Microsoft: We don't need no stinkin' Blu-ray

[DesiPower]

I don't care what format it is. I just should not be switching discs to play games. This is not the PS1 era.

:thumbsup:

 

[preslove]

We're 10 years, at least, away from the time when a majority of the country can get access to speeds high enough for BR streaming.

 

[Kev]

Thus why I rip all my blurays and stream them from my computer. None of the hassle, all of the quality.

Logic fail. You don't consider ripping a movie a hassle?

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Woah.....wait....you have to buy a live membership to use netflix on the xbox360?

Yes. It is extremely irritating, but once my current live subscriptions are over, no more. If I would've bought my new TV/BR player about a month earlier, I would not have renewed this year.

 

[krylon]

This is just a regurgitation of old news from back in March
http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/microsoft-says-costly-blu-ray-put-ps3-at-disadvantage-677077

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I wish my PS3 did not have BR, or any spinning media device for that matter. I've had to have mine repaired twice because the BR drive has died .

I hear that, but that is going to be quite a few years away and I am afraid by then, companies like Microsoft will nickel and dime the crap out of you and do things like charging you per play.

 

[SunnyD]

My question for Microsoft... are they planning on paying for my bandwidth to stream said BluRay-quality 1080p+DTS Surround Sound that's supposedly instant with no waiting?

 

[dwell]

It has been a comedy of errors on their part and had they not had a 1 year lead on the PS3 and Wii, they would have been in serious trouble. Issues:

1. RROD issues and covering them up.
2. Bad DVD drives in many units.
3. Released external HD-DVD drive. Funny how that was the "future" then but now magically, physical hi-def media is being "passed over," isn't it?
4. Overpriced accessories.
5. Kinect.
6. Raising the price of Live.
7. Requiring Live for Netflix? Ridiculous.

I highly doubt I will buy the next Xbox after the gouging, dishonesty, and outright stupidity Microsoft has displayed with the 360.

They started this generation as the cool "gamer's friend", but they are ending it with all of the arrogance and never ending barrage of gaffes that Sony did in 2006.

 

[Narmer]

This. If MS actually releases their next console without BR, they are probably going to be really hurting.

Having just a DVD drive in their next console will piss of consumers. If they go straight digital downloads, it'll also piss off a lot of retailers.

 

[Fritzo]

OK, I've read all the responses, and they all seem to center on quality---we need quality!

However, DVD's still outsell blu-ray discs by a very wide margin. Most people are more concerned about getting the content rather than how good it looks. DVD's gave an advantage over VHS in that is was a dramatic increase in quality, it allowed for instant skipping, and the media was much more sturdy. The advantage of blu-ray over DVD is quality and extra content. Most people could care less about that, hence the low sales.

I can see MS's next console having games for download (like Steam does for PC's) instead of you having to go to a store to buy media. I'm sure movies are to follow. They may allow you to download a whole movie to your hard drive and just play it locally instead of streaming it directly, but physical media is going to be kicked by the wayside sooner or later.

 

[dwell]

I can see MS's next console having games for download (like Steam does for PC's) instead of you having to go to a store to buy media.

Not gonna happen. The only reason consoles are so cheap is that the stores sell them at razor thin (or at no) margins so that people come and buy the games in-store.

Can't see any company doing a console sans physical media any time soon.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

For anyone who actually cares about video and audio quality, physical media is going to reign supreme for a good while. Streaming I reserve for things I just don't care about in terms of overall quality, but most movies, I want that audio quality. <500kbps AC3 Surround audio stream is a nice step up from stereo, but still pales in comparison to multi-megabit lossless audio codecs. And that's not even comparing the amount of video compression necessary to enable 1080p streaming. So, you might not be able to tell the difference between 20mbps AVC and 15mbps AVC/other advanced codec - but I guarantee I can spot the difference between that 20mbps stream and some 5mbps stream (what is the video bitrate common in most streams these days? not even sure, I know it's low though). That is... unless you are sitting 10ft from a 32" or smaller screen, in which case, that difference won't be noticeable on the video side of things, but most certainly still noticeable in audio quality.

BD might never reach massive sales on a regular basis, but it won't be going anywhere soon.

I would say somewhere < 1% of people have the equipment or the ear to decipher the difference.

 

[KeithTalent]

lol at thinking that streaming > Blu Ray.

it's separate arguments: Convenience vs Quality. Anyone that has even a minor interest in quality PQ and AQ would never outright prefer streaming over HD media.

both have their merits, though.

Definitely this. I find it hard to believe you can stream a tru 1080P picture with 5.1 DTS HD master audio with no issues. I'm not even an audiophile with ana amzing system, but I can hear the difference, even between the different versions of 5.1. I was amazed by that actually.

I can see using the streaming for older titles that do not matter as much, but for most films I like to have the best PQ & AQ I can get. So I'll be using streaming as a supplement, though I know people that will use it exclusively. Different strokes.

KT

 

[crownjules]

MS is just angry they lost out on the HD-DVD / BLU-RAY war ^_^.

HD-DVD wasn't their tech but Toshiba's. And BR being Sony's tech, I'm assuming MS didn't want to have to pay their chief competitor royalties on every console they sold to use their tech.

 

[Lonyo]

MS is just angry they lost out on the HD-DVD / BLU-RAY war ^_^.

They probably didn't care that much.
There's no reason to integrate a Bluray player with the Xbox 360 because it won't help for games, sticking to streaming makes sense for them really.

 

[dwell]

HD-DVD wasn't their tech but Toshiba's. And BR being Sony's tech, I'm assuming MS didn't want to have to pay their chief competitor royalties on every console they sold to use their tech.

There was Microsoft tech and IP in HD DVD. They wrote and licensed the HDi interface layer as well as used at as a vehicle for their VC-1 codec. If Blu-ray won (which it did) more studios would be inclined to use h.264 over VC-1, which is ultimately what happened. Not to mention all those HD DVD add-ons they had to bury in the landfill next to the ET cartridges.

You can bet MS is pissed that HD DVD lost. You can read a blow-by-blow recount by one of the head guys at MS here.

Jan 4, 2008: Black Friday. The team are called to a special meeting called at 11am where we learn of Warner&#8217;s decision to go Blu-ray only, which they promptly do publicly an hour later. Without a doubt the worst day in the life of HD DVD.

Jan 2008: CES 2008 turns into an unhappy experience for HD DVD, starting the day after the Warner bombshell. Cool demos never see the light of day and everyone is pretty shell-shocked.

Feb 2008: A bunch more bad news from Wal-mart, Netflix and Best Buy.

Feb 19, 2008: Toshiba announce they are dropping HD DVD. We lost. We were robbed. I feel like the Democrats after the 2000 election.

 

[TuxDave]

Get up, head to kitchen and grab soda/beer. Come back. 15 seconds over, movie time.

I think pretty much everyone on this forum grew up/lived with VHS right? Remember fast-forwarding through all the previews and having to wait several minutes? And now you're bitching over 15 seconds? I'd say 15 seconds is progress.

It's 15 seconds if someone is there to actively skip each trailer. If not (since I got up to grab a beer), then we haven't progressed because it is a good 5-6 minutes of trailers before I can access the top menu.

 

[xSauronx]

Meh, I rented an HD movie the other night and had to wait ages for it to buffer enough to be worth starting, then just 20 mins from the end it starts buffering again (152 min film). What a ball ache.

Physical media = put it in, watch.

i like blu ray for some stuff, some stuff i dont care...buffering is a bitch but i have a good enough internet connection not to have to deal with it, at least when using netflix.

planet earth/life + blu-ray = greatness

 

[LikeLinus]

It has been a comedy of errors on their part and had they not had a 1 year lead on the PS3 and Wii, they would have been in serious trouble. Issues:

1. RROD issues and covering them up.
2. Bad DVD drives in many units.
3. Released external HD-DVD drive. Funny how that was the "future" then but now magically, physical hi-def media is being "passed over," isn't it?
4. Overpriced accessories.
5. Kinect.
6. Raising the price of Live.
7. Requiring Live for Netflix? Ridiculous.

I highly doubt I will buy the next Xbox after the gouging, dishonesty, and outright stupidity Microsoft has displayed with the 360.

Yeah! Let's stick with a Sony creation and their wonderful track record.

1. PS3 delayed to market to force a tech
2. Rootkits, Enough said
3. Different models of the Sony PS3 support different levels of backwards compatability with Sony PS2 games? Nice.
4. Removed the ability to install Linux via an update? Awesome!
5. Reports of drives dying in PS3 units and overheating.
6. Want to talk about overpriced accessories and consoles?
7. Playstation Move.
8. PS3 requiring disc to use Netflix...

Need we go on and on? Every company has misteps and failures.

 

[zinfamous]

HD-DVD wasn't their tech but Toshiba's. And BR being Sony's tech, I'm assuming MS didn't want to have to pay their chief competitor royalties on every console they sold to use their tech.

BD was as much Sony's tech as HD DVD was Microsoft's tech. Sony was a big player, but they were part of a group of companies with more or less equal interest pushing Blu Ray. The funny thing, is that HD DVD was pretty much only Toshiba, yet the message gets out that they are the good guys, here for everyone, whereas BD is just Sony trying to force their crap down everyone's throats.

lulz

 

[DaveSimmons]

PS3 will not need the disc for Netflix after next month -- the only reason they needed it until then was because MS paid Netflix a bribe for exclusivity (then Sony found this disc-based loophole).

 

[RavenSEAL]

Yeah! Let's stick with a Sony creation and their wonderful track record.

1. PS3 delayed to market to force a tech and yet it was still years ahead of 360
2. Rootkits, Enough said You need to stop downloading porn on your PS3.
3. Different models of the Sony PS3 support different levels of backwards compatability with Sony PS2 games? Nice.Big deal, they'll bring it back soon enough, they already announced its being worked on
4. Removed the ability to install Linux via an update? Awesome! Who gives a shit, linux can be used on ANY computer
5. Reports of drives dying in PS3 units and overheating. 3&#37; FR vs 54% FR? LOL! You tell me!
6. Want to talk about overpriced accessories and consoles? LOL?!?!?! 170 Dollar HDD and the most proprietary system in the world! Good luck plugging in that external USB drive and getting perma banned from xbox live! For PS3= online is free and you get a BR player on top
7. Playstation Move. Cirque du Soleil and blue umbrellas? Sound Familiar?
8. PS3 requiring disc to use Netflix... Not in a few weeks

Need we go on and on? Every company has misteps and failures.

Enough said

 

[zinfamous]

Yeah! Let's stick with a Sony creation and their wonderful track record.

1. PS3 delayed to market to force a tech
2. Rootkits, Enough said
3. Different models of the Sony PS3 support different levels of backwards compatability with Sony PS2 games? Nice.
4. Removed the ability to install Linux via an update? Awesome!
5. Reports of drives dying in PS3 units and overheating.
6. Want to talk about overpriced accessories and consoles?
7. Playstation Move.
8. PS3 requiring disc to use Netflix...

Need we go on and on? Every company has misteps and failures.

lolrusrs?

 

[AstroManLuca]

Anyone who claims that Blu-ray is not an important or viable format, especially these wealthy executives, should be pushing HARD for cheap, reliable, uncapped, fast internet access for all.

I don't give a fuck how great your streaming is, when 1.5 Mbps on a good day is what passes for "high speed" according to the stingy ISPs, it won't matter. It's faster to drive to Blockbuster and rent a Blu-ray disc, even if you live in the country.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Yes. As I stated earlier, FF13. It also has noticeably lower graphic quality because of it.

But other than that, look at the cross-platform games like Madden. Are there noticeable graphic qualities between the PS3 version and the Xbox 360 version? If there it's minuscule. You don't need a bluray disc for games except for maybe a game like FF13. It just requires more work to get the same information onto a DVD for Xbox 360.