Blu-ray has officially launched!

[Spankey]

In perfect timing with today's release of the PS3, Discovery HD theater has been running a Blu-ray commercial in HD today. What are they selling with? Content!
Superman, Harry Potter, Pirates..the advertising is starting and will most likely be growing. The official launch starts now..

[KenThompson]

Pirates would be the biggest release to date. Did they mention a release date.

[Dave]

Great!
Now lets show to HD DVD zealots what we are capable of! Next gen optical format to smash them!

Go Blu-ray!

[theknub]

lol, they have amir and we have dave.

i wonder who'd win in a UFC match

[JTK]

How's this for mainstream?

In the latest issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, which is one of the most prominent mainstream videogame magazines with huge circulation...there were several huge one page BD ads in there all stating things along the lines of "Blu-Ray on PS3" and messages like that.

In contrast, there's exactly one, one page ad for the HD-DVD add on for the 360. It's all done in King Kong motif and, at least to my reading, it's not a very well written or compelling ad vs. the BD stuff.

BD has been kicking HD-DVD's ass for months on marketing, PR, and advertising, but I think we all knew that the PS3 would signal the other foot dropping.

And boy has it. I can't get away from BD stuff now if I try. I've seen ads on TV. Gaming magazines. Radio.

News articles about the PS3 launch have mentioned BD a million times in the same breath. It's EVERYWHERE now. BD and PS3 mentioned in one breath left and right.

Even during football games and pro wrestling, for crying out loud, I've heard the announcers read on air ads for it.

You know you're going to see it this weekend big time during the big OSU-Michigan college football game and the rest of it.

Michigan fans may be chanting "Go Blue!" today but I'm chanting "Go Blu!" all the way!

[Jim L]

I just received my copy of Widescreen Review yesterday.

There is a full-page ad by Fox advertising their new Blu-ray releases: X-3, KOH, and LXG. A few pages later there's another 2-page ad by the BDA advertising the format with color images from blockbuster films by Disney, Warner, Fox, and Sony Pictures. A few pages later is a 3-page fold-out ad by Sony advertising their new Blu-ray player (BDP-S1). (I guess they can't delay it anymore!) This ad shows Sony's commitment to Blu-ray for movies, gaming (PS3), PC (VAIO), electronics, and music.

This magazine's editors have been very pro HD-DVD in the past, but it seems they're at the point that they can't ignore the momentum building for Blu-ray. There are more letters to the editor printed that are pro Blu-ray and many more Blu-ray releases that they have to review. Their bias against Blu-ray still shows up in their PQ and SQ ratings, but I think they're still using the inferior Samsung player. Once the Pioneer, Panny, and Sony players are in more reviewers' hands we should see BD release scores start climbing (if the reviewer is not biased).

Frankly, I don't find much fault with the Blu-ray releases at all. I've been buying the higher rated movies that I'm interested in, but I think they all looked damned good on the Sammy. Now that I have the Panny I think they're even better and there is less noise in some sections of the movie.

[JTK]

^^ I got that same issue and I really feel like the tide is starting to turn even in the pages of WSR.

One thing that WSR is doing that annoys me is they continue to post BD disc reviews with these lower than necessary scores and then they'll make some vague allusion to "We don't know how much of this picture quality issue is due to the NR chip issue in the Samsung."

Look in that latest issue of WSR and look at those BD disc reviews. There isn't one in there that isn't taking a score hit and then doesn't have that Samsung disclaimer.

It's useless. How in the hell is it that WSR hasn't gotten firmware for their Samsung BD player yet?



I much prefer the way Home Theater Magazine is doing it: They simply refuse to put out final numbers until they have a fixed Samsung (at least) because they don't want to give premature and "inaccurate" information.



Except for some disc reviews and what not, I felt like I was seeing almost nothing but Blu related news and momentum and virtually none to speak of for HD-DVD. (Because there is no news for them.)


For me, the PS3 puts it in concrete this: HD-DVD is one of the biggest shams to ever happen in consumer electronics and here's why:

The PS3 comes out at $500-$600 and doesn't use any old laptop parts and yet somehow we have this blisteringly fast, almost no load time, silky smooth player that is glitch and error free unless you get a lemon.

I don't know how any person could use this PS3 for a little while and then tolerate going back to the clunky Toshiba HD-DVD players.

It's not even close. I owned an Xa1 for 6 weeks and believe me: This PS3 blows it out of the water in every respect.



I definitely agree with the title of this thread: This feel like BD has truly and fully launched. The rest of the high end standalone players coming out in the next few weeks will ice that over quite nicely, along with the Panasonic.

Even the fixed Samsung is a nice enough player, especially if they're going to drop the price down a bit.

Things are looking real good!

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by JTK

One thing that WSR is doing that annoys me is they continue to post BD disc reviews with these lower than necessary scores and then they'll make some vague allusion to "We don't know how much of this picture quality issue is due to the NR chip issue in the Samsung."

I don't know for sure, but print media usually work two months in advance. This is to ensure they got a good deal from their printers IE those volume printers that make the magazine. The closer to the date they print, the higher the cost.

So maybe WSR, even using the latest edition, had not yet had the firmware update two months ago. Maybe you'll see the full review on the next edition; hopefully they'll update all of their BD reviews then.


fuad

[JTK]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

I don't know for sure, but print media usually work two months in advance. This is to ensure they got a good deal from their printers IE those volume printers that make the magazine. The closer to the date they print, the higher the cost.

So maybe WSR, even using the latest edition, had not yet had the firmware update two months ago. Maybe you'll see the full review on the next edition; hopefully they'll update all of their BD reviews then.


fuad

True enough.