http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/ Engadget HD Comments for Sony to implement BD-Live on all future Blu-ray releases http://hd.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://hd.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/
Yes, I'm still bitter about HD DVD. The BDA is lucky my stance has softened even that much.]]>Jun 24th 2008 11:19PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/
Can't help on the ]]>Jun 25th 2008 12:12AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/Jun 25th 2008 5:30AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/PS3-low-price-costs-Sony-over-3-billion-in-loses.html]]>Jun 25th 2008 6:37AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/Jun 25th 2008 11:13AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/
If you hate Sony and blu-ray then so be it. I never hated hd-dvd, not sure why people "hate" a format, but had hd-dvd won I would have gladly gone out and purchased it because when it comes down to it, I am a movie lover, and I don't care what format it is, as long as I can view movies in beautiful 1080p and lossless sound I will be very happy.

And 150.00 for a blu-ray player will come, and so will the lower priced discs. The same period in dvd's history after introduction is very much the same price range as blu-ray is now....so I have trouble identifying with those that are so blown away by $299 and $349 blu-ray players, it';s not that expensive. Samsung's 1500 player is $349 at Walmart and will be updated via firmware for BD Live 2.0. The player will probably hit $249 for the holidays. When you spend thousands on a hdtv, I think that's just a steal as it is.]]>Jun 24th 2008 11:50PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/
But at least Toshiba gave us a format that delivered movies in high-def while being as consumer-friendly as possible, with no region coding, low prices, combo discs and (sadly unused) TL-Twin discs, no mandatory encryption and online connectivity with every player.

Sony et al. killed that format in order to give us one with slightly better quality... and raping consumers at every turn in the process.

Call it whatever you like, but I hate it when a great product is forcibly killed and replaced by a shitty competitor, and when that happens, the competitor has to work double time to win my business back.

I love watching movies in high-def too, but at the end of the day, I don't care if the movie is in 2160p with 14.2 master audio on a 105" screen or in 480i over RF on a cheap, mono 14" kitchen TV. As long as the movie is enjoyable, I'll enjoy it, and I'd rather enjoy it on my terms on a format that actually has some respect for me as a consumer.]]>Jun 25th 2008 1:05AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/
Consumer friendly? Toshiba presented us with a format that started off with buggy, slow loading players that were pretty much guaranteed to have problems with at least 1 disc in your collection, requiring you to boil discs at some point in time. Many firmware updates later, and a move to the 2nd generation of hardware made things better but hardly perfect. This is "consumer friendly" to you?

"with no region coding,"

I am anti region coding. Studios wanted it, and the lack of region coding forced studios like New Line to delay HD-DVD releases whereas region coding allowed blu-rays to be released day/date with DVD. Given that region coding matters very little to consumers in the US, and not at all to any consumer who would never import a title, I would call this a wash at best.

"low prices,"

On low end hardware because quite frankly nobody bought the players. Software prices were even more expensive than blu-ray. For all the hand wringing that anti-blu-ray zealots complain about $40 MSRP on blurays, they had no qualms with HD-DVDs retailing for $30-35.

On 1080p hardware, the price advantage of HD-DVD dried up. $200 HD-A2s meant that A20s were running $300 or so... not that much cheaper than a $400 blu-ray standalone.

"combo discs"

Combo discs were a travesty. At the very least every movie shouldve been released on a combo/non combo format.

"and (sadly unused) TL-Twin discs,"

Vaporware for all intents and purposes. There was no certainty it would work on 1st or even 2nd gen hardware. It probably would have but we'll never know for sure.

"no mandatory encryption"

Which is an issue that matters to nobody except for small studios who don't want to license AACS.

"and online connectivity with every player.

but with a very limited amount of persistent memory, and the tradeoff was a notable lack of 1080p playback support in most players.

]]>Jun 25th 2008 2:33AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/
In fact we'd probably far worse off, considering HD DVD was a format monopolized by a single hardware manufacturer and a single software vendor. A format so heavily subsidized that no other CE would touch it with a 10ft pole.

As for being a "great product forcibly killed and replaced by a shitty competitor, that just sounds like sour grapes. Toshiba did more than their fair share of bribery so the doctrine of unclean hands comes into play. Besides, Blu Ray isn't inferior to HD DVD unless you grossly exaggerate out of all recognition the importance of minor features like PIP or internet connectivity, both of which various Blu Ray models offer if you must have them. Playback wise, a consumer would be extremely hard pushed to tell the difference between either format even on a 1.0 player, and such arguments aren't even valid any more.
]]>Jun 25th 2008 8:52AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/
"then I think your stance makes you a good, compliant little sheep who will buy whatever you're told and tolerate all sorts of hassles just to be entertained for 90 minutes."

(eyeroll)

hassles? What hassles are there in watching a blu-ray movie?

]]>Jun 25th 2008 1:15PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/
Hassles? How about "Surprise! you need a firmware update to watch this movie and you'll have to download it off the internet and burn it to media, so I hope you weren't planning on watching this movie in the next 30 minutes." Yes HD DVD had similar issues, but was less painful because you didn't have to download and burn on a different machine.

Depending on the studio, menu behavior can still be a huge pain. HDi might not have had the sky is the limit possibilities that exist in BD-J, but menus work the same way no matter which studio published the disc.

There is no doubt that studios are committed to the format, but still have a lot of work to do on BD before it will measure up to the interactivity and user friendliness as the vanquished was nearly 2 1/2 years ago. I WANT them to get there. I know they will get there, but am frustrated that they can't get it done as efficiently as we've seen it done on the other format.]]>Jun 25th 2008 4:58PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/Jun 25th 2008 1:13AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/Jun 25th 2008 1:23AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/
Relax.

Yes it's a bit of a pi$$er that HD DVD's gone but in the end it still means a nice high def movie collection for so little money.

At the very least you have a high quality upscaling DVD device which cost a lot less than the Denons of this world.

(note to Blu-ray fanboys, quit turning up generally glowing HD A1/2/20/3/30/35 reviews but which make the occasional quibble when they 1st appeared.
It's amusing & tragically obvious how in your fanboy one-eyed mode you rally to 'support' the PS3 - after it's been firmwared several times - but can't extend the same courtesy to the HD DVD players)

If you are at all like me you'll be very happy to be closing in on 100 high def movies with excellent image & audio and all for a tiny fraction of what any credible Blu-ray alternative would cost.

That makes me far from bitter - and the Blu-ray.com fanboys insisting that I must be is as obvious a case of projection as there ever was.
They pretend to see a load of difference as they pay (at best with an offer) 3 but more usually 4 or 5 times what I'm paying.

It's also extremely nice that the HD DVD catalogue (region free = selectable from all over the world) includes so many classic movies, as opposed to the 'weight' of adolescent brainless dross the 'PS3 demographic' pushes Blu-ray towards.

There's also the several alternatives......including, amusingly, straight rips or smaller but still good quality encodes of almost every Blu-ray movie made to date.

There's no need for Blu-ray and still many reasons to be buying HD DVDs.
I'm paying less than £5/$10 a movie now = way less than the cost of 'ordinary' new DVDs.

I'm very happy about that.

When it's all over and I've got everything HD DVD that I want I'll just go for rips, encodes and SD DVD upscaled (and later super upconversion).
I'll also just enjoy my HD TV service.

I'm missing nothing and laughing all the way to the bank.

It's the Blu-ray fanboys here that are the really bitter ones cos they know it & if they could admit it they know it's all going t!ts up cos the public won't go for a format that totally relies upon a kids game console no matter how much they preach how good it is.
They didn't even get the benefit of low prices.

LMAO ]]>Jun 25th 2008 10:33AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/
Listen, as you say, you have the total right not to buy into blu-ray because you don't respect Sony. But if you think Toshiba is a God in all of this or had any respect for you, you were taken my friend.]]>Jun 25th 2008 1:31AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/
I don't care why Toshiba priced HD DVD the way it did or competed the way it did; all I know is they offered a better product with a better value proposition that served my needs better than the competition. And the competition, rather than trying to improve their product, retaliated by killing the product I preferred.]]>Jun 25th 2008 2:01AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/
You realise of course that from what we know, Fox and WB were in negotiations with both sides for exclusivity and clearly Blu Ray made the better sense either financially and / or from a long term business perspective. That could mean $$$ or other incentives - we still haven't gotten the full picture of what transpired at CES. But we certainly know Toshiba & Microsoft had bought Paramount & Dreamworks in the past.

So it's no good complaining bitterly that Blu Ray "killed" HD DVD. Toshiba was trying to "kill" Blu Ray too. By fair means or foul. Two such similar formats could never co-exist forever. Stores and studios wouldn't shoulder the overhead and confusion of two HD formats. One of them HAD to die and as it turned out it was HD DVD. Blame Toshiba for not having deeper pockets or for so badly botching their marketing that they couldn't even beat their rival even at firesale prices or for scaring off every other CE by flogging players so cheaply there was zero profit in the format or for pricing players so low that retailers made more money selling BD players.

At the end of the day it's just a video format. I've been through enough format wars to know that if you end up on the losing side you should just walk away. You shouldn't even be an early adopter if you can't stand the possibility of losing.]]>Jun 25th 2008 9:16AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/
Oh gee, Undunn, you figured me out....I bow down to Sony, they know I love them and I know they care deeply about me personally. I bless them every night in my prayers and whatever they tell me to do I will comply. I will end my life if they desire that of me. Every day at sundown I lay out a blanket and get on my knees and look up and prey to the eternal one-Sony. I have replaced my Moses statue and his tablets in my bedroom with a metal statue of the PS3 and prey to that instead. I now read the PS3 manual instead of the Bible. Sony is my God and I shall obey their commandments.



]]>Jun 25th 2008 1:43AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/Jun 25th 2008 2:03AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/
Listen, had Blu-ray failed, which is the format I bought into way back simply because I liked the releases more and the blu-supporting studio's libraries more, and enjoy lossless sound more (truthfully there were alot more blu-rays with lossless sound than hd-dvd's), I would also be angry but I don't think I would have hated the other format (hd-dvd) and would have run out to buy a player of the winning format. My main purpose was and is to show hd movies hopefully in lossless and 1080p. I was also, right before the end of the war, looking very heavily into the Samsung bd-up5000 combi player or the Toshiba XA2...I was ready to own both formats. Then Warner made their decision on January 4 and I decided to wait a few months, and by then Toshiba threw in the towel.

I have had many good things to say about hd-dvd in the past and during the format war. Of course I always hoped blu-ray would win simply because I invested in it. I have always been upfront about how Sony was wrong in releasing players not finalized, I always praised Toshiba for being market ready and offering something of value. I have always praised Sony for their smart marketing of blu-ray with the PS3, after all, it did win the war which was a goal, and always cut them down for some of their other tactics. I have also cut Toshiba down for having a product that was already at mainstream pricing and blowing a huge opportunity by not working with the studios for bigger release titles and better advertising and education of the public about their players.

Neither company is to be congratulated for their honorable methods or by treating the public like educated people. But I am not a sheep and carefully investigate my purchases of electronics before making them and buy them for their usefullness and entertainment to me, not because I believe that any one company is better. Each company has their own area where they excel.]]>Jun 25th 2008 2:25AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/Jun 25th 2008 4:13AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/Jun 25th 2008 5:23AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/Jun 25th 2008 7:27AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/"[HD DVD] offered a better product with a better value proposition"

Better product is debatable obviously and better value proposition was unsustainable. Had HD DVD won, and blu-ray fallen off the market, Toshiba would have no choice but to let prices creep back up above what you consider "value".

Wasn't their 1080p offering still above $300 prior to the CES show? ... Value also isn't only measured by the platform, content makes up a whole lotta value. Blu-ray was value for me because Disney was blu-ray only. Sure that could have changed eventually but so to will blu-ray prices also change (lower) eventually.

So your steadfast grudge against Sony and blu-ray is a bit like being mad at DVD's because they won out over VHS. HD DVD is dead. Reality is blu-ray is the HD disc media going forward. Use if you want or don't, no matter, yours and Truth Tellers and the handful of other die-hard HD DVD fans can create a fan club and relive the glory days as long as you want, it won't affect blu-ray one bit.

Like I told Truth Teller the other day, a fly crapping in the ocean, not going to make a bit a difference but you are still free to crap in the ocean all you want....]]>Jun 25th 2008 9:53AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/
Is this just web-connected extras? I have yet to see anything about BD-Live that makes me want it even though I'm assuming my PS3 will handle it.]]>Jun 25th 2008 11:04AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/
IMHO, it's going to take studios a while to figure out the kinds of content that are worth publishing via BD-Live. If you as Warner, community viewing probably won't make the short list.

Of course we are talking Blu-Ray, so from what I understand, everything beyond great 1080p transfers/encodes and lossless audio just makes the discs more expensive. ]]>Jun 25th 2008 11:21AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/
Oh, while you're at it, maybe you can update the movie and blu-ray trailers in the playstation store. If you treat your BD-Live content as up to date as those trailers, you're probably not going to see too much repeat usage. Then again you could keep those metrics handy for whenever you decide you don't want to do BD-Live on a particular title.]]>Jun 25th 2008 11:14AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/06/24/sony-to-implement-bd-live-on-all-future-blu-ray-releases/]]>Jun 25th 2008 3:26PM