Sony cuts price of Blu-ray player

The war will continue...

Until the first one releases a cheap sub-£100 player in ASDA.

My money is on HD-DVD as I can't see Sony allowing cheapo manufacturers from China et al to make budget players for the supermarkets, nor the manufacturers wanting to pay the high prices to Sony.

Falling production costs?

So we should be expecting to see a reduction in the price of the PS3 any time now then!

No?

Format Wars...

I wonder how many people, like me, were first-line adopters of new technology, but now, after seeing how the large companies forget about the early adopters, just plan on sitting back and waiting for them all to get their fingers burned...?

This is the position I'm taking with Blu-Ray / HD DVD - I own a high-definition capable TV, but the only High-Def signal that goes through it is from my PC - at the moment, standard DVD looks fine for my needs, rather than shelling out on what I would assume would be the wrong choice, no matter which format I chose (it's the kind of luck I have, which is why I don't gamble...)

sony formats

Sony has been involved with several formats that are no longer standard

betamax and HI-8 tapes have failed dispite their better quality.

MiniDisc just never got used to its potential (i oftern thought that they would come out with a pc drive for them, at 140mb ish would have been very useful at the time)

Memory Stick has only started to be popular with the new smaller sizes that fit popular phones.

with all that history of backing a failing format, buying a player that only plays BR seems insane (unless your buying it for the built PS3!!).

Re: Format Wars...

"at the moment, standard DVD looks fine for my needs, rather than shelling out on what I would assume would be the wrong choice, no matter which format I chose (it's the kind of luck I have, which is why I don't gamble...)"

LOL! I know that feeling!

*Stares at minidisc player sitting gathering dust*

Pioneer are not exclusively supporting Blu-Ray

They also have plans for dual format players.

1080i

There may be other models I don't know about, but the cheapo HD-DVD player sold in my area (Toshiba) will only output at a max of 1080i.

This is fine for most people I suspect, and obviously a consequence of offering a relatively low cost model - but I would prefer to spend $300 on something that gives me 1080p.

As for which format is winning - the answer is neither. They both seem reasonably popular, some titles look better on one format - but there doesn't seem to be any consistency in that, it definitely varies depending on who does the mastering and how experienced they are.

I have blu-ray with my PS3 and it seems to me there are roughly an equal number of movies that aren't available on each format.

So far I haven't been disappointed with the quality, and as TV upscales lower resolution media itself (making upscaling DVD players pointless for me) I wasn't particularly bothered about the old firmware's inability to do this.

Actually that's one thing people ought to remember if they go that route. Make sure your HD TV doesn't automatically upscale resolutions - because if it does you are wasting your money if you buy HD-upconverting DVD players.

Who gives a fig ?

Who gives a fig , it is only another SONY loser like PS3 , which has yet to empty any factory warehouse of the launch overstock in any country where it is sold!

But then again the key to success for this so last century technology , is the next generation of super home computers and the integrated home media control consoles!

Sell it to the computer users at an acceptable price level , provide widely available reliable low cost media; and it may just become the next standard , if not you can consign it to the junk pile of all the other SONY bad ideas past their use by date!

But since SONY is a such a greedy total and absolute control freak , it will never happen ,and they will be overrun by the next generation holographic systems , before they can even open their eyes!

Such so last century technology that this is , who really cares anyway?

techno's are always losers

I gave up long ago chasing the best cpu, graphics card, mboard etc. They never increased my experience of the time/availability of software optimised for it.

The standards body needs to get off it's behind sooner and ratify "something", otherwise we fall into the same thing as vhs and betamax. Betamax was superiour, but vhs had blasted the market by the time they made a decision.It was forced upon them.

Early adopters always take a risk, but...........