PS3 to use Blue-Ray Disc Technology

[Alex W.]

The last time I checked, Rez and Final Fantasy X came on disks with the same capacity...

[tiedtiger]

So it uses super dvd's.

So bloody what.

It's not a masterstroke like the ps2's dvd playback, nor the ps1's cd playback. Now a hard-drive that does Tivo-style recording, THAT would be a masterstroke.

[ianinthefuture]

Further to the incompatability thingys further up the thread.

I'm pretty sure that before PS2 came out DVD and CD drives weren't compatible (or at least they needed two lenses in the drive) and it was Sony who made the dual CD/DVD lens for PS2, right?

Right?

As far as my brain remembers, yes. They worked on the single lens jobby.

[rylee]

Well...

Sony are aiming to incorporate EyeToy gadgetry into the PS3 and beyond and obviously still wish to position it as an 'entertainment hub' in the loungeroom for the whole family, not just liitle Johnny the only gamer. Movies will be important to achieve the dominance Sony desire and quality 'latest technology' playback will sell a lot of machines (as with the PS2) for people looking to upgrade or condense their under-tv components.

Regarding the extra storage space - development times and costs are already causing serious problems within the industry so I don't think that has any true value to the process of making 'bigger' games.

[dose]

I think it was Rockstar in the latest OPS2 mag that were saying that they hoping that Sony would have a bigger storage medium next time round, as they've already filled up a DVD with GTA:San Andreas.

[SaintM]

No doubt blu-ray versions of films will have the 'New tech £5' added to the price. And a few years after introduction they will settle down to the £12.99 price point (apart from HMV who will charge £20 a film still).

[Liquid Myth]

Whatever the case, I sincerly hope Sony aren't stupid enough to pack the machine with a substandard TV lead and no PAL60 games.

[Sprite Machine]

The last time I checked, Rez and Final Fantasy X came on disks with the same capacity...

Nope. Rez is on a CD!

[footle]

The average family is not runing out and buying new tvs etc every weekend. DVDs have taken 5/6 years to actually get to the point where they are ubiquitous, and now that they are, people are just not that keen to change them. HDTV may be cool, but ultimately most people don't care THAT much to keep replacing their kit.

Replace DVD with Video and HDTV with DVD.

And couple it with the likes of Sky also wanting to push HDTV (to separate their service from the likes of Freeview or NTL).

The quality difference is massive.

[Salsa Party Animal]

If I were Sony I would publish games on a blu-ray disc with

2 version in one

1. USA / Japanese PS3 games with english/japanese language - HDTV DD5.1 Widescreen NTSC 60hz

2. Europe - PAL Widescreen DD5.1 50hz shite

in every game so they don't have to worry about importers, chipping, piracy and don't include region coding.

I am sure Blu Ray can fix both in.

Also games from Sony can include DVD film, on the disc ie Spiderman game can include the film and make Sony games first choice instead of XBOX 2 version.

[womblingfree]

BluRay! Jeez DVD's are obsolete already, that was quick.

Looking forward to some nice HD playback and not having to swap discs on Lord of the Rings.

How about one long Lord of the Rings trilogy movie with no breaks?

Oh and apparently you can store games on them as well. But 54gig seriously dudes no game needs that surely?

Movie heaven though. Hope we can record off the TV.

[tiedtiger]

Say goodbye to the other consoles hopes of domination next gen then. This feature is going to destroy the competition in the US and Japan in the same manner as the PS2 did the Dreamcast.

Oh ffs. It's just a bigger disc-drive.

By that logic, the xbox should pwn the current generation because it has superior dvd playback and bigger discs for its games too. It doesn't, though.

Blu-ray is NOT a substantial tie-in in the way that cd-playback and dvd-playback were for ps1 and 2 because there's no significant market-push reason for blu-ray. DVD is all-conquering at this stage and will be for many years to come. Only a few people will sub their whole dvd collection for a blu-ray collection.

So, no, it doesn't mean jack shit.

[The Liberal Elite]

Whatever the case, I sincerly hope Sony aren't stupid enough to pack the machine with a substandard TV lead and no PAL60 games.

Hell yeah! I'll just *die* if that happens.

[Patrick Moore]

Only a few people will sub their whole dvd collection for a blu-ray collection.

If you read some of his later posts he does state that it will be new releases that will be the primary push for blu-ray/HD-DVD. There will be certain films that will be rebrought time and again on new formats by the majority of people - Star Wars is the obvious choice here. Double dipping already happens with DVDs, both with the early releases (goodfellows for example) and with delbrate money makers such as Spiderman 1 (2 disk, superbit and the 3 disk).

Have you actually seen HD TV? There are some great demos of WM9 here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsme...ntShowcase.aspx

assuming your pc is powerful enough to run them of course.

The biggest stumbing block (and its a biggie) with HD TV is the requirement for a new TV and well as the new blu-ray player, but by bundling blu-ray as part of the PS3 you get the use of the PS3 for games (its principle purpose) and can upgrade the TV at a later stage. Its adoption by stealth, I'm sure this is a big part of Sonys plan to fight HD-DVD as they will be trumpting x millions of blu-ray players (including the PS3) shipped against HD-DVD players.

[tiedtiger]

If you read some of his later posts he does state that it will be new releases that will be the primary push for blu-ray/HD-DVD. There will be certain films that will be rebrought time and again on new formats by the majority of people - Star Wars is the obvious choice here. Double dipping already happens with DVDs, both with the early releases (goodfellows for example) and with delbrate money makers such as Spiderman 1 (2 disk, superbit and the 3 disk).

Have you actually seen HD TV? There are some great demos of WM9 here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsme...ntShowcase.aspx

assuming your pc is powerful enough to run them of course.

The biggest stumbing block (and its a biggie) with HD TV is the requirement for a new TV and well as the new blu-ray player, but by bundling blu-ray as part of the PS3 you get the use of the PS3 for games (its principle purpose) and can upgrade the TV at a later stage. Its adoption by stealth, I'm sure this is a big part of Sonys plan to fight HD-DVD as they will be trumpting x millions of blu-ray players (including the PS3) shipped against HD-DVD players.

Yes, but that's still enthusiast territory.

The average family is not runing out and buying new tvs etc every weekend. DVDs have taken 5/6 years to actually get to the point where they are ubiquitous, and now that they are, people are just not that keen to change them. HDTV may be cool, but ultimately most people don't care THAT much to keep replacing their kit.

[Patrick Moore]

Yes, but that's still enthusiast territory.

The average family is not runing out and buying new tvs etc every weekend. DVDs have taken 5/6 years to actually get to the point where they are ubiquitous, and now that they are, people are just not that keen to change them. HDTV may be cool, but ultimately most people don't care THAT much to keep replacing their kit.

I did clearly state that the TV could then be replaced at a later stage, rather than straight away, thus tying in with the life cycle of a TV for a normal family. I fully agree that the majority of people would not go out and buy a new TV just because the PS3 supports HD TV, instead it will strongly influence the purchase of a future TV.

Sony are looking at two things:

1) To have a marketing advantage over Xbox2 (forget about it not having a 1 to 1 relationship with better games, Sony clearly did that with the PS2)

2) To greatly increase the install base of blu-ray, which is of great import for the impending battle between blu-ray and HD-DVD. Average Joe when looking to upgrade to this nice new HD TV standard (be it 1 year or 10 years time) won't be able to tell the difference between the quality, or even care, but he will look at what is the most popular format for both install base and available disks. The same will happen with the movie studios when they come to decide which format to publish on - those not already tied to one of the formats obviously.

Sony do not expect anybody to use this as a primary blu-ray player for sometime; most people who are ready and waiting for it would rather have a standalone player as if its anything like DVD play back on the PS2 it will be bloody awful.

[Fondue]

Sony do not expect anybody to use this as a primary blu-ray player for sometime...

About the time the PS4 comes out?

[Patrick Moore]

About the time the PS4 comes out?

depends, if the PS4 is out within 4/5 years then yes, otherwise it depends on how well Sky sell their HD offering at the end of next year/begining of 2006. Assuming Sky don't fuck it up (big if, natch) it will have a noticably better picture than DVD.

[Spacehost]

Yes, but that's still enthusiast territory.

The average family is not runing out and buying new tvs etc every weekend. DVDs have taken 5/6 years to actually get to the point where they are ubiquitous, and now that they are, people are just not that keen to change them. HDTV may be cool, but ultimately most people don't care THAT much to keep replacing their kit.

Yes, and when the PS2 came out, DVD sales were pretty miserable. But by building-in support for it, then *if* Blu-ray takes off in the PS3's lifetime, Sony won't be saying "oh, dear, why did we ever listen to Neuromancer, now we've not got any players in folks homes".

It's covering the bases.

[womblingfree]

So it uses super dvd',s.

So bloody what.

It',s not a masterstroke like the ps2',s dvd playback, nor the ps1',s cd playback. Now a hard-drive that does Tivo-style recording, THAT would be a masterstroke.

But I thought Blue Ray was recordable?

Couple that with a/n (optional) hard drive and bingo, you',ve got your USP.

PS3 is creeping towards a PC rival with every incarnation. If it has the digital media compatability of PSX in a far more desirable package then families and gamers alike will go googoo.

[Robo_1]

Sony will be buying a massive back catalogue of films with it',s purchase of MGM. I',m sure this purchase is all part of a grander scheme with regards to securing Blu-Ray as the next standard. The inclusion of Blu-Ray playback in PS3 is a masterstroke which will see Sony as the principle format, player &amp, media supplier of the entertainment industry.

[Spacehost]

If I were Sony I would publish games on a blu-ray disc with

2 version in one

1. USA / Japanese PS3 games with english/japanese language - HDTV DD5.1 Widescreen NTSC 60hz

2. Europe - PAL Widescreen DD5.1 50hz shite

in every game so they don',t have to worry about importers, chipping, piracy and don',t include region coding.

I am sure Blu Ray can fix both in.

Also games from Sony can include DVD film, on the disc ie Spiderman game can include the film and make Sony games first choice instead of XBOX 2 version.

You sir, are a bone-fide genius. I never thought of that. All your favourite games, in both Japanese (with subtitles) or English. Schweeeet.

[Alex W.]

You sir, are a bone-fide genius. I never thought of that. All your favourite games, in both Japanese (with subtitles) or English. Schweeeet.

Couldn',t they have done that with most of their PS2 games already though? ,)

[Alex W.]

Sony will be buying a massive back catalogue of films with it',s purchase of MGM. I',m sure this purchase is all part of a grander scheme with regards to securing Blu-Ray as the next standard. The inclusion of Blu-Ray playback in PS3 is a masterstroke which will see Sony as the principle format, player &amp, media supplier of the entertainment industry.

It',ll mean a somewhat wider UMD back catalogue too (Robocop on the move is a more interesting prospect to me than Spider-Man). Might we see double-packs of Blu-Ray and UMD copies of movies?

[Brats]

If more and more manufactures start to release blu-ray players/recorders, Hollywood will dual release films in both DVD and Blu-ray. Eventually blu-ray will outsell DVD',s versions.* Yes, it will takes a longer time then compared to DVD beating VHS sales.

I don',t necessarily think this will happen. Compare this with SACD and DVD Audio formats (which are massive improvements over CD) that, despite backwards compatibility with CDs, are both struggling. You can get SACD players for a very reasonable price now, but at the end of the day they are still more expensive than a bog standard CD player, and it',s the latter that the majority buy if their own CD player dies.

Also, there is a significant cost to the studios in releasing CDs in SACD/DVD-A as I',m sure there will be in releasing DVDs in Blu Ray. EMI were thinking about re-releasing the entire Beatles collection (a sure winner you',d think) in SACD, but after the dismal performance of the SACD re-releases of the Stones albums, they decided not to.

I can see Blu Ray becoming an AVs heads choice, a bit like a less popular veriosn of laserdisc, but no more. Remember, that with SACD, DVD-A and Laserdisc, all you needed was a new player to see the benefit (although you need a new amp to see all the benefits of SACD/DVD-A). With Blu Ray, you also need a new TV too. I don',t agree that people who haven',t upgraded to widescreen are likely to buy HDTVs. If they haven',t bothered to upgrade already, they',re extremely unlikely to buy a relatively expensive HDTV.

Sky are looking at HDTV, but this won',t happen for years as it requires signifivcant investment for them to increase the necessary bandwidth. I can',t see them doing this until HDTVs reallt start to filter into people',s homes, so its the old chicken and egg situation.

Plus HDTV means the abandonment of scart. This may seem like a minor point (and personally I hate scart), but it just adds to the confusion and will no doubt encourage many people just to think &quot,Aww fuck it!, This HDTV stuff is just too complicated&quot,.

When people come to replace their busted DVD players, I think they',re much more likely to plump for a cheap non-blu ray DVD recorder than a Blu-Ray machine.

And finally, all this extra storage space on the PS3 doesn',t mean that 720p and 1080i images are going to become standard. You still need the chips to process stuff at a faster rate to increase the resolution. And therein lies the problem with HDTV on consoles. Do you optimise the game for say 720p and thereby possibly alienate most of your audience who only have 480i, or do you optimise for 480i? I still think most firms will do the latter.

[Brats]

Sony will be buying a massive back catalogue of films with it',s purchase of MGM. I',m sure this purchase is all part of a grander scheme with regards to securing Blu-Ray as the next standard. The inclusion of Blu-Ray playback in PS3 is a masterstroke which will see Sony as the principle format, player &amp, media supplier of the entertainment industry.

But Blu-Ray isn',t cheap though. The PS3 is going to cost considerably more because of it and for most people, there are no immediate benefits (unlike the DVD drive in the PS2).

It',s a very big gamble.

[Robo_1]

But Blu-Ray isn',t cheap though. The PS3 is going to cost considerably more because of it and for most people, there are no immediate benefits (unlike the DVD drive in the PS2).

It',s a very big gamble.

They will probably sell the PS3 as a loss leader, to both secure it as the number one games console, and to ensure that the Blu-Ray format is seen as the successor to DVD. I mean lets face it, if the PS3 is released at the £300 mark again, then given a year it drops down to £200 there will be a ton load of PS3',s on the market, now if the new Spiderman film is released on both DVD and Blu-Ray format, which one will you be paying for? Sony will be in a position to make a boat load of money from software &amp, film sales, so i firmly believe they will be prepared to take a hit with the hardware price.

[Robo_1]

It',ll mean a somewhat wider UMD back catalogue too (Robocop on the move is a more interesting prospect to me than Spider-Man). Might we see double-packs of Blu-Ray and UMD copies of movies?

I',d say that',s probably the only way they',ll break UMD into the film market. I certainly wouldn',t pay two sets of £20 to own the same film on two different formats, well except for maybe one cyborg sort of film Double packs for £5 more would probably hit the spot, much more and UMD will remain a niche market for a very long time, if not for ever.

[Alex W.]

Yep, it seems likely they',ll have to use minimal-profit UMD movie sales to shift PSP units, rather than the other way around.