[starman]

Originally Posted by goMac 

I know, and I don't feel either format is currently consumer ready.

How the hell is a disc format not "consumer ready"?

Seriously, your logic just befuddles me sometimes, or you just don't use the correct words to express what it is you're really saying.

[jokell82]

Originally Posted by starman 

How the hell is a disc format not "consumer ready"?

Seriously, your logic just befuddles me sometimes, or you just don't use the correct words to express what it is you're really saying.

While I don't necessarily agree with him, how hard is it to understand that constantly updating firmware/specs can mean the hardware is not consumer ready??

[starman]

Originally Posted by jokell82 

While I don't necessarily agree with him, how hard is it to understand that constantly updating firmware/specs can mean the hardware is not consumer ready??

How "constantly" does this happen? My TiVo updates itself more than a BR player ever will and it's all done in the background, transparently.

[jokell82]

Originally Posted by starman 

How "constantly" does this happen? My TiVo updates itself more than a BR player ever will and it's all done in the background, transparently.

Somehow I knew you'd latch on to that part of the statement that has nothing to do with the point.

But let me know the next time your BD or HD DVD player updates itself in the background transparently.

[starman]

Originally Posted by jokell82 

Somehow I knew you'd latch on to that part of the statement that has nothing to do with the point.

But let me know the next time your BD or HD DVD player updates itself in the background transparently.

I <3 my PS3. It just gently tells me it needs a firmware update. Oh, the cool thing is that it doesn't affect PLAYING MOVIES.

Just letting you know.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES 

Blu-ray is smokin' hot; HD formats outpacing DVD

Paul Erickson, DisplaySearch director of DVD and HD Market Research, told Video Business that the competition has resulted in price drops coming at previously unseen speeds. The result has been an explosion of sales that puts the next-gen players ahead of DVD, if you compare their first couple of years. "There is a much larger spike at the end of the year for next-generation DVD due to strong performances by both formats for November and December, as well as heavy competition-driven promotions for both Black Friday and the December holiday season," Erickson said.

Be that as it may, $300 for a Blu-ray player is still too rich for many. Depending on which models you focus on, Blu-ray players dropped an average of 40 percent in price over the year. Now that Blu-ray has a commanding lead among the studios, you might think that a decline in player pricing will slow. The Blu-ray Disc Association has every reason to keep the momentum going, however, even if HD DVD were vanquished tomorrow. Blu-ray still need to compete with both standard DVD and download services.

I paid $299 US for a DVD player in the very first year of DVD's release in North America.

[jokell82]

Originally Posted by starman 

I <3 my PS3. It just gently tells me it needs a firmware update. Oh, the cool thing is that it doesn't affect PLAYING MOVIES.

Just letting you know.

Ah gotcha - so still not a background process though? Cool beans.

And the PS3 is the *only* player that works that way.

[starman]

Can you name ANY product that does a firmware update in the background? It's a FIRMWARE update.

EDIT: Correction: any machine COULD do it in the background if it stored the firmware for later installation. The PS3 might actually do that.

[jokell82]

Originally Posted by starman 

Can you name ANY product that does a firmware update in the background? It's a FIRMWARE update.

EDIT: Correction: any machine COULD do it in the background if it stored the firmware for later installation. The PS3 might actually do that.

Like you said - Tivos and cable boxes do it. But they're online all the time as soon as you plug them into the cable, so it's not like you need to set them up. And they typically do their updates very early in the morning when statistically less people are using them.

The point as I understood it was that hunting down firmware on a website or enabling your device on a network and remembering to check for firmware updates is not normal for consumer electronics devices and therefor not "consumer ready". I don't think it's that far of a reach. However for systems like the PS3 and Xbox 360 they're going to be setup for online access anyway, due to the online gaming that is done on them, so it's a bit easier for those updates to propagate (plus most times those updates are forced if you want to actually play the games).

[starman]

Just because it's new doesn't mean it's not something that's going to latch on in the near future. As it is, lots of devices are starting to require phone lines/internet nowadays. Even VCRs with their clocks were new at some point, now they're the norm.

[jokell82]

Originally Posted by starman 

Just because it's new doesn't mean it's not something that's going to latch on in the near future. As it is, lots of devices are starting to require phone lines/internet nowadays. Even VCRs with their clocks were new at some point, now they're the norm.

And if these devices had built in Wifi and automatically checked for updates I would agree. But I would think that the majority of people do not have ethernet connections in their living rooms with their home theater equipment, so having an ethernet jack probably doesn't help them. And the number of people that would hunt around for firmware online is equally low.

If you don't make it easy it won't get done.

[analogue SPRINKLES]

A Microsoft/Blu-ray partnership? 'You never say never' :: DESTRUCTOID - Hardcore Gamer Community :: Video Games PC PlayStation 2 Xbox 360 Wii PS3 GameCube PSP DS GBA PS2 PlayStation 3

HD Format Wars: Woolworths Drops HD-DVD, Praises PS3
Hmm, right at the 3 month mark like I guessed the day of that warner announcement.


Gartner: Blu-ray to win in 2008, HD DVD price cuts are "useless resistance" - Engadget

[Dakar the Fourth]

Woolworths? ahahahahahaha

[analogue SPRINKLES]

Originally Posted by Dakar the Fourth 

Woolworths? ahahahahahaha

I think the laughing is for HD-DVD if woolworths doesn't even think they are worthy.

[PaperNotes]

HD-DVD ain't woolworth sh!t!

[starman]

Originally Posted by Dakar the Fourth 

Woolworths? ahahahahahaha

They're big in Europe still.

[Dakar the Fourth]

Europe? ahahahahahaha
just kidding euros