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Top Sony exec hints at Blu-ray, HD-DVD detente
By Paul Kallender, IDG News Service

After more than a year of touting Blu-ray as the best technology to replace DVD for storing high-definition video and winning proponents including Apple, a top executive at Sony Corp., one of Blu-ray's major backers, has opened the door to the possibility of unifying the format with its arch rival, HD-DVD.

"Listening to the voice of the consumers, having two rival formats is disappointing and we haven't totally given up on the possibility of integration or compromise," Ryoji Chubachi, Sony's president-elect, said at a news conference Thursday in which he discussed the company's performance and future strategy.

The statement may surprise backers of the rival camps, who have assembled consortiums of major electronics companies, disc makers and Hollywood studios to promote the formats in a battle that echoes one fought a quarter of a century ago between Betamax and VHS.

HD-DVD backers, which include NEC Corp. and Toshiba Corp., say HD-DVDs can be produced for about the same price as DVDs and are backward-compatible with DVDs and CDs, making the format more convenient for both consumers and the industry. HD-DVD movie titles, PC drives and players are all due out by the end of the year.

Sony has steadfastly promoted Blu-ray as a technology that has greater capacity, saying this makes the format more useful because more content can be stored on a disc. The technology also has wider support in the technology industry, although release dates for movie titles have not yet been announced.

Chubachi's comments mark the second time that a Sony executive has signalled the possibility of a compromise between the two camps. In January, Ken Kutaragi, executive deputy president of Sony, said a format war was not in the public interest and that Sony had not ruled out the possibility of uniting the formats.

As Sony's future president, Chubachi's remarks Tuesday may carry more weight. Currently head of Sony's electronic components and manufacturing businesses, he will replace Kunitake Ando as Sony president on June 22 following the recent shake-up of Sony's top management. That shake-up saw Kutaragi step down from Sony's board, although he still heads its important gaming business.

Kutaragi also admitted in January that Sony, by supporting its proprietary audio encoding system and not the widely-supported MP3 format, had lost ground to competitors such as Apple Computer Inc. in the portable music player market, which Sony had once dominated with the Walkman.

While Sony's technological and engineering base is sound, the company must ensure that its products are aligned with the wants of consumers, Chubachi said on Tuesday. Sony's engineers have traditionally been regarded within the company as heroes and the creators of new markets, but recently their ideas have not always led to products that matched consumers' needs, he said.

interesting, no?

 

[mrklaw]

not really. I read this more as Sony opening the door to absorb (or 'compromise') HD-DVD.

Bluray has too much going for it tech-wise, they need nothing from HD-DVD except the name.

I'm guessing the main HD-DVD patent holders would trade for a slice of bluray patent pie in a unified world.

 

[pcostabel]

It's just PR. There is no way of merging the two formats other than killing one or the other completely.

 

[StoOgE]

I still wonder how sony is going to get a blu-ray capable PS3 out the door within 12 months from now at a reasonable price point. I dont see how they would get an HD-DVD one out the door either (which is why I am guessing MS is going with DVD-9).

Plus, what happens if the PS3 goes with either Blu-ray or HD-DVD and for one reason or another the format they go with fails (see Beta-max or those little mini-CD things Sony had for a while).. then production costs of games will skyrocket because there wont be massive presses allready in existance for movies and whatnot.

the one advantage I could see with HD-DVD is I believe they use current DVD-9 presses right? So, couldnt games (or movies) be cheaper to produce out the door compared to Blu Ray which would need new presses.. (plus, dont they come in little plastic thingies, kinda like those mini-CD's sony had).

Im not that tech savvy, Im just saying.. wont Blu-Ray and HDDVD drives be pricey as hell in the next year? Wont producing the discs be more expensive? and isnt there the potential that one of the formats will die off very soon?

 

[Ranger X]

It's been a while we heard that Blue Ray would also be able to read DVDs or HD-DVDs.
I guess it will end up with in Blue Ray machines that will be HD-DVD compatible (and then slowly killing the HD-DVD anyway...)

 

[OmniGamer]

BLU-RAY DISC DO NOT REQUIRE CADDIES!!!!

 

[chinch]

maybe the new guy running Sony sees the big picture ANYONE with a brain would see regarding BR/HD-DVD...

$ony just paid billions for MGM and to have a split format "new DVD" would only hurt sales and their movie investment. their current theatrical releases are abysmal w/o spiderman. the CE division aside from PS2 is horribly underperforming, losing marketshare and irrelevant with "new technology".

MERGE THE FORMATS ALREADY AND STICK TO DVD IN PS3



Nah... their "minidisc" pride won't allow common sense to prevail in the company :lol:

 

[Panajev2001a]

maybe the new guy running Sony sees the big picture ANYONE with a brain would see regarding BR/HD-DVD...

$ony just paid billions for MGM and to have a split format "new DVD" would only hurt sales and their movie investment. their current theatrical releases are abysmal w/o spiderman. the CE division aside from PS2 is horribly underperforming, losing marketshare and irrelevant with "new technology".

MERGE THE FORMATS ALREADY AND STICK TO DVD IN PS3



Nah... their "minidisc" pride won't allow common sense to prevail in the company :lol:

I do not think your solution is the closest to what I'd call common sense .

 

[Rhindle]

I do not think your solution is the closest to what I'd call common sense .

I think it is actually, and it is also the most likely outcome assuming the new management is somewhat rational.

 

[chinch]

I do not think your solution is the closest to what I'd call common sense .

say's old-Sony's #1 cheerleader :lol

 

[mrklaw]

Nah... their "minidisc" pride won't allow common sense to prevail in the company :lol:

Their new HDD and flash walkmans play mp3. The F828 digital camera takes compact flash as well as memory stick.

 

[Panajev2001a]

MERGE THE FORMATS ALREADY AND STICK TO DVD IN PS3

Yeah, that would be the best solution : please send to waste the R&D you put behind Blu-Ray by not having a strong product like PlayStation 3 win a large user-base for it .

You do not know how much it costs for Sony to include a Blu-Ray ROM drive, but you feel safe to assume that it is TOO much.

I wonder what would be the song you sing if Xenon included HD-DVD or Blu-Ray.

This happens every time a competitor of Sony releases a console with an older optical medium: so far the rule is holding true... we had the Dreamcast shipping on enahnced CD-ROM technology and people crying and weeping about putting DVD-ROM technology into PlayStation 2 as if it would make no sense.

It did make sense to include DVD-ROM technology in PlayStation 2 and it would make sense to include Blu-Ray ROM technology in PlayStation 3 which is why they are working to include it in PlayStation 3.

Sony Electronics and other partners in the Blu-Ray project are not only aware that Blu-Ray ROM in PlayStation 3 makes sense, but they are looking forward to it (a Matsushita/Panasonic executive talked about that as Klee reported in one of his recent threads).

If you feel like you are more rational than the guys making decisions at SEL, SCE, Matsushita, etc... please go ahead .

say's old-Sony's #1 cheerleader :lol

When people in a debate go to personal insults/flames instead of using logic... well it makes me smile .

Never mind that trying to attack the credibility of a person to shoot down the argument he put forward might seem cool and dandy, but really it is a quite old logical fallacy: if I were a Sony cheerleader how would it make what I said more or less true ? If I say that the PSP supports Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick Pro Duo media, does who I am or who I am not change the fact that what I said was true ?

 

[border]

their current theatrical releases are abysmal w/o spiderman.

In the year that they didn't have Spider-Man, Sony Pictures still reported 330 million in profits (as compared to 554 million with Spider-Man 1). Hitch is currently the #1 movie of 2005.

They probably can't be as big as Warner/New Line or Disney/Buena Vista, but I wouldn't say that things are abysmal.

 

[soundwave05]

If they merged Blu-Ray with HD-DVD ... wouldn't it just be Blu-Ray then, but with the HD-DVD name?

I mean because Blu-Ray is the higher capacity format which is recordable to boot. HD-DVD doesn't really have any major technical advantages aside from cost, which would become negligable over time anyway.

I'm all for one joint format though as long as the higher capacity format wins out.

 

[chinch]

In the year that they didn't have Spider-Man, Sony Pictures still reported 330 million in profits (as compared to 554 million with Spider-Man 1). Hitch is currently the #1 movie of 2005.

They probably can't be as big as Warner/New Line or Disney/Buena Vista, but I wouldn't say that things are abysmal.

Um.... sony now has MGM's debt and underperformers... and no 007 this year. You guys ignore the obvious, but hopefully the new leaders will not.

Sorry but only sony-zealots with a total lack of business sense would champion the ideas of their old regime and the use of Blu-ray 2-3 years premature in a non-unified format in a very price competitive market.

Their own president said sony is not alligned to consumer needs. Duh!

 

[chinch]

Yeah, that would be the best solution : please send to waste the R&D you put behind Blu-Ray by not having a strong product like PlayStation 3 win a large user-base for it .

You do not know how much it costs for Sony to include a Blu-Ray ROM drive, but you feel safe to assume that it is TOO much.

R&D waste is lessened by holding back for a unified format.

I wonder what would be the song you sing if Xenon included HD-DVD or Blu-Ray.

Typical sony-troll response to brind M$ into the discussion when it is unnecessary and irrelevant.

IThis happens every time a competitor of Sony releases a console with an older optical medium: so far the rule is holding true... we had the Dreamcast shipping on enahnced CD-ROM technology and people crying and weeping about putting DVD-ROM technology into PlayStation 2 as if it would make no sense.

ANother dimwitted retort. DVD was widespread with 8million stand-alone players sold by 2000.

It did make sense to include DVD-ROM technology in PlayStation 2

yes, then it did... but this is NOW and you're mistaken

and it would make sense to include Blu-Ray ROM technology in PlayStation 3 which is why they are working to include it in PlayStation 3.

No. The PS2/DVD HAS NOTHING IN COMMON WITH PS3/BRD. Duh!

Sony Electronics and other partners in the Blu-Ray project are not only aware that Blu-Ray ROM in PlayStation 3 makes sense, but they are looking forward to it (a Matsushita/Panasonic executive talked about that as Klee reported in one of his recent threads).

"Partner". New boss is not a zealot, but hopefully someone who sees big picture and beyond $ony-pride

If you feel like you are more rational than the guys making decisions at SEL, SCE, Matsushita, etc... please go ahead ..

You mean the guys who were canned? and the dopes who have an SPLIT MARKET and FORMAT WAR coming? ROTF at the nepotism.

When people in a debate go to personal insults/flames instead of using logic... well it makes me smile .

Your cheeks must be hurtin'.

if I were a Sony cheerleader

:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

how would it make what I said more or less true ? If I say that the PSP supports Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick Pro Duo media, does who I am or who I am not change the fact that what I said was true ?

Memory Sticks are for suckers. Your SOny cheerleading prevents you from seeing obvious stuff, calling what you see without the $ony-bias. SOrry dude...

A for your effort but
F for your execution

 

[Kleegamefan]

Yeah....

Sony is not the only one who has been trying to unify the two formats....Mr. Dorehty from Panasonic has said there have been open discussions between the two format backers for a while now...

The BRD group is open to the possiblity of a unified format but it is Toshiba who is relenting and slamming the door in the BRD face according to what I have heard...

Quite frustrating to me as I feel HD-DVD has nothing on BRD technologically and is too small a step up for a format that is supposed to last for the next 10 years or so...

In my opinion, the one who is REALLY behind the scenes and pulling all the strings is Warner, who pulled this shit before with DVD...



*little known fact*
Thanks to Warner, DVD was released before it should have been.....they were working on an encryption sceme for DVD that would have delayed the release for a few months but Mr. Warren Lieberfarb and his Warner cronies (along with support from Toshiba)strongarmed the other DVD partners and Hollywood studios into releasing DVD sooner with the inferior CSS encryption code and we all know what happened with that....



In truth, whoever is the patent holder of whichever next-gen optical format takes off will reap HUGE financial rewards......the fact that Warner make so much money off of every DVD sold is a big part of the reason competing Hollywood studios want to introduce a successor to DVD in the first place........well......that and the fact they loose Billions a year to DVD piracy (which many hold Warner to blame in that fact too)...why do you think the BRD format was NEVER submitted to the DVD forum, hmmm??

Make no mistake....there is a lot of ill will against Warner (and Toshiba, to a lesser extent) over what went down with DVD.....

I would love to see a unified format but I am not holding my breath because reports of this "no...there is nothing to talk about" door slamming on BRDs face smacks of Warners bullshit power plays behind the scenes...

HD-DVD will live on if Warner has anything to do with it, I am afraid

 

[Fafalada]

MERGE THE FORMATS ALREADY

Why? I mean sure they are bad for some of the companies involved, but from consumer perspective, format wars are usually a good thing.

If there was no DVD+/- war, you can bet we wouldn't have 50$ burners today

 

[Panajev2001a]

R&D waste is lessened by holding back for a unified format.

You act as if there is also no need for more storage in games and faster data transfers: Blu-Ray provides both and it also gives the Blu-Ray camp an advantage in the war against HD-DVD and in pushing for an unification of the two formats before the content war is started and a good weapon if this cannot be done.

Sony has been trying to push for a merge of the two formats for quite a bit and at that time you still had the "old guard" in power .

yes, then it did... but this is NOW and you're mistaken

Awesome and convincing argumetn, for a second I thought it was just a short one-liner...

No. The PS2/DVD HAS NOTHING IN COMMON WITH PS3/BRD. Duh!

It does, you are just too busy calling people names to see it.

You cannot deny that Blu-Ray ROM could function as a good PR weapon to use for Sony/SCE against its not Blu-laser equipped competitors.

You can understand that developers that make use of the space available thanks to Blu-Ray could have a bit of a harder time porting those titles around without anything getting cut (even if it is extra stuff like documentaries, FMV's, etc...): the even remote possibility that Blu-Ray optimized games might be a reality and might help some kind of exclusivity even if timed might be improoved... is one more incentive for them.

In these and other ways Blu-Ray can effectively help pull PlayStation 3 forward and in Sony's hopes ahead of its competitors.

In other ways the situation is similar, yes not the same, but similar as it is now PlayStation 3 that would help Blu-Ray compared to DVD movie compatibility which helped a lot PlayStation 2 in its infancy (it was more of a 50/50 co-operation back then, now PlayStation 3 might be more helpful to Blu-Ray than what Blu-Ray can do for PlayStation 3 by itself, not to say that it would not help though).

What if Toshiba, NEC and the other HD-DVD supporters do not want to accept any kind of merging of the two formats (maybe because they feel they can win and rule the format themselves or maybe for other reasons) ? What would the Blu-Ray camp do without the help of a powerful weapon like PlayStation 3 to drive Blu-Ray's user-base higher ?

at least we know your world is not full of things like "ah, if it weren't for cronies like Kutaragi Blu-Ray would have been merged already with HD-DVD" and that is not affecting your view of things around you.

Memory Sticks are for suckers. Your SOny cheerleading prevents you from seeing obvious stuff, calling what you see without the $ony-bias. SOrry dude...

I know, but at least the forum has you: a man gifted with pure vision and free from biases, a man who's able to call everything just the way it really is.

 

[MetalAlien]

I don't care which format wins, but putting them in cassettes is a horrible idea. For guys like me who buy those big 400 disc DVD changers....how's that going to work with those damn Blu-ray cassettes?

 

[Kleegamefan]

Its going to work because the new TDK hard coating actually allows BRD disks to now be caddyless and they are actually more durable than regular DVDs with the new coating..

It has been over a year since prototype BRD-ROM disks in caddies have been shown...

 

[Smiles and Cries]

they better use Blu-Ray with the PS3 because I am looking forward for my next Mac to use it

 

[kaching]

A for your effort but
F for your execution

A for bullshitting your way through the argument, laughing at people and calling them names
F for not actually addressing the points.

 

[Kleegamefan]

A for bullshitting your way through the argument, laughing at people and calling them names
F for not actually addressing the points.

Did you really want to stir up this hornets nest???

they better use Blu-Ray with the PS3 because I am looking forward for my next Mac to use it

SCEI has GONE ON RECORD as saying PS3 will use Blu-ray.....it is 100% official....done deal....

The adoption of DVD format in the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment
system played an important role in accelerating the fusion of music, movies
and computer entertainment. The huge installed base of PlayStation 2 has also
contributed to the expansion of DVD-Video. Likewise, through the adoption of
BD-ROM for the next generation PlayStation, SCEI aims to take part in the
development of a new market created by state-of-the-art technology.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/09-21-2004/0002255248&EDATE=

By the way, PlayStation 3 will have a BRD-ROM drive