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Sony Announces $1,000 Blu-ray Player

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

March 16, 2006, 5:11 PM

Sony introduced its first Blu-ray products on Thursday, offering the cheapest solutions so far to employ the technology. However, the price point still remains at about $1,000 or more, twice the cost of entry-level HD DVD players.

Pricing has become one of the major sticking points of Sony's next-generation optical disc format. With Sony announcing the lowest cost Blu-ray player to date, it may signal the company's concern that consumers may opt for the cheaper HD DVD format.

The company plans to release its first Blu-ray disc player in July. Sony says it expects the device to retail for about $1,000 USD. A Blu-ray enabled desktop and laptop computer will follow over the summer, with the desktop retailing for $2,300 USD. Pricing for the notebook was not announced.

The standalone player will support 1920 x 1080p output through an HDMI connection, and play MPEG2, MPEG4-AVC and VC1 video formats. Analog component outputs for 1080i will also be included. The player runs BD-Java, Sony and Sun's answer to Toshiba's iHD.

Sony's desktop and laptop Blu-ray computers will allow for the recording and burning of HD content onto Blu-ray discs for playback in compatible players. Each machine will come with software preinstalled that would make the process easy, Sony said.

Additionally, Sony plans to release an aftermarket internal Blu-ray disc drive capable of writing Blu-ray discs at 2x speed. The unit would fit into a standard computer bay, the company says. No release date or price was given for the drive, although Sony said it would be available "this year."

"We're in a unique position to be unveiling a full line of HD products that capitalize on Blu-ray Disc's technological advantages," Sony president and COO Hideki Komiyama said in a statement. "Blu-ray Disc will set the bar for the high-definition lifestyle that consumers have been anticipating."

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By xprizex

posted Mar 17, 2006 - 3:05 PM

now there's going to be a minimum of 3 dvd formats. anyone remmeber vhs and beta-max? that turned out well didn't it! there should only be room for one dvd format. why don't the MPAA try to regulate that instead of going around shutting down p2p and suing people. btw sony has a really bad track record when it comes to new media formats. let's see if they can get their first win with the help of ps3.

Score: 0

By anmol.2k4

posted Mar 17, 2006 - 1:22 PM

sony is going to be making money through the sales of the game that is why ps3 is cheaper, $1000 will be the price in JULY till nov we can expect heavy price drop(because of mass production of ps3). We have not seen either BRD player/ps3 so it is stupidity comparing them.

Score: 0

By mtrn3337

posted Mar 17, 2006 - 12:10 PM

I think the whole idea is going to confuse the "typical end user" to the point of frustration. For goodness sakes, you still have people who haven't figured out how to stop the light on their VCRs from flashing! The Baby Boomers are the largest market out there, I'd be interested in knowing how many of them know how to do more that surf the WWW and send email, let alone decide between Blu-ray and HD formats, & products without cost being factored into the equation. Tech savvy or not, there are a lot of us still around that remember spending hundreds of dolloars on "the newest and cutting edge" Beta machines only to chuck them in the trash a year later. Why does it always have to be "bigger and better"? Isn't anything ever just good enough? I say yipee for new technologies, but let the inovators, creators, shakers & makers use "cutting edge" and let the masses continue to grow and evolve at their own pace. To force this new technology down our throats is unacceptable!

Score: 0

By xyzcb1

posted Mar 17, 2006 - 9:59 AM

$1000 for the player? Who are the trying to sell to? This player will come out with all kind of compatibility issue just like generation 1 dvd player.

Score: 0

By klingon379

posted Mar 17, 2006 - 2:12 PM

Blu-Ray players do not use a green laser like first generation DVD players did. The green laser is what caused problems reading CD-R discs on older DVD players. Blu-Ray players use the same red laser as DVD players for backwards compatibility with older media.

Score: 0

By Banquo

posted Mar 17, 2006 - 4:48 PM

What? Green lasers, where in the world did you get that from? They didn't even exist back then and no player uses them. First generation DVD players used a red laser just like they do today, they always have. The problem was because CD-R discs use an infrared laser; this was resolved by adding a second laser to read them. All DVD players today have two lasers.

Score: 0

By DaveBG

posted Mar 17, 2006 - 2:08 AM

Go go go SONY :)
I need BR burner on my PC now!

Score: 0

By imafurby

posted Mar 16, 2006 - 11:04 PM

Yeah, I'm going right out and buy me one....not.

Score: 0

By bigsexy022870

posted Mar 16, 2006 - 9:27 PM

Hasn't anyone at sony thought that with a 1000 sale price for a stand alone blue ray, anyone with a brain with opt for the cheaper PS3. Which does alot more then just play blue ray. 1000 for a player is retarded. a few hundred morons will buy it. The rest of the public will now. So why not just sell it for 200-300 from day one. Makes alot better sense if you want market saturation.

Score: 0

By windango

posted Mar 20, 2006 - 11:49 AM

You answered your own question.

"with a 1000 sale price for a stand alone blue ray, anyone with a brain with opt for the cheaper PS3."

Makes sense to anyone in marketing...

Score: 0

By anmol.2k4

posted Mar 17, 2006 - 1:23 PM

why is that they will want market saturation ?

Score: 0

By Mark Gillespie

posted Mar 17, 2006 - 6:08 AM

Game consoles are compromises. People who want to spend that sort of money would not pay $300 for something compromised.

Score: 0

By Tri_Edge

posted Mar 16, 2006 - 10:47 PM

PS3's are going to fly off shelves, and also a lot of people would rather get a BD player than a video game console, if they don't want to play video games.

What would you do?
Go into a store, look for a $300-$400 PS3, but no more.
You see a $1,000 and $1,200 Sony BD players, and buy one of those.

A lot of people like dedicated machines, someone might have to move around a PS3 a lot, bringing to another house or room, but leave the BD player in one, that's what I would do.

Score: 0

By Jedite

posted Mar 20, 2006 - 11:23 AM

Tri_Edge really just quit it. You have been trolling all the sony threads this past week justifiying everything sony does and then some.

Everything sony makes acording to you is the second comming of christ, and they dont make mistakes.

In all seriousness who is willing to spend 1200 dollars on a paper weight?

Thats what Bluray players and HD-DVD players are right now, over priced paperweights. There are no movies available right now, and even when released the title selection will be very limited.

Only an Idiot with a big wallet(Sadly there are too many of these running around) would spend money on unproven technology.

Right now im sitting here happy with my DVD Player, I have a large selection of movies, and I dont have to fork out 1200+ buy a new TV to get all this new uber content.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Mar 17, 2006 - 8:45 AM

Then buy 2 PS3s?

Score: 0

By Microman360

posted Mar 16, 2006 - 10:07 PM

Because Sony would be losing money on building costs on both there blu-ray and ps3

Score: 0

By plague201

posted Mar 16, 2006 - 8:52 PM

Isn't the Samsung blu-ray player also $1000? Why is this news?

Score: 0

By anmol.2k4

posted Mar 17, 2006 - 1:34 PM

bcoz sony is going to making more profits.sony lg samsung whoever sells BRD player they(sony) will get their royalties and that is what sony and wall street care about that is why sony is in news unlike samsung and also bcoz BRD is developed by sony.

Score: 0

By Tri_Edge

posted Mar 16, 2006 - 10:33 PM

Because Sony also has one that is $1,200

Score: 0

By horsecharles

posted Mar 16, 2006 - 8:26 PM

Ha, ha-- not gonna buy it: will wait for holograhic. Memo to those mf's: hurry up and finalize/ratify the standards already!!!

Score: 0

By Tri_Edge

posted Mar 16, 2006 - 10:52 PM

Each Holographic Disc player costs $15,000, and will probably cost $1,000 to $3,000 at launch, in, maybe, five, six years.

So, you got a long time to wait.

Holographic Discs store 1.2 Trilobytes

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Mar 17, 2006 - 8:44 AM

tera....terabytes. :|

Score: 0

By Banquo

posted Mar 17, 2006 - 3:22 AM

"Holographic Discs store 1.2 Trilobytes"

I thought those were extinct... :P

Score: 0

By Banquo

posted Mar 16, 2006 - 8:58 PM

You'll be waiting a long time then I think.

Score: 0

By mjm01010101

posted Mar 16, 2006 - 5:54 PM

The marketplace decides price.

Consumers haven't been anticipating anything. The majority of consumers don't have true HD equipment, hookups, or any idea how it all works.

Score: 0

By plague201

edited Mar 16, 2006 - 8:41 PM

I agree with this. Whats funny is that a large amount of them will still buy HD players and not realize that all their images are down sampled becuase they dont have HDMI. Whats going to be worst is that I'm sure BestBuy wont let their customers know what they are buying, they wont say something like "if you dont have HDMI, you wont get the best picture out of it"

Score: 0

By Mark Gillespie

posted Mar 17, 2006 - 6:10 AM

Sony are not downsampling. That's something the HD-DVD camp are infavor of.

That said, the Blu-Ray spec has the capability of downsampling on non-HDMI equipment, it's upto the media producer if they choose to implement it. Sony have said they will not.

Score: 0

By Kramy

posted Mar 17, 2006 - 5:33 AM

What's worse, is people buy at BestBuy. I know companies like TigerDirect lack service or support or acknowledge you exist, but when you can get it for 65% of the price AFTER shipping...buy it cheaper.

I have an uncle that bought a big plasma screen(non-HD) TV. I imagine that's about 640x480 pixels stretched out over a 50+ inch display. Makes the eyes water.

Score: 0

By kholdstare

posted Mar 16, 2006 - 5:50 PM

they better not keep it at that price for long or else blu-ray will be history

Score: 0

By Mark Gillespie

posted Mar 16, 2006 - 5:33 PM

$1000 at launch, $800 within 2 months, $500 within 6, $100 within a year...

Makes the PS3's rumoured pricetag of $500 a bargain...

Score: 0

By plague201

edited Mar 16, 2006 - 8:08 PM

I always love this fanboys optimisim. So it will drop $500 within the first 6 months? I highly doubt this... IF thats the case then HD DVD players will be about $200 within 6 months. Etiherway it will still be cheaper, and rival the best HDMI DVD players in the market right now (in price).

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Mar 16, 2006 - 5:26 PM

Sony just announced (read @ Ars or slashdot) that they will *not* be downsampling Blu-Ray!

This means your HD movies will play just fine on NON-HDCP hardware!

I'm shocked. After their latest rootkit crap, I couldn't believe it. I had to read the Ars article twice.

http://arstechnica.com/n...post/20060314-6377.html

Of course, at these prices,they will *need* something like this to boost sales...of course, if HD-DVD ends up downsampling now, the lid on that coffin is closed.

And as for the price.... I am sure it will be half that a year after it's released. And of course, we might actually have some decent titles by then.

Score: 0

By Mark Gillespie

posted Mar 17, 2006 - 6:38 AM

You seem hung up on the "Rootkit crap".

Do you understand the specifics? The media had a field day, but the reality was, it was pretty minor issue.

All they did was install DRM software, that hid iself. I have seen some people saying it was a virus, and spyware etc etc etc.. Neither of which are true.

Whilst it was pretty underhand it's not a big deal. Many other companies do similar things, but have not been crucified by the press. It was just a bandwagon to jump onto.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Mar 17, 2006 - 8:35 AM

"All they did was install DRM software, that hid iself."

Not a big deal, huh?

Installing any software on my system without notifying me and without my prior consent is a BIG DEAL.

I'm amazed anyone, much less someone browsing tech sites, would think it was any less.

Score: 0

By plague201

edited Mar 16, 2006 - 8:43 PM

But what are they going to do about this?

http://arstechnica.com/n...post/20050810-5194.html

I'd rather take downsampling than deal with $ony spying on me

OK, did a little researcg, heres an article

http://arstechnica.com/n...post/20060122-6027.html

Of concern to everyone is this
"Unlike Managed Copy, which is a mandatory part of AACS for both platforms, ICT usage will be left up to the choice of the individual studios"

This is telling me that both HD DVD and blu-ray will have the option, but not force it on (what $ony is highlighting). However, the movie studios can still activate the down sampling on BOTH types of players. Eitherway I wont even concider buying blu-crap unless $ony removes their "ROM-Mark" and BD+ "copy-protection". I simply refuse to phone-home to watch my movies.

I do have a question though. Whats the difference between HDCP and ICT. Because to me they SEEM different, and if $ony is claiming ICT clearance, then what about HDCP. Wont HDCP down sample the picture as well?

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Mar 17, 2006 - 8:40 AM

"This is telling me that both HD DVD and blu-ray will have the option, but not force it on (what $ony is highlighting)."

This is true, the drive will have the capability, as far as I understand it, but Sony, as a Studio, will not enable it for their products.

I expect other studios will fall in line with this as not doing so could very possibly damage sales.

"Whats the difference between HDCP and ICT."

As dumbed down as possible (which will likely get me flamed, but hey, that'll happen regardless..):

ICT (Image Constraint Token) is enforced through HDCP. HDCP is the mechanism used to implement the DRM....basically...very basically.

Score: 0

By plague201

edited Mar 17, 2006 - 8:56 AM

"ICT (Image Constraint Token) is enforced through HDCP", back it up, I'm too stupid to just take your word for it :-D I've been trying to find something, ANYHTING, that explicitly says this.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Mar 17, 2006 - 9:42 AM

Scratch my post above. A little research is worthwhile, apparently.

AACS seems to basically be hte successor to HDCP. *confused*

Also, ICT is a part if AACS, though apparently not a mandatory part.

"AACS incorporates a wide array of copy protection and restriction technologies, one of which is called the Image Constraint Token (ICT)."

HDCP is not required to veiw AACS content, as it will also work via a DVI/HDMI connector.

At least, this is what I have gathered in the 10 minutes I spent just now looking it all up.

Problem is, there's so much stufdf out there on this and no-one seems to be bringing it all together in one document to explain the differences and similarities...

I'm assuming HDMI/HDCP and thus AACS is Digital Only, which means Analog transfer is out of the question on any AACS protected content.

Interestingly enough, this seems to imply a Blu-Ray player would be a very expensive paper-weight/door-stop in my abode. The most modern TV I own does not support DVI in any way shape or form.

So yeah....I didn't answer your question at all, but....

Score: 0

By plague201

edited Mar 17, 2006 - 10:04 AM

Really kinda sucks that no matter what. With either HD DVD or blu-ray, we still have a while to go before we can receive the full HD signal. Unless you've spent recently on an HDTV with all the requirements.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Mar 17, 2006 - 11:14 AM

Kinds the point with my original Post... if it's Blu_Ray, and from Son'y studios, you'll get the full HD signal. :)

...at least ...for now.

Score: 0

By plague201

posted Mar 17, 2006 - 12:14 PM

I'm still not dialing up to $ony, so no sale on my side.

Score: 0

By Kramy

posted Mar 17, 2006 - 5:38 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDCP

Good Read: http://forum.ecoustics.c...sages/34579/122868.html

I don't know enough about HD-DVD/Blu-Ray to form an educated opinion at this hour of the night. :P

Score: 0

By plague201

edited Mar 17, 2006 - 8:37 AM

WEll based on the little research kramy did. All im getting about ICT vs HDCP is that they are different. So now im kind of confused, no where on the link that PC_Tool posted does it say that $ony wont down sample thru the non-HDCP (give me a quote if I just simply missed it). It only states that "none of Sony's Blu-ray releases for the "foreseeable future" will use ICT to force downsampling." Thats fine, what about non-HDCP? Even then, the software can still activate ICT on $ony players... so in a way their claims are still false.

So correctly if im wrong, but I don't see a relationship between ICT and non-HDCP, except that they are BOTH methods of downsampling. $ony only talks about the token, but not non-HDCP. So am I to assume that this is $ony's attempt at misleading the public? PLease fanboys (Mark, PC_Tool, Tri-Edge) , do respond, because I am somewhat confused here, do back up your statements though. I'm tired of just opinion ($ony is better, blah blah, blah). I haven't hear any feedback either on my ROM-Mark and BD+ arguments either, so I'm going to assume I'm right about them.

Score: 0

By Silentmaster101

posted Mar 17, 2006 - 1:21 PM

seems to me they are being vaugue on purpose. prolly to keep us in the darfk and from protesting. either way i try to not buy stuff with copy protection period so i dont need to worry about it. im not getting a viiv machine, or a bd player or hd dvd player or any next gen console.

Score: 0

By Kompressor

posted Mar 16, 2006 - 7:31 PM

This is another Sony trick. What they are going to do is disable the down sampling on the media, not the hardware, so in a year or so, if or when they win the format war, all new Blu-Ray releases will have the down sampling enabled. Nice try Sony.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Mar 17, 2006 - 8:42 AM

I highly doubt they'll make the switch until over %50 of the market has adopted end-to-end HDCP compliant hardware.

Again, anything less would hamper sales.

Score: 0

By plague201

edited Mar 16, 2006 - 8:28 PM

Opposite, they are disabling it on the hardware side, but the software can still activate it. To be more precise, they aren't disabeling it, just not forcing it on.

Score: 0

By mshulman

edited Mar 17, 2006 - 11:19 AM

I'd be willing to bet HD-DVD titles will also not come with it enabled at the start. Limiting HD Resolutions to those with HDMI only would really hamper sales as it's probably 5-10% of the total HD TV's currently in homes.

I'll get HDDVD once it's confirmed that the titles will not down convert when using analog connections.

EDIT - I have HDMI, so actually.. I don't care :)

Score: 0

By drumcat

posted Mar 16, 2006 - 6:57 PM

I'm with you tool. If you downsample, I have no business with you.

Score: 0

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