But seriously .. who will buy it for a thousand bucks ? Sony announced that its first Blu-ray Disc player the BDP-S1 has begun shipping to major consumer electronics retailers and specialty dealers nationwide.... More...
I remember when DVD burners first came out , they carried a price tag of $1000 or so.. Give it 12 months and they will be cheap as chips..
Yeah as j.rhyon says there price will go down, although i personally think HD-DVD is going to win the war. Can someone explain any real reasons to buy one of these to me please. I mean does it allow me to watch any movies i otherwise wouldn't be able to watch in HD? Or is it just a mass storage method?
First of all the reason why Blue Ray and HD-DVDs can hold more data than CDs and DVDs: The smaller the wavelength on the laser used to read and write to the disc, then the tighter the data can be packed together (compressed)... hence more data in the same space. HD-DVD's and Blue Ray technology is very similar in that they both utilize smaller wavelengths (than standard DVDs) to increase the storage capacity. Both use the same wavelength (405nm which appears blue to humans) and hence the higher storage capacity then dvds and cd's (red lasers). HD-DVD's can hold 15gb versus Blue Ray's 25gb. However, cost makes HD-DVD more practical than Blue Ray at this time. Now the reason why HD-DVD and Blue Ray use the same wavelength but have difference max storage capacities has to do with the design of the discs. I don't know why, and wikipedia doesn't either. I would not doubt it if the designers want to keep the design specifics a secret. Basically, we're in the middle of the Blue Ray and HD-DVD war right now and only one can become the successor (I hope or it could suck for the consumers). I still think mainstream usage of the winner is still a few years off until the manufacturing process can be optimized to reduce the end user price. The whole process will be much like the CD and DVD era. It will start with mass produced movies (music doesnt need this much space, they'll stick to CDs) and the ROM players for your TV. Drives will then be released for the PC, starting with readers, then writers, rewriters, and finally dual layer writers. Dual Layer mass production will come somewhere in there (before dual layer drives for your PC for sur) but it all depends on when the first layer gets used up. This in turn depends on the successor (HD-DVDs hold 10gb less than Blue Rays).
They're here already dude... have been for a month or 2 now.. and they're writers too; http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=385881 http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=506295 http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=455648