Posted on 11/10/2007 3:10:38 AM PST by Las Vegas Dave
Washington, D.C. (November 9, 2007) -- Sony CEO Howard Stringer says the high-def disc format between Blu-ray and HD DVD has become a "stalemate."
That's according to an article by the Associated Press.
Sony is the leading supporter of the Blu-ray format while HD DVD's backers include Toshiba and Microsoft. However, both high-def disc formats have struggled due partially to consumer confusion over the Blu-ray-HD DVD war.
The two formats are not compatible with each other, meaning one disc won't play on the other's machine.
While Blu-ray supporters have often declared victory in the war due to a 2-1 lead in disc sales, Stringer yesterday sounded a less defiant tone in a speech to the 92nd Street Y cultural center in Manhattan. "It's a difficult fight," he said.
Stringer suggested that Paramount's decision last August to endorse HD DVD over Blu-ray has caused the "stalemate." Four major studios now back Blu-ray exclusively while two support HD DVD alone.
"We were trying to win on the merits, which we were doing for a while, until Paramount changed sides," Stringer said, according to the AP.
Stringer even discounted the importance of winning the format battle.
"It doesn't mean as much as all that," Stringer said.
Stringer said the two forces could have reached an agreement for one format in discussions a few years ago before he became Sony's CEO. He added that he wished he could go back in time to resume those negotiations.
The pinged subjects will be those of HDTV technology, satellite/cable HD, OTA (over the air with various roof top and indoor antennas) HD reception. Broadcast specials, Blu-ray/HD-DVD, and any and all subjects relating to HD.
Las Vegas Dave
Are there any disc players that can playback both formats? I tired of waiting for the loser to be officially announced.
No, no machine can play both formats.
That’s the whole problem of... you know.... two formats.
You’d have to have a machine with 2 seperate drives/trays. They are not at all easily made compatible.
Try to find the ever elusive machine that can play beta and VHS.
This is the same thing that happened 20 years ago with videos.
One would think the industry would have learned from that fiasco.
See #6
"It doesn't mean as much as all that," Stringer said.
This is the same thing that happened 20 years ago with videos.One would think the industry would have learned from that fiasco.
It doesn't look like it. Looks like a Betamax II attitude.
A little steep. With Christmas coming, I was hoping for something about half that price. I guess I will have to wait for the loser.
Yes but you pay a real premium - $1000 - more than than a Play Station3 with Blue Ray plus an XBox 360 and an Hd player.
Samsung announced the BD-UP5000 will be available in 4Q 2007, at a MSRP of $1,049.
I suggest you buy the Toshiba HD-A2, (90,000 sold last weekend @ $98), when dual format players come down to a few hundred dollars, any HD-DVD’s you own will be compatable.
I have the HD-A2, it puts out a 1080i signal, which is FULL high-def. 1080p is great if you have a large screen TV that is 1080p. But for the money difference 1080i is fine for us. (And you are getting a direct HD source, not a compressed or downrezzed signal from satellite or cable.)
For $1,000 buy gas for a few months.
I looked last weekend for any HD disk players available on store shelves. I went to large Sears, Wal-Mart, Target, BJ’s — all of which have extensive space devoted to large screen TVs.
I found only one player, hiding on a back shelf, unpriced, at Sears. I think the price of the players, plus the incompatibility issue, is hurting sales of the TVs. Retailers would rather sell on the basis of cable and satellite signals. Mostly sports.
Sony never learns. I wonder if Blockbuster does - if so, perhaps they’ll realize how monumental a mistake it was for them to go Blu-Ray only, considering that all the news is trending in HD’s direction recently.
I've followed this in magazines like CPU and Maximum PC and haven't seen any of them claim they have been able to get 1080p reliably from a PC system. The long string of decryption and reincryption and decryption seems to result in glitchy performance and downgraded HD. Some monitors that have more than enough native resolution downgrade the HD because they are not HD compatible with the video card (which adds several hundred dollars more to the PC).
I’m rather interested in its 50GB capacity to replace DVD-RW for PCs.
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