[El Scorcho]

Yeah they did. No sympathy from me at all.

I just finished reading an article regarding downloadable content and Blu-Ray. They were basically saying that if Sony can't hurry up and finish off HD-DVD completely, they may miss their window completely. Between downloadable content and the fact that many people are happy with their up-converted DVD's, a lot of people think the market may end up being a niche one if they don't move quickly.

It'll certainly be interesting to see how it plays out. With bandwidth in the U.S. sucking the way it does, I wonder how big of an impact downloadable content will have. I mean, I guess it's already being done. It's just slow. Of course, Netflix just announced their own set-top box for delivering content over the 'net, so they must not think it's a big issue. It's going to be crazy for a while yet.

[El Scorcho]

On a somewhat related noted...

Mitsubishi laser TV unveiled

Posted Jan 8th 2008 1:21AM by Ben Drawbaugh
Filed under: CES, Features

Tonight at the Moon Room on the top floor of the The Palms Hotel & Casino overlooking Las Vegas, Mitsubishi unveiled its laser HDTV. As expected, Mitsubishi kicked off the event with a few execs expressing their love for lasers -- and Mitsubishi in general. They explained that Mitsubishi is a leader in laser technology and owns 75% of the led laser market, so bringing them together with big screen TVs made perfect sense. Then the event went from execs to night club as the curtain was dropped and there were three 65-inch laser HDTVs on display. At first glance the colors were sensational and the contrast was extremely intense; and although we were hard pressed to see anything that struck us as groundbreaking, we'll need to see this side by side with a traditional set to really know what we're looking at. Unfortunately, the event was short on details, such as price or availability, but during 2008 is the time frame Mitsubishi is aiming for.

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/08/mits ... -unveiled/

Sony also showed off their first production OLED TV, but they've only managed to squeeze 11 inches out of that technology.

[El Scorcho]

Samsung raises a single digit in Sony's general direction and drops an OLED bomb...

Eyes-on with Samsung's 31-inch and 14-inch OLED TVs -- take that Sony

Posted Jan 9th 2008 12:35PM by Thomas Ricker

After questioning Sony's ability to deliver their 11-inch OLED TV to market earlier this year, Samsung comes into CES with a pair of Sony trumping TVs. Their 31-inch and 14-inch OLEDs easily best Sony's 27-inch prototype and 11-inch production sets. Both of the Sammys feature the same amazing contrast which makes us swoon over OLEDs while offering 1080p video in a crazy thin panel. Samsung has no plans to take these production. Then again, with Sony's XEL-1 already out there, we all know how Samsung hates to be second-best.

Source (w/ pics): http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/09/eyes ... -take-tha/

Even if they don't take 'em to production, 31 inches is getting into the range where OLED will start to be noticed by Joe Consumer. Go Samsung.

[Rocketfan]

isn't Sony's OLED the thickness of just three credit cards stacked one on top of the other?

[El Scorcho]

isn't Sony's OLED the thickness of just three credit cards stacked one on top of the other?

They may have a prototype, but their only production model is about the sames as an LCD TV of the same size.

[LUconn]

isn't Sony's OLED the thickness of just three credit cards stacked one on top of the other?

with or without the popped out numbers?

[Rocketfan]

isn't Sony's OLED the thickness of just three credit cards stacked one on top of the other?

with or without the popped out numbers?

Here is the story... maybe this is just LED and not OLED

Sony Corp has a high-quality organic LED television that is as thick as three stacked credit cards.

The super-thin, 11 inch XEL-1 television is coming to the United States.


http://www.risingsunofnihon.com/2008/01 ... al_to.html

[El Scorcho]

Oh, nope. That's their OLED production model. I thought it looked thicker than that. Well good for them. Now if they can just figure out how to get rid of the hideous bases they have on their OLED displays. It's like all the "stuff" from the back of the display has been moved into the base. Could be necessary for OLED's, I have no idea. I just don't like it. Anyway, here's a better picture of it...

[El Scorcho]

Buyers Beware: Current Blu-ray Players Won't Correctly Play Future Discs

Representatives at the Blu-ray booth at CES told BetaNews that the PlayStation 3 is currently the only player they would recommend, due to upcoming changes to the platform. But Pioneer, Samsung, Panasonic and Sony have all been selling standalone Blu-ray players to customers.

So here's how it's going to work: current players are Profile 1.0, and can play future hi-def discs but no bonus stuff. Profile 1.1 dics will include additional bonus material that won't play on 1.0 players—these discs will have a "Bonus View" sticker. Come October, Profile 2 capability will come to the market, which includes Internet activity, but only on Profile 2.0 players—these discs will have a "BD Live" sticker.

When asked why current players were released to the market when in such a primitive state, manufacturers blamed the release of HD DVD and said it forced them to come to market too soon. "We should have waited another year to introduce Blu-ray to the public, but the format war changed the situation."

Source: http://consumerist.com/344116/buyers-be ... ture-discs

[Rocketfan]

Buyers Beware: Current Blu-ray Players Won't Correctly Play Future Discs

Representatives at the Blu-ray booth at CES told BetaNews that the PlayStation 3 is currently the only player they would recommend, due to upcoming changes to the platform. But Pioneer, Samsung, Panasonic and Sony have all been selling standalone Blu-ray players to customers.

So here's how it's going to work: current players are Profile 1.0, and can play future hi-def discs but no bonus stuff. Profile 1.1 dics will include additional bonus material that won't play on 1.0 players—these discs will have a "Bonus View" sticker. Come October, Profile 2 capability will come to the market, which includes Internet activity, but only on Profile 2.0 players—these discs will have a "BD Live" sticker.

When asked why current players were released to the market when in such a primitive state, manufacturers blamed the release of HD DVD and said it forced them to come to market too soon. "We should have waited another year to introduce Blu-ray to the public, but the format war changed the situation."

Source: http://consumerist.com/344116/buyers-be ... ture-discs

Nice find scorchy, another reason im glad i didn't invest in this arena yet.....wow.

[blwall1416]

invest in PS3 = no problem

[LUconn]

That is probably the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. 1. Rush product to market because of competition. 2. Crush competition. 3. Announce that 90% of your product sold will need to be replaced. Only Sony could pull off that kind of junk.

[belcherboy]

That is probably the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. 1. Rush product to market because of competition. 2. Crush competition. 3. Announce that 90% of your product sold will need to be replaced. Only Sony could pull off that kind of junk.

IMO it doesn't matter. The public is not going to buy into HD discs. In a couple of years, Downloadable HD will destroy the DVD market, like the Ipod destroyed the CD market. Downloading combined with an HD Ipod type media device, should pretty much cripple the DVD market. Just my prediction, perhaps there will be many hangups that will keep people from doing this. I just don't see people wanting to drive to a video store/wait for netflix to mail it/go buy a disc at BB/CC/Walmart when they could download it without leaving their home. It would also make the studios a TON of extra money if they didn't have to wrap the DVD's up, ship them, etc.

IMO, the format war is over. Downloading will win.

[LUconn]

I can't imagine how big a 1080p movie would be to download. Does america have the bandwidth for that? I know I sure don't. Not to mention how many settop boxes are there for watching a downloaded movie on your TV? I'm sure there are a few, but average joes certainly don't have them.

[Purple Haize]

SCAR can help out on this one but isn't the porn industry going with HD DVD?? If that the case then HD is nowhere NEAR dead (i was going to say limp but decided against it) However, if they are going Blu Ray then that format will def be "rising"

[ToTheLeft]

SCAR can help out on this one but isn't the porn industry going with HD DVD?? If that the case then HD is nowhere NEAR dead (i was going to say limp but decided against it) However, if they are going Blu Ray then that format will def be "rising"

[RubberMallet]

I can't imagine how big a 1080p movie would be to download. Does america have the bandwidth for that? I know I sure don't. Not to mention how many settop boxes are there for watching a downloaded movie on your TV? I'm sure there are a few, but average joes certainly don't have them.

i agree...i think its still a very small % of people in the united states that have a good broadband internet connection (i'm not talking about sub 1megabit connections)

this is somethign i think we'll see in the future but i can't see it happening.

i remember this somewhat but i didn't remember when until my mom brought it up the other day. she said that when i was in gradeschool i told mom i wished there was a way that i could type the movie that i wanted into a keyboard and that it would come onto the tv...she told me "thats impossible it will never happen"...

HA MOMMY HA!

[Ed Dantes]

The only thing that'd make HD-DVD's kiss of death anymore certain is if Al Gore came out and endorsed it.

[El Scorcho]

I can't imagine how big a 1080p movie would be to download.

Around 8-10GB. 720p would be 4-5GB. Bandwidth isn't an issue if the appropriate download mechanism is used. (i.e. Bittorrent or something that uses the same principle) If you saturated even a 768kbps DSL line, it'd take a little while, but no longer than Netflix sending a movie through the mail. And, FYI, Microsoft already sells HDTV shows and HD movies in the Xbox 360 marketplace and they're doing quite well. Apple will most likely be doing the same thing in iTunes within around 24 hours or so. (If the rumors are true.)

SCAR can help out on this one but isn't the porn industry going with HD DVD?? If that the case then HD is nowhere NEAR dead (i was going to say limp but decided against it) However, if they are going Blu Ray then that format will def be "rising"

They originally came out in the HD-DVD camp, <a href="http://www.news.com.au/technology/story ... .html">but have now embraced Blu-Ray as well</a>. However, for what it's worth, their DVD and video sales have completely fallen off in the last two years and that entire industry is scrambling to find an answer to the Internet. I won't get into too many details here, but the Internet is destroying even the largest adult film studios.

[RubberMallet]

plus the porn industry being a major player in the betamax debate is somewhat a myth

[belcherboy]

I can't imagine how big a 1080p movie would be to download.

Around 8-10GB. 720p would be 4-5GB. Bandwidth isn't an issue if the appropriate download mechanism is used. (i.e. Bittorrent or something that uses the same principle) If you saturated even a 768kbps DSL line, it'd take a little while, but no longer than Netflix sending a movie through the mail. And, FYI, Microsoft already sells HDTV shows and HD movies in the Xbox 360 marketplace and they're doing quite well. Apple will most likely be doing the same thing in iTunes within around 24 hours or so. (If the rumors are true.)

Yeah, I can download an HD movie on Xbox live, through the internet, in roughly 30 minutes. I'm pretty sure it is 720p though. I believe my internet downloads about 6-8 meg per second (correct me if I am wrong, my comcast is pretty fast). That is decently fast to download an 8 GB HD movie, an will most likely be nearly twice as fast this time a year from now. Much faster in 2 years.

[Fumblerooskies]

In related news, Toshiba has announced drastic price cuts on its HD-DVD players...

http://www.techtree.com/India/News/Tosh ... 0-581.html

[Ed Dantes]

By the same token, I know that Cox Communications lets customers pick "high speed" and "super high speed" for internet connection. They even have "super duper high speed", but the problem is not enough people like "super high speed", so they don't market "super duper".

Right now, it's unfathomable to download a full HD movie because it would take too long, and there's not that much of a market for it. But there will be soon, and downloads will get quicker.

[El Scorcho]

Right now, it's unfathomable to download a full HD movie because it would take too long, and there's not that much of a market for it.

Uh, no. It really doesn't take very long at all. I just went over this in my last post.

[Rocketfan]

By the same token, I know that Cox Communications lets customers pick "high speed" and "super high speed" for internet connection. They even have "super duper high speed", but the problem is not enough people like "super high speed", so they don't market "super duper".

Right now, it's unfathomable to download a full HD movie because it would take too long, and there's not that much of a market for it. But there will be soon, and downloads will get quicker.

You have xbox360....try it.