Sony announces first Blu-ray movie titles (more info later?)

If you don't have a TV that supports 1080p, then yeah, you may not be able to fully apreciate the picture quality. However, what you will get (720p/1080i) will still look really good, so I wouldn't complain too much. Seeing as how there are very few TVs out there that support 1080p, this will probably be the case for most people early on. In fact, I'm not even 100% sure if all movies will actually be 1080p; some early on may just stick with 720p, sort of like what video game developers are doing on the PS3/Xbox 360.

As for what cables you'll need, that's what I was talking about earlier. HDMI was what you were supposed to use (although I think it was also possible with DVI under certain circumstances), but now I'm not so sure. You might be able to get by with component. We'll have to wait and see I guess....maybe by tomorrow?

 

It looks like we have some player prices.
http://www.i4u.com/article4840.html (2 Toshiba HD DVD players, $799 and $499)
http://www.i4u.com/article4841.html (Samsung BR player, $1000 )

A bit higher than I expected, especially for just a player, even if it will be the first in the US. I wonder if that will be the norm or not...makes me wonder what the PC BR drive coming out this month will cost.

edit: Pioneer BR player $1800:
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060104/20060104005022.html?.v=1
Well, the BR news started out good.

 

Yeah, that's how I'm feeling. And actually, I'm not sure if the Samsung player supports 1080p, while the Pioneer one does, so maybe that makes up the difference?

These prices are just a bit confusing given what I thought I knew about the PS3. Obviously, a Spring release for the NA is looking pretty slim, but assuming Sony sticks with the Spring release in Japan, you'll still have BR players along with the PS3 there. Even at some absurd price for a console like $800, the PS3 is a great deal (I imagine it should be able to do 1080p fine) compared to these players. We haven't even seen any recorder or PC drive prices yet.

I hope we don't get some bad news regarding the PS3 soon.

I think at least $10 more as well for sure. Probably similar to the first DVD movies...something like $35-$45 or something like that. Of course, my last expectations regarding BR haven't gone so well yet.

 

Some new info:

Pioneer SL (25GB) PC recorder for $995 (a steal?)
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=172

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,124194,00.asp
Regarding the price tag for these movies:

Blank discs from Panasonic:
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-04-2006/0004242836&EDATE=

Regarding the cable connections issue from earlier:
http://cnet.com.au/hometheatre/dvd/0,39025983,40059347,00.htm

To be fair, it wasn't just Sony that asked for a premium for UMDs. AFAIK, the other studios that joined in are asking just as much. Except for maybe Japanese p*rn movie studios...I think you can find some of those UMDs in Japan for under $10.

 

I'd like to wait and see what is going on with this pricing. The only other thing that makes sense is that these are "high-end" products, thus the price. Kind of like how one DVD player may cost like $40 and another costs $20,000 (well...maybe not just like that). Maybe these early players will try to squeeze out a few sales at these higher prices for a few months before the PS3 hits (either in late Spring or whenever). They may then drop a little bit more in price once the PS3 hits, although they may still be able to charge much more. I don't follow this particular train of thought, but some home theater enthusiasts would never consider having a video game console at the center of their living room, even if it is a much better value (the same people that must have a $20K DVD player?). Doesn't really make sense, but a sub-$500 (I hope) video game console with BR support may be able to coexist in a market with $1000+ BR players...even if the console is equal in performance or even better.

Don't confuse these high prices with what it will cost Sony to include BR in the PS3. I didn't quite expect prices as high as $1800 for just a player, but the HD DVD player prices aren't too bad, and I don't think there are too many differences between HD DVD and Blu-ray (when it comes to hardware costs anyway). I think the PS3 could cost half as much as the players and not "cripple" Sony; the PS3 will have plenty of things to offset any losses, while these other players will be trying to make up for BR R&D on each player sold...ASAP from the looks of it. That's the only scenario I can think of at the moment that could explain these high prices of Blu-ray players while also explaining a PS3 that is much more affordable. I'm interested in learning more about any other players announced in the next few days, as well as any PC drives, burners, and BR recorders.

BTW, according to the link I just gave about the $20K DVD player, the 1st DVD players cost about $1000.

 

Here are the official announcements from Warner and Disney about what movies to expect on Blu-ray:
http://home.businesswire.com/portal...d=news_view&newsId=20060105006251&newsLang=en
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-05-2006/0004243866&EDATE=

For the lazy, here's a list:
Batman Begins
Charlie & The Chocolate Factory
Constantine
The Dukes of Hazzard
The Last Samurai
Lethal Weapon
The Matrix
Million Dollar Baby
Oceans 12
Swordfish
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Training Day
Troy
Twister
Unforgiven

Kill Bill: Vol 1
Hero
Dark Water
Ladder 49
The Brothers Grimm
The Great Raid
Armageddon
Kevin Smith's Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
Dinosaur
Everest

Like the other studios, pictures of BR movies at CES don't quite match up with these announcements either. Here's an even better view of some of the titles, some of which haven't been officially announced I guess:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20060105/ces04_19.jpg

Here's some pics of the PS3 working as a BR player:
http://internet.watch.impress.co.jp/cda/static/image/2006/01/05/cessn04.jpg
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20060105/ces04_11.jpg
They also hint that the RSX is complete.

On the PC front, I believe Dell will be offering BR in the PCs in the Spring, although I just got that from the keynote. Speaking of Dell, if you didn't see it, they showed off a quad-SLI (4X 7800 GTX) PC. Doesn't really deal much with BR, but I thought it was pretty interesting.

Another thing not directly related to BR is some info about some new DLP HDTVs from Samsung. Here's a link and a small excerpt:
http://www.cnet.com/4831-11405_1-6413134.html?tag=ltstimg

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that a great price for a 1080p HDTV, especially one that is 50"? And I guess it could be even cheaper as time goes by, especially if you can find some great deals online or something like that. Hehe...and we haven't even gotten any real info on any SED/CNT HDTVs.

 

As mleahy999 said, they're putting in better quality video and sound. I'm not an expert on bitrates, and I don't recall what they're aiming for with HD movies, but I believe the necessary playback speed for BR is like 54mbps (1.5x...however that happens). That explains why they still put movies on one disc despite the much higher storage capacity.

For some TV shows that can't release their shows in HD, they might be able to release more of them on one disc as opposed to DVD though.

BTW, I found this part from Samsung to be kind of interesting:
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=28769

Interesting since Samsung always seemed to want to support both sides, even reiterating that in previous articles this week IIRC.

Also, while the 25/50GB discs will probably be fine for a while, here's something to look forward to: