Comments on: Warner may go Blu-ray exclusive?

by: Jim

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 09:01:02 +0000

And presumably PlayTV, PS3’s DVB-T dual digital TV tuner addon will be out next year in Australia. It’s coming to Europe “early next year”:

http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/22/more-details-on-sonys-new-playtv/
http://www.scee.presscentre.com/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=4413&NewsAreaID=2

With PlayTV the PS3 can act as a PVR, scheduling recordings via PlayTV’s electronic program guide. The only issue with the PS3 as a PVR is the hard drive size. 60 gigs (and particularly 40 gigs) is a bit on the small side.

The hard drive is user upgradable so you can go ahead and put in a larger capacity drive if you want to spend the money. Maybe late 2008 or 2009 will see cheap PS3s with big hard drives which would make PlayTV a very compelling PVR option.

by: Jim

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 05:39:37 +0000

Yes, the evolving software spec has been blu-ray’s number one weakness. You’ll be able to play the main feature and featurettes on profile 1.0 players, but still. PiP in 1.1 will be nice and networked special features in 2.0 have some potential.

Knowing that Profile 2.0 was on the horizon was part of my reasoning for choosing a PlayStation 3 for high definition movies (I also wanted it for gaming and streaming media over the network from my PVR).

Thankfully profile 1.1 went mandatory a month ago and hopefully we’ll see most (if not all) new players released next year be Profile 2.0 compliant.

by: Jeffk

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 05:25:41 +0000

I think that will cut my BDP-1000 out of the picture. The fact the Blu-ray spec has evolved has been my biggest issue with the format.

by: Jim

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 03:12:30 +0000

I don’t think “correcting” is needed. At the time that was the rumour. A rumour which seems to have reared its head again:

http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/warner-could-join-blu-ray/
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_51/b4063028294846.htm

Personally, I hope Warner Brothers does go blu-ray exclusive. They really are in a position to end the format war.

Even more intriguing is that the first Profile 2.0 (aka BD Live) title is going to be released on the 1st of January by Lionsgate:

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=733

I think this is hugely significant. It implies that PlayStation 3 with receive a firmware update to make it Profile 2.0 compliant early next year. It also suggests that other Profile 2.0 players are not far off from release, such as Daewoo’s Profile 2.0 player. Existing dual format players may also be upgradable to Profile 2.0 (assuming that have 1 gig of storage on board or that you can plug an SD card or similar in them).

Profile 2.0 titles being only three weeks away also means that Warner Brothers now have a pathway to implement their network features on blu-ray disc, which makes WB going blu-ray exclusive even more possible.

by: edward

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 00:09:45 +0000

I feel you need correcting on this.
“Speaking with High-Def Digest, Jim Noonan, SVP of Strategic Promotion and Communication for Warner Home Entertainment Group said “I can tell you that Warner’s position has not changed, and I know that Dan did not intend to suggest that wasn’t the case. We support both formats and we have made no decision to alter that policy, nor are there any such announcements coming, or being planned.”

As for speculation that the studio is waiting for Q4 sales results before making an announcement of format exclusivity — perhaps even as soon as this January’s CES in Las Vegas — Noonan shot down any such short-term scenarios.

“Like any major company, we are always reviewing our strategies in every aspect of our business, it is what smart companies do. I can’t say what may happen five, ten years down the line. But right now, Warner Bros. has made no decision to change course. We are still onboard with both formats, and will continue [with a strong line-up of new releases and catalog titles], just as we have in the past in supporting HD DVD and Blu-ray.”