Blu-Ray to Launch May 23rd 2006!
By Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Feb 27th 2006 7:51PM
posted Feb 27th 2006 7:51PM
The greatest format war since the 80's
finally has a starting date: May 23rd 2006. This of course assumes it won't be delayed. Blu-Ray will have one player available and 8 movies. The first
player will be the Samsung BD-P1000,
no word on a MSRP yet, but those in the know are saying around $1000. The first 8 movies will include: 50 First Dates,
The Fifth Element, Hitch, House of Flying Daggers, A Knight's Tale, The Last Waltz (MGM), Resident Evil Apocalypse and
XXX. More movies and players to follow including a Sony VAIO with Blu-Ray player and the Pioneer Elite. Personally I would like to see a better selection of movies and at $1000 I will have to take the wait and see approach. Of course I took the same approach with the Xbox360 of which I tried to buy one the first time I saw one!
[via Zatz Not Funny]
I'm also taking the wait and see route... will one format prevail? Prices must surely come down for both hardware and movies before I make the jump. My current 480p flicks look and sound great to me! Not to mention my HD tuner and my primary TiVo both contain DVD players... I have litte desire to mothball them or add additional boxes.
What do I care considering my surround system and HDTV don't have HDMI ports anyway? Yeah, I'm going to pay over a grand for hidef media I can't watch at it's full potential. I really hope this goes down in flames like Beta and Sony's stock takes a dive. It's like being convinced to buy a Porsche because there are all these 100 mile long highways being built in the future, then having them slap a governor that keeps you from going anything higher then 70 a few months before they open. Bastards.
I don't understand why you blame the format. The studios are the culprits, they are the ones that would not sign up unless the DRM was in place and who would want it if your favorite movies were not available? The ultimate decision about DRM is on the studios. They can release a movie with full analog res or not. It will be clearly marked on the box. So you can make the decision not to buy it. But if you have an older TV without HDCP I would bet that it doesn't have the capability to display over 550 lines anyways so no real loss. If you don't believe me ask a ISP tech to test it for you.
I hate DRM but it doesn't compare to how much I love HD movies. For the past 3 years I watch more TV than movies just because of the HD factor and I for one can't wait to go back to movies even if it means I have to live with DRM (at least until it is cracked).