Survey points to Blu-ray negativity, attributed to Sony's "heavy handed" approach
While some folks just can't make up their mind, and other have already leaned one way or the other, a recent independent survey points to Sony's format being the one losing ground and interest, but we can't say we're surprised. Betamax, ATRAC, MiniDisc, and UMDs were all crafted by Sony, and all fell (basically) flat before ever really catching on, and it seems the costly Blu-ray format may be headed for the same fate. Cymfony, a market influence analytics company, found that "positive discussions" about HD DVD were "46-percent higher" than talks about Blu-ray, with over twice as many post authors being "impressed with HD DVD" rather than "impressed with Blu-ray." A good deal of the negativity shown towards Blu-ray was attributed to Sony's "heavy handed" approach of forcing Blu-ray upon PlayStation 3 owners, not to mention the notoriously delayed (and pricey) standalone players. Although it's still far too early to tell which format will rise victorious (you know, since peace talks have all but ceased), there's no denying the high costs associated with both next-generation discs, but Sony's track record with these proprietary ideas definitely doesn't bode well for it.[Via TechDigest]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dave @ Dec 7th 2006 12:13PM
The SONY haters are more than the normal people... at least within English speaking ones...
WASD John @ Dec 7th 2006 12:20PM
I followed the link to the article and they have comments saying that the article is very biased against Blu-Ray and was just another "useless" survey. But really people pull your head out of your @ss and smell the got dam roses! Who in their right mind would pay twice as much for a product that is just as good as another competing product? Price is a big concern and always will be for the average consumer and that is what is going to make or break the adoption of any and all future formats. yeh yeh I know features and content also factor into the equation but that really all just relates back to PRICE and what the consumer feels he/she should get for the money that they spend. Once you factor all the puzzle pieces together I feel that HD-DVD has a significant advantage and hopefully will win more studio support so that this stupid split format war can come to a compromised end.
maemotaku @ Dec 7th 2006 12:24PM
Maybe Sony should have put a DVD drive in my PS3 so it could be completely obsolete in 2 years. I hate them for forcing a $499 Blu-ray player onto us poor gamers!
It's a good thing Microsoft isn't "heavy-handed" and would NEVER force proprietary tech on the public.
http://www.shopforbluray.com
zombieflanders @ Dec 7th 2006 12:53PM
"It's a good thing Microsoft isn't "heavy-handed" and would NEVER force proprietary tech on the public."
You mean like IE, WMP, locked kernels, etc.?
Besides, a survey that says it's based on blogs, internet forums, and what not is useless. If that was the case, conspiracy theorists and racists and would be determining elections.
attack11 @ Dec 7th 2006 1:35PM
cause in two years you'll see such a drastic shift in computing you'll need 30gb to play a video game at 720p. lol.
maemotaku @ Dec 7th 2006 12:42PM
Price is NOT the major concern. New tech is always more attractive and more expensive for early adopters.
If price was critical we'd all be watching 20" tube TVs and swapmeet VCD movies.
The price isn't hurting PS3 sales one bit.
Any "significant advantage" HD-DVD had last summer is diminishing as more $499 PS3s and Blu-ray movies hit the market.
Why do you think no other CE mfgs will make them? Still no PC burners? No BD-exclusive movie studios have defected. Keep being hopeful.
hmurchison @ Dec 7th 2006 2:10PM
maemotaku
HD DVD just launched 6 months ago. Do you really think that a studio or CE Vendor can just change their mind and "poof" deliver hardware or software on a dime? CES 2007 would be the ideal place to announce new hardware and software. Expecting them to make such drastic changes before the Christmas rush speaks to how little you understand about the efforts involved to launch a product.
John @ Dec 7th 2006 6:05PM
If Price was not a concern then why does anyone drive anything less than a 50,000 dollar luxury car? Hell why wouldn't everyone have super expensive exotic sports car? I must be crazy thinking that THE AVERAGE consumer DOES care about the price of a product. Even early adopters care about the price of a product. Money doesn't grow on trees and most people I know work hard for their money and would not spend twice as much on something that does nearly the SAME EXACT thing as something that is priced half as much. Even the $499 PS3 Blu-ray player can not beat the $199 HD-DVD addon drive for the 360. Yeh I know that if you factor the cost a 360 and the addon drive it equals the price of the PS3, but riddle me this fanboy... where the hell can I find a PS3? You have a better chance of getting the HD-DVD addon drive. Also since I already had a 360 with which I have been enjoying next gen games for over a year the HD-DVD addon just made the perfect early christmas present and I have been enjoying full quality HD movies ever since!
Big Sam @ Dec 7th 2006 12:47PM
I had no intention of supporting either format for a long time. But the cheap HD-DVD add-on for the Xbox 360 was too tempting for me to resist (and the $40 off coupon I had for Circuit City made it even cheaper). I don't plan on buying any HD-DVD movies just yet, but the fact that I can get HD-DVDs on Netflix finally gave me a reason to sign up.
PreGHz @ Dec 7th 2006 5:35PM
We haven't even launched the "n" standard for wifi yet, but there are already pre-n routers.
Even if HD-DVD launched only 6 months ago, that doesn't mean that the specs weren't there for people to get prepared.
maemotaku @ Dec 7th 2006 7:26PM
HD-DVD launched 8 months ago in April'06.
I am looking forward to see what happens at CES.
Well see how many BD studios and vendors "poof" change their mind.
Ed @ Dec 7th 2006 2:16PM
Sign the HD DVD Petition so we,the consumer end this foolish format war once and for all. Thank You.
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/HD_DVD_Studio_Support
Steve @ Dec 7th 2006 6:18PM
"Superior codecs, more scratch-resistant discs,better mandatory player features, support of theDVD forum and cheaper for the consumer - enoughsaid!" taken from the petition.
Seriously, these are the type of morons supporting HD-DVD. It's already been proven and I've seen it with my own eyes that movies in the last few months are equal in terms of picture quality regardless if they're MPEG-2 or VC-1. Check the review of "World Trade Center". Scratch-resistance disc??? OMG!!! this guy is an idiot!!! Blu-ray are scratch-resistance discs developed by TDK. Cheaper for the customers? Hmmmm, PS3s costs $500, Toshiba costs $500, so why is it cheaper??? both discs costs exactly the same. No wonder HD-DVD has more positive news then Blu-ray, it's these type of idiots who are mis-informing the public the actual truth and same goes to this site, total bias here and it's sickening to see these type of people. Also Panasonic help develop the Blu-ray technology and is also a backer, why the hell didn't this article mention Panasonic? Because Sony is an easy target, what better way to bash on Sony like the a lot of media lately. Keep in mind, Sony was the one who fought for us moviegoers back in the 70s to watch movies, you needed to buy a $15,000 player just to watch movies at home. Sony introduce a cheap affordible players back then which movie studios sued Sony for, of course the court favors Sony which from this day on, we can enjoy watching movies at an affordible price. If it weren't for Sony, who knows how much players these days would cost or if it ever becomes popular like it is now. I swear, if this type of behavior continues on, our society is going to s***!!!
maemotaku @ Dec 7th 2006 7:44PM
Of course price is a concern. My statement is that price is not the MAJOR concern. The average consumer does not own HDTV and has no idea what HD movies are. By the time standalone players get down to $200 this "format war" will be long forgotten.
AG @ Dec 7th 2006 9:05PM
I still can't believe this debate is going on...
With the PS3 out, Blu-Ray is the same price as HD-DVD ...
and Blu-Ray is the superior format that has superior companies backing it.
Juice @ Dec 7th 2006 10:08PM
Ok I see alot of misinformed people here. First of all neither of these formats are better in terms of performance watching movies. They both the capacity to do full 1080p with loseless audio (VC-1, Mpeg-4, Mpeg-2, DDTureHD, DTSHD, etc) period thats the best we can get. Blu Ray simply offers more space for extras. Now this is where some issues arise, yes many early Mpeg2 movies looked really no better then a standard DVD on a good player, and yes some of the more recent titles look fantastic on Mpeg2, no better than VC-1, but as good. But Mpeg2 also takes out that space advantage of Blu Ray. So when you really look at it, its pretty much the same product, but at a very different price. Sure the PS3 is cheap enough, but why arent the players from Samsung, Panasonic, and Sony cheaper (Pioneer get excluded given that it is a premium brand and their DVD players run for about $1000). Yes they have better movie studio support but do you really want to support a format that is trying to take you to the cleaners for money. Even with their extra support HDDVD still has more movies, and in general have been more consistant on high quality releases (iHD, UControl), while the gap inst as big as it was many Blu Ray movies shouldnt even count, many of those early ones deserve to be thrown in the trash, and even most Blu Ray supporters will agree those early Mpeg2 movies are not the best that hi def can offer. Also to those who say early adopters dont care about price, please listen to yourself, these formats arent meant to be the Ferrari's of the movie industry, they want them to be mainstream, these are Honda Civics, and when your in a battle to be mainstream price has very much to do about it, especially when they are essentially the same product.
I could care less about who wins, and no I dont hate Sony, but they just havent offered me a very good product yet. I will say if you must have a Blu Ray player, get the PS3 or the Pioneer, everything else would be a waste of your hard earned cash. Or you could spend like $420 on a HDDVD player and enjoy Batman Begins, and all the other good titles on HDDVD.
One more note to Blu Ray lovers, one thing that has mad me most upset with the Blu Ray format is the release of titles, yes there are some good ones such as Black Hawk Down, Superman Returns, MI3. But for the most all the good titles are from Paramount and Warner, the big BD supporters like Fox, Sony, and Disney have not stepped up, where is my Spiderman I and II, Pirates of the C, I and II, again they want me to buy there format, give me some of those killer titles and I will buy, look at Warner Batman, Superman, V for vendetta and Paramount and Universal, strange that the big three BD supporters have thus far been the worse for movie releases.
WASD John @ Dec 7th 2006 11:51PM
It's prolly cause they don't really believe in the format. I don't think we are going to have and "end" to this format war. I think we are just going to see a compromise sooner or later in one form or another. I.E. studios support and make movies in both formats, or combo players. It is extremely stupid and silly that we have two formats that are almost identical. Really they are essentially the same thing and just imagine how much faster this next gen DVD adoption would be happening if there was only one format to ponder purchasing. Also as far as not enough people having HDTVs well I'm not sure what market you live in, but I'm in New Orleans and with all the destruction Katrina brought the one good thing is that everyone has been forced to purchase a new TV set. I swear to you that I have yet to go to a single friend, relative, and co-worker's house that did not have at least 1 HDTV set. We are suddenly the biggest HDTV market in the world due to Katrina forcing upgrades upon us.
PreGHz @ Dec 8th 2006 1:02AM
Did you notice how you stated movie that interest you?
You have to think about it in the mainstream... YOU don't decide what movie is popular or even good. So don't expect Blu-Ray to fail just because you didn't like (or want to buy) Cars. So Pirates isn't out on Blu-Ray yet. Did the whole format fail because YOU have to wait a few months for it?
Honestly, none of our opinions count, so most of us need to stop acting like it does. This is a blog, not a damn soapbox for us to speak incoherently (and pseudo-scientifically) about what we think is right.
Type like you've learn basic English formatting/grammar skills, and support your facts with actual facts. Not how you feel. And if you want to talk about how you feel about any given topic, say so. Don't say that you don't care who wins, but then blatantly show your support for HD-DVD. It's like we're in Bill O'Reilly's No Spin Zone or something. We don't need that.
Diggiti.com @ Dec 8th 2006 12:20AM
I posted up here maybe a year ago that HDDVD WILL WIN . . . MMM the SWEET TASTE of Victory and the AGONY OF DA FEET (kicking PS3) Wii is this years favorite
PreGHz @ Dec 8th 2006 1:04AM
"...you stated movies* that interest you?"
Ben Hobbs @ Dec 9th 2006 9:09AM
Seriously, there's not that many serious home theatre enthusiasts who will want to use a games machine as a High Def DVD player - We come from a world where it's all about getting individual components to do the best job, rather than having gimmicky all-in-one, do everything boxes.
I have yet to hear anything about the Blu-Ray playback of the PS3, but even so nobody wants to hear how Blu-Ray is ALMOST as good as HD DVD but twice the price (unless you use a games machine and a joypad to watch your movies). It's also getting boring hearing how good Blu-Ray COULD BE. It's already out, even the best movies on blu-ray are only just up to the majority of HD DVD transfers.
attack11 @ Dec 11th 2006 12:53PM
the only difference between hddvd and bluray is the distance the laser spaces the data. same codecs. same quality.
careurman @ Dec 14th 2006 4:17PM
IT'S WRONG!!! today, the REAL difference between hddvd and blueray is the looser and old MPEG2 data encoding used in blueray's disks and MORE bugs on blueray's players. Picture quality of hddvd VC1 MPEG 4 is the BEST, REALLY THE BEST you can compare it!!... Perhaps PS3 is a good solution for gamers??? but same problem: very bad 3D render compare to xbox360, you can compare it too!! ... I don't think that home cinema fan's will buy a PS3 to connect to their audiophile installation!! SONY is an agressive and bad seller compagny, do you mean: Betamax, umd, minidisk... etc etc if you compare supports and players prices then you can understant that sony can't win the battle again and again...
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