leevitalone1
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
I'm no fan of Sony's politics. I think they have led the way in the industry with some great products like the Walkman and the floppy disc camera (Mavica) which were great in their time. I even think the SACD was a great product that gave us 5.1 as well as stereo CD on the same disc.
I hate the way they ganged up on DVD-A, the way they help begat then torpedo the DualDisc. I especially hate the way they dropped SACD once they had helped to tank DVD-A.
I also dislike (though can't argue with their thinking) the fact that they own movie studios and could withold many titles from being released on HD-DVD, thus limiting the market penetration of the format that at the time was far superior to theirs.
Even with all of that (and many more), I still like Blu-Ray. Sure, I'm a latest and greatest type of guy, but once I got used to watching HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs, it was hard to go back to DVD, even though I have great players that upscale existing DVDs. They may be close, but on a large projection screen, there is no comparison.
I also don't think that Blu-Ray is "dead". What Blu-Ray needs is cheaper software. The average Joe is not going to pay $25 - $35 for a movie he can get on DVD for $14.99. If the price of the discs goes down, the format will last. It's as simple as that.
This Christmas season will see a large push with players going from $99-$199 (cheapo players, but players non the less). Everyone seems to be buying these flat screen 16x9 TVs, and there is no question that the BD discs make these look great.
DVD is not going away by a long shot, but I don't think BD is either. If it does, than that will end the HD deal, as the world economy will not be able to handle ANOTHER format coming along - at least for 10 or so years.
I agree with you here on sony's ethics, or lack of. and for what they didto high rez audio, especially dvd-audio. If not for good video they offer I
'd have nothing sony. BR is far from over. I say with the cost of BR decks going down and big tv prices falling, and the 2/17/09 changes will see a demand for more BR like it of not, and I do not! still po over hd dvd/dvbd-a sacd