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Originally posted by: Number20
The problem with blu-ray is that they have big claims of superiority, such as data storage, but the reality is that they can't actually reach these statements.
the other problem with Blu-Ray is that it's a Sony format. building a Blu-Ray drive into PS3 was a smart business decision ('cause it'll put Blu-Ray players in a lot of homes), but Blu-Ray video still has to follow in the footsteps of a long tradition of Sony creating media formats, shunning the cooperation of other tech developers, either neglecting one feature that consumers end up really clamoring for or simply marketing the product poorly, and losing in spectacular fashion. BetaMax, MiniDisc/ATRAC, HiFD, Memory Stick... all Sony, all marketing failures.
even in 2005, i can't imagine why anyone but the rich & famous would want to buy Sony UMD movies, which can only be played on PSPs. like, you could buy a DVD movie and play it on televisions, portables, desktop & laptop computers, there's prolly a toaster with a built-in DVD player coming soon. or you could spend $20-$30 on a UMD movie, and it plays on PSP... and that's all??? i dunno. seems like yet another incomprehensible marketing strategy on Sony's part.
right now, on paper, yes, Blu-Ray video seems like it should be superior to HD-DVD, even though it seems as if its only real distinguishing feature is their claim of higher storage capacity. but the need for a totally new manufacturing process, and perhaps Sony charging third parties an arm & a leg for the privelege of marketing their own Blu-Ray players & discs, could mean that the platform will just be overall more expensive than HD-DVD and the video quality may not be noticeably better than HD-DVD. it might be better, it might not be better, it depends very much on the quality/efficiency of the encoders that they use... but it's really too early to say, without a side-by-side comparison of the same titles in both formats, isn't it? and then, going by Sony's history, there's a pretty good chance that the format will just have some tragic flaw that we don't know about yet and people will end up thinking "uh, why would i want to buy that? it's so expensive and it's lacking a convenient feature that the other format has."