy in HD. I'd have to do some research on if the film has a native Hi-def source available and would actually have a better image in Hi-Def (alot of 80-90s sci-fi shows, notably Star Trek:TNG were transferred to video for post and so no hi-def transfer will really look any better than the current DVDs).

I'm buying Batman Begins immediately when it's on HD, but for sure that'll be one of the first Hi-Def discs I buy to replace a DVD. That and Moulin Rouge :)
 
Noob question: What will Blu-Ray movies look like on normal TVs? Will it look as good as DVDs?(I know it sounds stupid but wouldn't the signal have to be downscaled?) If it looks as good or even better I wouldn't have to buy DVD's again even if I don't have an HDTV yet.

Am I making any sense? LOL!
 
sly said:
Noob question: What will Blu-Ray movies look like on normal TVs? Will it look as good as DVDs?(I know it sounds stupid but wouldn't the signal have to be downscaled?) If it looks as good or even better I wouldn't have to buy DVD's again even if I don't have an HDTV yet.

Am I making any sense? LOL!
Click to expand...

On a regular TV? I would imagine it would look like a high bitrate DVD, so great in retropect. Huh, brought up a good point, even less reason to get DVDs.
 
Stinkles said:
Yeah that's an excellent point, but no HD recording either for DRM, licensing or other stupid reasons.
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I know you like to ride this as an unavoidable end result of lawyer meddling, but I prefer to wait and see. The amount of compression artifacts I've seen on broadcast HD whether OTA, cable or satellite, leaves me thinking that most people that want HD aren't going to settle for a recording via broadcast for their library. Assuming HD material on BD can offer noticeably higher quality simply by featuring less noticeable compression effects, not to mention that it will probably come with the kind of extras that DVD has popularized, I think Hollywood's cash flow via the constant recycling of their libraries will be preserved.

And most manufacturers would want a piece of the standalone player-only low-end market.
Click to expand...
Maybe in the beginning this will be a bit of a problem, but look to this generation of DVD-enabled game consoles to see a possible reason why it wouldn't last - console pricing couldn't keep pace with the decreasing prices of standalone DVD players. Want to play DVDs? You can buy a PS2 or Xbox for $150 or you can get a straight DVD player for under $50.
 
sly said:
Noob question: What will Blu-Ray movies look like on normal TVs? Will it look as good as DVDs?(I know it sounds stupid but wouldn't the signal have to be downscaled?) If it looks as good or even better I wouldn't have to buy DVD's again even if I don't have an HDTV yet.

Am I making any sense? LOL!
Click to expand...

They will probably look really freaking good. Lately I've been seeing compression artifacts in nearly every dvd I watch. :P
 
I think most people won't get a Blu Ray player for awhile. My grandparents just got a dvd player 5 months ago, and they still don't know how to work it. And that works on a tv they already have. Of course my grandparent's are way behind everyone else, but I think most people realistically will see no need for a Blu Ray player for a few years because on a regular television things will almost look the same. I don't see Blu Ray or HD DVD as something most people will think about owning for a few years, and most people who have it on PS3 probably won't take advantage of it when they can get cheaper DVD's. Sooner or later it will catch on though. But people can't expect everyone to move to a new format right when it comes out just because they can. Whereas a DVD gave people better picture quality, extra features, and no rewinding on a standard television set, Blu Ray will only give people better picture quality and it won't be very noticeable except on a High Definition TV. I don't expect it to catch on as quickly and be as big of a business as DVD's were intitially.
 
Rabid Wolverine said:
Ill buy a multi regional Blue Ray Player as PS3 will most likely be locked to 1 region.
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somehow i think the region locks will be alot stronger with blu-ray too... hell, they might tie the region into the whole security system so you have to buy another region bluray player to play movies from another region...
 
Actually, if Blu-Ray is headed in the same direction as HD-DVD was considering there may not be any region encoding at all in the Hi-Def world.
 
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