“The format war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD has finally reached consumers, now that Samsung is shipping the BD-P1000 Blu-Ray player to retailers. The BD-P1000 ($999.99 list), will go on sale June 25th, making it the first Blu-Ray player to hit the market. Until now, the only high-definition video player shoppers could buy has been the Toshiba HD-A1, which has been in short supply,” Dan Costa reports for PC Magazine.
Costa reports, “The BD-P1000 is twice the price of the HD-A1, but Jim Sanduski, senior vice president of marketing for Samsung’s Audio and Video Products Group, says that won’t hurt sales. ‘Dealer demand is really strong,’ Sanduski says. ‘Yes, we are double the price of HD-DVD, but we are confident people will buy as many as we can build.’
“The Samsung BD-P1000 supports full 1080p playback, something the first generation of HD-DVD players do not. The BD-P1000 also up-converts conventional DVDs to 1080p to improve video quality. The player comes with HDMI, Component, S-video, and composite outputs,” Costa reports. “The BD-P1000 will be sold at more than 200 retail locations, including Best Buy, Tweeter, and Circuit City.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Too Hot!” for the heads up.]
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Composite and S-Video outputs should not be included on these players. Really, why would anyone buy a US $999 Blue Ray player and use standard definition outputs?
Hmmm. How about a mac mini w/ blueray for $999. Hmmm. Who would bother to buy anything else?
Neither format will “win.” Blu-Ray and HD-DVD will have a 10-year run, like laserdisc and be bought by video connoisseurs. JVC has already released a consumer camcorder with a hard-drive, and NAB conventions for the past several years have showcased ENG camcorders with flash memory. Many people are playing with DVRs, either like Tivo or modding a computer (like the Mac mini). I’ve heard that a 4K HD2 spec is already being hammered out, while at the same time everyone is trying to make media more portable. Neither Blu-Ray nor HD-DVD will have the time to become as entrenched as VHS before they become obsolete.
Blu-Ray will lose. Sony sucks these days.
Metryq says: “… Neither Blu-Ray nor HD-DVD will have the time to become as entrenched as VHS before they become obsolete.”
I agree completely, even though CDs have had (and are still having) a two plus decade run, so that’s really not too bad considering how fast this type of consumer technology has changed since the beginning [Edisons, records: asphalt and vinyl, etc.]
I believe that the “ultimate” type of storage and retrieval technology we’re trying to get to is completely non-mechanical, other than the need to put it in and take it out (hmm, that sounds like fun). Anyway, and the only real issue there is cost. We have the technology, or at least the basics, so when we figure out how to put HD on flash memory, and make it affordable to the masses, then we’ll be on to the next generation of storage.
In the meantime the optical storage technologies that we have access to now are going to be very helpful in the line of work I’m in, and I’m sure will prove to be a major benefit to those who use optical storage. Oh yeah, and watching movies at 1080p should be nothing short of astounding.
Let me know when the war is over, then I’ll think about a purchase. Really, who needs a thousand dollar disc player to watch what? Lucy reruns pumped up to 1080i? Or maybe an HD version of “How to Lose a Guy”?
Personally, I’ve not been able to get past all the video artifacts associated with consumer HD display systems. The swimmerly efx associated with all this scaling of compressed video is much more distracting to my eyes than the old NTSC lines.
And yes, I think Sony also sucks. Too bad, they used to be great innovators.
HOLD THE FSCK ON!!!
Don’t be BASHING Sony BlueRay!!! (Sony/BMG is another story)
Let me explain.
The HD-DVD format and technologies associated with it are a Microsoft product, that’s why M$ is pushing this format. It’s a “cheap” way to get a little more storage, but nothing compared to the quantity of storage on BlueRay DVD’s.
Now what choice do we have? Sony or M$?
Apple has really no choice but to pick BlueRay and good thing it’s clearly superior and all computer makers support it. Everyone likes the large storage capacities, hold hard drives on a DVD!!
Read up before you BASH!!
Static: HD-DVD is NOT a “Microsoft product” you boob. M$ simply picked a standard to back, and it wasn’t BluRay. They have a version of Java that will work in HD-DVD only for now, but they’ve offered it for use in BluRay too so there doesn’t seem to be any great conspiracy afoot on that score either.
But putting all that aside, your thinking seems to be we should hate HD-DVD just b/c M$ supports it. I guess the same goes for just about every other hardware spec, like USB, or PCIe? But wait – Apple has adopted those across the board too, so they don’t count.
As the more insiteful posts above have noted, BluRay will never win for as long as it’s twice as expensive as it’s competitor across the board. And that pricing differential WILL endure, b/c BluRay is an inherently more expensive technology, with a much smaller production base (less economies of scale to leverage), as compared to HD-DVD. For example, DVD disc presses across the world can/are being easily modified to make HD-DVD discs of all sizes and capacities, while BluRay presses need to be built from scratch – the increased costs of that ALONE (transfered into higher disc prices) would probably kill it in a head-to-head battle with HD-DVD, even if I didn’t have to knock off a bank to afford the player too.
But the real reason why this whole ‘standards war’ is a non-starter is b/c, when it comes to discs & movies, DVD is good enough. I’ve seen HD movies on a HD screen, and I’ve seen SD upconverted movies on an HD screen, as well as SD movies on an ED screen. And you know what? After all that, the only upgrade I’ll be making in the near future is when the government eliminates analog signals from the airwaves – that’s when I’ll buy a $100 HD converter box for my 30″ SD TV. My DVD collection will still be fine, and I’ll have saved a buttload of money by not buying the last gasp of a dying video format.
The advance that will catch my attention will be flash memory technology and/or uber-big hard disc drives, coupled with wireless video streaming. Until then, I’ll install a much cheaper aftermarket HD-DVD burner on my Macs if I really need the extra backup capacity, and be done with all the rest of this foolishness.
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O.K., part of my liver. Gotta get that player.
I considered sperm and blood donations just not at the same time. Too awkward.
Besides, by the time I was done the player will be at Offal-Mart for $80.