Last Friday thegadget weblog Gizmodo caught the fact that the Sony Style webstore stealthfully changed the projected release date of its first Blu-ray player from June 25 to "on or about August 15, 2006."
The BD format has already forced the PS3 to be delayed once and a second delay would be catastrophic for the platform.
I actually saw promo ads this week for BD players that now look to be highly dubious. Regardless of whether or not I want a PS3 at its launch price I do want to do a side-by-side with HD-DVD to compare and this is starting to look really bad with constant delays.
It really makes me wonder how many bugs are going to be found after the PS3 ships. New formats always lead to issues and this one could be a big problem, especially if they have trouble getting the movie-only players functioning on time...
There acutally will be a difference in visual quality, though it may be short lived. The initial batch of HD-DVD players will only support 720p/1080i, while all the Blu-ray players will support up to 1080p. And before you blast me with "what's the point of 1080p when hardly any tvs support it?", let me retort by saying that there are a few tvs that support 1080p, with more coming on the way. It may only be a very small segment of the population that can afford/are willing to pay for these tvs, but hey, who do you think are the ones that are going to so blindly embrace a new media format. Those few that do have sets that support 1080p, are probably the same people that are willing to shell out more money for a marginal improvement. Resolution does matter when size is figured in the equation. I was thinking about getting a 75" Mitsubishi HD tv (720p/1080i) for my theater room, but when compared to a 1080p front projector, I could really notice the picture quality difference. It may be a marginal difference to some, but with as much money as I've thrown into my home theater room, a $2-3k difference is nothing.
Blu-ray. It is a mysterious format. Sony are making it, which is always a cause for concern (cough, Betamax), there is all this support, yet blu-ray players are being delayed, with more movies announced for HD-DVD? Weirdness...
i guess they figured out they have no real competition so why hurry eh ;)
Well maybe it's just because
Sony stands equal for DELAY
As with it's delaystation with new problems just to be read on this site. They're loosing the battle every day
If Samsung delays their player then something is definitely wrong.
The BD format has already forced the PS3 to be delayed once and a second delay would be catastrophic for the platform.
I actually saw promo ads this week for BD players that now look to be highly dubious. Regardless of whether or not I want a PS3 at its launch price I do want to do a side-by-side with HD-DVD to compare and this is starting to look really bad with constant delays.
It really makes me wonder how many bugs are going to be found after the PS3 ships. New formats always lead to issues and this one could be a big problem, especially if they have trouble getting the movie-only players functioning on time...
They better sell HD-DVD players and discs with the blue-ray emblem on it, if they want people to eventually purchase one before 2020.