Gizmodo
Everybody clamoring for a cheap Blu-ray player now that the format war is over might wanna bide their time with a sweet DVD upconverter—the $200-player Blu-ray cavalry is at least a year away, according to Sony Electronics CEO Stan Glasgow, who we talked to today in New York. "I don't think $200 is going to happen this year. Next year $200 could happen. We'll be at a $300 rate this year. $299 will happen this year."
No cheap Chinese-made players will be flooding the market to push it down either, not until the BDA decides to license the tech to them, and Glasgow implied it's gonna be a while before that happens. Anyone else wants a license? Sure. But not them, in part it was indicated, because of piracy concerns. Not that the price matters too much right now, since Sony is "struggling to keep up with the demand."
The mighty morphin' PS3 SKU—from 60GB to 40GB, backward-compatible or not—isn't going to stop shape-shifting. When asked "Will there also be another PlayStation with Blu-ray built-in? Glasgow answered that "there's going to be continual evolvement in the PlayStation line" before talking about feature upgrades with software.
Other points that came up at the roundtable:
• Sony dropped Memory Stick slots from its TVs, even ones that do photos and music playback. Not sure what that means for the underdog format.
• When people are asked what brand they think of when it comes to HD, Sony "is far and away the leader"—close to 36 percent, compared with 10 percent for the runner-up.
• Around 50 percent of their LCD HDTVs sold last year were 1080p—the shift to 1080p is happening now and Blu-ray will help that.
• Sony is not sweating the recession.
• The company is "working very hard" on an answer to Apple TV, though it all seems to center around a Blu-ray player one way or another, and doesn't necessarily rely on the ill-fated Bravia Internet Video Link. Sony is "working on many other avenues to deliver downloaded content," like the PlayStation Network, which will be "spread that over the next year or so to many other products of Sony."
Comments
sweet sounds like great news
I think it's interesting, that if apple tv gets a large enough HD library you may not have to purchase a HD player. The only big (possibly temporary) drawback is that you can't buy HD movies from apple tv.
Dear Sony,
Please. PLEASE. PLEAAASSEE STOP MAKING STAND ALONE BLU RAY PLAYERS. Focus on the PS3. Instead of making Blu ray players the same price as the PS3, just fucking STOP. How about another price drop around the holidays to a 299/399 price point instead of wasting your time and money on these POS. Nobody is going to buy them with the PS3 out there so just FOCUS on that.
Sincerely,
EVERYBODY
I agree The Ps3 is a much better deal and it even has a built in HDD so what is the point in buying a Blu Ray player when you dont get any storage and you cant play games?
What's the point of buying a PS3 when you don't play games?
Sony had $299 BluRay last year. Someone will have $200 players next year.
"HA HA HA! You, Microsoft, think you set market with your RRoD Xbrox! HA HA HA! We, SONY, took name from greatest American monopoly, Standard Oil New York. You got nothing on us. HD FTW! HA HA HA!"--Sony Exec before seppoku
@daftrok: the standalone players have better playback and more audio features than the PS3...so for audiophiles and home theatre enthusiasts (that don't play games) the standalones are a much better buy.
don't get me wrong I love my PS3...but for some it makes more sense to get a standalone.
QUALITY!you might notice it now!as my first dvd player was a ps2!later when i got a stand alone player it was like wow!
dont buy multitasking devices with prices too true to belive since then!
@Xavoc: How about the fact that it cost about the same as the cheapest stand alone Blu-ray player and it does a lot more beside the whole play silly games thing.
-Divx and Xvid support
-Downloading movies (hopefully coming)
-PVR ability with no DRM (hopefully coming)
-IT'S AWESOME
See, and I didn't even mention games.
$200? Getting warmer.
@SigmundTheSeaMonster: that was the worst attempt at a joke ever.
I'd buy that for a dollar!
@Xavoc: Whats the point in getting a stand alone blue ray player when you dont have built in memory or ability to update your system? People who buys the current standalones over the PS3 just don't know better. They can be considered posers.
I about 2 years you can always depend on Sony
The title is misleading. It should say "$200 players won't be happening this year. Good luck next year."
Don't get me wrong. I appreciate that a lot of people play movies from their game consoles. I just watch so many damn movies that I'd really rather NOT destroy the drive in my expensive game console over and over again.
@Seiven:
At this time however, its the best deal out there. Stand alones either have to be 200 bucks when they release it next to a PS3 or not at all. Its utterly pointless for Sony to create stand alones if they don't price them properly.
@Xavoc: Playing games actually hurts the console more than watching movies. Other than a few standalone players such as the pioneer elite or the samsung universal, the PS3 is a better blu ray player.
@baltwade: For me it has more to do with a dedicated device that is designed to do one thing well.
I don't even own an actual TV (long story) right now per se. I have a 24" monitor connected to a mac mini that acts as my TV tuner/dvd/media player right now.
Since I am uniformed about blu-ray (and HD DVD for the most part)... Is the video playback quality on the PS3 as good as that of a dedicated player?
I agree title is misleading.
It should be: "No standalone $200 Bluray Player this year. Maybe $300"
Author is a bluray fanboy. end of story, move on here.
@vertibraker: Uhm, yeah... I eat DVD players as it is... I've worn one out about every year since 1998.
Standalone - I play movies, supposedly better sound, that is all.
PS3 - Games (duh), Media Center with wireless networking to my home network and can access my OTHER movies, my family pictures, my music. Can be upgraded via software, from wireless network. BLU-RAY SPEC 2.0. Has a freakin HD built in!!$! Oh snap, I didn't mention, it can play Blu-Ray movies too. Future: downloadable content, internet communication (with probably video chat on your TV, on your freakin big screen TV).
No, a stand-alone blu-ray player that does 1 thing sounds much more intrigueing... I'll go waste money on a one trick pony that costs the same if not more.
@Xavoc: I've never seen a side by side comparison, but a Blu-ray disk on a PS3 through HDMI to a 1080p 50" plasma almost made me soil myself.
I know it's hard for this crowd to believe, but some people don't sit and play PS3 or Xbox or any gaming system. They have zero interest in owning a PS3. And this may not be anyone you personally know, but I can vouch that this is actually a huge demographic.
These type of people might think that gaming is a waste of time and for geeks, and would feel retarded buying a PS3 -- even if it is the only "future-proof" Blu-Ray player right now.
You probably know this person as "boss."
@Xavoc:
dude, don't worry about it. it won't break. :)
i use it as a BD player every once in a while. when i rent the movies. it would be nice to get a stand alone BD player but i think we'll wait til it gets under $150. yeah, i'm that cheap. but for now i'll have to move our PS3 every time we need to watch a BD movie.
oh and PS3's BD seems better than most players for an odd reason.. built in memory, upgradable, and it can play almost ANY other format of videos. use web browser and DL a video. i do that sometimes. DivX videos work perfectly.
the most simple and useful feature of all though: press "Select" and it has a bar on the bottom telling you how far it is into the movie. with a little "T-1 hour" which is cool.
best deal: buy the MGS4 pack once it comes out.
Wasn't the BluRay camp claiming the the numerous manufacturers of BD players would foster competition and lower prices? This is why I voted for HD-DVD (along with a lower propensity for DRM). And yes, I know that Toshiba was subsidizing the heck out of the players. But facts are, we could get a 1080p HD player for well under $200, regardless of the "how".
@Akmed: You're apparently missing the point. I have movies playing all of the time. Commercials irk me, and I don't have to change channels every 15 to 30 minutes wondering what's on.
Am I always watching the movie? No. I need the sound to drown out the ringing in my ears. So I'm always listening to music (which I stream using iTunes & Airport Express) or listening to a movie in the background.
I kill DVD drives. My laptop dvd drive is almost dead at this point because of this. Hehe.
Pioneer I mean Sony is taking over the world. Those Pioneer/Sony players R everywhere.
This
[www.buy.com]
Enjoy.
@Xavoc: dude with your problem, you might as well buy the store warranty.
@newgalactic: not really. prices of the HDDVD players were between $2-350. BD players were at $350-500. it wasnt until HDDVD was starting to die that you could get one for under $200. and you cant really compare prices, then..... and the cheap ones were ALL 1080i. not p.
as for this article it is referring to SONY players not dropping to $200. not all the BD players, as the CEO of Sony isnt the CEO of samsung and daewoo and phillips and pioneer, etc... and has ZERO control over what they do.
besides.... it took YEARS for DVD player prices to drop. why all the whinning?.....
@vertibraker: Yeah, except for that whole "I don't have a DVD player while waiting for it to be repaired" bit. I don't like waiting 3+ weeks for something to come back.
@izim1: I own about 600 movies on DVD. I'm not in a hurry to replace them.
@Xavoc: That is why you go and use the 1x ecxchange condition for the warranty. Just turn it in and get a new one and get a new warranty for that.
lamesauce..
I'm so glad I decided to wait for a Blue Reader to drop below 100 and a Blu Writer to drop below $200 for my HTPC before jumping in.
@MagnoliaBoy:
Hey, that's my catchphrase!
@vertibraker: I also absolutely utterly refuse to buy anything from Best Buy that I have to plug in. (Another long story)
Other benifits of the PS3 not related to gaming, it is a network enabled HD computer (Yellow Dog Linux), it can connect to a networked media server for photo slide shows, music and videos, and finally (from wikipedia) the PlayStation 3 will become Blu-ray Profile 2.0 compliant as early as May or June, taking full advantage of the PlayStation 3 Ethernet and WiFi connectivity and hard drive storage space. You may not be able to, or if possible it could be difficult, to update the profile of a standalone.
@Xavoc:
Man, you are one. Not easy satisfied person, I mean... not easy I'm beeing nice I should say your are not Satisfied at all...
You should just Rip everything and play on a Flash based player... than i think they'll last like... forever. Thats why DRM sucks... if you want to Rip just because you need, you can't!
@yasudevil: No, I'm quite eaily satisfied. I'm just particular about where I buy things, and understand that my 'need' to have things 'now' will require me to pay more.
My past experiences with Best Buy as a customer and employee have seriously soured my belief in extended warranties, as well as the level of customer service they are willing/capable of providing.
I wasn't aware that a base level PS3 was the same price as an entry level standalone player, and that the image quality was comparable. (The same couldn't be said about Xbox/PS2 playback, so I assumed it was true for Blu-Ray.)
That having been said, I think I should own a HD TV before worrying about a Blu-ray player. I'm currently saving up for a 1080p front projector.
@Xavoc: I don't think anyone is really missing the point. You just aren't seeing how they're saying the PS3 addresses it.
I went through a DVD player a year for a long time for pretty much the same reason. I didn't like what was on TV so I'd pop a DVD in and watch a show or movie I liked. Half the time I didn't even watch it as much as just have it on for the noise. Heck I even have to buy my parrents a new one every Christmas and they hardly know how to use the thing let alone do it to death.
Its mostly because DVD player are cheap anymore. Doesn't matter if its a $29 player or a $150 player they don't hold up that well in part because they are only designed to do one thing and do it fairly well at best. I'am at the point where I buy the cheap ones just because they seem to last me just as long as the pricer name brand ones and I'm only out $30 every year instead of $100.
On the other hand you probably wouldn't have to worry about it as much with the PS3. Its designed to do multiple things and do it well. If it can hold up to 24hr Resistance marathons with a lower failure rate then the "competetor" its probably going to hold up to your viewing habits (regardless of how extreme) just fine. Not to mention the fact that with the other features it offers (besides games) you may find your self watching your physical DVDs less anyways.
The picture quality is easily on par with other stand alone players on the market. So in that regard (which is really the only one) you aren't really going to get a stand alone that does it any better. On top of that since its software updatable you don't have to worry about the 1.0 2.0 mess you'd get into with a stand alone.
Admittedly it isn't going to be the best option for everyone. I doubt I'll ever convince my parrents that its a better option then the stand alone player but in your case especialy if you just are looking at one thats going to hold up its probably better.
Basically, some people are just very picky about what they buy, and from where. I've already been married and divorced.
Sadly I miss Ultimate Electronics the most. It was nice having salespeople who remembered you, comparable prices to Best Buy, and you know them offering you water to drink while you look around/wait.
You wanted Blu-Ray and now you are going to have to pay the price and take it in the ass by sony. Congratulations everyone and enjoy paying alot of money for your Blu-Ray.
@tande: No I'm not missing what is being said. At this point I'm sold on a PS3 until such time as a cheaper option is available.
Though I'm just afraid that if I bring a PS3 home the gf will plant herself in front of the TV to play games and never let me watch anything. ;)
I'll get a friggin standalone BD player once the spec is finalized...until then, PS3 all the way.
Sony might not have a $200 player but you can bet your boots somebody else will this year.
Sell me a PS3 for $200 without HD, I'll buy my own harddrive. The ones come with ps3s are too small anyway.
@Type-E:
You won't find anything in stores like that. The majority of people don't even know you can switch out the hard drive. You have to include it.
Actually, the PS3 was THE best BD player until at least fall of 2007. The initial $1000 Samsung player was absolutely awful and hurt BD's reputation in home theatre circles until the PS3 was released.
That, plus the PS3 is a huge chunk of the BD player market (and will be for years), so discs will be tested on them. That, and add the fact that the PS3 is the most upgrade-friendly player and you've got yourself a great BD player. Sure, it doesn't have analog audio outs, but neither will the $200 Blu-ray players we're waiting for.
i'd like the drive from the ps3 player in a small enclosure that i can plug into the back of my xbox360. :)
until then i'll stick with my oppo dvd upconveter (which supports firmware updates) and my low-priced xbox360 external hddvd + xboxlive hd downloads.
i cannot bring myself to buy a sony product no matter how amazing everyone says it is.
@rawlus: you seem to have no problem buying M$ products. obviously you're "consumer values" can't be THAT high..........
@daftrok:
Because there are alot of people who don't want a big, ugly, out of place looking PS3 if they are just going to use it to play movies. Sure, if you are using it for gaming or other features, you could live with the monstrosity sticking out like a sore thumb. But if you just want a movie player, you want a more attractive option.
$150 with a few free movies and I will jump on the bandwagon.
@robinandtami: A more attractive or a plainer looking version? Most people cant distinguish the difference between a blu ray player and a dvd player. Most people know what a PS3 is. If you are showing off an entertainment system, you should have the best you can afford and not be embarass by a PS3. A regular blu-ray player isnt going to help start up any conversation.
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