more FUD

[saprano]

This guy needs to stop smoking crystal meth, and get his mind strait. are you blu all the way or not? stop fu$% with us:

While Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says Blu-ray will be supported on Windows, he also sees Blu-ray as transitory with Internet downloads the future. And Sony says Blu-ray prices will be controlled with a slow drop and no Blu-ray licenses for Chinese manufacturers. Analysts expect consumers to stick with DVDs rather than rush to Blu-ray.

And F@#ck everybody who doesin't believe in Blu-ray.

The high-definition DVD format war has been officially over since mid-February, when HD-DVD backer Toshiba threw in the towel. While studios and hardware manufacturers are adapting to the triumphant Blu-ray format, its victory could be short.
Transitory and Price Resistance

Microsoft has moved into the acceptance phase with a recent acknowledgment by CEO Steve Ballmer that its Windows operating system will support Blu-ray. The software giant said last month that it would stop manufacturing HD-DVD players for its Xbox 360. But Ballmer also told reporters that he considers a high-definition format a transitional medium, because eventually more high-definition content will be delivered over the Internet than by discs.

In addition, for a Blu-ray victory to endure, prices for players need to fall. Last week Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow said prices for Blu-ray players would drop slowly. Sony's players are now upwards of $400, but Glasgow predicted prices under $300 by Christmas and under $200 by the end of next year. Other Blu-ray player manufacturers, such as Sharp and Samsung, are also expected to lower prices.

But Glasgow told The New York Times that the Blu-ray Association would try to avoid the extremely low prices that hit DVD players by not licensing the standard to Chinese manufacturers. He indicated there will be made-in-China players, but not soon.

DVDs Will Endure

As for the discs themselves, prices are beginning to fall. Amazon and other retailers are reportedly pricing some Blu-ray movies under $15. Some observers are predicting Blu-ray discs below $10 within a few months.

But the big question is whether consumers will buy the format. Paul Jackson, an analyst with industry research firm Forrester, said numbers are not yet out, although he added that anecdotal reports indicate consumers are beginning to move toward Blu-ray.

Yankee Group's Josh Martin noted that about 35 to 40 percent of American households have high-definition TVs, a significant rate of adoption but smaller than the installed base for DVD.

The comparison to DVD adoption is inevitable, although both analysts point to other differences. Jackson noted that the existence of enhanced DVDs and TV sets means that, for some consumers, there isn't the same need to upgrade as there was when consumers went from VHS to DVD.

Jackson agreed that the future for high-definition content is delivery by high-speed Internet, but he added that a super-high-definition format may emerge before discs decline as a distribution medium.

Martin said regular DVDs will remain as a format for some time, since its installed base is so large. He also predicted there might be a super format, perhaps using holographic technology.

But he added that it would be best for the industry if any new format doesn't arrive for at least five, maybe 10, years because of "consumer exhaustion."

http://www.newsfactor.com/news/Blu-r...d=030003EKRSR6