Top 10 Reasons why BluRay will fail
Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2006 8:39 pm
I've seen a lot of people making comments about BluRay and HDDVD on a number of forums. At this point it seems pretty obvious that BluRay will fail, and HDDVD will succeed as the next gen format of choice. So I thought I would compile a nice comprehensive list of the reasons why BluRay will fail, just so they're all in one place, and people can easily refer back to them as needed. So without further ado, the list:
#10:
Popular Opinion. If you look all over the internet, everyone only talks about HDDVD and how much Sony sucks. All those people can't be wrong!!
#9:
The name. I mean, with HDDVD you know EXACTLY what you're getting. an HD DVD. And next year when DVD is no longer in as high demand, we can just abbreviate that to DVD, and no one will get confused because who would want DVD when you have an HD DVD available? And what the hell is a BLU RAY anyways? The discs don't even LOOK blue at all.
#8:
Movie Selection. HDDVD has the support of New Line Cinema, and Universal exclusively, and share support of Warner Brothers and Paramount with BluRay, but still have a lot more movie titles available so far for HDDVD then BluRay. The only thing Sony has going for them is Lionsgate, MGM, Fox and their own Sony distributed stuff.... but who the hell cares about THAT crap?
#7:
Codec Insecurity. HDDVD, although officially supporting MPEG2 and MPEG4, as well as the VC-1 codec, HDDVD only *actually* uses VC-1, in order to keep things streamlined. BluRay on the other hand keeps mixing things up! Initially the used the MPEG2 codec, and then they decided to copy HDDVD by moving to VC-1, and now there is even talk of future releases using the MPEG4 codec. Geez BluRay, make up your mind!!
#6:
The history of products from Sony. HDDVD is not supported by Sony, and therefore has pretty much already won the battle. BluRay, is just going to fall into the same category of so many other Sony products in the past. For instance, look at MiniDiscs, or DVD+R, both formats were introduced LONG after CD-R and DVD-R, and both formats are essentially failures that never managed to claim the majority of the consumer market. On top of that, DVD+R, like the DVD format in general (which Sony is also attached to!), is drastically inferior in terms of lifespan compared to that of the CD-R. Just look at all the complaints about recordable media having bonding problems. So why should we trust any Sony products?
#5:
Production Costs. HDDVD is built off of the existing DVD technology, so much so that it's capable to do simple upgrades of existing DVD manufacturing equipment so that it can manufacture HDDVD as well. BluRay however requires a complete overhaul, and new equipment to be purchased. Why Sony thought they needed to build BluRay's technology from the ground up is completely beyond me!
#4:
Componant shortage. BluRay just can't get it together on their componant end. It's obvious everywhere from Sony's BluRay player to their PS3, that they just can't get it together, even just in terms of forcasting. But you don't see that kind of problem from HDDVD!! The only reason you can't get HDDVD-ROM drives for the XBox 360 easily is because they are selling so fast! And the HDDVD-R burner on the market in Japan is dealing a crushing blow for sure!
#3:
The price difference between movies on BluRay and HDDVD. Take for instance Mission Impossible 3, which has been released on both formats. The HDDVD version sells on amazon.com for $27.87 USD, but the BluRay version costs a mind boggling $27.95. Seriously WTF?! I guess Sony hasn't learned about those crazy licensing fees yet!
#2:
Capacity. HDDVD offers *15GB* per layer.... that's about 2x as much as a double layer DVD, and a little more then 3x a single layer DVD. That's *HUGE* !!! Some people think they might need even more then that, like 25GB or something, but don't forget the words of a prominant leader from an HDDVD supporting company "640K of memory should be enough for anybody.''. While we know now that 640K is not enough anymore, that quote DOES remind us to not be greedy, and to learn to live with the limitations. And really, 15GB per layer should be enough for anybody. So why have 25GB per layer if you're just going to end up wasting 10GB of it in the end?
#1:
BluRay is Evil. I can't possibly put it better then the user DukeNukem from CDFreaks, so here is a direct quote:
"I know that $ony isn't the only one on the Blu-ray team, but people can be blinded by hate (and oh, how I hate). It's kind of like Hitler. If Hitler liked or supported something then it was automatically evil by association.
$ony (Hitler) + Blu-ray (abortion, euthanasia, etc.) = Evil !!!"
#10:
Popular Opinion. If you look all over the internet, everyone only talks about HDDVD and how much Sony sucks. All those people can't be wrong!!
#9:
The name. I mean, with HDDVD you know EXACTLY what you're getting. an HD DVD. And next year when DVD is no longer in as high demand, we can just abbreviate that to DVD, and no one will get confused because who would want DVD when you have an HD DVD available? And what the hell is a BLU RAY anyways? The discs don't even LOOK blue at all.
#8:
Movie Selection. HDDVD has the support of New Line Cinema, and Universal exclusively, and share support of Warner Brothers and Paramount with BluRay, but still have a lot more movie titles available so far for HDDVD then BluRay. The only thing Sony has going for them is Lionsgate, MGM, Fox and their own Sony distributed stuff.... but who the hell cares about THAT crap?
#7:
Codec Insecurity. HDDVD, although officially supporting MPEG2 and MPEG4, as well as the VC-1 codec, HDDVD only *actually* uses VC-1, in order to keep things streamlined. BluRay on the other hand keeps mixing things up! Initially the used the MPEG2 codec, and then they decided to copy HDDVD by moving to VC-1, and now there is even talk of future releases using the MPEG4 codec. Geez BluRay, make up your mind!!
#6:
The history of products from Sony. HDDVD is not supported by Sony, and therefore has pretty much already won the battle. BluRay, is just going to fall into the same category of so many other Sony products in the past. For instance, look at MiniDiscs, or DVD+R, both formats were introduced LONG after CD-R and DVD-R, and both formats are essentially failures that never managed to claim the majority of the consumer market. On top of that, DVD+R, like the DVD format in general (which Sony is also attached to!), is drastically inferior in terms of lifespan compared to that of the CD-R. Just look at all the complaints about recordable media having bonding problems. So why should we trust any Sony products?
#5:
Production Costs. HDDVD is built off of the existing DVD technology, so much so that it's capable to do simple upgrades of existing DVD manufacturing equipment so that it can manufacture HDDVD as well. BluRay however requires a complete overhaul, and new equipment to be purchased. Why Sony thought they needed to build BluRay's technology from the ground up is completely beyond me!
#4:
Componant shortage. BluRay just can't get it together on their componant end. It's obvious everywhere from Sony's BluRay player to their PS3, that they just can't get it together, even just in terms of forcasting. But you don't see that kind of problem from HDDVD!! The only reason you can't get HDDVD-ROM drives for the XBox 360 easily is because they are selling so fast! And the HDDVD-R burner on the market in Japan is dealing a crushing blow for sure!
#3:
The price difference between movies on BluRay and HDDVD. Take for instance Mission Impossible 3, which has been released on both formats. The HDDVD version sells on amazon.com for $27.87 USD, but the BluRay version costs a mind boggling $27.95. Seriously WTF?! I guess Sony hasn't learned about those crazy licensing fees yet!
#2:
Capacity. HDDVD offers *15GB* per layer.... that's about 2x as much as a double layer DVD, and a little more then 3x a single layer DVD. That's *HUGE* !!! Some people think they might need even more then that, like 25GB or something, but don't forget the words of a prominant leader from an HDDVD supporting company "640K of memory should be enough for anybody.''. While we know now that 640K is not enough anymore, that quote DOES remind us to not be greedy, and to learn to live with the limitations. And really, 15GB per layer should be enough for anybody. So why have 25GB per layer if you're just going to end up wasting 10GB of it in the end?
#1:
BluRay is Evil. I can't possibly put it better then the user DukeNukem from CDFreaks, so here is a direct quote:
"I know that $ony isn't the only one on the Blu-ray team, but people can be blinded by hate (and oh, how I hate). It's kind of like Hitler. If Hitler liked or supported something then it was automatically evil by association.
$ony (Hitler) + Blu-ray (abortion, euthanasia, etc.) = Evil !!!"