BluRay in PS3 was Win/Win for Sony

[LordTheNightKnight]

Final-Fan said:
04/18/2007
HD DVD - 100k in USA
Blu-ray - 1050k PS3s, 25k stand-alone players in USA
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070418-dedicated-hd-dvd-players-outsell-blu-ray-counterparts.html

07/26/2007
HD DVD - 300k in USA (half of which are 360 add-ons)
Blu-ray - 1400k PS3s, 100k stand-alone players in USA
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9750763-7.html
http://www.news.com/2300-1041_3-6199134-1.html

(Note: apparently HD DVD was more popular on the other side of the pond, but then again so was the PS3.)

Say all you like about the studios LtNK,

Just what I say? Were you here when Warnder went Blu-Ray exclusive?

but there is no denying that the PS3 having Blu-ray was a MASSIVE boost to the install base, 

Why are you implying I did deny that? The PS3 has a drive, therefore it technically increases the instal base.

and a lot of the people who suddenly found themselves with a Blu-ray player probably went out and got one just for the hell of it,

"a lot" would be better served by hard statistics. I'm not saying zero people did, but the only hard data we have is half of US PS3 owners were even aware of the drive.

even if they had SDTVs.

Again, there were likely some, but this is a big assumption.

93% of the Blu-ray player install base as of July was PS3s.

Again, half even knew it was a player, and we don't know how many actually used it for that.

We can assume about almost every stand-alone Blu-Ray purchase was because of people who knew, and would buy those movies (although even then I won't say 100%).

Sure, most of those people didn't use it as such; sure, some of those who did would have bought a standalone player if the PS3 wasn't available. But there were enough who became Blu-ray buyers because of the PS3 they bought to make a big difference.

The difference was to hold off HD-DVD. I have NOT denied that. What I am arguing is what caused Toshiba to discontinue HD-DVD. Keeping a racer behind is not the same as causing them to drop out.

That's not to say that it was SUCH a big difference that it dwarfs all the things you mention. (For instance, I notice that (in the US) HD DVD only managed to sell 50 thousand non-360 players in the time that Blu-ray sold 75 thousand stand-alone players.) But the PS3's contribution is also not dwarfed BY those other things.

Let me repeat that. The PS3 held off HD-DVD. I have NOT denied that. What I am arguing is what caused Toshiba to discontinue HD-DVD. Keeping a racer behind is not the same as causing them to drop out.