# Even Blu-Ray backers are ditching Sony?



## cnmsales (Jan 9, 2007)

http://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=43967


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## old7 (Dec 1, 2005)

cnmsales said:


> http://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=43967


I doubt that they are ditching Sony. They might be going format neutral, but I don't see Disney dropping Sony just yet.


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## budeone (Aug 19, 2007)

I have the first Sony and I just hate it. The player is fine when it starts going , but what a wait. The menu is terrible. I just bought a HD-30 and I love it. 

I use both, it just depends on what Netflix sends me.


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## cnmsales (Jan 9, 2007)

budeone, turn yer PM's on you cracker. I cant PM you back cause you wont ALLOW it. LOL


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## Snoofie (May 29, 2003)

Good news for HD-DVD owners. Most of the movies I want that are Blu Ray exlusives are Disney movies. That is the only reason I would even consider getting Blu Ray, if the players drop in price, would be to get Disney movies. If they go HD-DVD, then I won't ever buy Blu Ray.


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

Don't know if it's true or not but a post over at AVS said that Disney's been voting to changes to the HD-DVD specs for years, this isn't any really new and nothing should be read into it. Take it for what it's worth.


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## Carl Spock (Sep 3, 2004)

I'd have to agree. Going back to the source of the story on X-bit, I kept saying to myself, _the vote was in the Steering Committee for what?_ It turns out it's the Steering Committee for the DVD Forum, which is the industry group of pretty much all DVD hardware and software manufacturers.

This is a technical decision, not a marketing one. But what a great way for Disney to send a message to Sony and other hardware manufacturers. If I was Sony, I'd be coming up with a way to sell a $200 player by spring.


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## Sirshagg (Dec 30, 2006)

ggergm said:


> If I was Sony, I'd be coming up with a way to sell a $200 player by spring.


And if I were them I'd have figured out how to do it for xmas 2007.


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## elaclair (Jun 18, 2004)

One thing about the 51Gb triple-layer format...it's currently not compatible with the existing HD-DVD players. So unless Toshiba has a magic firmware update up their sleeves, if you want to play the 51G disc, you have to replace your existing hardware.

Anyone else find it slightly amusing that it's 51 gig? Reminds me of the old cigarette commercials from the 60's with the 101mm brand......"Just a silly millimeter longer"........


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## elaclair (Jun 18, 2004)

budeone said:


> I have the first Sony and I just hate it. The player is fine when it starts going , but what a wait. The menu is terrible. I just bought a HD-30 and I love it.
> 
> I use both, it just depends on what Netflix sends me.


If you haven't updated the firmware on your Sony, you may be missing out on a lot of improvements in both load speed and menu "cleanliness". The first offerings of players from BOTH sides of the camp were a little rough around the edges when first released but have improved immensely (except for the HD-A2 which is STILL a little rough......)

Kind of like my HR-20.....kinda POSish at first, but is now a pretty stellar performer.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

elaclair said:


> One thing about the 51Gb triple-layer format...it's currently not compatible with the existing HD-DVD players. So unless Toshiba has a magic firmware update up their sleeves, if you want to play the 51G disc, you have to replace your existing hardware.


You can't possibly say this with any kind of factual backing. At this point there are no 51GB HD DVDs being manufactured for consumers nor are there any HD DVD players advertised as playing them. It is all "contained" within a test bed somewhere, while they have been working to approve the process and final spec on the media.

There has been no announcement one way or the other from Toshiba on support for the new media type with current players.

Logic says, however, that they would not have approved this unless it could work all the way back to the generation 1 players. Otherwise, there is no point in trying to approve it at all because there are no players that it would be compatible with if not fully backwards compatible with existing players.

But the bottom line is, you cannot say with any factual backing that they will not play as there is no evidence to support that statement.


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## elaclair (Jun 18, 2004)

HDMe said:


> You can't possibly say this with any kind of factual backing. At this point there are no 51GB HD DVDs being manufactured for consumers nor are there any HD DVD players advertised as playing them. It is all "contained" within a test bed somewhere, while they have been working to approve the process and final spec on the media.
> 
> There has been no announcement one way or the other from Toshiba on support for the new media type with current players.
> 
> ...


Perhaps not with empirical test data since no discs have been produced for general testing, but the following quote from the forum minutes is pretty compelling....

"The new disc adds a high-end option to the previous HD DVD-ROM disc lineup that includes the 15GB (single-layer, single-sided) and 30GB (dual-layer, single-sided). Commercialization of the 51GB HD DVD-ROm disc could definitely be a strong weapon for the HD DVD format against Sony's Blu-Ray, which currently offers a maximum of 50GB of storage capacity with 2-layer discs. *However, the new HD DVD-ROM discs may not be copmatible with the first generaation HD DVD players, since their triple-layer nature could require the use of spherical aberration compensation techniques for reading, a feature that is not currently supported by the HD DVD hardware.* The DVD Forum's representatives said that the issue is still under study."

The reality is I guess we should take a wait and see posture.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Your quote from the DVD forum of "may not be compatible" is world's different than your initial post stating that it definately was not compatible.

To be fair though... my expectations are that the current 3rd generation players should work fine with them as those are likely what has been used to test the prototype media. Otherwise they would have had to design a new test bed simultaneous to finalizing the 3rd generation players, and that makes no sense.

Could be a situation where 1st gen has problems, 2nd gen has less problems, and 3rd gen + are fine. We won't really know anything until they go final and start pressing some discs for commercial use.

On the plus side, there hasn't been any movie released thus far that needed the extra space.


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## elaclair (Jun 18, 2004)

HDMe said:


> Your quote from the DVD forum of "may not be compatible" is world's different than your initial post stating that it definately was not compatible.
> 
> To be fair though... my expectations are that the current 3rd generation players should work fine with them as those are likely what has been used to test the prototype media. Otherwise they would have had to design a new test bed simultaneous to finalizing the 3rd generation players, and that makes no sense.
> 
> ...


They've been working on the TL51 spec. since at least early Sept. so I would expect the second gen. units to work as well...might need a firmware update though.

It's always us early adopters that end up with those really neat shiny door stops. 

On the needing the space side, I'd read that there was one that would have potentially needed additional space (again just for the extras not the movie) if they wanted to match it's BD counterpart. It was a Paramount release that was in the works when they dropped BD. But as has been stated by many, just put the extras on another disc and not worry about it.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

elaclair said:


> On the needing the space side, I'd read that there was one that would have potentially needed additional space (again just for the extras not the movie) if they wanted to match it's BD counterpart. It was a Paramount release that was in the works when they dropped BD. But as has been stated by many, just put the extras on another disc and not worry about it.


It could be nice, for instance, to have Lord of the Rings (extended versions) or older movies like the Ten Commandments be contained on one disc... and those I could see needing close to the 51GB space to contain.

As for extras, I agree.. If there's ever a space need, just chunk those to another disc. I honestly don't get around to most extras anymore anyway as I have so many movies I want to watch I usually skip extras except for gag reels and sometimes hit the deleted scenes if I really enjoyed the movie.


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## elaclair (Jun 18, 2004)

HDMe said:


> It could be nice, for instance, to have Lord of the Rings (extended versions) or older movies like the Ten Commandments be contained on one disc... and those I could see needing close to the 51GB space to contain.
> 
> As for extras, I agree.. If there's ever a space need, just chunk those to another disc. I honestly don't get around to most extras anymore anyway as I have so many movies I want to watch I usually skip extras except for gag reels and sometimes hit the deleted scenes if I really enjoyed the movie.


That brings up a good point.. Seemless branching of alternate endings, deleted scenes,alternate views and such could also create the need for more space on a single disc.


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