@MikeB

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MikeB wrote: @Lou Terra Soft will start selling PS3 with YDL pre-installed for an additional 50 dollars in March/April. (Optional HDMI cable, 3-button mouse and keyboard) http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com/store/index.php?submit=hardware&submiting[hardware][sony]=1

So is that who you work for?

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The PS3 is by far the cheapest Cell development platform available.

When considering other Cell-based platforms, yes. When considering other PPC-based platforms, no.

Last edited by Lou on 02-Feb-2007 at 03:50 PM.
Last edited by Lou on 02-Feb-2007 at 03:50 PM.

@BigD

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Sounds like the future!!!! Do they sell their wares in the UK?

You'll probably want the PAL version, games are not region locked (for example some people in the US are buying Japanese versions), but Blu-ray movies are.

@MikeB

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You'll probably want the PAL version, games are not region locked (for example some people in the US are buying Japanese versions), but Blu-ray movies are.

Agreed. Will 'Terra Soft' sell the PAL PS3 with Linux pack to the UK or allow UK stockists to do the same? Basically do 'Terra Soft' or its partners operate in the UK?

_________________
"Art challenges technology. Technology inspires the art."
John Lasseter, Co-Founder of Pixar Animation Studios

@Lou

I have my own company. I am ready to work with potential partners.

@BigD

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Basically do 'Terra Soft' or its partners operate in the UK?

Probably things will become clear around the time of the European launch.

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jtsiren wrote: I still think, globally, a lot depends on the stamina of the HD-DVD parties and their ability to capture enough markets and market segments (again, globally) to stay. They don't need to win it all to stay (even more so if hybrid discs and players someday do become commodity).

They havent shown any stamina yet, I'm not sure why you think they are going to somehow gain some now when they are getting beat pretty bad. Only one major studio is HD-DVD only and Peter Jackson and other directors are pushing pretty hard to get them to release Blu_Ray as well because its selling better then HD-DVD.
If you no longer have an exclusive studio, its over, because if you can get every movie on one format and only 30% on the other, the format you can get every movie on wins.

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We still have both DVD-Audio and SACD around, no matter how poorly those have done.

PS3 doesnt need to kill them, iPod killed them already. Apple is the #4 seller of music now, and may catch Best Buy this year. I'm not sure I have ever seen either format you are talking about.

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If HD-DVD doesn't attend CES next year like you predict (well, that's easy to check come next year), it will likely be because some its backers got cold feet, I don't think it is because the emerging market couldn't sustain them for the year...

HD-DVD section is alot of companies, most of them will be there next year, just not talking about HD-DVD. Noone is making money on the players, they can make more from a Blu-Ray version of a movie then an HD-DVD, so why exactly hang around when you can go make more money on the other side.

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HD-DVD stand-alones still outsell BD stand-alones

That really doesnt matter, both standalones make up such a small part of the total player count. Blu-Ray movies are outselling HD-DVD movies. If you are making both formats, thats going to make you think about why create two when you sell 2 or 3x more of the one format. If you are Universal and your movies constantly arent listed in the top 10 HD movies because you ship HD-DVD only its going to cause as issue. When Microsoft starts shipping the Blu-Ray XBOX360 drive, its really going to be over because we'll see over 75% drop in unit sales for HD-DVD.

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so those players are going somewhere and those people are buying movies to watch.

The number of players is so small its in the noise region. Xbox360's with the $200 drive are over 75% of HD-DVD players.
-Tig

_________________
We played the first thing that came to our heads, it just happened to be the best song in the world.

@Mr.Spackles

If I bought one, I'd have a Blu_Ray player. I and most videographers like the additional space of Blu-Ray as well. However I always think its funny when someone does something like this. Sony sold a unit, if you want to use it as a boat anchor, BBQ grill or shotgun target, they dont really care that much. Blu-Ray disks are outselling HD-DVD disks significantly, Blu-Ray players are outselling HD-DVD players significantly and have a much larger installed base, and there are more Blu-Ray titles and more Blu-Ray only studios then HD-DVD so can you explain why you think HD-DVD is going to win, or do you just feel a need to lick your finger?
-Tig

_________________
We played the first thing that came to our heads, it just happened to be the best song in the world.

@Tigger

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However I always think its funny when someone does something like this. Sony sold a unit, if you want to use it as a boat anchor, BBQ grill or shotgun target, they dont really care that much.

The PS3 grill is an old joke, someone did turn one into the real thing though (in Mr.spackles pic). They didn't destroy the insides though, they still have a caseless PS3 sitting around somewhere - and a wad of cash after they sold the grill.

_________________
Whyzzat?

@Tigger

It's true that at the moment blu-ray is outselling HD-DVD. It's not by such a huge margin yet that all is lost for the HD-DVD camp.

Remember that the UMD format initially did quite well while there were no good games for PSP.

It's different, yes, but we may see a bit of the same.

I'm sure another reason for better bluray sales have been the releases of a few big titles (as well as pre-orders), but since Universal are going to push 100 titles out over the year on HD-DVD I'm guessing we'll be seeing better HD-DVD sales - especially once the HD-DVD add-on for 360 launches in more countries.

Yeah, Blu-ray may win, but it ain't over yet no matter how much you preach it

@minator

There are many empthy PS3 cases for display purposes at shops, I think most likely they used those.

@Trezzer

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It's true that at the moment blu-ray is outselling HD-DVD. It's not by such a huge margin yet that all is lost for the HD-DVD camp.

Its a pretty big margin if we are talking disks, is an even larger margin if we are talking players, and the numbers are growing.

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Remember that the UMD format initially did quite well while there were no good games for PSP.

I'm not sure what you think the point is above, and I know you dont want to compare UMD sales to HD-DVD. No HD-DVD title has sold 100K units or even 50K units, and the UMD used to do that with everything, and its a failed format.

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I'm sure another reason for better bluray sales have been the releases of a few big titles (as well as pre-orders), but since Universal are going to push 100 titles out over the year on HD-DVD I'm guessing we'll be seeing better HD-DVD sales - especially once the HD-DVD add-on for 360 launches in more countries.

Universal said they are going to add 100 HD-DVD titles in 2007. On the other side we have Fox announcing 7-10 titles a month (so 84-120)for the year, Lionsgate is going to release 18 titles by the end of this month, Paramount announces 50 titles, Sony has 90-100 slotted for this year. Warner Bros is bringing a big bunch as well including the Harry Potter films and the Matrix trilogy. DIsney has about 50 on tap for the year, with the possibility of more. HD-DVD addon may soon be a memory replaced by the Blu-Ray addon for the Xbox360, if those little birds that whisper me secrets are correct. And the PS3 is about to launch in Europe which is going to push Blu-Ray much harder then an HD-DVD addon for XBox360.

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Yeah, Blu-ray may win, but it ain't over yet no matter how much you preach it

Need to take out the earplugs, the Soprano has been singing for awhile now.
-Tig

_________________
We played the first thing that came to our heads, it just happened to be the best song in the world.

@Trezzer

It is remarkable that HD-DVD couldn't sustain its leading position. They were there before BR and they have cheaper players. Yes, even cheaper than the PS3.

Although it's unsure how much the PS3 has helped BR, but if HD-DVD wants to reclaim the lead, I don't think the 360 add-on will help them much, as that probably will be countered by the European and Australian launch of the PS3.

Round 1 was for HD-DVD, but round 2 was for BR and BR is in a better position for now.

@jiyong

What HD-DVD had against it was no trojan horse. Yes, it was/is cheaper. The quality on early releases was better.

The big issue that both HD-DVD and Blu-ray share is that most people just don't care about hi-def. Yet.

That's why having a million - give or take a few - PS3s around the world substantially increases the number of Blu-Ray units. And here's the point I was trying to make earlier: If people get a player, they're likely to get at least a movie or two to try it out if they are marginally interested in movies - especially if the selection of games isn't that great yet - just like it was the case on PSP.

The question is whether they will keep buying or not. If they find that there's not a substantial difference compared to their old movies (and people with SD will most likely find this - especially if they have a good dvd player already), they aren't likely to keep buying things, if they didn't buy the player to watch movies on in the first place.

At least you know that for every HD-DVD unit sold, it's an HD-DVD unit for someone who intends to get movies for it. On the PS3 it's a "freebie" (albeit an insanely expensive one) and hey, if you had paid for something, wouldn't you at least want to try it out?

On a related note, the price for PS3 has been announced here. It's $960.

You can pick up both competitors and a couple of games for that price. Games are $113 on the only Danish webstore to have PS3 titles for pre-ordering so far (they tend to be cheaper than highstreet shops).

Unless they cut the price soon, it's going to be a tough sell here.

Last edited by Trezzer on 03-Feb-2007 at 12:46 AM.

@Trezzer

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On a related note, the price for PS3 has been announced here. It's $960. You can pick up both competitors and a couple of games for that price. Games are $113 on the only Danish webstore to have PS3 titles for pre-ordering so far (they tend to be cheaper than highstreet shops). Unless they cut the price soon, it's going to be a tough sell here.

There is hope, it appears that it's more than Cell is in 65nm production. There's also plans to reduce the component count to see a "drastic" cost reduction.
I can see them holding the price until bigger games titles come out, if sales are soft they may cut price then. In either case I can see a price cut before Christmas to boost sales.

Eventually all 3 should end up in a similar price range.

_________________
Whyzzat?

@Trezzer

Well, at least you have seen where your friend MS has put their priorities. Looks like they were not confident enough to win both battles.

Do you have a link for the DK PS3 price? On the EU site of PS3 it only says 599 euro for Denmark. But if you (as in general) are ordering online, you might as well try Germany?

And if the PS3 is going to sell slow, as some here predict, it won't be a problem to get it from any other EU country...

And regarding the low game attach rate of the PS3, perhaps people do buy it for BR. Could also be an explanation for the better BR disc sales over HD-DVD.

@jiyong

Link to the news article

It's a statement by the Danish distributor (Nordisk Film) saying that the PS3 will cost 5499 DKK. Google says: 5 499 Danish kroner = 960.591133 U.S. dollars

Or you can see it at a retailer here. (Coolshop is one of the cheapest games stores in .dk)

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Well, at least you have seen where your friend MS has put their priorities. Looks like they were not confident enough to win both battles.

Microsoft is certainly not my friend. They're Microsoft and an authentic EvilCorp(TM) like Sony and the rest of 'em. On the other hand they haven't forced me to buy something I didn't want (as in a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD drive besides a gaming system).

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And regarding the low game attach rate of the PS3, perhaps people do buy it for BR. Could also be an explanation for the better BR disc sales over HD-DVD.

Yup. Also a possibility. It's all hard to say at the moment. I mean.. personally I couldn't possibly justify forking over that kind of money (let alone the EUR 599) unless I was really interested in having a Blu-Ray player.

Oh, btw.: Here's an article from a while ago saying that Nordisk Film were certain, that the PS3 wouldn't be as ridiculously expensive as 4500 DKK.

Last edited by Trezzer on 03-Feb-2007 at 03:43 AM.

@Trezzer

And you also never bought Windows?

@jiyong

What would I use it for?

@Trezzer

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On the other hand they haven't forced me to buy something I didn't want (as in a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD drive besides a gaming system).

You don't have to buy Blu-Ray movies for the PS3, Blu-Ray as part of a gaming system offers many benefits. Some people were heavily complaining about the PS2, while claiming it was nothing more than a DVD player. Current games like God of War 2 would have taken a lot of CDs, also Blu-Ray is far more scratch resistant than both DVD and HD-DVD.

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What would I use it for?

Due to Winodws' dominant market share some of the best games and software is available for this platform. For instance many of the software my girlfriend uses for her university eductation requires a PC (some also work on a Mac, but not all of them). So there are many reasons to get Windows, despite the fact that you may not actually like the platform.

@Trezzer

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At least you know that for every HD-DVD unit sold, it's an HD-DVD unit for someone who intends to get movies for it.

What you view as a benefit I look at as a disadvantage. If HD-DVD loses more support there will be many thousands of people who will have spent hundreds of dollars on a HD-DVD drive they can't use for anything else than watching HD-DVD movies (on a PS3 games can take advantage of the Blu-Ray technology). Without movie support the HD-DVD drive offers little value.

Actually I would have preferred Microsoft to not introduce the HD-DVD drive. This way consumers would benefit as it would already be clear that if any format wins this format war it would be Blu-Ray.

Blu-Ray is technologically more advanced, one major plus of HD-DVD technology was that it's cheaper (and it was released on the market earlier, thus the initial little headstart), soon being cheaper may not even the case anymore due to the mass production of Blu-Ray technology. As I stated before, if the format would have been democraticly elected by the main hardware and content suppliers there wouldn't have been a format war at all. Blu-Ray has had far wider industry support from the beginning!

@MikeB

What you view as a benefit I look at as a disadvantage. If Amiga loses more support there will be many hundreds of people who will have spent hundreds of dollars on a AmigaOnes they can't use for anything else than running Linux applications. Without application support AmigaOS offers little value.

Actually I would have preferred Amiga Inc to not introduce the AmigaOne. This way consumers would benefit as it would already be clear that if any format wins this format war it would be Windows Vista.

Windows is technologically more advanced, one major plus of Amiga technology was that was cheaper (and it was released on the market earlier, thus the initial little headstart), but is not the case anymore due to the mass production of x86. As I stated before, if the format would have been democraticly elected by the main hardware and content suppliers there wouldn't have been a format war at all. Windows Vista has had far wider industry support from the beginning!

...........

I can't understand why any movie fan would prefer Bluray over HD DVD since HD DVD lacks regional coding today.
http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=60715
I really hate when the film studios decide what I should watch.

...........

Nordisk Film estimates that the PS3 will retail for 6500-7000SEK in Sweden. That's 930 to 1000 USD for a PS3.
http://www.idg.se/2.1085/1.93348
I have seen Xbox 360s for as low as 3000 SEK ($430) in Sweden.

Last edited by GW on 03-Feb-2007 at 12:52 PM.
Last edited by GW on 03-Feb-2007 at 12:48 PM.