The Inquirer: Blu-ray = Greedy, DRM-infected technology

[Lucy Diamond]

"If you click on any of the options from the title menu, it pauses, you hear the disc seek, you wait, it loads, you wait more, and it decrypts, you wait a little more, and then the menu animates."

Uh...Holmes??? I have one of the slowest earliest BluRay players (the BDP-S301) and this doesn't happen.

What "hacked" homebrewed piece of steaming pile are you trying to test these things on???


Real people take chances in life and we, the people of the Blu World Order chose a side. That doesn't make anyone stupid or not stupid, because it is simply a choice of what to do with one's paycheck. Get over yourself.

The internet is a place for anyone to have an opinion...it's up to the individual to realize whether or not their opinion is important. In this case...doesn't effect me at all.

[SquidPuppet]

Very entertaining and informative article. The author is clearly qualified and quite knowledgable about the industry. I really believe that I made a mistake by supporting Blu-ray. I wish I had done more research before choosing a format. I can see now that I am an ignorant sheep.

[dadkins]

LOL!
Sony TV
Sony VCR(yeah VCR and it works great!)
Sony Walkmans(a couple)
Sony Headphones(several pair)
Sony VAIOs - 3(three)
This VAIO, the Original, First Blu-ray Laptop.

Sign me up as a Proud Sony customer... er uh, sheep.
Now, I think I'll go watch I, Robot Blu-ray again.

[Musashi]

Y'all sure the article wasn't sarcastic? That's the impression I got.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Musashi

Y'all sure the article wasn't sarcastic? That's the impression I got.

Hey...you are from New England...you are not supposed to say y'all.

[Musashi]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Hey...you are from New England...you are not supposed to say y'all.

'Course I'm from New England, but: "I talk how I wanna talk" - Wolverine, slightly paraphrased.

Yea, I say "y'all", and "wicked", and I say "again" like how Chris Jericho says it /a - GANE/.

[aross6]

Personally I think Blu sales are not where they should be due to the economic state of America coupled with consumer reservations. I mean, the first HDTVs went on sale in the United States in 1998 but only got extremely popular, I would approximate, around late 2004 and 2005. That's a 6-7 year buffer. Take into consideration that the first Blu-ray Disc titles weren't released until June 20, 2006, apply that same buffer (give or take a little), and we could expect Blu-ray popularity (popularity, not sales) to reach that of DVDs around 2010.

[SDon1969]

Originally Posted by Musashi

Yea, I say "y'all", and "wicked", and I say "again" like how Chris Jericho says it /a - GANE/.

I'm from NE myself, I like to throw people off by saying "I reckon" sometimes.

[CptGreedle]

If it is sarcasm, it is a little too real and too much like the other "Blu-ray is failing" reports.
If it is, I commend them for trying, and condemn them for messing it up.

[sjy1969]

Seriously, you don't need to read anything this clown writes. He takes irrational Sony hatred to a whole new level.

He can't get through an "article" without cranking out his usual "DRM Infection" and Rootkit obsessions.

[Chevypower]

We pay for piracy, so DRM is a good thing in my opinion. I hate region codes though. I should be allowed to watch my movies on any BD player, anywhere around the world.

[Bluoholic]

you don't take inquirer seriously, never ever EVER!

[TIki_Guy]

In general I agree about the DRM, but HD-DVD had that too, as does i-Tunes and tivo and my cable company. Everything has some kind of DRM now except things where the DRM has been broken, like Bit Torrents.

I agree the price thing is way out of wack in retail, There are movies now that are $13.99 on DVD sitting next to $34.99 Blu-Ray versions of the same movie. I look for deals and find them, but there are movies I'd get on Blu-Ray at $19.99 that I will not buy at $29.99 so I wait for used.

The thing that really bothers me about this artical is the "Slight advantage in picture quality" WTF!!!! 1920 X 1080 = 2,073,600 dots per frame vs 720 X 480 = 345,600 dots! That's not slight!

That's like saying a Two Million Dollar mansion is Slightly more expencive than a $340 thousand dollar house!

[raginranger]

Originally Posted by CassilineKnight

Where did he say the consumer is stupid?

I think he said some stupid people thought player sales would rise...

And he's right about DRM...

I'm not doing anything illegal but it does create a hassle for just average, everyday users.

And if you don't think sony is greedy thats your opinion. Others don't feel the same way.

Bluray needs to make some changes if it really wants to win the hearts and minds of most if not all consumers.

TROLL!

[mightypen]

DRM and BD-J?

When these are 2/3rds of an articles "points", you really know where they're coming from.

The problems are clearly 1. price (movies and players) 2. consumer ignorance on the benefits of upgrading 3. dearth of high profile released titles

End of story. The number of consumers who are even aware of what drm and bd-j are and will avoid the product accordingly is extremely minute.

[JasonS]

I like how he continually calls CRM an "infection." haha. The only thing I can see is that prices are still way to high for mass market. Hell even for some early adopters they are getting out of hand especially the way the economy is heading. I see on the home page Panasonic is introducing another player...priced at $700. Common give me a break.

[Neo65]

Originally Posted by aross6

Personally I think Blu sales are not where they should be due to the economic state of America coupled with consumer reservations. I mean, the first HDTVs went on sale in the United States in 1998 but only got extremely popular, I would approximate, around late 2004 and 2005. That's a 6-7 year buffer. Take into consideration that the first Blu-ray Disc titles weren't released until June 20, 2006, apply that same buffer (give or take a little), and we could expect Blu-ray popularity (popularity, not sales) to reach that of DVDs around 2010.

Everything else as a comparison is not valid. The best barometer is the BD : DVD sales. When economy is good, people buy MORE DVDs and BDs, when economy is bad, people buy LESS BDs and DVDs.

That ratio is the golden rule to check if BD sales are growing against DVDs, and everything we see today says that as a ratio against DVD, BD is significantly higher than last year, and the only weeks when it doesn't do well, is when some Paramount or Universal box office hit is released on DVDs. The high watermark was I am Legend, where we say 8 : 92 as the ratio.

[gandley]

the comment by SID was right on the money. OH snap that was me.

[Anthony P]

and some say the war is over

[dobyblue]

This guy is a raving HD DVD fanboy idiot, it shines through in EVERY sentence.

He's a complete tool, no doubt about it. Not only that, but he's totally misinformed about everything and probably hasn't paid his way in the world for a single day yet.

My comment on the article starts with:

Wow Charlie, you're about as informed on matters of technology as my fish!