Head scratcher: Sony to release Blu Ray movies minus players?!
 

From imdb.com:

'Sony To Release Hi-Def Movies -- With No Players

In an announcement that left many analysts scratching their heads, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment President Benjamin Feingold announced Wednesday that the company will release its first batch of movies on high-definition Blu-ray discs on May 23 -- even though no players will be available at that time on which to play them. Sony has indicated that the first players may not be available until November. In an interview with Home Media Retailing, Feingold said, "We realize there may be some delays on the hardware side, but we are going to honor our commitment to release movies when we said we would." Questions immediately arose concerning what retailers will do with the disks when they receive them. Said Feingold: "There are two schools of thought: A dealer could have them for publicity purposes, to prime the market, or we can ship them later, when hardware is on the market. But the important point is, we can meet the date -- that's the key."'

Strange...

heath

What's so strange? Aren't these the preludes of the upcoming format war? Like the crawling wind before the storm. You know, Sun Tse/Clausewitz: the art of having the greater number at the decisive time/space...

This is Sony's new Digital Rights Management concept. Offer the media without the player.

Could be that they're hoping people will go ahead and buy the movies so as to create a pent-up demand for Blu-Ray players when they finally do arrive. If you had a stock of movies on the shelf and only one of the new players will play them, whatareya gonna buy? Seems pretty dumb to me, though. I know I won't buy software until the hardware is in my hands.

Well, there wouldn't be a way to do a side-by-side comparison either. Who's to say the Bluray copy you buy today won't look like junk when you get the player? What if there was a manufacturing problem with the first batch of Bluray disks and no recall could be made since there aren't players for them? Strange move indeed.

new sony PC in the RC series also uses blu ray
 

there was a nice announcement on the new addition to the rc series of sony pc's

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTE...Dept=computers


The VAIO® RC desktop PC is Sony’s first Blu-Ray™ enabled desktop.
This multimedia powerhouse is capable of playing back Blu-Ray™ movies in stunning clarity. Blu-Ray™ technology gives you the power to play and burn both DVDs and Blu-ray Discs™, as well as store a massive amount of data on a single disc (25GB to 50GB). Also capable of burning HD Camcorder content in its original 1080 high-definition resolution, the VAIO® RC300 series opens new doors in the ever-growing world of high definition.

Sign up to receive information and updates on VAIO® RC Desktops.


The power you need for the most demanding A/V applications. Bringing you screaming-fast performance in a whisper-quiet environment. The Intel® Pentium® D dual-core processor delivers robust performance for running multiple, demanding applications simultaneously. RAID 0 Serial ATA hard drives deliver incredible hard-drive speeds, enabling multiple configurations for performance or mirroring. Advanced DDR2 memory provides ultra high-speed computing. PCI Express x16 video graphics capabilities enable cinematic-quality effects and color. Plus, the VAIO® RC Desktop is designed for expansion, with the capacity for up to an incredible 2TB of storage in multiple hard disk drives to help accommodate a large collection of high-quality media files.

Enjoy the quality TV viewing experience that you’ve come to expect from Sony. Watch and record your favorite shows with Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 enhanced by Sony’s Giga Pocket® engine. It’s convenient and easy with on-screen program listings and navigation. You can even create a digital library for personal viewing at your convenience. The VAIO® RC Digital Studio™ Desktop Computer puts TV on your schedule.

Click here to learn more about Blu-ray™ technology

Won't PS3's also have Blu-Ray drives?

Jesse,

PS3s won't come out until November, months after the first non-Sony Blu-Ray players come out.

heath

Had it been pushed back, or was this the original planned release?

Was supposed to come out in March or this month.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...ht=playstation

hwm

There are players now, just not Sony.

http://www.videoguys.com/Emails/new-nab1.html

Computer Blu-Ray drives--definitely a start.

heath

Crazy like a fox...
 

Sony remembers all too well what killed Betamax...a smaller title selection than its rival VHS. The battle won't be won by product specs (which most people won't comprehend, anyway). It'll be one by whoever can fill Blockbuster with their titles first.

All Joe Consumer wants to know is: Which box plays Basic Instinct 2? And, where are the 'zoom' and 'freeze' buttons?