I have a confession to make--I bought a sony product today. I really didn't want to, except that I needed blank audio cassette tapes and Sony was the only company offered...

Yes, I could have ordered online or whatever, but I just needed some blank 90 minute audio tapes. Unlike their CD's, from what I understand Sony cassettes do not have DRM or rootkits on them :)

3 Firmware updates in less than a month? Wow...

That is a lot. With the extra time they had, you'd think it would have been a little more ready.

Hasn't the 360 only had 3 dashboard updates since release?

All you people need to get a life.

I'm at work :-D

Is that why you registered with BetaNews and are posting your opinion in the forums?

"Sony make the best products out there, any anyone that buys other products just because it's Sony, or because they are not an American company, then they are the losers...
"Anyway, I off to Engadget, where they have sensible debate, not the rabid US fanboys the have here.."
"the world is a much bigger place than Fox news tells you.."
"You really need to get a life and stop tailing me my friend.."
"Examples please...*yawn* I have never been wrong. You're taking my pro Sony comments way to seriously, please refrain from drinking coffee.."

Until this thread I had reserved judgment on Mr. Gillespie (if that is his real name). Three things have now become crystal clear regarding this person's charater:

1) Like most younger Europeans he deeply resents America (you know, the country that saved his country's a** that time) as he never fails to link his anti-Microsoft stance to a deep resentment of "American Imperialism", a phony concept in and of itself. If Mark wants to hate a company merely because its American and has too much market influence he should single out Wal-Mart. They've done far more to hurt the consumer than Sony ever could.
2) He doesn't really worship Sony, he worships himself and his ability to get people to talk about him - kinda like Paris Hilton but without the wealth, looks or proper plumbing. Sony is just the most convenient vehicle for agitating the forum-goers. If Sony was still the clear leader in consumer electronics, Gillespie would cheering for Microsoft or somebody else. The fact that he spends a good portion of his life as a fake crusader tells me that his sense of self-worth must be fragile indeed.
3) Mark is a pretty intelligent fellow..the average troll wouldn't have been able to take this Sony scam as far as he has. Finally receiving a reference in BN must be one of the finest feathers in his cap. Well-done, Mark, well done..but your cover is blown, buddy ;)

I say we should all just boycott his posts and not even respond to them, let him weasle on over to engadget. If he were to sight with enough evidence his prove his claims then I can see him being benificial for the mear purpose of having a civilized discussion. Alas that is not what happens, and I feel I'm better of talking to a wall than trying to reason with Marky.

There are several people posting as Mark Gillespie recently, to confuse people, with similar looking usernames (using L instead of I), some of those comments were, I believe by some of the imposters....

ok, yeah i am a lurker... i don't have an account here; sue me...

but seriously gillespie, stop ending your sentences in ellipses... yeah i'm not the grammar police or whathaveyou but c'mon, every single thread where you treat sony's s*** like it's gold it appears you still have something useful to say...

you know what i mean...?

Seems only US consumers have got caught out by the 1080i issue anyway, in Europe, we have a standard called "HD Ready", and to get this HD Logo, you have to:

Support at least 720p
Have HDMI
Support HDCP

Anything that does not do these 3 things, does not get the logo, consumers buy something else, it's worked really well, there no HD sets that aren't "HD Ready", as the consumers were never falsely sold them as being HD.

Don't blame Sony in this, blame the dodgy manufacturters and retails who knew they were selling you soon to be obsolete kit...

It's nice to see however, that Sony have moved so quickly on this, to keep those mis-sold consumers happy, it will ofcourse however enrage the rabid xbox fanboys, who will always find some way of mud flinging from any positive Sony news...

Anyway, I off to Engadget, where they have sensible debate, not the rabid US fanboys the have here..

Of course. How could it be Sony's fault they released a NEW product that was incompatible with EXISTING products in the market?

Sony arrogance at it's best. :P

also in europe you dont have the ps3 either. so you may find a new problem there in four months when it comes out in europe.

Should I follow you to endgadget and make you look like sh!t there too?

Ah, pompous EU cohorts there too eh?

What does location have to do with you being ignorant and stubborn? You have no idea where your haters are posting from.

im canadian, Mark, im worried, you seem to care soo much what others think, and are tired i assume of being flamed, but why do you always feel the need to flame others? all i see every post of yours is fanboy of this fanboy if that etc..

do you ever stop to wonder that hey maybe there are interested ppl that arnt fanboys? is it nessisary to name call all the time? dont you get tired of it, dont you feel like a horrable person when u sleep at night, of u can?

i dont think that nessisary, just becasue one apple turns sour and rotten, does not mean others need to follow, some should maintain a level of resistance to "desieases" so to say.

I'll see you there.

Ummm, Mark

There were plenty of SONY TV's that didn't support 720p, only 480i/p & 1080i

The fact that the PS3 wasn't working with their own TV's was the bigger issue. Have fun at engadget, we have a few new Gillespies here anyways.

There must be a lot more Sony fanboys over there. Dave seems to hang out in the official Blu-Ray forums where you can't say anything negative about BD or positive about HD-DVD.

He has almost 400 posts, and he doesn't even own a BD player. I own both BD and HD-DVD and I could care less. I think until you buy a BD player, you should go away.

Hehe, dont count, your a Shadow Marky

"Awesome, I guess my HD-DVD 360 bolt on at 1080i is looking even better."

Yes, yes it is.

Mark got quoted!? Who's next, Dave?

dont you mean "pc_tool"
.... lol , nowadays they'll quote just about anyone ...
dont be too surprised if BN quoted me next ...

"If you try to disable the 1080i resolution to always get 720p, the problem is when you play Blu-Ray movies, you'll only get 480p."

Awesome, I guess my HD-DVD 360 bolt on at 1080i is looking even better.

Edit: the 480 Res occurse if you dont set back the console to 1080i. SO basically you have to inconviniently switch the res manually back and forth to get it to work how it should. Should be easily fixed in the next firmware, but then I'm wondering why wasnt this addressed this time around?

I wish I could get quoted. Except for that... don't quote that please.

so, why isn't he posting ??

It's called timezones. Not everyone lives in your timezone. I am currently the other side of the world from you, it's 07:41AM now wake up and smell the coffee, the world is a much bigger place than Fox news tells you...

hey, there you are ....
good to see you posting ....
...... bast.a.r.d ..... lol

If your in EU as you say you are, you have no excuse for not posting, as even a 12 hour difference means you share the same half of the day...

And of course no place in EU has a time difference from EST ( -5 GMT ) which is the time zone that BN is run from.

ANd please, fox news is awesome, they brought us the OJ chase, and the MJ trials :).

Not to mention you probably get some "tele" from Sky...which is also owned by Murdoch.

IN conclusion, your timezone excuse is not valid, it is merely, and excuse, as is the PS3 at being a good peice of equipment.

AND -- .

Latz, SB

Quoting Mark "fanboi" Gillespie is just comical. What can you say to top that?

wow! a thread to discuss Mark's doings on this forum! congrads man!

i guess it is hard for some (and me among them) to understand why would anyone be so obsessed with one firm/manufacturer (in your case - sony). i never was brand loyal myself and i never will be. it is functionality and price/preformance first, brand doesn't mean s***! i purchase what is best at the moment.

dude, relax and enjoy life!

It gives PREFERENCE to 1080i, it DOES NOT resolve the scaling issue.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3155685

Or the grainy, inferior picture, or a lot of things.

Blu-Ray has more problems than benefits.

I must admit I find it very interesting that Sony's long-touted advantage (that ended up not being any different from XBox 360) of Blu-Ray was that 1080p resolution. Now, the firmware forces it to "prefer" 1080i, the format it has been fighting against for over a year! How ironic that Sony now has to quietly change over to 1080i...so they would never admit it, but Microsoft was smarter in the implementation of 1080i vs. 1080p, and the timing of the new 1080p capability of the 360 was just awesome. Microsoft seems to have outsmarted Sony there.

Also interesting is that the betanews staff is quoting Mark Gillespie--I tend to part ways with many posters here at BN regarding him. I do disagree with him on almost every issue, however, his arguments are not always as "baseless" and "stupid" as many claim. Just because he supports sony in almost every way does not make him an ignorant or even insignificant person--to the contrary. Mark has been correct on many things regarding Sony, blu-ray, and even PS3--he probably knows more about sony than most of us do.

I say that we do just as the BN staff did here: don't embrace the guy's opinions if you disagree, but don't criticize the guy just because you disagree with him. Let's learn from what he has to say, right or wrong, and quit turning this game console debate into a character assasination feud!

lol broad faced comments are easy to make true....patches improve the PS3...that is a pretty easy mark to hit. Now to be objectionable and admit the faults, he is to biased to do that. Broadly positive spin or no spin at all, that is Marks philosophy.

I criticize bias. There is no learning from one sided views. He is a joke.

Sometimes it's hard to learn from him when he intertwines fact and hyperbole so tightly that you can mistake him for Sony Marketing. The points he makes may be valid, but so often he is pressing his preferences it's impossible to untangle his data and his desire.

That's not exaggeration, that's fact. If Mark would inform us instead of hawk Sony, we would obviously lend him more of an ear.

Marky has never proven anything to me. No where near. Until then, I will dub him the fanboy that he is.

Marky over-exagerates everything, and when asked for sources he backs off. Based on this, why was he even mentioned in the article?

I think they mentioned Mark to stir up some great comments. A lot of news here is submitted from other sources, this one was created in house.

Either way, it's a great place to come and unwind and discuss the failure of Blu-Ray.

ROFLMA... mark made the news!!!!

Well, he is a faithful betanews poster, so agree with him or not, what would Betanews be like without Mark? Hehe...

EDIT: Sorry, I was not meaning to take a shot at you specifically either, skags442. Just commenting to those who tell him to "@#$% off" etc...I find it hilarious that they use him in the article as well :)

dont get me wrong... im not tring to take a shot at mark... i just laughed my a** of when i read it

Hey Marky

FU$K OFF!

Thanks for your valued input here...

Funny people are very fast to bash Sony when they screw up (like any company does), but when they do good thing, like improve PS1/PS2 game compatability issues, sort the 1080i problem within a few weeks, the only comments you get are comments like yours.

Lets face it, it really does it matter WHAT Sony do, you have already made your decision, and will hate them regardless.

Isn't that the true definition of a Fanboy?

Myself, I admit Sony have screwed up in the past, and some of their products are less than perfect (some of them truly horrible), but on the whole, Sony make the best products out there, any anyone that buys other products just because it's Sony, or because they are not an American company, then they are the losers...

Xbox had the 1080i issue sorted out of the box. We should congratulate Sony because they didn't? It's a flipped coin here... I thought Microsoft were the ones who were supposed to patch their products? ;)

yeah like the green blobs seen commonly on their sxrd projection xbr tv's from last year they refused to acknowledge. And xbr is their flagship line.

sorry buy i cant agree with this. I used to love all Sony products, and they used to be the best no doubt. The truth is all the other companies are trying much harder to release better products and Sony has the reputation so what ever they make people will buy.

After having a DVD player screw up, had to get my HD TV repaired twice, and went through 3 PS2 and 2 PS system, I've just had enough. I never liked Microsoft but as things are I would rather buy the 360 now.

No, I'm still buying a PS3, but I am more than comfortable proving YOU wrong at every step. Why? Because you truly think Sony never makes mistakes, 6 months ago you ranted that the system was not being rushed that Sony will get it right because they arent like M$. Guess what you were dead wrong, and now you dont know what to say. I've noticed atleast a 50% drop in your posts, and all because people like me and Hollywood put you in your place.

I cant say I hate sony, but your over-agressiveness in trying to make us believe they are the greatest simply made me stop and realize how sh!tty their upcoming product was (PS3). Perhaps if you argued your points in a modest manner and with some useful links to backup your statements, me and everyone on here wouldve listened. But no, instead you went the ranting route, and ended up with people dubing you a fanboy and an added schepticism for Sony.

If you were Sonys marketing director, you'd be fired already and be living off trash bins in the streets.

PS: My entire theater system is sony.
Sony 50" HDTV
Sony upscaling DVD player
Sony sound system.

The only exception is the 360. Like I've already said, I dont hate sony, but I like disproving you wrong when ever I can. Guess what? Thats like 98% of the time ...

You really need to get a life and stop tailing me my friend.

"I dont hate sony, but I like disproving you wrong when ever I can. Guess what? Thats like 98% of the time .."

Examples please...*yawn* I have never been wrong. You're taking my pro Sony comments way to seriously, please refrain from drinking coffee.
Btw thanks for purchasing so many Sony products. There is hope for you yet young padawan.

Maybe this Mark guy is actually conspiring against Sony by acting like an overly annoying fanboy to divert people away from Sony products?

Just a thought. Haha.

"I have never been wrong"
Thats an oximoron...

"6 months ago you ranted that the system was not being rushed that Sony will get it right because they arent like M$. Guess what you were dead wrong"

Thats 1, you want more? It will take some time to go back through the posts, but you know I'm right. You are always 98% time wrong, and I think that most people on these comments can vouch for me.

"I have never been wrong"

Haha, you almost imploded the Internet when you pressed submit on that one.

I don't avoid Sony products just beause their Sony. It is because they are so dam expensive. In fact I think they make one of the better LCD TVs out there. But I can get a pretty much equal picture from Samsung for a lesser price therefore I bought Samsung. Also I never complained about the 1080i issue because I don't care. I have 720p and could care less if it supports 1080i or not. But I would be upset if I had a 1080i set and it was only displaying 480p.

I might even end up with a PS3 as well. But the thing is I am not really your average consumer. I am pretty into games and although I am not an extremely avid gamer I am a notch above the casual gamer. I am not afraid to say that the PS3 "might" turn out to be a good quality product that I will want to buy. But I do not think that it will win this console war. I also do not think that Blue-Ray will win the format war. These are predictions that only time will tell and neither me nor anybody else can give you a definant answer of how it is going to come out until it is over.

"Examples please...*yawn* I have never been wrong"

Dam had to pick myself up off the floor after I read that one LMAO!!!

guy, mark, man, can you read? can you understand common sence? im canadian, not american, i have a ps2 that i play the snot out of alot of the time, and i own a very nice sony 40 inch tv, i like alot of sony stuff, i have a portable sony dvd player, the first one in canada that i was aware of, the swivel top, all very nice, cost like 400 in total.

that said, if you can read and understand, this means i too like some sony stuff, now if you have read any posts i have made in the past, if i wanted a sony or any blu-ray dvd player, id buy one, i wont buy a game console as one.

second, i dont think ps3 is worth getting at all right now, as far as any issues, sony ps1 and ps2 both had problems, in fact every damn game system since the 64 has had issues from one aspect or another.

third, i dont own a xbox 360, i dont own a wii, and i dont own a ps3, most recent console, is ps2 and gamecube.

i dont base the price, or the movie playability of the consoles i buy, i base it appon th games available, and go from there.

gears of war looks sick, but i have not bought a xbox 360 just for it, id wait till a game like mass effect, thats a console selling game to me.

and id buy a ps3 yes for sure, when and if they release a FF game like FF XII, that game made me want to buy a second ps2 just so i did not mess the cd with any issues from my old ps2.

wow, ok, you say to yourself, a gamer, who bases on the best of the world of games.. the games themselves. not the graphics, but the gameplay, and the ability to sell me the adventure/ fantasy attached to the game.

a gamer that buys for the games, not the company or the console addons.

i have still 7 or so good solid RPGs for PS2 that are still graphicaly awing, and amazing game play, why cant people realize this is the aspect that one should buy things for.

why buy a lamborghini diablo 2007 or what ever, to sit in a driveway when u can buy 3 different vehicles 1 to just drive thew $#@$ outa, for fun, 1 becasue its comfortable, and the other for practicality issues? oh, no that would just make sence.

we want to have the best of the best, but whjat makes something the best? oh marketing you say? i think you fit in there my friend.

lol well i guess we could say M$ has had soo much more practice with updates lol, patch tuesday everyone! :D

i guess i could say that of you suck at sometihng long enough you actually become a good bottom feeder, and then your better then the rest at that.

M$ did a good thing with this.

Actually I think people are laughing at these 3 posts that fell for the fake messages from Marky's twin brothers...

The first reponse was from fanboy marky, the second from copy

Copy+paste into notepad, you can see the diff.

Mark,

We don't mind buying Sony products when it costs them money. Something to the tune of $300.00 per console. I will make sure I get all of my PS3 games second hand through eBay, even if it costs more than in the stores or at Amazon so Sony can't make any money on those either.

We would all shut up you could just admit the 360 is as good as the PS3 and HD-DVD is outselling Blu_Ray. And also that BD has a lot of issues.

The new Sony player is out and the picture is still grainy, so it's not the software, not the Samsung player, the updates didn't help. What is it? I'll tell you. An inferior format.

I finally opened Talladega Nights and popped it in. There are some very funky artifacts that I noticed that are also in the store demo. Every once in a while you will see a particular grouping of pixels that look like little flowers. They have a dark pixel in the middle and lighter ones on the top, left, right, and bottom. They pop up whenever there is lot of movement on screen.

Sometimes it's just one, sometimes a group of them. This happens on my DLP projector and rear projection TV. I tried both HDMI and component to see if the issue would go away. The picture does look slightly better with component, the colors don't seem so overdone and the contrast is better, but the artifacts are still there.

I'm sticking with HD-DVD for movies, I hope they get this fixed before Cars and is finally released on BD. By that time, Disney should see that BD is not the way to go and jump on board with HD-DVD.

If you remember back in 1999 when Divx was being peddled by Circuit City, Disney was one of the first to jump on board only to be embarrassed by later retracting their quote that said "We will only support Divx and not open DVD, our policy will not change."

They pouted for over a year before they finally started making thier movies available on DVD and none of them were animated.

The same thing will happen with HD-DVD as they didn't release Pirates 2 or Cars on Blu-Ray yet. Both would have looked better than the DVD cousins, even with all those artifacts.