Yeah, so they say, but I don’t think porn makes a reliable bell weather this time. Downloadable and steaming content seems to be doing the job these days, porn-wise. I know as far as I’m concerned, I really don’t want HD porn.
They’d have to get their service up reliably first. I don’t have their service, but I play online with a lot of people who do, and if someone is having connection troubles, at least 4 times out of 5 they have Comcast.
I’m not expecting downloaded entertainment to become commercially mainstream for a while yet. It still takes a while to download, and even the fastest connections available in this country are centralised in urban areas–there’s a lot of places where you simply cannot get the speeds necessary to download video regularly in any reasonable amount of time, short of shelling out for satellite (which has its own problems for anyone who games).
The unique thing about Sony (and a major reason they have such a poor track record with the formats they invent) is that they’re a hardware manufacturer and a publisher. Their publishing arm pressures their hardware arm to cripple their formats with worse DRM than the competing formats invented by hardware-only companies.
It’s my understanding you need around 4 mbps to stream DVD quality video, and lots of customers have that now, and in other parts of the world 4 mbps is sloooow. The US lags behind some countries in Europe and for instance, Korea, where average speeds are higher.
I can’t find any good cites at the moment, but according to this endgadget article you need about 20 mbps to stream HD video. I don’t think ISPs commonly offer that kind of service here in the States yet, but keep in mind that to watch something you’re downloading you don’t need to stream it at 20 mbps unless you’re trying to watch something live. You could download the file, then “stream” it around your home network, and presumably your internal network would be set up to handle 20 mbps.
ETA: Comcast is screwing the pooch on this. They’re gradually increasing bandwidth, but they’re capping the total amount you can download/month, and that’s a streaming video killer.
Toshiba slashes prices and plans to promote their players ability to upconvert.
It’s pretty much over.
great og, guys, you’re all talking way over my head.
please just 'splain this much to the ignorant (me):
can i continue to use my ordinary dvd player until hell freezes over or not?
no, i don’t have any of this blue ray stuff nor do i really care about it, as long as i can still get regular old dvds and play them as usual.
if this is NOT the case, what is in my future as far as these movies/tv shows are concerned??
FYI for anyone interested, this New Scientist article says Europe could use plastic optical fiber to bring up to 100 mbps speeds to 80% of European homes within 15 years.
So, speed is out there, and on its way. Why I’d invest in a bunch of soon-to-be-obsolete discs is beyond me.
You should be able to buy DVD players until your grandkids have to start shoveling dirt onto your coffin.
You’ll be able to get new stuff for your DVD player for the next 5-10 years, and after that, things will probably only be released on the new formats. However, unless they really want to fuck the consumer (and make it obvious) you’ll be able to play DVDs in the new player you get once your current one craps out. By then, This Format War will be over, and you’ll be able to get newer and sexier movies for your new player…as well as playing your antiquated DVDs.
-Joe
Because, once you do, you’ll suddenly only be able to watch The Version George Lucas Wants You To Watch.
-Joe
I shamefully downloaded the Star Wars Christmas Special. Don’t tell me old George gonna keep the people down! 
If I had to choose one element that turned the tide of the format wars it would be the Playstation 3. A lot of people called it a failed console, but I just don’t see how. Through it Sony gained a 1.5 million worldwide BD user base almost overnight. It was a win/win; even if some of those original owners get tired of gaming, they’ll still own a very capable cutting-edge media machine for years to come.
This was well played and a big win for Sony.
Add one to the appropriate typo list.
Yeah, that’s what I’d read. Where porn led, the market would follow.
Apparently not.
Streaming. STREAMING. :smack: 
This YouTube is essential viewing. 
Quick bump on this thread.
Netflix will now only carry Blu-Ray
Looks like HD DVD is the Beta in this war.
Netflix also offers immediate downloadable viewing. I wonder if the fight now is disc vs. download.
As a console, it did fail, IMHO. Unfortunately, you’re probably right that it did turn the tide in Sony’s favour here. (I haven’t ‘picked’ a side really, because I don’t have an HDTV yet, but I was hoping HD DVD would win).
Personally, I think there’s some irony in it’s best feature being the ability to play movies.
hey, a reason I keep hearing for why the Gamecube failed is cuz it didn’t include the ability to play DVDs. Always seemed like a stupid excuse to me, especially since the PS2’s built-in DVD player was horrible. Apparently there ARE lots of people who bought the PS3 just so they wouldn’t have to buy a separate BluRay player…