Time Warner CEO Doubts PS3 Blu-ray Effect

Sony Computer Entertainment has obviously pushed the PS3 primarily as a games machine, but many see the Blu-ray movie-compatible console as a double-edged sword intended to take out competitors in the games sector, as well as rival high-def movie format, Toshiba's HD-DVD.

Reuters quoted Parsons at the Credit Suisse media and telecom conference in New York, where he expressed doubt that Sony's plan would push Blu-ray as the preferred format.

"Do I think that the game console platform is really going to drive the conversion? I don't think so," he said. "People get those things to play games, not watch movies."

Time Warner's movie studios currently support both HD-DVD and Blu-ray formats.

[power of Green]

Sony "betta" figure something out else they'll pay to the "max".

[Scrumptious]

too funny!

[MicroGamer]

King Kong is a $40 movie, the remote control is a $30 accessory. $200-$40-$30=$130 that you are actually paying for the HD-DVD drive.

[ScorpioKyle]

the King Kong is a freebie. If the Drive would cost less without that horrible movie, i'd buy it. I'm thinking of buying the drive anyways.

I bought my 360 to play games. A year later a cheap way to watch High def movies compared to stand alone players comes out for it, I may bite. But it is my choice if i want to gamble on either format, which I believe neither will become more than a niche market

[PS360PCROCKS]

"That horrible movie" wtf are you talking about, if you know anything about King Kong, that movie was fantastic, that's just not my opinion, the reviews for it heaped lots of praise on it, anyways I think this multimedia machine crap should go and they should be just gaming machines

[NubreedLive]

2.1 doesn't have a clue what he's talking about... king kong was pure art... its like one of the best movies ever... everything just bonds together like few films have done... your wrong man, very wrong

[jerseynets04]

"People get those things to play games, not watch movies."

thats exactly what sony and microsoft seem to forget..

[Marriot VP]

yah I'm pretty sure only one of those companies are forcing a movie format onto it's consumers.

[Capt CHAOS]

that's also why the hd dvd is notfor games and base just offers dvd.

[MicroGamer]

Come down off the fence if you truly believe that PS3 will have no effect on the format war between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Drop your Blu-Ray support and let the world know which side you are on.

[BlackCountryBob]

He never said Blu-Ray is a bad format he just doubts that the best way to spread it is in PS3. Blu Ray could till succeed but it just needs to be sold in a different way! And why would he drop support for the format, he is a business man and wants to make money, why close off your potential market! Only switch to support 1 format only when a single unbeatable market leader emerges.

[highps3]

I got mine to watch movies. If you have a HDTV why wouldnt you?

[fjtorres]

Because at $25 a pop the movies are twice as expensive as DVDs and there is no guarantee the format will be around in 3 years.
Holographic storage just hit the market this week so if this format war isn't settled soon, both formats will lose.

[Donkey Slayer]

One can easily see how well HD-DVD add-ons have done to know the simple fact that gamers also watch movies. It is not one or the other for most people.

PS3 and the HD-DVD add on may be the reason these two formats survive.. Software sells have jumped for both formats since release.

[Thugbot187]

If BLU-RAY fails that means Sony is stuck making BLU-RAY DISC for the PS3, could be very costly. Now I see why they are hoping for the PS4.

[DJ]

by Panasonic? By the looks of it, PS4 is going to be a straight upgrade of PS3. Updated blu-ray drive, Next-gen Cell with 32 cores, new nVidia GPU. Looks like the PS3 components are just reliable stepping stones for the future.

[rexdriver]

hmmm... so now PS3 is a stepping stone for the future and not the future itself?

[DJ]

so I never really took the phrase "It's the Future" very literally.

[MicroGamer]

comes out of this generation with enough money to make a PS4, continuing to make Blu Ray if they haven't caught on by then would be a bad business decision. The media format for a PS3 successor can't be Blu Ray, and if it isn't Blu Ray, that means no backwards compatibility with PS3 games.

[Master of Menace]

And PS3 will do the same for Blu-ray. When I first got my PS2, I started watching DVD's. Yes, I was playing the games, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the DVD aspect. Blu-ray is just so much better. And the launch titles are so much better. The extra cost really will be worth it. It really is quite amusing reading XBOXERS comments supporting the HD-DVD add on. Only a few of you are complaining about the price. It's just something you want, and it attaches to your XBOX 360, you really want it. Come on, you know you want it, it lets you play HD movies, just like a PS3. And when PS3 finally, kicks HD-DVD's butt. You can all rush out and buy the Blu-ray add on. Pity it won't play games though.

[BlackCountryBob]

DVD in the PS2 is very different to the Blu Ray in PS3 for a few reasons! First the PS2 was a reasonable price at launch at $299 which put it within reach of most people. Second DVD had no format competition, its only competition was VHS. Third, still less than 10% of consumers have the tv to take advantage of HD visuals.

And finally, as you say the extra cost will be worth it shows that you have not seen the PS3 in action personally or compared BluRay to HD-DVD so how can you possibly say one is better than the other! Its just a format war, let the companies sort it out themselves and bring a single format to market we can all trust in, don't get your knickers in a twist fighting on the behalf of corporations who only care about making money!

[Master of Menace]

DVD was a new format, Blu-ray is a new format. DVD was in the PS2. Blu-ray is in the PS3. PS2 was a reasonably priced DVD player. PS3 is a reasonably priced Blu-ray player. PS2 beat Dreamcast, Gamecube, and XBOX. Come on, you have got to see a pattern here.

[BlackCountryBob]

There is a pattern that new movie tech is in playstations but the difference is that BOTH new disk formats are unwanted by the general consumer, both are over priced and few people are able to take advantage of them. Neither format offers anything over traditional DVD except for offering the same thing in a higher resolution. PS3 will undoubtedly have some effect on sales of Blu Ray movies but it will not be any where near as significant a sales jump as the DVD from PS2!

[Master of Menace]

I think judging by recent sales, people want both formats. Blu-ray, however, will have the edge, because it will have the great name Playstation, behind it. I know, I'm starting to sound like a damned commercial (I hate commercials).

[MicroGamer]

that when Sony created the PS2, they basically crippled the games by using the less efficient DVD-5, whereas MS went with the higher capacity DVD-9. So you are actually thanking Sony for giving you less storage capacity while charging you the same money as an XBox?? Also for a system with inferior graphics to the XBox, and again, like the PS3, that gives developers fits to code for?? And that went through 13 different laser units before they found one that works near the end of it's life?? Oh, yes, you Sony fanboys just have so much to be thankful for. (hmmm...that reminds me, I still haven't seen a copy of the official memo from Sony admitting that first gen Playstations run hot and self destruct)

[Master of Menace]

You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. And the frying pan can get hot, but man, what an omelette! Oh! and the end justifies the means. The thing is, PS2 still ended up kickin XBOX ass. What does that say about XBOX?

[smokeandapancake]

Xbox was ms first console, and it released a year later. trying to prove themselves and playing catch-up. NOT trying to shove an unwanted format down our throats...also I remember a quote from a sony exec "I don't see the ps4 having a phsical drive at all" sounds like confidence to me.

[Ugly American]

Congratulations. You are officially a commercial and an official Sony talking-head spokesperson.

You keep trying to draw parallels between last gen and this gen. Why did PS2 beat out Xbox? Maybe it was the 10,000,000 unit head start PS2 had. Wait, isn't the 360 going to have a comparable lead by the end of this year? Oh...the 360 HAS to win. Or maybe not. If you want to draw another parallel, maybe the third console, ala Nintendo, will tank hard. Your arguments have no real validity.

What was the second competing format with DVD back when the PS2 came out? What was that? Nothing? So you are saying that the DVD was a gigantic leap above VHS? Because you didn't have to rewind a DVD before you took it back to the rental store? And the picture quality was incredible and never faded? And you could pick where you wanted to start? What are the big advantages of Blu-Ray or HD-DVD over DVD? Higher picture quality but not the jump that DVD had over VHS. There is an internet connectivity thing, if anybody uses it. Oh, and you can navigate while the movie is playing. I have a PS3 and my wife doesn't even know that it isn't DVD. My wife is the average consumer, not a Sony zealot, HD lover such as yourself. And when the average consumer sees a Blu-Ray player for $900, an HD-DVD plaer for $500, or a PS3 for $600(but that is a game machine)...and then they turn around and see a DVD player for $80... what do you think they are going to buy?

I am an early adopter. I have my PS3 and Blu-Ray movies, but I am not the norm. Another good example is UMDs. I bought about 5 UMD movies for my PSP before I realized I had all of the exact same movies on DVD. Why would I pay almost the same amount for something I could only play on one device? Use your head and realize that Sony and its propietary formats are almost doomed to failure, because you can only use most of their formats with just their devices.

You have one bubble left. Use it wisely.

[THAMMER1]

I wanted to respond to Master of Menace too. But he is just too diluted for it to matter much.

[ScorpioKyle]

Yes PS2s helped out the DVD market. At the time there was a noticble advantage of upgrading to DVD as a medium for their movies.

Bluray and HD-DVD are in a different position than DVDs. The consumer market is NOT tech savvy. They do not own HDTVs yet, many who do don't even have HD television service (just assume its in HD since it's on an HDTV).

VHS had been around a long time and been dominant in the market and people were looking for a replacement, with CLEAR advantages.

DVD is in it's prime. Most consumers just in the past few years jumped on to dvd. They do not want to upgrade their movie collection again.

Bluray AND HDDVD will go the way of Laserdisc. They will have a niche market, but will not become the new standard format.

[THAMMER1]

People buy games consoles for games. Not to have the next DVD format. It dose seem exiting at first but when you look at the situation for what it is Blue Ray actually cripples the PS3 more than anything else.

I have said this 1,000,000,000,000.00 times. Sony could have launched the PS3 with a DVD9 drive and crushed the 360 on brand loyalty alone. It would not have mattered one bit to Sony fans that the GPU is weaker than the 360's and the Cell processor is not made to run game code as well as it crunches data. A $600.00 PS3 with BR or a $300.00 PS3 with out it. To me it would not be to hard of a choice.

The bottom line now that it is out is if you want a PS3 go get one. If you do not spend the cash on Sony's PS3 we may not see much from it at all.

If you do not want one then D@mn I can see why.

[Master of Menace]

Man, PS3 is still going to crush the 360 on brand loyalty alone. But why Blu-ray? Nearly all TV's support HD now. Now is the time to go HD. That's why Microsoft have gone to the trouble of producing and add-on in the first place. That's why they are selling. That's why Sony have Blu-ray in their PS3. Of course, Sony knew all this ages ago. Hey Ugly American, you bought 5 UMD's and then realized you had them in your DVD collection, DOH! And Thammer, go get an add-on. Ugly American go look up your last electronics catalogue, then talk.

[THAMMER1]

See what I'm talking about "diluted". 1% milk formula baby.

[Ugly American]

You are truly an idiot. And this is me trying to avoid name calling. HD TVs, while becoming more widespread, are far from "Nearly all TV's." What world do you live in? Does Sony have you locked in a basement somewhere in Tokyo, brainwashing you and then releasing you upon us, the unsuspecting public?

[ScorpioKyle]

No, you are incorrect. Not every TV is HD. If you look in cataloges yes, thats what they want to sell you since they cost more and in turn have a higher mark up and more profit for the store. But of TVs people own, the majority of them do not own HDTVs.

Go drink the kool-aid of your corporate masters.

Do you not know your history about brand loyalty? How is Sega and Nintendo doing in home console market share? They were both at the top of the market before. When people thought of any video game system, they would call it a Nintendo or Sega. Brand Loyalty and dominance does not last forever

[Mr Murda]

DVD was a new format in 1997-`1998. No competition other than VHS, as mentioned. Adoption rates were already on the rise by 2000 (nearly all new PC's were equipped with DVD ROM by the end of 1999), PS2 was a cheap way to have a game system and DVD player in one. No doubt it was a smart move by Sony, but it certainly was not the reason DVD succeeded.

[DJ]

was doing horribly until the PS2 showed up on the scene. It was hundreds of dollars cheaper than standalone DVD players, and a lot of people bought it just because it was a cheap alternative.

[Scrumptious]

brought the intenet to the masses with the slow and crippled browser in the PS3. Few people used the internet before the PS3. We can once again thank Sony for showing the world another form of media.