Blu-Ray in May

[DarkwingChuck]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6145076.html

Sony's launching Blu-Ray movies May 23. Lionsgate is also going to have a handful of Blu movies out that day. They'll apparently be costing $30-40 so they better have something more than the regular DVD releases. What's the point of releasing movies on discs that hold 5 times a dvd if you're not going to use it? Would make more sense for something like releasing the entire Matrix collection on a single Blu-Ray disc. But for single movies it seems wasteful. The first retail Blu-Ray player will cost $999! Screw that especially with such a (mostly) lame lineup available at first.

Blu-Ray movie lineup

May 23
50 First Dates, The Fifth Element, Hitch, House of Flying Daggers, A Knight's Tale, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, XXX, and The Last Waltz

Lord of War, Crash, The Punisher, Saw, Terminator 2: Judgement Day

June 13
Kung Fu Hustle, Legends of the Fall, RoboCop, Stealth, Species, SWAT, Terminator, and Underworld: Evolution

Reservoir Dogs, Total Recall, Stargate, Frank Herbert's Dune miniseries, and The Devil's Rejects

[Cosmic Jeff]

Re: Blu-Ray in May

Pointless. I think Blu-Ray movies will be about as successful as Super Audio CDs. I really don't think Sony will be able to convince people to replace their DVD collections like they think they can. I definately wouldn't pay an extra $15-$30 for marginally better picture quality.

[AbstractOrigin]

Re: Blu-Ray in May

Blu-Ray equals Blue Balls. =/

Might work for games, but, nuh uh, not my movie collection.

I just GOT Total Recall on DVD dammit.

[Magus]

Re: Blu-Ray in May

Blu-Ray = MiniDisc and UMDs.

Did Sony do BetaMax too?

[Shard]

Re: Blu-Ray in May

Considering CDs got the same reaction when they were first introduced...and CD players were immense and cost $300-400, it wouldn't surprise me if this is just early development costs being passed onto the consumer. It also wouldn't surprise me if Sony was initially targetting a niche market.

From the movie list I'd guess they're expecting young males to take the brunt of the blow as early adopters. I suspect anyone who's already got a High-def TV is going to be in line for the first generation of Blu-ray equipment. There were people paying upwards of 300% above retail when X-box and 360 were released, why shouldn't Sony cash in on a small segment of consumers who're willing to engage in extravagant spending?


Edit: Addressing Mora's Comment below...I'm thinking 20-35 when I say young males, not people in high school, or struggling to pay for college.

[John Mora]

Re: Blu-Ray in May

I really doubt the target audience of Blu-Ray is here on this forum.

[Jamos' Old Account]

Re: Blu-Ray in May

The first retail Blu-Ray player will cost $999!

Only $999? That is pocket change. First I just need to fly to my private island in my private plane. Then I will drive in my personal limo to my 4th mansion and grab some change from my $4000 dollar couch. Oh wait, I just remembered... I'm poor.

[Red Dragon]

Re: Blu-Ray in May

Considering CDs got the same reaction when they were first introduced...and CD players were immense and cost $300-400, it wouldn't surprise me if this is just early development costs being passed onto the consumer. It also wouldn't surprise me if Sony was initially targetting a niche market.

The thing is that Cassettes and CDs where and are so different to eachother that you can not like the unknown. But (IMO) you look at a DVD and Blu-Ray and see nothing different from eachother (unless they make the Blu-Ray discs Blue )

Personally I dont see the difference in VCR and DVDs in terms of quality, except DVDs now are easier to find (Like the Star Trek Collection!! )

[highwind]

Re: Blu-Ray in May

All the rappers will have blu-ray theaters in their cribs.

You know that.

[Alex]

Re: Blu-Ray in May

I'd pay for a Blu-Ray DVD player and movies, if the HD quality is as good as it sounds.


Oh, and if I had an HDTV. Man.

[John Mora]

Re: Blu-Ray in May

No one's talking about HD-DVD?

[highwind]

Re: Blu-Ray in May

Personally I dont see the difference in VCR and DVDs in terms of quality, except DVDs now are easier to find (Like the Star Trek Collection!! )

This is going to sound like a strange question but...

Do you have eyeballs?

[DarkwingChuck]

Re: Blu-Ray in May

Only $999? That is pocket change. First I just need to fly to my private island in my private plane. Then I will drive in my personal limo to my 4th mansion and grab some change from my $4000 dollar couch.

You've been watching Oprah again haven't you.

Personally I dont see the difference in VCR and DVDs in terms of quality, except DVDs now are easier to find

VHS tapes lose quality pretty quickly and there's the issue of the tape stretching or breaking from all the fast forwarding and rewinding which you don't need to do with DVD.

I'd pay for a Blu-Ray DVD player and movies, if the HD quality is as good as it sounds.


Oh, and if I had an HDTV. Man.

Early HDTVs sold without an HDCP-enabled interface (excluding HDMI or HDCP-enabled DVI) will not be able to display high definition video from a Blu-ray disc. So you'd better get one of the newest HDTVs. Maybe you could borrow the money from Jamos.

[Red Dragon]

Re: Blu-Ray in May

I own eyeballs.

It may just be me, but I dont really see a difference until they get really used ALOT, I have tons of tapes and you cannot tell me you don't like old-school over new school.

I still have a cassette player around where I live.

[highwind]

Re: Blu-Ray in May

Can you tell the difference between analog and digital television?