CES Observations

[phloyd]

I wasn't sure where to put this but I wanted a thread that contained my (and potentially others) CES observations.

These are real pictures from the show and environs

This one I thought was funny - please forgive my crappy phone camera.

This is Fry's in Las Vegas... the BD rack has been raped. Notice how nicely stocked the HD DVD rack is!

Looks like lots of people have been buying up BDs for demos. The rack was quite a bit fuller earlier in the day... Now there are only forward facing titles 1 or 2 deep ... many titles sold out... heheh.

Have fun and I hope to get to the show floor tomorrow and get more interesting pix... with a real camera and all

[Alex Pallas]

whenever i go to b.b. its the same way, i used to think that they just stocked more hd

[ProvenFlipper]

I went to Fry's in San Diego, Ca yesterday and its the same way. BD section is all picked over and they are out of stock on many titles. My Best Buy is the same too. Titles all in disarray, while the HD-DVD section looks nice and full.

[WriteSimply]

Here's another interesting observation. I use Google News daily. http://news.google.com

Now, Toshiba and the HD-DVD camp had basically made their big splash already. So if you look up HD-DVD on Google news, you'd see that it's the same ol' story rehashed by different websites.

But if you search for Blu-ray on Google News, more announcements are coming in. They are really coming in!

Lots of CEs and lots of studio support equals greater coverage during CES.

EDIT: By the way, those PS3 owners who are not keen on trying BD out is going to get an eyeful as to how hotly debated BD is during this year's CES. So I think more rentals and sales are going to BD way this week.


fuad

[jsb_hburg]

I suppose this should go here...

From BDA presser from CES website
http://www.virtualpressoffice.com/CE...=1168286129862

Consumers Overwhelmingly Choose “Blu”
Over One Million Blu-ray Players Shipped in the U.S. in 2006; Blu-ray Becomes the Clear Leader in HD Entertainment

Las Vegas, NV– January 8, 2007 – The Blu-ray Disc Association today declared its victory as the premiere high definition DVD format of choice. Debuted to the U.S. market in June 2006, over 25 companies have released Blu-ray Disc products to date, including players, recorders, high-definition computer drives, recordable media, PC applications, and announced almost 170 movie and music titles.

Driving demand for high definition content, more than one million Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) units, each featuring a Blu-ray Disc drive, were shipped to the United States in 2006, from launch through the end of the year, as reported by Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA). Demand for PS3 has been extremely high, and according to a recent SCEA survey of over 10,000 PS3 owners, 80 percent indicated they will buy Blu-ray movies and 75 percent said they use the PS3 as a primary device for viewing movies.

“The success of Blu-ray Disc is unprecedented,” said Andy Parsons, chair of the U.S. Promotions Committee for the Blu-ray Disc Association. “With unmatched cross-industry support, including seven of the eight major Hollywood studios and two biggest players in the music industry, consumers have voted with their wallets for the format that offers the widest array of hardware and content on the market. The road ahead in 2007 looks even brighter as we introduce Blu-ray Disc to Europe and as even more consumers migrate to HDTVs.”

[theknub]

“The success of Blu-ray Disc is unprecedented,” said Andy Parsons, chair of the U.S. Promotions Committee for the Blu-ray Disc Association. “With unmatched cross-industry support, including seven of the eight major Hollywood studios and two biggest players in the music industry, consumers have voted with their wallets for the format that offers the widest array of hardware and content on the market. The road ahead in 2007 looks even brighter as we introduce Blu-ray Disc to Europe and as even more consumers migrate to HDTVs.”

this is almost sig worthy...

[jsb_hburg]

And one more from the Sony Movie Release Presser...
http://www.virtualpressoffice.com/co...=1168062395430

“With software sales up 700 percent since the mid-November launch of Playstation 3 and other Blu-ray hardware from manufacturers, the market is poised for maximum impact blockbusters like Casino Royale,” said David Bishop, President, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. “We’re proud to be the first to deliver Bond on Blu-ray with the best picture and sound quality available today. This is just the tip of the iceberg for Blu-ray in 2007.”

[phloyd]

Heheh.

Sadly nothing new for today since I spent the day setting up our demo.

It is a 1080p projector (LCoS) connected to a PS3.

We demo Ridge Racer 7, GT HD as well as Ice Age, Transporter 2 and other BDs. The image is 91 inches which is nice and big and shows off the 1080p path really nicely.

Have fun! Tomorrow I should make the exhibition floor.

Cheers!

[Knight-Errant]

Wish I was there guys. This is great stuff.

[phloyd]

A few quick observations from today...

Pioneer was demonstrating a Bluray playback only drive with DVD/CD burning capability.

Samsung was demonstrating they Bluray on big screens - the film clip was from Batman Begins!

Another vendor which I don't recall was also demonstrating Batman Begins on Bluray disc (only clips though that I could see).

Samsung specifically had 'coming soon to Bluray' at the end of the trailer.

At the BDA there are demonstrations from all of the BD studios as well as players from Panasonic, Samsung (the new one), Hitachi, Sharp, Sony, Pioneer, Philips, etc.

The new Samsung is interesting - HDMI 1.3, and HQV scaling (so it sounds a lot like the XA2 mmm?). It is a SoC device that apparently uses Sonic core software routines.

That is about all that I can think of for now. I will post more info if I think of anything else...

[phloyd]

I also heard today two interesting things about HDi.

Firstly it is the reason that HD DVD players cannot be SoC currently.

Secondly it is the reason that frame forward and resume from stop does not work.

I am not sure about the second claim but it would be interesting if true.

Of course the JTK ridiculed 'glorified laptop' approach would seem to be necessary if #1 is true.

Microsoft has a lot to answer for... aside from the FUD and lies

No wonder Intel is so bullish on the product...

[phloyd]

One last thing I forgot to mention.

There is a pod at the BDA booth promoting retail support.

They are promoting the website and have ways for any BD retailers to order promotional materials off the website (for free I assume) to have in the store.

They have training for retail staff and many other things that a retailer might like to take advantage of for the promotion of Bluray disc. I thought this was an interesting move.

[JTK]

I wonder if there will end up being any kind of potential BD upgrade or connectivity options for Apple's new "I-phone?"

I'd certainly like to see Apple start getting a little more aggressive with its "Blu-ishness."

[phloyd]

While it was not huge by any means, I did talk to people about the 8cm mini sized media.

The Maxell version of the 8cm disc is marked with a 7.5 GB capacity.

The TDK guy was not showing the 8cm media but iirc he said that it would be 7.8 GB capacity.

So there is your ballpark.

It is also worth noting that the wall of media looks pretty good for BD with many big names showing media.

Aside from Memorex who are retailing HD DVD media, I saw HD DVD media at Maxell including RW discs (that will not be supported by the first writers).

I also gave TDK a hard time about not selling printable media and he showed me the printable media on the wall of media. The 100GB disc was also showing on that wall. So it looks like we might see that released this year...???

[phloyd]

This was one of the few 'new' movies on the Bu-ray wall...

[Rio]

Originally Posted by phloyd

This was one of the few 'new' movies on the Bu-ray wall...

Demo clip looked amazingly good! (AVC encoded)

[phloyd]

The Show is done, and I can't think of anything new to add currently.

However I have some more pictures to show. Enjoy (and Deci use as many as you need).

[sakidd1]

Blu Ray is looking real picked over at the Target next to my house. I was wondering if there was some supply problem because HD DVD section is always completely stocked!

[GasCat]

Originally Posted by phloyd

Firstly it is the reason that HD DVD players cannot be SoC currently.

Thanks for the pics. It was great to see what is going on there. The last time I went to Best Buy it was very lean on titles. There were holes where movies once were and only one copy left of several movies.

What is SoC?

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by GasCat

Thanks for the pics. It was great to see what is going on there. The last time I went to Best Buy it was very lean on titles. There were holes where movies once were and only one copy left of several movies.

What is SoC?

System-on-chip.