Is Blu-ray really Sony's format?
by Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Jul 18th 2006 at 11:25AM
In any Blu-ray Vs HD DVD discussion the former failed Sony formats always come up. Why do we assume that Blu-ray is a Sony format? Sure Sony is a board member and has helped develop the technology, but they are not the sole owner of the technology. They are not the first to produce a player and I think Samsung and Pioneer would take some credit in its development.Sony is one of 17 companies on the board of directors and the only company that gets credit for owning the Blu-ray standard. We are not talking about members of the BDA either, we are talking about the board, whatever that means. The association was created to create the next mass media storage device, one that was not owned by a single company like DVD. For almost 10 years these companies have been paying Toshiba royalties for DVD. It is no wonder that the biggest players in the consumer electronics industries and the largest studios are backing Blu-ray, if you own the standard, you're effectively paying yourself royalties. Everyone knows this is about money and who can blame them? The BDA members are sick of paying Toshiba and if there is going to be a new format, now is their chance to get around paying them royalites, no wonder Blu-ray isn't backwards compatiable with DVD and doesn't support hybrid discs. Sure current players can play DVDs but theoreticly that won't be the case forever.
Then there is Microsoft, we all heard the Major Nelson Podcast and why Microsoft was backing HD DVD, but what they didn't mention is that with every HD DVD sold Microsoft stands to get paid. All HD DVDs use their iHD interactive layer and every HD DVD sold to date uses their CODEC VC1, which is required because of the capacity of HD DVD. Why in the world would Microsoft want to back a standard that has so little revenue potential for them when they could back the standard with the most? If we were them we would do the same thing! At the same time Sony owns over 170 patents on MPEG2 as do a number of other companies. The larger capacity Blu-ray disc makes it possible for them to get more out their old investment and allows other companies to produce discs at a lower cost (in the long run after over coming new production costs) since they already own the old MPEG2 encoding hardware and software.
We all know this is about money, but who is trying to hold on to their monopoly and who is trying to create a new more balanced playing field?
Why do so many consider Blu-ray Sony's standard and is it true?
Thanks Warren!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
alienclay @ Jul 18th 2006 12:41PM
probably because sony is risking more on the sucess of BD and the ps3 for its bottom line than any one of the other accociation partners.
pioneer jumping ship and going hd-dvd in 2-3 years if the format wins out over Blu-ray, ok i can see that. sony doing the same with it's flagship console deeply rooted in BD. no.
cckrobinson @ Jul 18th 2006 1:23PM
If things go badly for Blu-ray on the movie front Sony will definitely jump ship to HD-DVD. If Blu-ray fails it won't matter to the PS3. They can still use Blu-ray for games so it's no big loss. Until CD's came around all of the gaming consoles used proprietary cartridges anyway. If HD-DVD players are selling like hot cakes in 2 years and Blu-ray is officially dead do you really think Sony would be willing to miss out on all of the potential revenue from the millions of Sony fanboys out there?
Mike S @ Jul 18th 2006 1:35PM
As a gaming console format, the HD-DVD/blu-ray battle has no effect on PS3 games. Sony will stick with blu-ray for the PS3. If HD-DVD does become the consumer favorite, Sony pictures will have to produce HD-DVD's or be stuck with SD-DVD only sales. Whether Sony wil lactually make HD-DVD players? Who knows.
MrSatyre @ Jul 18th 2006 2:08PM
Pioneer was the first company with a functioning blue laser HD optical disc prototype, thanks to an exclusive partnership with the then world's only blue-violet laser optical pickup manufacturer, Nichia Corp. Sony was hard on Pioneer's heels, and Pioneer and Sony decided to save R&D costs by forming a partnership which proceeded to draw in quite a few other manufacturers along the way. Sony is MUCH larger than Pioneer, and has MUCH deeper pockets, so in spite of being a key developer of the Blu-ray format, Pioneer is more than happy to let Sony take the marketing ball and run with it. That's what royalties are all about! ;-)
Nick @ Jul 18th 2006 6:03PM
I think Sony is credited with the format simply because it is the largest of all the other companies and packs a better punch when bringing new standards to the market. Sony is the unwritten standard that all electronics are compared to so if they are coming out with a new high definition player and format, it must be good because it is Sony. This is the reasoning that most people have.
From a retail standpoint, I think this format can not loose, they have too many manufacturers backing it and movie studios putting out new releases. With the PS3 coming in a few months, Sony will have more BRD players sold by Christmas than Toshiba will have sold all year.
Tube @ Jul 19th 2006 12:22AM
Without Sony spearheading Blu-Ray, Blu-Ray fails miserably. They put their movie studios behind it, they put their electronic division behind it, and their game division.
Oddly, the only reason people think Blu-Ray will succeed is the PS3, which may not necessarily be a sure thing. Oddly, the target audience for the PS3, is just a niche of the overall market that Blu-Ray needs to capture.
Also, I think Blu-Ray and HD DVD carry some 'gotchas' that the mass still do not understand. Blu-Ray for example does not have to support DVD or CD playback. That's going to be a problem down the line. HDCP is going to be a problem at some point. And pricing of media is going to be an issue for those used to buying DVDs at $6-$30
Bobvand @ Jul 19th 2006 2:16PM
Many PlayStation owners use their PS to watch DVD movies. If HD-DVD does become the consumer favorite will Sony leave their PlayStation loyalists to go buy another device (or console) so they can watch their HD movies? Sony might have to keep producing their movies on Blu-Ray or risk some unhappy PS3 customers. This is probably why Microsoft has opted to use an external HD-DVD drive wich could be swapped for a Blu-Ray drive HD-DVD fails. I think MS is in a better position with their console.
Adam @ Jul 21st 2006 1:48AM
"The larger capacity Blu-ray disc" should read "the THEORETICAL larger capacity Blu-ray disc." No 50 GB Blu-Ray discs have been created anywhere outside of controlled circumstances in a lab. Certainly no mass production of 50 GB Blu-Ray discs is taking place as of yet. As such, the 30 GB HD DVD discs are currently "larger capacity" than the 25 GB Blu-Ray discs available to consumers.
Additionally, VC-1 is not required for HD DVD due to space. It was chosen for the current HD DVD releases because it has won blind viewing tests by Hollywood studios against MPEG-2 and H.264. VC-1 has the side benefit of more efficient encoding resulting in smaller file sizes.
Not every HD DVD title released has used VC-1 for video. Titles have been released using H.264 and MPEG-2 as well. All Japanese HD DVD titles to date are using H.264 for video.
If they cared about video quality, Sony would have used VC-1 for the 25 GB Blu-Ray releases instead of MPEG-2. However, Sony is a big business and cares more about getting royalties on MPEG-2 and NOT paying royalties to Microsoft for the superior video codec.
Lastly, Blu-Ray discs are more costly to produce than HD DVD. You mention that MPEG-2 allows producers making content for Blu-Ray to create titles for less money. Remember that MPEG-2, H.264 and VC-1 are all approved codecs for BOTH HD DVD and Blu-Ray. Content producers are free to port MPEG-2 content to HD DVD. In fact, HDNet has already begun porting MPEG-2 content to HD DVD.
Please get your facts straight before ripping on HD DVD.
Ben Drawbaugh @ Jul 21st 2006 6:45AM
Adam,
Althought I agree that my statement would have been more concise had I added the word "Theoretical" this was a Blu-ray post.
I was not ripping on HD DVD at all. In fact I was trying to find Sony's and the rest of the BDA's modivations.
I certainly was bot trying to argue MPEG2 vs VC1, there are plenty of those arguments else where.
I hope that you don't think this reponse was in attempt to change your mind, beacuse it wasn't. This response was to let you know that you missed the point of the post intirely, which was to follow the money behind Blu-ray and to not give Sony Credit for everything Blu-ray.
Aaron @ Jul 21st 2006 9:57AM
HD-DVD players can play DVDs and CDs as well.
HD-DVDs are faster and 30 GB is enough for a HD movie and extras. More disks could be used, they do it now with DVDs.
No one uses disks to record to anymore, just backing things up to keep, and this is where the speed helps.
I'm not even considering Blu-ray at all anymore.
number_002 @ Jul 22nd 2006 12:25PM
the first Blu-ray player was released by Sony (in Japan). It was shown at the 2003 CES.
link to image and info:
http://www.avland.co.uk/sony/bdzs77/
Chris @ Jul 25th 2006 2:32PM
I think you have the bad feelings backwards; although these crybabies have enough bad feelings to go around. Remember Sony & Philips were part of the DVD Forum, their Super audio CD technology was turned down by the DVD Forum in favor of DVD_Audio technology, later they didn't even submit the Blue-ray format to the forum. I think the corperate electronic giants (at least the majority of the DVD Forum) are probably more jaded about the fees they've been paying to Sony for that unpopular format called Compact Disc.