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Sony Plans Int'l Blu-Ray Launch for Oct

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

August 31, 2006, 1:30 PM

Sony plans to begin rolling out Blu-ray discs this Fall internationally to coincide with the launch of hardware in those regions, the company said Thursday. Sony says that pricing of discs would be similar to those of standard DVD discs in their respective territories at launch.

Among the countries that Sony plans to launch BD in include Australia, Japan, Korea, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland, the Nordic countries, Spain and the United Kingdom. Rollouts of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment titles would begin in October of this year.

Movies to be released at that time Hitch, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, RV, The Fifth Element, Hostel, A Knight's Tale, S.W.A.T., Tears of the Sun, Underworld Evolution and Ultraviolet among others, the company said.

"We stand behind the superiority of Blu-ray as the preeminent high-definition optical disc format and are committed to delivering a strong slate of Blu-ray titles to entertainment enthusiasts worldwide," SPHE President David Bishop said.

Sony's Blu-ray is involved in a fierce battle with Toshiba's HD DVD. Both formats have already launched in the United States, and are now planning international deployments. Intital sales numbers are not available, although polls indicate that a large number of home entertainment enthusiasts are sitting it out until a clear winner is crowned.

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By deminicus

posted Sep 5, 2006 - 11:00 AM

anyone else just tired of hearing about this format crap?

I personally will not be an early adopter on either format. There's too much noise and the price performance ratio sux. I also believe that everyone should be able to trade up their dvd's and just pay the price to create them. Paying full price for a movie you already own is retarded since hd doesn't actually change anything else than visual.

Score: 0

By Sexbarril

posted Sep 5, 2006 - 4:59 AM

And Sony has yet to win a format war...

Latz, SB

Score: 0

By Banquo

posted Sep 3, 2006 - 10:25 PM

Blu-Ray is a pathetic joke, it's failing BADLY. People aren't stupid, they aren't paying for a format that costs twice as much and has crappy video quality so far. Blu-Ray movies look like VHS next to HD-DVD right now because the idiot studios are using outdated mpeg2 instead of the newer codecs. HD-DVD already has a large user base and it's growing every day. The Sony butt kissers can just keep telling themselves the PS3 will come and save the day, whatever makes them feel good. By the time the overpriced toy goes on sale Blu-Ray will be the laughing stock of the industry, and studios will be switching sides.

http://www.thedvdwars.com/index.cfm

Look at Blu-Ray go! (all the way into the sales rank gutter). lol

Score: 0

By DaveBG

edited Sep 5, 2006 - 9:17 AM

"it's failing BADLY"

-Its rising fast.

"Blu-Ray movies look like VHS"

The most stupid thing ever said! Worst BDs are almost imperceptible less sharp than HD DVDs.

"HD-DVD already has a large user base and it's growing every day"

Yes ... in the HD DVD lair. Worldwide BDs won.

"and studios will be switching sides"

So far they only join the BDA! Recently SUN joined too.

"all the way into the sales rank gutter"

At amazon.com? Who is shoping from there??? :)))

Score: 0

By Joey Deacon

posted Sep 4, 2006 - 6:04 PM

Do you ACTUALLY know how many HD-DVD players have been sold globally? Less than 25,000

By Xmas, Blu-Ray will be in 2 million homes...

As for Blu-Ray being the launghing stock of the industry, have a look at the supporting companies, and you will see that that's also unlikely, as it's got virtually complete industry support (aside from MS, Toshiba and Universal).

Score: 0

By KSzostek

posted Sep 3, 2006 - 10:07 PM

Why would you even think about trusting Sony on anything. They need to be boycotted on everything period!

Score: 0

By Banquo

posted Sep 3, 2006 - 10:27 PM

The only people that still do are the fanboys. They bought a PS2 or something once, and now feel the need to defend their purchase by forming a Sony glee club and trying to convince everyone how great they are. Pretty sad.

Score: 0

By Joe Dirt

posted Sep 1, 2006 - 9:51 AM

I hope Blue-Ray just tanks and eats poop.

Score: 0

By Alex Stevens

posted Sep 1, 2006 - 3:55 PM

It's already tanking, it's supporters are still clinging to the PS3 as their Blu-Ray of sunshine that will come in and save the day. I think they should be more concerned about the PS3 itself tanking. So far it's just vaporware.

Score: 0

By Mark Gillespie

posted Sep 3, 2006 - 6:38 PM

Whatever, by next summer, your HD-DVD will be on the garbage pile...

Score: 0

By Banquo

edited Sep 3, 2006 - 10:19 PM

If you think HD-DVD will be dead next summer your a ****** retard.

Score: 0

By acecom

edited Sep 1, 2006 - 9:14 AM

Both Sony and Toshiba are trying to release high definition, high capacity media technology much too soon to gain acceptance in the mass marketplace. This will result in heavy discounting of hardware and slow recovery of R & D Expenses.

The Industry has yet to learn the lesson of the need to develop the synergies of synchronisation.

Sony in particular has a history of getting carried away on wet dreams.

Score: 0

By Black-Wolf

posted Aug 31, 2006 - 8:43 PM

HD-DVD for games, movies, and data.

HD-DVD is cheaper per GB, compared to US$50 for one Blu-Ray disc. Yikes.

Score: 0

By Mark Gillespie

posted Sep 1, 2006 - 6:04 AM

LOL, you really have no idea.

HD-DVD is NOT for games, XBOx360 will not be using the HD-DVD drive for games, only for movies. It's also not currently for data, as there are no recordable HD-DVD drive available..

Blu-Ray on the other hand, will be used for Movies, Games, Data, as all the PS3's have Blu-Ray, and there are PC Blu-Ray recorders available for data.

Are you sure you ain't got your formats mixed up??

Score: 0

By Black-Wolf

posted Aug 31, 2006 - 8:37 PM

BD sucks, and the launch will fail.

HD-DVD is the way to go!

Score: 0

By Mark Gillespie

posted Sep 1, 2006 - 6:05 AM

Because??? I assume you have a HD-DVD are are worried that it will be assigned to the gargabe bin by next summer...

Score: 0

By Alex Stevens

edited Sep 1, 2006 - 4:37 PM

Yes, I'm sure everyone is worried about HD-DVD being dead next summer considering it has been consistently outselling Blu-Ray titles by a very large margin. Oh yes, but the PS3 is going to come along and save the day! Forgot about that.

Score: 0

By imafurby

posted Aug 31, 2006 - 4:34 PM

Has all the hallmarks of the Beta vs VHS wars.
Blu Ray being "Beta" in this case.

Score: 0

By Mark Gillespie

posted Sep 4, 2006 - 8:54 AM

Hmm, have you seen how ugly the Toshiba players are? If anything is like Betamax, it's them...

http://regmedia.co.uk/20.../04/tosh_euro_hddvd.jpg

Score: 0

By solarisguru

posted Aug 31, 2006 - 3:57 PM

It's probably going to end up like UMD...

Score: 0

By notomat

posted Sep 1, 2006 - 4:50 AM

Bush never found any UMDs.

Score: 0

By Joey Deacon

posted Aug 31, 2006 - 4:22 PM

That's what the HD-DVD camp hope (suprised they havn't dragged up Betamax yet..). Reality is however, with Blu-Ray having all but one of the movie studios behind it (everyone except Universal), HD-DVD's early lead may very quickly disolve into nothing once PS3 hits the shelves.

There are even some sites claiming that Universal may also be planning to support Blu-Ray in addition to HD-DVD. That really would be the final nail in the coffin for HD-DVD.

Score: 0

By Alex Stevens

posted Aug 31, 2006 - 4:45 PM

Having more studios doesn't really matter if they don't put out movies. Right now HD-DVD has twice as many titles available as Blu-Ray, and are murdering it in sales. I also think people are underestimating just how huge Universal is. As for them supporting Blu-Ray, I've seen no facts to support this at all. With Blu-Ray sales so poor it would be an odd decision to make. Some sites making claims is meaningless. If HD-DVD continues to dominate in sales there's no question that the Blu-Ray studios will jump ship and support it also. They are going to go where the money is.

Score: 0

By Joey Deacon

posted Aug 31, 2006 - 6:29 PM

Actually your comments are the funniest I have seen.

Does selling 20 more HD-DVD films a day on Amazon mean that Blu-Ray is getting murdered?

I think not. I would call it a slight lead in a very small market.

45 HD-DVD fims a day vs how many regular DVD's? Hi-Def is still very small fry...

Score: 0

By Alex Stevens

edited Aug 31, 2006 - 6:41 PM

Just where are you getting your 20 more a day numbers from? I really don't think you have a clue as to what you are talking about. Are you looking at the two charts at the top? Those are the number of titles available, not the number sold each day.

Number one HD-DVD: Sales rank 475
Number ten HD-DVD: Sales rank 2,372
Number one Blu-Ray: Sales rank 6,298

Also take into consideration the sales rank for HD-DVD has remained high ever since it came out while Blu-Ray continues to drop. Make sure you know what you are talking about before trying to ridicule others.

Score: 0

By Joey Deacon

edited Aug 31, 2006 - 5:07 PM

[HD-DVD] are murdering it in sales.i

Hmm, if you call 45 a day for HD-DVD on Amazon, compared to 25 a day for Blu-Ray mudering it.

Whilst it's a lead, it's still a minority platform. When PS3 launches, watch them numbers swing. 2000 a day for Blu-Ray vs 50 a day for HD-DVD. It won't take long to blitz any lead for HD-DVD.

Score: 0

By Alex Stevens

edited Aug 31, 2006 - 6:20 PM

Look at the sales rank for both formats, yes Blu-Ray is getting murdered. Look at the sales for Lethal Weapon on both formats. Keep in mind that it came out on Blu-Ray a week earlier too.

"When PS3 launches, watch them numbers swing. 2000 a day for Blu-Ray vs 50 a day for HD-DVD."

I love it when people pull numbers out of thin air or try to predict the future. At least I've been giving actual figures and facts, you're just making stuff up. What does the PS3 have to do with a lack of good Blu-Ray titles, or the lack of picture quality they currently have? Watch the numbers swing, lol.

Score: 0

By Grazer

posted Aug 31, 2006 - 6:11 PM

"What does the PS3 have to do with a lack of good Blu-Ray titles..."

Both are yet to be seen, maybe?

Score: 0

By Grazer

posted Aug 31, 2006 - 4:35 PM

Because we know how HD-DVD is hurting for good titles. Universal, Paramount, and Warner ( the three studios providing the titles on the first page of Amazon's HD-DVD listings) just can't provide the titles consumers really want.
/sarcasm

Score: 0

By Black-Wolf

posted Aug 31, 2006 - 8:41 PM

Don't forget.
HD-DVD titles can be played on PC, XBOX, and many more.

BD on PS3 for games and movies. And HD-DVD on the rest of devices.

HD-DVD is already a winner and BD's lost already.

Score: 0

By Mark Gillespie

posted Sep 1, 2006 - 5:56 AM

What a load of BS.

HD-DVD titles cannot be played on a PC (as there is no PC drive available yet), XBox is not capabale of playing HD-DVD (did you mean XBox360?, if so, you forget to mention the $200 add-on required to play it). What is the "and many more"??

Blu-Ray is on PS3 for both movies and games (finally you get something correct). You can also get Blu-Ray readers AND recorders for PC's and laptops.

Your statement should have read Blu-Ray for everything except Xbox360 movies.

Score: 0

By Alex Stevens

edited Sep 1, 2006 - 3:53 PM

I wondered when Sony's favorite fanboy would show up, spreading his glorious Blu-Ray gospel.

Score: 0

By Grazer

posted Sep 1, 2006 - 12:59 PM

I'm not sure but I could swear I heard HD-DVDs were capable of supporting existing DVD players, and if what I heard was write wouldn't that mean PCs could play them like DVDs.

(Note: I am not saying at HD quality.)

Score: 0

By Mark Gillespie

posted Sep 3, 2006 - 6:40 PM

Not sure what you mean by "supporting".

Both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD can play existing formats fine (CD/DVD), both need seperate red lasers to do so. As far as backwards compatability go, there is nothing between the 2 formats, they have identical capabilties and compatabilities.

Score: 0

By TheRecklessWanderer

posted Aug 31, 2006 - 3:46 PM

I'm not buying either, and I buy every toy I can get my hands on.

I am afraid that the movies will eventually be scaled down, and me and my 10K 50 inch Panasonic Plasma are going to be SOL.

Can somebody make a DVI to Component converter? A smart one, please. Please? Pretty please? No? Well, then I'm not buying their new technology, so there.

Score: 0

By Alex Stevens

edited Aug 31, 2006 - 3:15 PM

Blu-Ray's sales rank is miserable on Amazon, I realize that is only one online store but it's a popular one. HD-DVD sales have held steady ever since it came out. Blu-Ray sales plummeted after release and have struggled ever since.

http://www.thedvdwars.com/index.cfm

The top movie for both formats right now is Lethal Weapon. Being the same movie and the same price on both formats it makes for a great comparison. The sales rank for for Lethal Weapon on HD-DVD is 475, on Blu-Ray it's 6,298. That is a HUGE difference, there are way more people buying movies on HD-DVD right now. It's especially interesting to see that most Blu-Ray titles on Amazon are actually a bit cheaper and yet most people still aren't buying them.

I think Blu-Ray has a good chance to replace DVD-R for computer storage but it's probably going to fail as the DVD movie successor. Of course people are now going to start shouting "But the PS3!" as they always do. I don't believe the PS3 is going to save Blu-Ray though.

Score: 0

By Mark Gillespie

posted Sep 1, 2006 - 6:01 AM

Hardly suprising, Blu-Ray hardware is still thin on the ground. Most people are waiting to see how good PS3's Blu-Ray playback for $500 is, before spending money on a dedicated Blu-Ray player (or HD-DVD player).

Until PS3 is launched, and statements about sales of HD-DVD/Blu-Ray titles is worthless, as within a month of PS3 launch, there could be upto 2 million new Blu-Ray owners out shopping for movies to try this new format...

Before I get flamed (which is innevitable), I DO realise that not every PS3 owner will go and start buying Blu-Ray movies, but a large proportion of them will.

Score: 0

By zee7

posted Aug 31, 2006 - 4:23 PM

I'm not buying either. Sony's on my ESL (Eternal Sh*t List); everything they do is anti-consumer.

Looking forward to Nintendo's Wii :)

Score: 0

By Mark Gillespie

posted Sep 1, 2006 - 5:57 AM

And of course Microsoft (supporters of HD-DVD) are not anti-consumer....

Microsoft invented anti-consumer....

Score: 0

By Grazer

posted Sep 1, 2006 - 1:52 PM

You just keep telling yourself MS invented everything bad in the world.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

edited Aug 31, 2006 - 3:18 PM

PS3?

Whazzat?

Heard about 'em, but I've never seen one... ;)

Google says HD-DVD is winning as well:

http://www.googlefight.c...D-DVD&word2=BLU-RAY

This one's even better:

http://www.googlefight.c...D+DVD&word2=BLU+RAY

Score: 0

By DotNet_Coder

posted Aug 31, 2006 - 7:57 PM

LMAO!!! And that solves it...

PC_Tool, as always, you have delivered...

(except for search rankings don't neccesarily equate to sales, but what the hell, it's a wacky world...)

Seriously though: I remember as a kid my parents had both Beta and VHS... the Beta, while a good machine (worked really well when I stuffed cookies in it), just didn't have the movie selection that my parents wanted, which is what really killed the format.

We are going to see the same thing this time... (IMHO)

Just don't ask me who is playing HD-DVD and who is playing Blu-ray. ;-)

~dnc

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

edited Sep 1, 2006 - 5:01 PM

I wonder how well each format will play cookies though. ;P

Score: 0

By bourgeoisdude

posted Aug 31, 2006 - 2:45 PM

Yeah, HD-DVD is beginning to look better and better all the time...

Score: 0

By DaveBG

posted Sep 5, 2006 - 9:10 AM

Until the trashcan :)

Score: 0

By hiyoag

posted Aug 31, 2006 - 2:10 PM

Wow, that's quite a movie lineup.
Did they just choose all of the Sony movies that appear on www.rottentomatoes.com?

Score: 0

By Tech Nut

edited Nov 22, 2006 - 5:42 PM

Wow. I was really suprised to read about those who really believe that BD will not take over HD. Those who don't have the forsight to understand some basics.

Blu-Ray is new and the players are expensive. It will take some time just as DVD's took over VHS. Now that PS3 is out, this is the start. The storage capablities are the perfect match for high quality video.

Score: 0

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