Xbox 720 Ditching Optical Drive?

[alent1234]

That's gonna cost Microsoft an arm and a leg... D:

why? they are cheap now

blu ray is a huge consortium that MS is part of. hundreds of companies. it's not like they have to go beg from sony

 

[JackBurton]

why? they are cheap now

blu ray is a huge consortium that MS is part of. hundreds of companies. it's not like they have to go beg from sony

MS will have to pay a license fee to Sony to use it. BD is Sony's baby.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Looks like 100% agreement on it being bullshit.

Download option, sure. Download only, no way. And I seriously doubt a flash based card system.

Regardless, I definitely expect at least bluray playback capabilities, which means not ditching optical.

 

[RavenSEAL]

why? they are cheap now

blu ray is a huge consortium that MS is part of. hundreds of companies. it's not like they have to go beg from sony

Sony is the majority "stock holder" in the BR Association.

 

[alent1234]

MS will have to pay a license fee to Sony to use it. BD is Sony's baby.

no, there are like 300 companies involved. i believe toshiba even owns more BD patents than sony

it's like the 3gpp and DDR RAM consortiums. you sign up, donate your patents, sell your stuff and pay a fee from each product into the consortium pool

 

[JackBurton]

because a bd player with wifi and features like netflix is the same price as a PS3. and my wife who's not a techie can tell the quality difference between a dvd in the x-box and the PS3. that's how good it is. and it gets constant firmware and feature updates unlike consumer BD players

my only complaint about the PS3 is that they stopped with netflix, hulu and a few other movie rentals. i was hoping they would get amazon video and most of the features of Roku but it probably won't happen.

which is why i'm hoping next gen x-box goes BD. i'll sell both, buy new x-box and a roku box as well

The PS2 had a built in DVD player that most people used when it was released, however as time went on, people just purchased a stand alone player. By the time MS and Sony come out with their new consoles, the features you are looking for could be had for $100 on a stand alone BD player. So I really don't think this should be an issue. Buy a BD player and get whatever console you want.

Also take into consideration we are on the verge of using a slightly modified HD format. Not sure what it will be, but 4K is the next step. Do you want a console that supports the current BD standard that you will be stuck with for the next 5 years, or would you rather have a console do what it does best (play games) and a stand alone you can upgrade more frequently? The PS3 launch was unique in that BD AND the next gen console launched at the same time. Yes, the PS3 received upgrades throughout it's life cycle adding new features (HD audio support, 3D, a little but of 4K), but it wouldn't survive a format change. Can't upgrade the optical drive.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. I think combining BD with the PS3 was fantastic, however the next gen console doesn't really have a need for it. It needs something better than DVD, but it doesn't necessarily have to be BD.

 

[alent1234]

at this point i don't care about 4K because

1. it's not out yet
2. its going to be too expensive for a few years
3. i'm not going to rebuy all my movies in 4k format

in fact i'm not going to buy it at all if it doesn't offer something other than it looks prettier

and i think we are way past the era of consoles having proprietary ports and formats. except for nintendo. sony and MS both support open formats like bluetooth, USB, dvd, blu ray and others

at this point i have one TV and i would rather have one box for everything than multiple boxes

 

[JackBurton]

no, there are like 300 companies involved. i believe toshiba even owns more BD patents than sony

it's like the 3gpp and DDR RAM consortiums. you sign up, donate your patents, sell your stuff and pay a fee from each product into the consortium pool

Toshiba was behind HD-DVD, Sony was behind BD although there are other companies that are part of the BD consortium.

 

[JackBurton]

at this point i don't care about 4K because

1. it's not out yet
2. its going to be too expensive for a few years
3. i'm not going to rebuy all my movies in 4k format

in fact i'm not going to buy it at all if it doesn't offer something other than it looks prettier

and i think we are way past the era of consoles having proprietary ports and formats. except for nintendo. sony and MS both support open formats like bluetooth, USB, dvd, blu ray and others

at this point i have one TV and i would rather have one box for everything than multiple boxes

I understand you may not care now, but we are talking about a console built for the next 5 years. And although the format isn't out yet, the displays most certainly are (Sony's 4K projector). Yes it will be expensive in the beginning but so was BD when it was first introduced. I don't plan on replacing my BD collection either (~800 movies strong), but in the next few years, I do plan on possibly upgrading to a 4K display and buying new releases in their 4K format.

 

[alent1234]

my 42" panny lcd TV was $650 in 2010. i don't plan to pay any more than that for a TV.

bought my ps3 when the slim came out for $299 because wifi blu ray players were the same price. don't have any games for it. in fact the controller is broke and won't work unless connected to the unit

 

[juiio]

That's gonna cost Microsoft an arm and a leg... D:

Licensing is cheap. $9.50 for the drive, plus 11 cents per disc.

 

[American Gunner]

The PS2 had a built in DVD player that most people used when it was released, however as time went on, people just purchased a stand alone player. By the time MS and Sony come out with their new consoles, the features you are looking for could be had for $100 on a stand alone BD player. So I really don't think this should be an issue. Buy a BD player and get whatever console you want.

While that is true, do you really want another generation of disc swapping? It has started popping up, and I hope it doesn't become the norm with MS.

 

[Krynj]

Also take into consideration we are on the verge of a using a slightly modified HD format. Not sure what it will be, but 4K is the next step. Do you want a console that supports the current BD standard that you will be stuck with for the next 5 years, or would you rather have a console do what it does best (play games) and a stand alone you can upgrade more frequently? The PS3 launch was unique in that BD AND the next gen console launched at the same time. Yes, the PS3 received upgrades throughout it's life cycle adding new features (HD audio support, 3D, a little but of 4K), but it wouldn't survive a format change. Can't upgrade the optical drive.

You will definitely not see 4K on the next gen systems. Current gen doesn't even do native 1080p. The only gaming machines currently capable of 4K are PCs multi-monitor setups with a ton of horsepower behind it.

 

[JackBurton]

While that is true, do you really want another generation of disc swapping? It has started popping up, and I hope it doesn't become the norm with MS.

Oh believe me, I HATE disc swapping. That's why I'm hoping if the next gen consoles DO come with an optical drive, you can simply copy the disc to the hard drive. Not like we have now that it still requires the disc to play, but a full copy.

 

[JackBurton]

You will definitely not see 4K on the next gen systems. Current gen doesn't even do native 1080p. The only gaming machines currently capable of 4K are PCs multi-monitor setups with a ton of horsepower behind it.

Doesn't necessarily have to play games at 4K, but it can play games at 1080/60 and play movies at 4K. No way will the next gen consoles be able to play 4K native games. That being said, I highly doubt they'll have a 4K HD format ready in time for the next gen console. I wouldn't mind being wrong though. 🙂

 

[alent1234]

the next gen consoles aren't going to have it because no one wants to pull a sony and lose money for years on their console business. the PS3 was so amazing that its still probably losing money for sony.

 

[JackBurton]

the next gen consoles aren't going to have it because no one wants to pull a sony and lose money for years on their console business. the PS3 was so amazing that its still probably losing money for sony.

Isn't going to have what? 4K playback? Yeah, I agree. That's why they (consoles) should stick to what they do best, play games. If they want to add streaming or an app store, great. But lets focus on the gaming aspect. I want a BIG performance jump from the current gen consoles, not some incremental crap.

 

[alent1234]

i don't really care about graphics, i'd rather every console come with 300GB at the minimum of local storage to make the games better.

no more ME levels where you walk in a straight line, make a game where you really have to explore the level

 

[JackBurton]

i don't really care about graphics, i'd rather every console come with 300GB at the minimum of local storage to make the games better.

no more ME levels where you walk in a straight line, make a game where you really have to explore the level

I do care about graphics, and so do most of the people looking to upgrade to the next gen console. That being said, hopefully the next gen consoles come with a minimum of a 1TB local hard drive. Hell, I have a 500GB drive in my PS3.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Licensing is cheap. $9.50 for the drive, plus 11 cents per disc.

Times 1xx million units?

 

[Doppel]

Seems possible.

I have to laugh at how many people in this thread didn't read the article, though. It says IN THE FIRST SENTENCE “interchangeable solid-state card storage”

So yes it's possible the optical could be removed and yet distribution stays exactly as is with stores and physical media. I don't know why they'd bother, as flash is more expensive for a game than optical...

4K is irrelevant now and likely to stay that way for years. Certainly next gen console won't give it any attention at launch as 99% of us (literally) don't have support for it nor care about it or desire to upgrade. Anyway, we already know that better than 1080P is irrelevant unless your TV is farking massive or you're right in front of it. And it adds burdensome processing requirements for no gain for most people.

 

[jpiniero]

I don't know why they'd bother, as flash is more expensive for a game than optical...

I'll guess that Flash readers are cheaper than blu-ray drives.

I think this rumor is true. The lowest end 720 model won't have a HD or a disk drive. It'll have that flash drive. If it means they can launch at $199, or maybe even cheaper...

 

[bearxor]

That's gonna cost Microsoft an arm and a leg... D:

It's a real "bag of hurt"!

 

[Via]

Didn't Sony try this with that new PSP last year only to have it sink like a lead brick because it was download-only?

 

[sygyzy]

I think a cool idea would be the consoles ditch optical drives but come with a SATA "dock" on the side covered by a flap. Then each Xbox 720 would come with a small SSD, like 15-20GB. You take the drive to your local Best Buy or Target and they have devices there like the Red Box and the night before the release they've already downloaded the game and it sits in the box. When you buy a game, you stick your SSD into it and it loads the game.