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Blu-ray/HD DVD... Who is winning? (Page 110)
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Addicted to MacNN
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Originally Posted by Weezer 
Wow, that's pretty much the exact thing I said that SWG told me was a load of crap...
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8 Core 2.8 ghz Mac Pro/GF8800/23" Cinema Display
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Originally Posted by Sound Advice: Blu-ray wins in format war, but at what cost?
A deal was nearly secured with Fox, which had been having trouble with Blu-ray disc production due to the lack of manufacturing infrastructure. At the 11th hour, Fox went to Sony with its concerns and received a reported $120 million payout to stay with Blu-ray.
So this guy is saying that Fox is blaming their title delays on the lack of Blu-ray manufacturing infrastructure? Funny how every studio other than Fox hasn't had any major issues releasing their titles on the announced release date. I still find the Fox rumor hard to believe, given how adamant they were about copy protection and region coding.
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Originally Posted by goMac
The 360 started turning a profit last year.
The division, not the hardware, right?
I'd be amazed if MS could make any profit on that box at its current price, but then I'd be amazed if that blogger is right and PS3 is already sold at cost.
I think that if that was true, then they'd slash the price another $50.
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Originally Posted by goMac
Wow, that's pretty much the exact thing I said that SWG told me was a load of crap...
But then again, this guy was an HD-DVD camper, so it might also be the same batch of sour grapes.
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Originally Posted by Helmling
The division, not the hardware, right?
I'd be amazed if MS could make any profit on that box at its current price, but then I'd be amazed if that blogger is right and PS3 is already sold at cost.
I think that if that was true, then they'd slash the price another $50.
Nope, the hardware turns a profit but the division is losing (and has never made) money.
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All glory to the hypnotoad.
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Originally Posted by Helmling
The division, not the hardware, right?
The division. It wouldn't surprise me if they were making money on the hardware though...
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Duh, I'm a little slow, but if they're making money on the hardware then what are they losing money on???
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I love the U.S., but we need some time apart.
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not all those who wander are lost
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Administrator  Join Date: Apr 2001
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Originally Posted by Shaddim
Hookers and blow, duh?
A Microsoft division? Hardly. Maybe mint condition Star Wars action figures and collectible cards... 
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Glenn ----- THANKS FOR ALL THE SUPPORT! But the fight isn't done; click the picture to donate!
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Originally Posted by mrtew
Duh, I'm a little slow, but if they're making money on the hardware then what are they losing money on???
It could possibly be the $1 billion warranty extension.
The hardware itself is sold for a profit, but that doesn't mean each console is making Microsoft a profit over the (short?) life of the console. 
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Originally Posted by mrtew
Duh, I'm a little slow, but if they're making money on the hardware then what are they losing money on???
There's more to the business than just the hardware. Things like Xbox Live, distribution costs, promotion costs, licensing and other things can really add up. And of course the warranty extension that jokell82 mentioned.
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Visit Denki News -- Macintosh and Video Game News and Commentary
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Originally Posted by icruise
There's more to the business than just the hardware. Things like Xbox Live, distribution costs, promotion costs, licensing and other things can really add up. And of course the warranty extension that jokell82 mentioned.
That makes no sense. Can someone explain it better please.
New subject regarding Blu-ray.... There's a lot of stuff on TV that is broadcast in HD but is not available on HD-DVD nor on Blu-Ray. How far off is the technology to capture this stuff and burn it onto Blu-ray? I'd like to see Battlestar Razor on HD for example and I guess some markets may see it in HD. I want a copy. Legalities aside, is it possible at this time to make Blu-rays of it?
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I love the U.S., but we need some time apart.
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Originally Posted by mrtew
That makes no sense. Can someone explain it better please.
New subject regarding Blu-ray.... There's a lot of stuff on TV that is broadcast in HD but is not available on HD-DVD nor on Blu-Ray. How far off is the technology to capture this stuff and burn it onto Blu-ray? I'd like to see Battlestar Razor on HD for example and I guess some markets may see it in HD. I want a copy. Legalities aside, is it possible at this time to make Blu-rays of it?
Explain it better? The XBox division has more costs than just the hardware. Those costs are greater than the money they currently make on the hardware. Therefor the division loses money.
And I know that you can do that with HD DVD, but I don't know about Blu-Ray.
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OK, imagine that you sell lemonade. The first day, you ended up wasting a lot of money on the lemonade because you bought lemons directly from the grocery store and you had to do some experimenting to get the recipe right. Each glass cost you $1 to make, even though the most you thought you could charge was $0.50. So you lost $0.50 for each glass you sold.
The next day, you found a cheap supplier of lemons and you knew what you were doing so you didn't waste any. You could make each glass for only $0.25 and sold them for $0.50. So now your business is in the clear, right?
Nope. You forgot that you still have to pay for wood that you used to build your lemonade stand, for the paper and crayons to make the signs advertising it, and you have to pay your little brother to run the stand while you are busy. So even though the product costs less than you are selling it for, you still end up losing money on the deal. It's the same idea with Microsoft and the Xbox.
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Originally Posted by icruise
There's more to the business than just the hardware. Things like Xbox Live, distribution costs, promotion costs, licensing and other things can really add up. And of course the warranty extension that jokell82 mentioned.
Geez, I shouldn't have asked! I didn't mean explain it like I'm an idiot, I mean better! I think promotion costs and distribution are costs that are figured into whether the hardware is making of profit. Licencing makes them money, it doesn't cost them. X-box live seems like it'd be pure profit. The warrantee issue only cropped up this year and that would be subtracted from the hardware profits as well. What other division of the x-box could be losing money if the x-box hardware itself is making money? P.S. I'm kinda looking for someone that knows... not random guesses or simplistic explanations of how a business works.
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I love the U.S., but we need some time apart.
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Originally Posted by mrtew
I think promotion costs and distribution are costs that are figured into whether the hardware is making of profit.
They're not. The only thing that factors into the hardware making a profit is if the component costs are less than the selling price. Nothing more.
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Originally Posted by mrtew
That makes no sense. Can someone explain it better please.
New subject regarding Blu-ray.... There's a lot of stuff on TV that is broadcast in HD but is not available on HD-DVD nor on Blu-Ray. How far off is the technology to capture this stuff and burn it onto Blu-ray? I'd like to see Battlestar Razor on HD for example and I guess some markets may see it in HD. I want a copy. Legalities aside, is it possible at this time to make Blu-rays of it?
It is not possible to make full-spec Blu-ray discs at home.
I'm no BD burning expert, but here is how I understand it. There are two main forms Blu-ray recording, BDAV and BDMV. BDMV is what you find on the discs you buy at stores, and they contain AACS DRM. BDAV is basically what you get when you burn AVCHD from camcorders onto recordable media.
The problem is that BDAV is not part of the mandatory Blu-ray specification, which means if you burn a BDAV disc, it won't play on some players. It should play on the PS3, but it won't work on some standalones, which effectively makes it useless IMHO.  So why not just burn BDMV? Cuz you can't. It requires AACS encryption. 
So, that's OK, just stick with BDAV, and buy a player that supports BDAV, right? Well, sorta, but you can't trade discs with some other BD owners, cuz the discs may not work. Furthermore, BDAV has extremely limited menu support. Super stripped down support, with less complexity allowed than even just DVD.
In other words, Blu-ray disc burning for home movie use is a complete disaster as it stands today. This is a huge problem IMO, unless things change.
In contrast, you can make HD DVDs of that stuff just fine, and they'll work on any standalone HD DVD player. In fact, you can even burn it to DVD-R and it will still work fine in any standalone HD DVD players.
EDIT:
This is not entirely correct (but is mostly correct). See my post below.
(Last edited by Eug; Jan 13, 2008 at 12:39 AM
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