Sony plays the old Blue-ray switcheroo game

[CptStern]

Seen at a sony event celebrating 10 years of VAIO


this is the Sony VAIO XL2 Digital Living System Blu-Ray laptop:

notice it says "DVD" on the disk? it's supposed to be a Blu-Ray movie

but wait there's more:

this is the movie in question (notice the "Blu-Ray" logo?)

I guess even sony cant get their hands on a blu-ray movie



http://gearlog.com/blogs/gearlog/archive/2006/05/16/11622.aspx

 

[VictimOfScience]

Ha! The point here being...? That they're rare? Not a surprise since the Blu-Ray players in the US aren't exactly "available" yet. Maybe it was a snippet of high-def menus or something on a regular dvd? Who knows. I hate these new formats--such a waste imho.

 

[A True Canadian]

What is it with Sony and always trying to trick their clients? At E3 they show us faked gameplay footage, and now they're faking their Blu-Ray technology.

Haven't they heard the moral of the boy who cried wolf? No one will believe you if you keep lying all the time.

 

[CptStern]

Ha! The point here being...? That they're rare? Not a surprise since the Blu-Ray players in the US aren't exactly "available" yet. Maybe it was a snippet of high-def menus or something on a regular dvd? Who knows. I hate these new formats--such a waste imho.

point being that they tried to pass off that movie as a blu-ray disc when it was in fact just a dvd

 

[Reginald]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but what if Blu-Ray becomes Betamax just like the UMD has done. Surely Sony will end up losing even more money.

 

[Nabobalis]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but what if Blu-Ray becomes Betamax just like the UMD has done. Surely Sony will end up losing even more money.

Yep and not just sony that might lose money if Blu-ray fails, I think about 6/7 compaines are involved in it somehow.

 

[Dekstar]

This is news to bait the PS3 fanboi's with.

I've never seen a company shoot itself in it's own foot so many times. When were they going to tell us they don't have Blu-Ray? At launch?

"Uh yeah so thanks for coming to the launch of Blu-Ray... Uuhm..."
*runs*

 

[AiM]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but what if Blu-Ray becomes Betamax just like the UMD has done. Surely Sony will end up losing even more money.

That's a big if, in terms of support it's pretty even split. Personally I think the PS3 userbase will tilt it in Blu-Ray's favor.

 

[Gray Fox]

Another orgy of Sony bashing, just what this site needs

 

[MultiVaC]

Sony is asking for it. It's just one stupid thing after another with them.

 

[Gray Fox]

Sony is asking for it. It's just one stupid thing after another with them.

No they are not asking for. You are activly searching for it and turing every small detail in to bash fsst to boost your ego's. I could do the same for MS, Sony, Valve, Munro.

 

[Reginald]

It are decided.

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=HD-DVD&word2=Blu-Ray

 

[Gray Fox]

Crap. I don't hate Sony, but I'd rather see HD-DVD win to be honest.

 

[Cole]

I don't really care what wins...
Blu-Ray has more storage.....but either way I can wait till they show up on Pay Per View and record them.... omg not the best image quality...yeah yeah games arn't completely about graphics and movies arn't completely about image quality. I'm not gonna hate a movie just because it dosn't have amazing image quality(Of course bad image quality where I can't tell what shit is and 1950's TV looked better, it's a different story).

 

[VictimOfScience]

They both only make sense in terms of games right now, not movies. Big deal--we get more interactive menus??? So what??? The actual movies don't even look noticably different from dvd quality movies, so that isn't much incentive...

Pack in more high-def game content and I'll be happy either way. Use the space--make it worth our while and make the choice to go "high-def" make some actual sense!!!

 

[CptStern]

Another orgy of Sony bashing, just what this site needs

what? what does that have to do with it? I would have posted that no matter what the company was ..it's funny cuz it blew up in their faces not because it's Sony

 

[Iced_Eagle]

The actual movies don't even look noticably different from dvd quality movies, so that isn't much incentive...

So you've seen the picture quality in person then?

Here is a snippet of someone who reviewed the recently released Toshiba HD-DVD player

With the disk finally began its playback, my frustration and gnashing of teeth quickly abated, because I saw a magnificent high-definition picture on my screen the likes of which I hadn't seen before. There were very few compression artifacts, the sound was crisp and clear, and the colors were extremely saturated. Here was the nearly-saving grace of the Toshiba HD-A1. The HD DVD format is capable of magnificent playback quality. That factor alone may make this player worth its $500 purchase price.

So it seems that the picture quality is amazing, and worth our HD-TV's

Oh, in case you were wondering, the Toshiba system is apparently crap, and from the way he's describing it, it is!!! 47 seconds between the time you put the movie in until you see the first picture? 35 seconds to boot up (yes... a DVD Player needs to "boot up")... Yikes.

Thank god these are only early-adoptor models

http://www.duggmirror.com/technology/Toshiba_HD_DVD_Player_Reviewed_(Verdict:_“A_Disgrace”)/

(They took most of the site offline so it wouldn't get taken down by the mass of Digger's)

 

[VictimOfScience]

So you've seen the picture quality in person then?

No, but I read an article recently that stated that only 70% of the time in a "blind" comparison could the viewer pick the HD movie over the DVD movie. Good, but not great. Certainly not worth anyone's money yet. Not to mention the HDTV you need to go with it--the player is otherwise worthless. And that means a price tag of player+TV which = really expensive for most people on the planet. HDTVs are really going to have to come down in price if any of these other components are going to sell....

 

[WhiteZero]

It dosent really matter if it's fake or not, it just shows that they couldent get their hands on a Blu-Ray disk at the time. Which is a setback that could have happened to anyone. But of course, all the cackling fools below the story put in their witty little quips about Sony "screwing up again".

*yawn*

 

[Kyorisu]

In the end the consumer wins. One camp will win the high def wars and that will be the end of that.

 

[Korgoth]

sorry to burst your bubble, but it turns out that the picture in question shows the second laptop with the DVD version of the movie that they were using as a side by side comparison, they had the Blu ray disc on hand, and it was playing to, that just happens to be a semi misleading picture.

here:

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2939

 

[Fishlore]

I can't remember the last time I watched a DVD. It will be many, many years before I feel the need to buy a new video unit. DVDs are more than enough for me. I'll let this little format war play itself out and then maybe I'll consider buying the winner when it gets to be less than $100.

 

[Iced_Eagle]

Victim: I would actually be really interested in seeing that report...

I mean in the NotebookReviews link above, it states clearly, and in bold, that the difference is immediately noticeable.

I wonder if that study was running at true HD settings, or if they set up two "standard-def" TV's and put a DVD and HD-DVD in them... I mean obviously then it would be hard to tell... But if you have an HDTV and put a normal DVD in one and a HD-DVD in the other, then it should be pretty obvious which is better (color tones, contrast, sharpness etc...)

 

[Gray Fox]

But the HD-DVD doesn't have true hd it's interpolated, the BR does have true HD. How much is the differance.

 

[WhiteZero]

BR also has more storage compacity.

 

[Sparda]

LOL, bloody morons.

 

[VirusType2]

But the HD-DVD doesn't have true hd it's interpolated, the BR does have true HD. How much is the differance.

That's false.

You might have your facts mixed up with the X360 which only supports up to 1080i, where the PS3 supports 1080p. HD DVD however, can support 1080p (sometimes refered to as true HD, although in the future, higher resolution may come about)

1080p, high-definition resolution supported by HD DVD.[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD-DVD

Early scans of the boxes from some of the first flicks to be released on HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc are starting to show up, and it looks like at least some of the first releases will ship in 1080p. DVDActive has shots of the boxes from several HD DVD movies, including "Million Dollar Baby" and "The Last Samurai," and they're listed as being in 1080p. No word yet if this is an across-the-board thing, or whether the early BD titles are also 1080p (DVDActive only has the fronts of the BD boxes).

( HD DVD was released exactly 1 month ago today - April 18, 2006.)



the i stands for interlaced BTW, not interpolated

i = interlaced

p = progressive scan

1080p TV's are very rare because it is new technology, and it is very expensive.


The difference? p is the best - especially for games. The reason is that p has a higher refresh rate.

The X360 uses 720p for all games, and also, all games will run a minimum of 4x anti-aliasing. (anti-aliasing smooths out the jagged pixel edges)

The PS3 will mostly use 720p for games, although some PS3 games will support 1080p, and demonstrated this at E3 with Gran Tourismo.

I'd be more pleased if they used 720p, and instead used the power of the PS3 for better shading, physics, shadows, reflections, realistic collisions, etc., and especially AI, especially since 1080p TV owners hardly exist. To me it looked like an early PS2 game but in a very high resolution - in fact thats what it is. But I wouldn't be able to see this high of a resolution since I don't own a 1080p TV, and probably never will... are you starting to feel my bias yet?


The difference:


High-definition television:

1080 = 1920x1080 resolution
720 = 1280x720 resolution

Standard-definition television or SDTV refers to television systems that have a lower resolution than HDTV systems.

capable of displaying:
704 pixels × 480 lines with 16:9 aspect ratio
704 pixels × 480 lines with 4:3 aspect ratio
640 pixels × 480 lines with 4:3 ratio

The refresh rate can be any of 24, 30 or 60 pictures per second.

So you see, a standard TV is similar to playing a game on your PC in 640 x 480 resolution. Not very nice if you want my opinion (looks horrible as shit), 800x600 is MUCH MUCH nicer, although of course 720p is fantastic, and well, I've never actually witnessed 1080p yet, but I'm sure it looks beautiful, although, in my opinion, 720p (1280x720) is PLENTY nice enough for me, since I've been playing my PC games in 640x480 and - if I'm lucky, 800x600.

So, you need an HD TV to see any difference. A standard TV is not capable of displaying in either of the high resolutions, so it will be downscaled. It will look just like a DVD would on a standard TV.

The X360, however, also has an available VGA adapter for connecting to a PC monitor to be able to display in 720p High-Def (1280x720)

 

[WhiteZero]

I hope you have a resourse other than Wiki for all that...

Hold up, lemmie go edit the Wiki for George Washington to say he was gay.
<3 for history

 

[VirusType2]

I hope you have a resourse other than Wiki for all that...

Hold up, lemmie go edit the Wiki for George Washington to say he was gay.
<3 for history

No. I have provided facts from a highly credible source, with notifications when something is disputed, and there were no notifications.

It is up to you to disprove these facts if you don't believe them. You provide a source saying otherwise.

 

[WhiteZero]

A highly credible source... that isnt accepted as a source for collage term papers.

Anyway, chances are it's accurate anyway. So whatever.

 

[VirusType2]

A highly credible source... that isnt accepted as a source for collage term papers.

Anyway, chances are it's accurate anyway. So whatever.

Yea, I think all of that stuff is common knowledge.

I could do hours of research to find out exactly how many pixels are in a standard TV and find that there are a few types of TV's around the world, the ones in the UK may or may not have 10 more pixels.. but aren't my posts long enough? It's pretty damn accurate I think.

I like wikipedia, but do you know of better sources for things like this?

 

[VictimOfScience]

Victim: I would actually be really interested in seeing that report...

I know! I know! But I can't for the life of me find where the hell the lousy article was. You can ignore my post then if you like since it lacks the official seal of a source (even though no source is better than some of these sources! )

 

[The Mullinator]

HDDVD is significanly cheaper than Blu-ray. I think that is going to be what will cause it to win. If either of these new formats can in fact actually "win" and start to replace regular DVD's.

 

[Kyorisu]

sorry to burst your bubble, but it turns out that the picture in question shows the second laptop with the DVD version of the movie that they were using as a side by side comparison, they had the Blu ray disc on hand, and it was playing to, that just happens to be a semi misleading picture.

here:

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2939

Yeah gotta love half drunk bloggers.

 

[john321]

i feel the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray fiasco will wage for probably a year before anything is decided.. well, maybe not a year but maybe i bit longer than people expect. IF it is truly split down the middle, how many people do you think would buy a player if they don't know it will be supported in 3 or 5 years? My uncle bought one of the first huge DVD players, and look where they went. Personally, I will wait until the war is over and they come down in price to even consider buying one or the other. Another thing to look at is how long it will be till we see average priced recorders for this new storage for the general public.