PS3 meets PS2: Blu-ray playback interface revealed

by Nick Doerr { Sep 1st 2006 at 9:30AM }

Sony finally went and demoed the playback capabilities of the PS3, showing what our likely first experience with Blu-ray movies will be (or did anyone drop $1k on a player? Just curious). The interface looks like a slightly more colorful PS2 DVD interface and that's fine. Does this mean we'll see a remote control released upon launch as well? Or will the PS2 remote somehow become backwards compatible?

With this demo, Blu-ray movies have to come into consideration. If we buy ourselves a shiny new PS3 and Blu-ray movies are the same price (or comparatively the same -- one or two bucks apart will work for this example), will we begin to stack up a new movie library in the Blu-ray format? Not that you'd replace all your DVD movies, just purchase future releases. If you'd still buy a "plain old DVD" instead, why? There's really no reason except to resist change, which humans generally do as an instinct. So there you have it: assuming you have a PS3, would you buy into Blu-ray or continue with DVD? For the sake of argument, let's leave HD-DVD's out of this example.

Tags: Blu-ray, Playstation 3, Playstation3, PS3, Sony

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Cabbage @ Sep 1st 2006 9:53AM

Even if I owned a Blu-ray player I would still purchase all of my movies on DVD, except perhaps movies whose only purpose is cool looking explosions and other eye candy.

Why, you ask? Easy. I can play a DVD on my computer, I can (illegally) rip a DVD to my computer and store it with other movies on a huge set of hard drives, I can watch a DVD on my laptop on a plane, I can watch a DVD in any room where I have a TV and DVD player, or at a friend's house.

DVD players are dirt cheap. DVD drives in computers are standard. DVD video quality is more than adequate. When Blu-ray drives/players drop below $100, or they stop producing DVDs entirely, I will purchase "HD" movies.

Peabods @ Sep 1st 2006 10:08AM

And not to mention the fact that Blu-ray movies are darn near double the cost of regular DVD's. I myself will wait until the cost of the discs come down quite a bit. Early adopters get screwed on the price of new technology (discs included).

Andy @ Sep 1st 2006 10:42AM

I just bought a blu-ray disk for $12.41. It's called the internet, try it.

Algernon @ Sep 8th 2006 1:04AM

if i end up getting a PS3 id start buying blu rays... btw if you were going the illegal way why buy a dvd in the first place? just download the movie for FREE

WeApOn @ Sep 1st 2006 12:14PM

Yeah Blu-Ray discs are about $5 more, some aren't even more. If you're going to wait for the price of the movies to come down, you might as well still be watching VHS. This is new tech, and yes we will pay more for it, but by the time it comes down to a reasonable price, the time for an even newer tech will be on the rise.

The price for the PS3 is quite a bit, and it is easily understandable to wait for that to come down, but the author of this article said we would assume we bought one.

I myself have been putting off buying new DVDs for the last 6 months or so. If I wasn't planning on buying a PS3 I would continue to buy DVDs, and whenever I see a really good deal I will buy a DVD, but I'm certainly going to buy for the future. That's just who I am.

alienclay @ Sep 1st 2006 1:23PM

the remote should work. i know the old ps2 remote used standered sony dvd player IR protocol. aside from the power on/reset button i was able to use the dvd funtion on my sony recever remote without any setup. i don't see what so special about BD jave that would make a different remote or different protocol better. but if a new one was released, i'd skip it for other remotes

Andy @ Sep 1st 2006 5:22PM

"Why, you ask? Easy. I can play a DVD on my computer, I can (illegally) rip a DVD to my computer and store it with other movies on a huge set of hard drives, I can watch a DVD on my laptop on a plane, I can watch a DVD in any room where I have a TV and DVD player, or at a friend's house."

That is why I think HD-DVD will win (this has nothing to do with PS3 vs 360). HD-Dvd's come with the DVD format on the disc as well so you can play it on your Plasma in HD in the living room and on the portable in a plane in DVD format.

Makes too much sense to me.

Nick James @ Sep 1st 2006 6:55PM

I have a Logitech Harmony remote (yes, I'm insane), so I don't give two craps whether it has a remote or not. But yeah, when I get my PS3, I won't buy DVDs any more. I have a Netflix subscription for when I absolutely need to get DVDs (TV shows, basically), but movies? Blu-ray for me!

I might even get some HD-DVD discs too, if they're HD-DVD exclusive. I'm planning on getting the addon for Xbox 360 if it's priced well enough.

alienclay @ Sep 1st 2006 10:59PM

oh yeah, and i WILL be buying BD when i buy my ps3. have you seen moves in HD? the price for BD is about the same as dvd, maybe a dollar or three off but well worth the price.

alejo @ Sep 8th 2006 11:45AM

I will depend on the qualityy of the transfers, but for good movies, will probably start stacking BD disks. HDVDs are out of the question, unless the PS3 plays them :-)

a2 @ Sep 2nd 2006 4:53PM

I never understood why Sony (which makes players) launches their console with a dumbed down interface. They did it was the PS2, and I seriously can't believe they're going to do it again with the PS3. Now the PS2 DVD interface did improve after a couple of firmware updates, but hey, let's get it right the first time.