Stringer: Sony committed to blu ray

[spicynacho]

In response to the smack talk about the stalemate quote, Howard Stringer gave an interview to the HW reporter. He did had some smack to dish out.

Sony CEO Howard Stringer affirmed the company's support for and belief in Blu-ray Disc, saying in an exclusive e-mail interview Monday that the Sony-developed next-generation disc format has "the momentum and the scale" to ultimately triumph over rival HD DVD.

A week ago, an Associated Press story quoted the outspoken Sony chief as saying Blu-ray was in a "stalemate" with HD DVD, which is backed by Toshiba and Microsoft. His comments caused a stir in the blogosphere, where they were construed that Sony's resolve to win the next-gen format war might be weakening.

Stringer said that Blu-ray has the exclusive support of Disney and Fox, "who have consistently produced the highest level of boxoffice in recent years," as well as MGM, Lionsgate and Sony.

HD DVD is exclusively supported by Universal and Paramount, with Warner Bros. releasing titles in both formats.

"I think Blu-ray is just a better format," Stringer said. "Our partners are with Blu-ray Disc because, first of all, we have greater security, which Fox is particularly good at. Disney thinks it's a better picture. And the sheer amount of bandwidth on the disc gives directors and beyond all kinds of future opportunity, including director's cuts and who knows what 3-D capabilities will be down the road.


"I think that's why Steven Spielberg held out his own product from going to HD DVD," he added. "Ultimately, if you're passionate about movies, which these DVD collectors are, Blu-ray is the best answer. I think that is true, and we see that in the blogging environment.

"It isn't the cheaper format, but it is the better format," Stringer said.

He added that while HD DVD might have made inroads with price cuts on both hardware and software, Blu-ray hardware prices probably won't sink much below $400.

"We haven't announced any price cuts yet, but obviously the PS3 at $399 was a price cut, and that's also a Blu-ray player," he said. "We're comfortable with the situation at the moment."

Stringer also elaborated on the boom in PlayStation 3 sales after Sony cut the price of its 80GB model by $100 and launched a 40GB model. Sony said last week that in the two weeks ending Nov. 11, more than 100,000 game consoles were sold; Stringer said he ultimately could see the PS3 becoming as big as the PlayStation 2, the most successful video game machine ever.

"The momentum shift and the energy behind PS3 in time for Christmas is extremely fortuitous," he said. "It was planned by the PlayStation group, but I think this momentum now -- particularly the number of games coming out, including our own as well as third-party -- is the same as it was with PlayStation 2."

Noting that "it takes time to build a new format," Stringer insisted that PS3 is "not behind the curve compared to PlayStation 2 in terms of momentum. The amount of bandwidth and the processing power of Cell give game manufacturers a lot more work to do to use this system to its full benefit -- and it's taken awhile to do it. The same was true of PlayStation 2."

He said Sony was waiting for the $399 price tag "to see if, indeed, the loyal PlayStation customers -- and there are 200 million of them who have PS2 -- (would) kick in, and clearly the value proposition has sent the message."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/...ef9b3771c93cf1
HW reporter sometimes has a spyware pop-up so be careful, thats why I posted the text here.

[flinx1241]

It was inevitable, to some extent, that he would either issue a statement or make another interview with something like this. Just kind of hard to see where his mind is really at on the issue... Still, it's nice to hear. Now, though, he needs to come up with some sort of push beyond "It'll all sort itself out..."

[HD Guru]

I think he's overestimating a little how many people have a PS2. Probably PSone plus PS2 = 200 million.

Thanks for posting the whole article - I thought it seemed a little short in the other thread.

For sure they're confident in Blu-ray - just about all the CE's are except Toshiba.

It's a shame they were so cocky about it at CES though, they should have waited until CES 2009 to make statements like HD DVD is dead, because by then it will be.

[JS1]

Originally Posted by spicynacho

"It isn't the cheaper format, but it is the better format," Stringer said.

He added that while HD DVD might have made inroads with price cuts on both hardware and software, Blu-ray hardware prices probably won't sink much below $400.

Originally Posted by spicynacho

He said Sony was waiting for the $399 price tag "to see if, indeed, the loyal PlayStation customers -- and there are 200 million of them who have PS2 -- (would) kick in, and clearly the value proposition has sent the message."

These quotes would scare the LIVING CRAP out of me if I was a Blu-Ray supporter. All he basically said is, "guys, $400 is the best we can do and we're going to wait to see how it plays out at that price level". THAT IS FRIGGIN' MARKET SUICIDE GIVEN WHAT HD DVD IS DOING RIGHT NOW. The chances of Blu-Ray winning if they stay at this price level and refuse to compete sub-$200 in the mainstream market segment (and soon) are precisely Z-E-R-O. This is literally first year economics, I'm not kidding. Basic, basic, basic stuff. These guys are cooked like Thanksgiving turkey if that's the best response they can come up with to HD DVD's recent moves... keep watching.

[Max]

Blu-ray News

In an exclusive interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Sir Howard Stringer, CEO of Sony, reaffirmed Sony's commitment to Blu-ray. Citing comments made by Blu-ray partners, he stressed that the technical superiority of Blu-ray makes it the "better format", and even mentioned possible future 3D implementations.

3D implementations?? That has to be another plus for BD!

[DueNorth]

They talked about it last year. Mitsubishi should be introducing a 3D Blu-Ray player early 2008.

http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9764622-1.html

"All the demo material had been shot in 3D, but the kicker to the whole presentation was that Mitsubishi apparently has a Blu-ray player in its labs that can convert existing 2D movies into 3D on the fly. Better yet, according to company representatives, it may be available early next year."

Hopefully there will be more demos available at CES 2008.

[HD Guru]

Originally Posted by JS1

These quotes would scare the LIVING CRAP out of me if I was a Blu-Ray supporter. All he basically said is, "guys, $400 is the best we can do and we're going to wait to see how it plays out at that price level". THAT IS FRIGGIN' MARKET SUICIDE GIVEN WHAT HD DVD IS DOING RIGHT NOW. The chances of Blu-Ray winning if they stay at this price level and refuse to compete sub-$200 in the mainstream market segment (and soon) are precisely Z-E-R-O. This is literally first year economics, I'm not kidding. Basic, basic, basic stuff. These guys are cooked like Thanksgiving turkey if that's the best response they can come up with to HD DVD's recent moves... keep watching.

That's why all DVD players are still $400.

Oh no they aren't!! Perhaps he doesn't mean $400 for all eternity, given that the Samsung BD-P1400 is $339 on Amazon new.

HD DVD's crappy 1080i players have been half the cost of Blu-ray all year and it hasn't won them a single week's sales - that would scare the crap out of me if I were an HD DVD supporter. What on Earth does HD DVD have to do to win a week in software?



Yup, sure scared the hell out of me didn't it?

[spicynacho]

Originally Posted by JS1

These quotes would scare the LIVING CRAP out of me if I was a Blu-Ray supporter. All he basically said is, "guys, $400 is the best we can do and we're going to wait to see how it plays out at that price level". THAT IS FRIGGIN' MARKET SUICIDE GIVEN WHAT HD DVD IS DOING RIGHT NOW. The chances of Blu-Ray winning if they stay at this price level and refuse to compete sub-$200 in the mainstream market segment (and soon) are precisely Z-E-R-O. This is literally first year economics, I'm not kidding. Basic, basic, basic stuff. These guys are cooked like Thanksgiving turkey if that's the best response they can come up with to HD DVD's recent moves... keep watching.

He can only speak for sony, other manufacturers can and have dropped prices.

[IceNine]

Originally Posted by Max

Blu-ray News

In an exclusive interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Sir Howard Stringer, CEO of Sony, reaffirmed Sony's commitment to Blu-ray. Citing comments made by Blu-ray partners, he stressed that the technical superiority of Blu-ray makes it the "better format", and even mentioned possible future 3D implementations.

3D implementations?? That has to be another plus for BD!

I can't wait for the 3D stuff!

I am getting the Mitsubishi WD73833 this week and it supports 3D, so I will be anxious to get some 3D Blu-Ray discs! I don't know if HD DVD is capable of 3D, but I have read that Blu-Ray will be able to do it... I don't know where I read it, so I could be wrong.

[Micker]

"Ultimately, if you're passionate about movies, which these DVD collectors are, Blu-ray is the best answer.

The only reason to buy hd dvd is player price, plain and simple. HD DVD has fewer studios, much smaller disc space, lower bandwidth, more fragile media etc.. People back hd dvd because they got into the HD market cheap, not because they are backing the best media. Bluray has future expansion potential, hd dvd is maxed out now.

[dolphinius_rex]

If there is any reason for HD DVD to not be able to handle the 3D technology, it would be the bandwidth limitations I would suspect. But more then that, I think it's just that the BDA has put $$$ into the research while Toshiba was spending all their money on dropping the price of their players to $100 for fire sales for a weekend (and you know, selling them below cost on a regular basis normally anyways).

[IceNine]

Originally Posted by dolphinius_rex

If there is any reason for HD DVD to not be able to handle the 3D technology, it would be the bandwidth limitations I would suspect. But more then that, I think it's just that the BDA has put $$$ into the research while Toshiba was spending all their money on dropping the price of their players to $100 for fire sales for a weekend (and you know, selling them below cost on a regular basis normally anyways).

From what I remember, it had something to do with the Blu-Ray implementation of picture-in-picture... where they have to send two full-resolution images with one scaled. There was some way that they could do multiple fields or some such.

Hopefully someone who knows about this can chime in, as I would love to see some good 3D.

[littlealex]

Originally Posted by DueNorth

Mitsubishi apparently has a Blu-ray player in its labs that can convert existing 2D movies into 3D on the fly.

Wow, faking some kind of stereo effect from 2D images, what a valuable service for a film lover. And of course there's no way on earth any HD-DVD player could ever achieve such an illusion.... blah... bandwidth... lossless audio... blah... zzzzzzzz

[IceNine]

Originally Posted by littlealex

Wow, faking some kind of stereo effect from 2D images, what a valuable service for a film lover. And of course there's no way on earth any HD-DVD player could ever achieve such an illusion.... blah... bandwidth... lossless audio... blah... zzzzzzzz

Some pretty neat stuff has been done by converting 2D to 3D. I have taken my son to see "The Nightmare Before Christmas" in 3D the last two years and it really looks like it was meant to be in 3D.

I am not saying that I would be interested in seeing ALL movies in 3D, but some movies certainly lend themselves to it.

With that said, I don't know how the intend to implement the 3D.

[chipvideo]

Originally Posted by littlealex

Wow, faking some kind of stereo effect from 2D images, what a valuable service for a film lover. And of course there's no way on earth any HD-DVD player could ever achieve such an illusion.... blah... bandwidth... lossless audio... blah... zzzzzzzz

So is this more like the upconversion dvd player crap. Heck my tv has a better scaler than any sony upconverter dvd player.

Lets see. Now its 3d. VAPERWEAR.

Gosh now we all have to get new tv's. The current hd tv's wont be enough. I think the bda is very clear. Lets make everyone rebuy their entire home theater so they can watch bd movies.

Lets just get past the first step before we go to 10th. So is 3d going to be in profile 25? Or are they going to rename the current ones again?

All Sony has now is TALK. They can't do anything and they know it. Its talk and no show again.