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Old March 30th, 2006, 11:27 PM   #1
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Head scratcher: Sony to release Blu Ray movies minus players?!

From imdb.com:

'Sony To Release Hi-Def Movies -- With No Players

In an announcement that left many analysts scratching their heads, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment President Benjamin Feingold announced Wednesday that the company will release its first batch of movies on high-definition Blu-ray discs on May 23 -- even though no players will be available at that time on which to play them. Sony has indicated that the first players may not be available until November. In an interview with Home Media Retailing, Feingold said, "We realize there may be some delays on the hardware side, but we are going to honor our commitment to release movies when we said we would." Questions immediately arose concerning what retailers will do with the disks when they receive them. Said Feingold: "There are two schools of thought: A dealer could have them for publicity purposes, to prime the market, or we can ship them later, when hardware is on the market. But the important point is, we can meet the date -- that's the key."'

Strange...

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Old March 31st, 2006, 01:47 AM   #2
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What's so strange? Aren't these the preludes of the upcoming format war? Like the crawling wind before the storm. You know, Sun Tse/Clausewitz: the art of having the greater number at the decisive time/space...
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Old March 31st, 2006, 06:48 AM   #3
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This is Sony's new Digital Rights Management concept. Offer the media without the player.
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Old March 31st, 2006, 07:59 AM   #4
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Could be that they're hoping people will go ahead and buy the movies so as to create a pent-up demand for Blu-Ray players when they finally do arrive. If you had a stock of movies on the shelf and only one of the new players will play them, whatareya gonna buy? Seems pretty dumb to me, though. I know I won't buy software until the hardware is in my hands.
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Old March 31st, 2006, 11:15 AM   #5
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Well, there wouldn't be a way to do a side-by-side comparison either. Who's to say the Bluray copy you buy today won't look like junk when you get the player? What if there was a manufacturing problem with the first batch of Bluray disks and no recall could be made since there aren't players for them? Strange move indeed.
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Old March 31st, 2006, 12:00 PM   #6
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new sony PC in the RC series also uses blu ray

there was a nice announcement on the new addition to the rc series of sony pc's

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTE...Dept=computers


The VAIO® RC desktop PC is Sony’s first Blu-Ray™ enabled desktop.
This multimedia powerhouse is capable of playing back Blu-Ray™ movies in stunning clarity. Blu-Ray™ technology gives you the power to play and burn both DVDs and Blu-ray Discs™, as well as store a massive amount of data on a single disc (25GB to 50GB). Also capable of burning HD Camcorder content in its original 1080 high-definition resolution, the VAIO® RC300 series opens new doors in the ever-growing world of high definition.

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Heath McKnight
From imdb.com:

'Sony To Release Hi-Def Movies -- With No Players

In an announcement that left many analysts scratching their heads, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment President Benjamin Feingold announced Wednesday that the company will release its first batch of movies on high-definition Blu-ray discs on May 23 -- even though no players will be available at that time on which to play them. Sony has indicated that the first players may not be available until November. In an interview with Home Media Retailing, Feingold said, "We realize there may be some delays on the hardware side, but we are going to honor our commitment to release movies when we said we would." Questions immediately arose concerning what retailers will do with the disks when they receive them. Said Feingold: "There are two schools of thought: A dealer could have them for publicity purposes, to prime the market, or we can ship them later, when hardware is on the market. But the important point is, we can meet the date -- that's the key."'

Strange...

heath
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Old April 20th, 2006, 11:21 PM   #7
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Won't PS3's also have Blu-Ray drives?
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Old April 20th, 2006, 11:26 PM   #8
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Jesse,

PS3s won't come out until November, months after the first non-Sony Blu-Ray players come out.

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Old April 20th, 2006, 11:31 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Heath McKnight
Jesse,

PS3s won't come out until November, months after the first non-Sony Blu-Ray players come out.

heath
Had it been pushed back, or was this the original planned release?
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Old April 20th, 2006, 11:41 PM   #10
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Was supposed to come out in March or this month.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...ht=playstation

hwm
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Old April 20th, 2006, 11:55 PM   #11
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There are players now, just not Sony.

http://www.videoguys.com/Emails/new-nab1.html
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Old April 21st, 2006, 06:37 AM   #12
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Computer Blu-Ray drives--definitely a start.

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Old April 24th, 2006, 01:47 AM   #13
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Crazy like a fox...

Sony remembers all too well what killed Betamax...a smaller title selection than its rival VHS. The battle won't be won by product specs (which most people won't comprehend, anyway). It'll be one by whoever can fill Blockbuster with their titles first.

All Joe Consumer wants to know is: Which box plays Basic Instinct 2? And, where are the 'zoom' and 'freeze' buttons?
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