Rumor: Microsoft to Release Blu-Ray Player for 360 by May

While this may be true in the future, it is pretty widely known that the PS3 is regarded as the best Bluray player out.

 

It goes even beyond just Sony and Philips. Panasonic was a big BR player, and I'd imagine the other 6 founders of the BDA would all get a cut (maybe even all 18 members of the current board of directors). I think Sony does get the largest cut though (I read 20% somewhere, although I don't know where the number came from). If you want to get technical, Sony might get extra revenue if they supplied components such as the blue laser diodes (among other things), but that would get a little too complicated. Besides, Nichia would probably be supplying the diodes; I think they have 70% of the market, or they did last I saw.

Not sure how Toshiba would be making a killing off of it, unless they manufactured the device. I figured it would be easier and probably cheaper if MS went elsewhere though...I'd guess Samsung. Although if MS prices it cheaply to compete with the PS3, something would have to give (Toshiba/Samsung wouldn't be profiting as much, or MS wouldn't). Maybe the BDA could give Toshiba some rights to the technology so they'd get some royalties, but I'm guessing they're not that fond of Toshiba's actions involving DVD and HD DVD.

And I've yet to see any sort of valid argument supporting mainstream adoption of digital distribution of HD movies that would be ready in the next 3-5 years or so. And I'm not talking about "HD" movies that have been compressed all the way down to 7GB (not that it would matter much IMO).

Not sure if I really believed it, but there was certainly speculation that MS was ready to release a 360 SKU with an interval HD DVD drive earlier in the year. If true, that idea got scrapped and it could explain why 360s are in short supply (MS anticipated the new SKU being in demand).

I guess if that was true, they may be able to switch to an internal Blu-ray drive easier than normal, if they wish to do so anyway.

FWIW, the PS2 was the main DVD player for a lot of people early on, especially in Japan. As players got cheaper and performed better this changed, but DVD playback was pretty important for early PS2 owners.

PS3 will probably follow a similar trend at the very least I imagine.

 

There was a bunch of decent DVD players out there besides the PS2. The PS2 actually wasn't that great of a dvd player.

for the PS3, its the only reliable Bluray player, which makes the situation different. Alot of people are buying the PS3 as a Bluray player cause all the other ones suck (including the other Sony models).

For the PS2 , people bought it for games.

Cola, you need to go to Japan, since you always seem to know what's going on there.

 

tinman is right on this, for a change

the PS2 was a very average, at best, DVD player...most would consider it subpar even

the PS3 right now is basically the best Blu-Ray player out there, certainly the most flexible as far as firmwares and profiles. picture quality is also right up there amongst the best players. the only 'bad' thing about it as a player is the remote situation, but that's a very minor and basically irrelevant aspect

two very different situations and times

 

I don't think the PS2 was all that different...

When it came out, I was 18/19, or at least when I got it anyway. I, and most of my friends at that time, we all used our PS2s as our only DVD players. Now it was a pretty ****ty DVD player (the sound on it was incredibly piss poor) but for college aged kids on a budget, it was just fine.

 

My XBOX 360 has been my only DVD player since I bought it. Never got the HDDVD add-on, preferring to wait till the format war was over...I'm glad for that.

On a stand-alone basis, it probably isn't currently the greatest regular DVD player out there, but I don't care that much. It plays the picture, the picture looks nice enough. It's good that Microsoft is likely to come out with a blue ray add-on. I probably still won't get that, though.

Whatever happens, I can't fathom why anyone with a 360 and/or PS3 would buy a separate DVD player hooked up to the same tv???

 

Because as it stands now, the PS3 is the best blu-ray player there is, and only cost slightly more than the cheapest blu-ray players on the market. When the PS2 came out there were plenty of cheaper and better options for DVD.

To give my own example, just a few days ago I sold my 360 and returned the HD-DVD add on that I got for Christmas. I'm planning to use the money I made from that to buy a PS3, because 1080P movies is my first priority right now. The fact that it's the best blu-ray player and can play games is an added bonus.

 

you mean college kids back in the day who can afford $300 game systems?

now you are talking about college kids who can afford $400-$500 game systems and a HDTV (off course you can get a cheap one )

 

I'm in the market for a blu-ray player. My brother and co-worker are telling me to just get a ps3 because they know I like games and I'd love the ps3 because of how badass sthe blu-ray player is.

I'd have to agree with tinman on this as well. Hearing others use their ps3 as blu-ray player first THEN as a game system seems very common.

I'll probably just get the ps3 over the 360 blu-ray.

 

I was a late buyer to PS2. I had a cheap DVD player (it sucked, but it worked just fine and I used it til it crapped out) before I had a PS2. I remember hearing about the disk-read errors on PS2 that seemed to stem from over-use. That alone would be enough to prevent me from any over-usage of my PS2. In other words, I only wanted to use it for games.

Given that PS3 is yet another expensive piece of technology, I'd be inclined to use it only for gaming, same as PS2. My line of thinking is simply to get the most use out of it while giving it the least amount of wear and tear.

This is, of course, gradually changing, but there isn't a huge rush to buy blue-ray DVD players because regular DVD is still a viable format. Same thing happened when regular DVD began to take over from VHS: DVDs and DVD players were expensive as hell. As the technology gradually became more wide-spread with consumers, prices came down, and the market eventually took over completely from VHS and VCRs.

I'm in the market for none of the latest goodies for a number of reasons, namely that I'm broke, in school, and will be this way for another couple of years at least. I imagine when I'm finally ready to buy these things, PS3s, HD-TVs, and blue-ray DVD players will be reasonably priced that having one of each won't be a problem because the technology will be more wide-spread and thus cheaper.

In the end, I'll have a PS3 for gaming, and a separate blue-ray player just like I did with my PS2 and stand-alone DVD player.

 

It is true that the PS3 is widely considered the best Bluray player on the market. Go over to AVS forums and just read around. There MAY be a $1200 player out there that's a little better, but not when you can get the 40GB PS3 for $400.

I have both a Toshiba HDDVD player and a PS3. I expected the format war to last another year or two, but I'm happy we have a clear cut winner. I'm also glad that in this case, the more advanced technology seemed to win.

I will be keeping my Toshiba player as my standard DVD player, as it is superior in Standar DVD upconverting to my TV over the PS3, and I may even pick up some rock bottom priced HDDVDs somewhere.

 

Well, I recently picked up a Toshiba HD DVD for my Toshiba 46" LCD HDTV. Be careful which HD DVD player you purchase. Some of their HD DVD players play up to 1080i, like the HD-A3. I returned it and picked up the HD-A30 which has the 1080p.

This was the day before the Superbowl that I purchased the HD DVD player. I'll keep it to play all my DVD's, but I just recently picked up an 80 gb PS3 for the Blue Ray player. Hopefully, I don't burn it out with overuse, but I figure by the time I wear out this system, it will be time for a new one anyways.

My ps2 pulled DVD player duty as well as full time gaming console, and it lasted me for about 5 years.

 

because a regular DVD player holds more disks - essential because it then double as a CD player (back in the days before ipods) and is going to save your game machine a lot of wear and tear - oh and is cheap as sh-t too. And like many said, using a joystick to control DVD's is painful.

Right now, maybe - of course most people, even those with HDTV's, don't even have 1080p, which renders the whole blu ray thing a lot less relevant. By the time 1080p tvs predominate over 1080i's and 720's- I guarnatee you there's a cheaper better dedicated bluray player out there.

 

a lot less relevant than what? standard DVDs?

I have a Samsung 720p DLP, and I can tell you that a good release Blu-Ray movie looks 100x better than any upconverted standard DVD. there is no comparison whatsoever, high def movies is the real deal

 

Some people do and for those that do the PS3 is an excellent choice especially for the price. For now. I do not disagree that there will be better technology in the future and anyone who argues that is an idiot.

 

$45 Matrix Trilogy HD DVD @ best buy

keep in mind the person who buys the $1200 Bluray player, has the proper equipment to get that extra $800 of advanced surround sound out of it

Many people can't even take full advantage of Bluray, the maximum and best standard you should go is 1080p/24 , which few HDTVs out there can do. Also, having the sound system/ receiver to support TrueDolby surround.. then throw in that you have to set that stuff up correctly.

 

Things are certainly more in favor of the PS3 than the PS2 at the time (at least in the US), but the situations aren't that different IMO. In both cases, you ended up with a lot of people using a PlayStation as their primary DVD/BR player, helping both formats catch on (more so Blu-ray than DVD of course). Like the PS2, I expect the PS3 will become less and less popular as a Blu-ray player as cheaper and/or better players become available.

BTW, I hadn't really looked at the source for the rumor. Apparently, their insiders also said over a year ago that the PS4 could be coming out within 18 months:
http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Media_Centres/Industry/R8W6V6L6

Xbox 360 with Blu-ray vs PS4!

 

Riiiiiight.

No one cares about your Xbox 360 fanboy self-justification, SamFisher.

First, lots of people used their PS2 as their DVD player. Secondly, it was never a very good DVD player, and everyone knew it. This is not true of the PS3: the PS3 is one of the best ones, if not THE best one, out there. Thirdly, a Blu-Ray in 720 still looks a thousand times better than a standard DVD.

 

did I say I give a f-k about what kind of machine anybody has? You're the one who's busting a nut about BluRay and the format war as if you just discovered how to spin straw into gold and explaining to us what a great purchase you are because you got a PS3.

I don't really care who wins any stupid machine "war" I don't own ADR's in Sony or Toshiba, and if HDDVD had won - I'd make the exact same argument about having a dedicated player - because it's true.

 

Sam- How is this true? Like others have pointed out, PS3 is regarded as the best BR player out there. This could change in the future, but for now, it's not true as you've stated.