Report: Blu-ray/HD DVD war to end in 18 months
by Chris Powell 
{ Sep 26th 2007 at 11:00AM }
However, Forrester Research analyst J.P. Gownder said Sony still has some work to go before it can be crowned, beginning with cutting prices. "Blu-ray needs to offer a viable hardware model at the $250 price point by Christmas 2007," he said. "Failure to alter strategy would open up Blu-ray to a possible upset defeat at the hands of HD DVD."
Although Paramount's defection to the HD DVD camp certainly was a blow to Blu-ray, companies have been ramping up support of Sony's movie format, both with increased movie support and shelf space. Either way, we just hope it comes to an end long before their prognostication.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
WIIBOY101GEZZA @ Sep 26th 2007 11:24AM
this bs really gets on my tits, bluray has no bearing on video games whats soooo ever, but according to sonys lie adverts the games are bluray games NO THEY AINT LYERS, games can be stored on any media etc bluray is mearly a disc nothing more hype hype hype hype.....blu ray and hd dvd seem allready obsolete shall i tell you why!!!!??? BECOUSE EVERY MAN AND HIS DOG KNOWS FULL WELL THE FUTURE OF MEDIA IS SOLID STATE TECH AND BROADBAND STREAMING NOT SPINNING DISCS DISCS ARE ACCUALLY A OBSOLETE FORMAT
SONY YOUR FULL OF SHIT 1ST U SAY BLU RAY IS THE FUTURE THEN U SAY PS4 IF THERE IS ONE WILL BE STREAMED BROADBAND GAMES ONLY
TRY MAKING SENCE SONY AND STOP THE FUCKING LYING
Shuichi @ Sep 26th 2007 11:36AM
I'll be glad when this format war is over. Not having Transformers on Blu-Ray makes me sad.
Popfrogs @ Sep 26th 2007 11:27AM
@1: CAPS LOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL.
qwerter @ Sep 26th 2007 11:28AM
somebody sounds a lil angry...^^
upz @ Sep 26th 2007 11:33AM
"TRY MAKING SENCE"
Oh, the irony.
Neon @ Sep 26th 2007 1:32PM
Ummm "WIIBOY101GEZZA"...people LIKE having things in their hands. They LIKE the disc they can put on the shelf. Grow up, lose the caps lock, and learn to spell. Your opinion is only outshined by your ignorance.
NastyN8 @ Sep 26th 2007 11:36AM
lol @1
well look at his name it has wii in... you WII nazi lmao who cares
RangerPrimeX @ Sep 26th 2007 11:48AM
Having Transformers on HD DVD makes me happy!
Neil @ Sep 26th 2007 11:52AM
Even though I own a PS3 I haven't really invested in Blu-ray....other than the free movies Amazon.com was giving away and the Blu-ray Summer Promotion, so for the most part I don't really care one way or the other who wins.
In a way I think once the hardware gets cheap enough for the mass market both formats could easily coexist and people would just end up buying movies on both formats.
coplice @ Sep 26th 2007 11:52AM
whats a wii fanboy doing here... we are used to see many xbox360 fanboy here because xbox360fanboy.com is under "games" category and its block at their job but nintendowiifanboy.com isnt, just like ps3fanboy.com
we dont want to play roms on our console! we need disk!
go back to your blog!
T-P-M @ Sep 26th 2007 11:58AM
@WIIBOY
"bluray has no bearing on video games whats soooo ever"
Well the article doesn't mention games (most PS3 owners are generally interested in bluray since they have one), but since PS3 games come on bluray I'd say it does have a lot to do with games....
"BECOUSE EVERY MAN AND HIS DOG KNOWS FULL WELL THE FUTURE OF MEDIA IS SOLID STATE TECH AND BROADBAND STREAMING NOT SPINNING DISCS"
Err not exactly. The future of hard disk drives is solid state sure, but since you can buy a solid state HDD and install it in your PS3 that’s a moot point. As for broadband streaming of games, I don’t think the infrastructure is at a level to stream 1080p games. Of course you can stream games to your PSP.
“1ST U SAY BLU RAY IS THE FUTURE”
Yes they said “bluray is the future” and now it’s well the now. It’s only natural they look at what’s next. It’s like Microsoft working on their next OS while they where still working on vista. Development of these things can take years and years.
T-P-M @ Sep 26th 2007 12:04PM
@Neil
I must say I’ve not brought any bluray movies either, but as I see it the more bluray production there is the cheaper production will get (and hopefully bring the prices down for us).
never$$hort @ Sep 26th 2007 12:31PM
@Eddie: "Check out Endadget HD's "Format War is Blu Ray's To Lose"."
Did you even read this article????? It was a prediction from a market analyst dummy... and he said it is still in Blu-rays favor but they need to start driving prices down or they COULD lose. Do you believe everything that is spread on the internet??? Blu-ray is still winning by a long shot... if you need sources, please ask, I got bucket-loads..
exolstice @ Sep 26th 2007 12:37PM
I'm a Wii fanboy, although I do plan on buying a PS3 eventually mainly for the Blu-ray capability, so I hope the format wins.
never$$hort @ Sep 26th 2007 12:37PM
@ALL:
I understand that most of you could care less about Blu-ray movies... BUT for the simple fact that PS3 games are also Blu-ray discs, YOU SHOULD CARE. As far as downloading movies becoming the future, it won't be part of my future. No way in hell am I going to pay to download a movie and then have some company tell me that my movie will expire in 'X' amount of days. I'll stick with my hard copies, keep them as long as I want and even sell them if I so choose. Downloading movies would take away those freedoms and give certain companies EVEN MORE POWER... Do you honestly really want that??? I sure as F*** don't..
rainking187 @ Sep 26th 2007 12:43PM
I'd be stunned if Blu Ray didn't win. Which one sounds more appealing, getting a Blu Ray player and a video game system, or just getting an HD player for roughly the same price? Add that to the fact that a large percentage of consumers don't really see any point in buying either one. (I don't. If I didn't get a PS3 I wouldn't own either player. The difference between DVD and Blu Ray or HD is just not big enough for me to justify dropping a ton of money on it.)
kingofwale @ Sep 26th 2007 1:21PM
>We have all heard that walmart will be selling HD-DVD players exclusively at the $200 price range THIS holiday season
you mean the report from a Chinese HD-DVD player manufacture in order to drive up its own stock price? the same report that got shot down by Walmart barely 1 week after?
Chameleon @ Sep 26th 2007 1:21PM
"I understand that most of you could care less about Blu-ray movies... BUT for the simple fact that PS3 games are also Blu-ray discs, YOU SHOULD CARE."
-never$$hort
No offense but if for some reason blu-ray doesn't win the HD movie format war, I highly doubt sony is going to stop making games on blu-ray discs.
T-P-M @ Sep 26th 2007 1:42PM
@Chameleon
No your right Sony will still make them, but if blurays are mass produced they'll cost less to produce. Plus Sony gets a cut from every bluray sold, thus if/when bluray wins they'll have more revenue which could mean more games, cheaper prices etc.
Ghaleon @ Sep 26th 2007 1:43PM
The report says it will last AT LEAST 18 more months... from the amount of BS you guys spout it's fitting this is the Sony division of Joystiq.
Read the report from an actual news source: www.highdefdigest.com
Tim Parsons @ Sep 26th 2007 1:48PM
BLu-Ray for the WIN!!!!!
Chameleon @ Sep 26th 2007 1:48PM
@T-P-M
True, point taken.
James @ Sep 26th 2007 2:13PM
I'm sorry, but these analysts are usually talking out of their ass. Why 18 months, and not 19, or 14? Why is it exactly 18 months? Sony does not need to have a Blu-Ray player at $250 to win the format war. The only way to supplant regular dvd as the format of choice, is to reach their price points. Until this happens, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD will continue to be a niche product. It will be years upon years before one of the HD formats is accepted as the defacto standard.
Personally, I'd rather see both formats succeed, as each of them have advantages over the other. That way I can choose which format I prefer, instead of being forced to accept one I don't want. (i.e. 300 on HD-DVD has more options over the Blu-Ray version, and therefore I would choose HD-DVD in this case).
Also, Blu-Ray movies are not selling in the amounts they should be. I've seen reports from a few of these so-called "analysts" that show Blu-Ray discs outselling HD-DVD by a 2:1 ratio. These same analysts put Blu-Ray players in homes at a 5:1 ratio. If that is the case, why aren't Blu-Ray discs outselling HD-DVD discs at a 5:1 ratio???? In foreign markets, Sony movies are showing up on HD-DVD. With this muddying up of the market, I don't see how either format can possibly win out over the other in a mere 18 months.
Some of these "analysts" need to get a real job. I'd really like to see what research they actually did to come to these conclusions, if just to laugh at it.
Popfrogs @ Sep 26th 2007 2:33PM
@26:
"These same analysts put Blu-Ray players in homes at a 5:1 ratio. If that is the case, why aren't Blu-Ray discs outselling HD-DVD discs at a 5:1 ratio????"
Because according to another "analyst report", 60% of people with a PS3 aren't aware of Blu-ray movie support. It was mentioned here a month or two ago. I don't know if I believe that but sales of BR discs are beating HD-DVD month for month.
hack @ Sep 26th 2007 2:49PM
there are aleady players you can find for about 230 bucks dont see it being a big problem for them to get to 200 by christmas.
i want blu-ray to win but if they dont lower their prices there is gonna be a major upset happening.
i dont want to go with downloading movies from the net or however they want to do it, id rather just stick with dvd's than do that, or hell even go back to vhs.
Larz @ Sep 26th 2007 3:15PM
@WIIBOY
That was the most retarded argument I've ever seen. People are concerned over bandwidth issues as is, just imagine if everyone was forced to download 50GB worth of data to play a game!
I already am impatient just downloading demos, I would be freakin' pissed if I had to download a full game any time I wanted to play it... Plus storage is an issue. No hard drive can store the amount of games I plan to own.
And you think streaming is a solution?? There's no freakin way I'm paying for ACCESS to streaming content. I don't want to only be able to play games with a good internet connection. Plus there's no way you could download today's game content over today's broadband efficiently. Also, I'm already using a lot of bandwidth to download other things, and I wouldn't be able to play streaming games when doing that.
Also, when I buy a game, I want a physical product that I can use forever and not rely on a server somewhere to be up years from now when I feel an urge to revisit it again. Anyways, your whole argument is flawed in my eyes.
upz @ Sep 26th 2007 4:27PM
Ghaleon, you're right in that the poster seemingly wrote this article after only reading the headline and a couple of key sentences. But you should know that you lose A LOT of credibility when you insist that HiDefDigest is a more reliable news source then Reuters.
sm @ Sep 26th 2007 4:32PM
I dont think we will stream content in the future because there are going to be stuff like 3D or ultra high definition
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra_High_Definition_Video
ryano @ Sep 26th 2007 5:23PM
as an xbox 360 owner and a as-of-yet-to-buy-a-PS3 owner (because of lack of killer app title on PS3 for me.) i would like the blu-ray to win.
mostly because of data size. its called bluray how cool is that? and its blue. blue is very easy on the eyes.
Andy @ Sep 26th 2007 5:58PM
You knows what funny, its seems people are rooting more for Blu-Ray than they are Playstation 3.
Consolcwby @ Sep 26th 2007 8:08PM
Okay, now let me state why the ANALYSTS are wrong when they say players have to go down in price:
When I got a PS3, I already had an HDTV but not much access to content. With the PS3 I started looking around at Blu-Ray movies, and found that BOTH formats for movies cost around $29.99 on average. TOO EXPENSIVE for the average person (I am heavy into anime, so I am used to over-inflated prices! =D). Now, after the last 5 months I have seen a couple of stores with LOWER PRICES for movies: HD-DVD 27.99 average, Blu-Ray 21.99 average... Yes, you heard me right! Blu-Ray will win, not because PLAYERS are cheap, but because MOVIES are becoming CHEAP! THAT is what is important in this war. Players will eventually come down in price, but who wants to spend more $$$ on the actual content? Nowadays, I can get a lot more bang for my buck - that's what consumerism is all about. And why the analysts are wrong.
FYI: I frequent MovieStop, where I've seen BDs for as low as 14.99 and as expensive as 29.99 - average movie costs 21.99; I mostly go to Newbury Comics, where the lowest is 16.99 and the highest is 28.99 - average movie costs 20.99.
Mr.X @ Sep 27th 2007 7:26AM
34. YOU ARE SPOT ON, it all about contents these day and it not about the actual player (price) but about the contents that the player can provides. If you buy Hd-dvd player that it cost like $200 and Blue-ray player for $500 but however Hd-dvd providing it content with a decent price as $29.99 where as Blue-ray contents sell as an average of $20.00 than consumers much lead toward the blue-ray rather than a cheap price Player and asking them to pay for high price tag on contents that it gave as the same as the Blue-ray, It like 360 giving with a cheap price and ps3 give an expensive price but 360 asking for a price of 50 buck a year to play online where ps3 is giving you for free access to online which it the same type of service or even better in the future but it for free, and in the other hand ps3 have home in it online to service, this is a great choice especially it would attract both consumer and company especially for activities such as promotion of their product which is great, with this ideas the promotion activities is much more caching and attract consumer much more to buy their product.
Eg. if Apple is planning to promote their product such as the new iPod they could bring it into home, this is important because it let advertise to be much effective simply because some consumers might don't realize there such product exist so as promotional activities it exceptional to delivered the advertising as wide as possible to attract as much consumers as possible to buy the product, that is marketing in the business and that is a smart way of how sony bring that idea into the online activities, they'll also do this with their product as well
Tom @ Nov 29th 2007 5:35PM
Look, all BluRay/HDDVD discussion aside, can people please stop with the "Could care less than..." expression? It's "Couldn't care less...". Otherwise, it makes no 'sence'.