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Ascended_Saiyan3 on 30 April 2009
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WereKitten said:
Squilliam said:

If DVD playback wasn't a priority due to the propunderance of cheap players then why would the same not apply to BRD playback? BRD players could easily be $50-$75 by the time the next generation consoles come out and the people who already use BRD's would already have a setup to take advantage of the format. Why would BR be any differenent in the future to how DVD is now?

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I'll only specify something about this one, as it's more properly on topic.

1) Once again, timeframe. BluRay players are unlikely to be as common and cheap as the DVD was, by the time the next generation specs are finalized.

2) BluRay players are much more complicated than DVD players, as i said. A quality, no-fuss specialized DVD player makes more sense because the hardware and software are relatively simple. You can have quality electronic and silicon, offering better image quality and postprocessing.

Network, HDD, interactive Java scripts, solid parallel performance. You have to duplicate all these console features in a BluRay player. Does it make as much sense to have such a player connected to you TV and to your home network and to your audio mixer in parallel with the console that performs the same functions on different media types?

It will probably be ok for people buying cheap BluRay players and that don't care about anything other than the tv stereo sound, or don't use the network features. But mid to high-range players make much less sense if you are also going to have a media hub/console to play all digital file formats, rip your CDs etc. Those hubs can potentially be among the best BluRay players, and more easily updated and upgraded to new standards.

Plus, price-wise, this potential hardware and software duplication means that a a BR-less console+BR player is poised to be quite less conveninet than an integrated setup, compared to a DVD-less console+DVD player vs integrated DVD playing.

Edit: btw, in the light of avoiding useless hardware duplication, MS could of course take the way in their next console of offering the BR/DVD optical reader as an add-on, and resort to flash/digital distribution as default. The issue at that point is between them and the publishers as to which format makes more sense because of size/cost/DRM. As I said, I think the timeframes and the network infrastructure progress are the critical factors here.

 

1. That's pure BS from people that pushed for HD DVD.  $99 BD players by this Christmas. Sore losers will be sore losers.

2. The only real differences are a blue laser instead of a red one, BD-Java software, faster SoC, more onboard RAM, and heavier encryption.