The PS3 is just a few weeks away. Does anyone doubt me that Blu-ray will have the lead on Nov 18th? Currently there are only 2 HD format DVD devices out there. Each has sold well under 100,000 units. On Nov 17th there will be 500,000 PS3’s with a Blu-Ray movie in them (Taladega Nights). Overnight Blu-Ray video sales are going to go through the roof.

So can Sony wait for their player to come out?

Heck yeah it can because they will dominate the Blu-Ray landscape come Nov 17 with the PS3. Also, what company in its right mind would sell a blu-ray player after Nov 17th for more than $600 given the speed at which movies come up on the PS3 and the upgradeability factor. This is similar to the PS2 and DVD. DVD player prices plunged overnight because the PS2 was a viable player for less cost. In a few weeks this format war will be a footrace.

Oh yeah, and don’t reply back “what about the XBox360 HD DVD drive?”

It’s a $200 add-on and only for movies. They may sell upwards of 50,000-150,000 of these by March next year, but that’s only a drop in the bucket after Nov 17th. Microsoft really shot itself in the foot not waiting for a HD DVD drive and HDMI. A lot of finger pointing will happen when HD DVD falls and most of them will be pointing at Microsoft and their hasty production of the 360. I suspect Microsoft will come out with a Xbox360 1.5 sometime next year and it will briefly help HD DVD with an integrated HD DVD drive that still won’t hold games, but the nails will already be in the coffin with millions of PS3’s on the street.

Just like Gandalf said in LOTR:ROTK “It’s the deep breath before the plunge”

Blu-ray Will Win HDTV DVD War

Hmmm. Let me see. Sony is preparing for the launch of their most hotly-contested console ever, the PS3. The Xbox 360 is doing very well, thank-you very much, and analysts are predicting a close race between it and the PS3. Sony then has blue laser shortages, so they can’t produce as many PS3’s as they like. And they’re also planning to sell a BD player that needs the same laser. Which one is going to go?

That’s right. The BD player. So it’s no surprise to me that Sony has delayed their suave BDP-S1 player once again. This time it’s to December 4th, past the PS3’s launch date.

Sony’s BDP-S1 Blu-ray player delayed again…again

Video Business Online says that the first crop of BD discs to be released in the 50GB dual-layer versions don’t quite live up to their potential. They have lackluster features, or features that are the same as the DVD. Or that the film takes up most of the disc.

Frankly, I can’t say I really care. Movies on disc in HD (whether that be HD DVD or BD) are a new phenoma. Studios are still getting their sea legs, so to speak, and it’ll be a while before we see the true potential out of either format.

Now if we’re going on a year or two after the release of HD DVD and BD, and we’re still getting crap extras or bad soundtrack choices (which is really what I’m concerned about), then I’ll be a little bit more upset. But for now I’ll just leave it alone!

50GB Blu-ray discs not at potential

If you want to buy a plasma and be assured you’re getting one of the best, you’ll be looking at getting a Panasonic or a Pioneer. Ultimate AV recently took a sneak peak at Pioneer’s Elite PRO-FHD1 plasma monitor. This particular plasma is a unique one in the history of plasma displays, because it’s the first one that has a resolution of 1920 x 1080. It costs $8000, is 50″ in size, and has two HDMI inputs.

This display is strictly a monitor - no tuners on board. But it makes up for that fact with a smashing image. The image is crisp, natural, and “un-digital”, according to Mr. Buettner. because this is a sneak peak, and not a full review, there aren’t as many details about the set as otherwise. But Ultimate AV’s sneak peaks are as long as some other publication’s full reviews, so if you’re at interested in plasmas, check it out.

Pioneer Elite PRO-FHD1 Plasma HDTV Monitor

Panasonic says that their 100GB Blu-ray discs are so tough that they’ll last 100 years. So if your great-grandchildren want to take a look at all the JPG photos you snapped, they can dig out those BD discs, break into a museum for a BD reader, and take a gander.

Panasonic also done research for a version of the disc that only stored 50GB of data, but lasted 500 years. Does that mean that they could also make a 25GB disc that’ll last a millennium? Personally I think the best option would be a 200GB disc that lasts 50.

Panasonic says that its 100GB Blu-ray discs will last a century

According to Tech-On!, Canon and Toshiba are showing off a 55″ SED display at “FPD International 2006″ in Pacifico Yokohama convention center. It’s a “full HD” display, with a resolution of 1920 x 1080.

The contrast ratio of this beauty is supposedly 100000:1. Um, is that even possible? I assume so. Everybody is looking forward to SED displays coming to market, including me. But will they be cost-effective? In other words, will they be worth the high prices Canon and Toshiba are expected to charge? I dunno. Add to that the fact that they will also suffer from burnout, and that takes them off my list. With the CRT television I have now I realized that I never want to have another television that suffers from burn-in again. I wonder what Toshiba and Canon have to say about that?

55-inch SED Panel with 100000:1 Contrast Ratio Exhibited

So I read this article about the CEA meeting and a panel talking about the “format war”

The part that really got me interested was right at the end

….asking the panelists about rumors that their respective licensing agreements prohibit the production of dual-format players. Both Parsons and Knox assured us that no such prohibitions exist

Well if we take this at face value why is the EU asking the companies to show their contracts to deal with anti-competitive clauses?

So both sides claim there is no restriction on a dual format player. They claim it is just price, which may be true at the moment with the amount of hardware and different licensing that would have to be paid to create such a player.

So if it is just a technology and cost issue, we should see a dual format player by mid to late next year. Of course it will probably be out in 2008 which would fit the time line I proposed earlier perfectly.

Man I love it when a plan comes together

CE Pro § No Truce for Blu-ray, HD DVD Format War, CEA Panel Says

I thought it was funny when I saw this, because my wife and I were just talking about this the other day. She likes the show “Ugly Betty”. I watch it with her because, well, I can! My laptop can go where I go. So I check out the web and stuff while watching the show.

And it’s true. Vanessa Williams doesn’t look that great on this show. Her age is definitely showing, and it’s not flattering at all. I should not really be saying things like that, because it’s not nice. But in an industry where looks are so important, I can understand why television stars are nervous about this whole HD thing.

Maybe we’re moving into a more enlightened age, where wrinkles aren’t smoothed over by low-res screens, and we can see things as they really are. Is that a good thing, or bad?

Ugly Betty Star: HDTV Makes Me Ugly

There has been a lot of talk recently about the fact that the initial BD movies haven’t looked too good. This was blamed on the fact that the BD movies were encoded in MPEG2 on single-layer 25GB discs. Supposedly that just isn’t enough room to do an HD movie justice. When BD movies encoded in VC1 appeared, and looked quite good, that opinion only strengthened.

But is it true?

I ask because this review of the movie Dark Water basically gives the picture quality a very good review. Dark Water is a 105-minute movie on a single-layer BD, encoded with MPEG2. While the choice of colours used by the director were mostly blah, they were encoded well and looked like a faithful reproduction of the film.

Interviews with Mr. Parsons from Pioneer show that he believes the problem wasn’t with MPEG2 at all, but with other factors. (Like the Samsung player’s quality?) Maybe he’s right? Or maybe does the film length in this case (105 minutes) have something to do with it?

I don’t really have any answers here. But I would have expected that, if MPEG2 really was the problem, that it would always be a problem. It doesn’t make sense that it could do a really good job on one film, but a really bad job on another. I can understand that maybe this could be the case on a scene by scene basis, but not a whole film.

What do you think? For those more technically inclined than I am, maybe you have some answers that I don’t.

Blu-ray Review: Dark Water