Sony CEO Damns Blu-Ray With Faint Praise

from the better-late-than-never? dept

Mon, Nov 12th 2007 8:25pm — Timothy Lee

For months, Sony and the other members of the Blu-Ray coalition have been declaring themselves the victors in the high-def format wars, with Toshiba and the HD-DVD camp struggling to convince people that they were still in the race. More recently, after bribing Paramount to side with them, the HD-DVD camp has enjoyed a resurgence. And that shift in momentum is apparently having an effect at Sony, as Sony's Howard Stringer is now declaring the comptition a "stalemate" and claiming that it was never that important anyway. Given the overheated rhetoric Sony was using earlier this year, it sure sounds like Sony is now worried they're going to lose, as HD-DVD companies slash prices in the run-up to the Holidays. Stringer laments that his predecessors didn't work harder to come up with a compromise before the two competing formats launched. At this point, it's not clear that there's anything Sony and Toshiba could do to patch things up. There are now hundreds of thousands of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players in peoples' living rooms, half of which will become useless junk when one format finally prevails. Or maybe they'll all lose, as consumers jump directly to more flexible digital formats that are sold over the Internet instead of on plastic discs.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: blu-ray, hd-dvd
Companies: sony

27 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Matt, 12 Nov 2007 @ 10:39pm

Stringer?
Why doesn't Sony just put a muzzle on that clown? Has he said anything worthwhile (or true) in the last year or so?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
HD-A2, 12 Nov 2007 @ 10:51pm

I got a
and I want a PS3(for the blue ray also). Then I will have all formats!! Muhahahahaha (and a DVI-D to HDMI for my other digital formats!!!) Looks like I win the format war!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Paul`, 13 Nov 2007 @ 12:33am

Personally I'm not interested in either format. I don't have a TV screen with high enough DPI to notice anything over DVD and that wont be changing for a while.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
snowman, 13 Nov 2007 @ 1:55am

Sony's Howard Stringer is an idiot
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Max Powers at http://ConsumerFight.com, 13 Nov 2007 @ 2:29am

Don't care either
Like Paul, I don't care either as my TV is not used as a home theatre.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
A. L. Flanagan, 13 Nov 2007 @ 3:41am

Real idiots
The real idiots are the people who thought another pointless format war would benefit their company, despite the example of all the previous format wars. Way to make millions of consumers delay purchases, guys.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Old Guy, 13 Nov 2007 @ 4:59am

Keepin up with the Jones'
About half the people who bought HD players will have bascially wasted money. BUT that is what happens when you have to have the latest and greatest of everything.
Anyone remember $200 calculators, $5000 HDTVs, $3000 Projection TVs, I know someone here had to be the first on his block to have a LCD computer monitor at what $500? I know a bunch of people who got stuck with beta-max machines.
I'll wait. Eventually the dust will clear and there will be a winner, and due to the competition prices will drop. The I'll buy a player and upgrade my TV.
And most likely be able to do it for A LOT less money than buying either now.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Haywood, 13 Nov 2007 @ 5:28am

Has the porn industry decided?
If I remember correctly that was the deciding vote during the VHS/Beta war. I'm not so sure that porn should go high def at all, I shudder to imagine the scars and stretch marks. Some things should remain standard def.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
WarOtter (profile), 13 Nov 2007 @ 5:48am

Re: Has the porn industry decided?
The porn industry hasn't been too involved in the HD format war for a couple reasons:

The VHS/BetaMax Porn involvement was more about just making titles available in the easiest fashion than it was trying to be a pioneer. It was the transition from seedy back alley XXX theaters to the living room. Now all the titles are already available on VHS/DVD so they no longer have the business paradigm shift to encourage their involvement.

Also, the HD aspect can make porn a little less 'cosmetic' to watch. With all the higher detail, now you can see every skin flaw, shaving nick, ingrown hair etc. So basically they are running into the fact that sex ain't always pretty.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Danny, 13 Nov 2007 @ 6:52am

Re: Re: Has the porn industry decided?

Also, the HD aspect can make porn a little less 'cosmetic' to watch. With all the higher detail, now you can see every skin flaw, shaving nick, ingrown hair etc. So basically they are running into the fact that sex ain't always pretty.

But depending on what you're into this may open up some opportunies to cater to the porn fans that want to see real people that have flaws and not some fake looking doll.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Nov 2007 @ 7:15am

hi mom first post
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Nov 2007 @ 7:19am

Dear Hi Mom,

You are a loser. "First Post" must mean YOUR first post anywhere, ever. Congratulations, now turn your computer off and walk away.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Nov 2007 @ 7:19am

Dear Hi Mom,

You are a loser. "First Post" must mean YOUR first post anywhere, ever. Congratulations, now turn your computer off and walk away.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Nov 2007 @ 7:20am

Dear Hi Mom,

You are a loser. "First Post" must mean YOUR first post anywhere, ever. Congratulations, now turn your computer off and walk away.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Nov 2007 @ 7:23am

I resent that. I love my Mom and say hi to her whenever I get the chance. Should I reply to you three times?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Blue Ray, 13 Nov 2007 @ 7:30am

Did they install WiFi on the short bus?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Hi That is Def, 13 Nov 2007 @ 7:36am

In the small town where I grew up the "short bus" was the last three rows in the long bus. We called them the "Drool Seats".
[ link to this | view in thread ]
me, 13 Nov 2007 @ 7:44am

i like plasma definition does the blueray come similary to it?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
matt, 13 Nov 2007 @ 7:47am

blu ray better?
But isn't blu ray a technologically superior format? Seems like they haven't stressed that enough if the case.

Also, why are they so bloody expensive? The reason I don't buy many blu rays is they cost a small fortune!

I have noticed high-end PC's come with blu ray drives now.. haven't seen any with hd-dvd drives though.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Nov 2007 @ 7:49am

Yo me! Listen up. if your
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Nov 2007 @ 7:54am

to much bigger words make it crowdeder by my ears
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Nov 2007 @ 7:57am

Hi matt, nobody cares. do you know about other stuff?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Buzz, 13 Nov 2007 @ 8:22am

Re: blu ray better?
I heard that Blu-ray uses a 10-year-old codec. I have no sources for that, but if it is true, that is rather embarrassing.

Either way, I will never participate in this HD disc war. We are in the Internet Age. I will wait until movies are available over the wire. I am tired of replenishing my movie library and wasting valuable shelf space. To me, HD discs are only good if you want to blow the movie image up with a projector for a public showing. Otherwise, I am happy with my SD DVDs.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Hulser, 13 Nov 2007 @ 9:43am

HD DVD? Meh.
I wonder how the executives of the companies who make the HD DVDs react to the "I don't really need HD DVDs that much. I'll just wait." attitude. Not that it should be news to them at this point, but it had to have shaken them pretty hard to hear this. They probably expected all of the video enthusiasts to work themselves into a frenzy over their new toys. But instead, a big portion of the people they expected would be early adopters just basically said "no thank you". That's gotta hurt.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Freedom, 13 Nov 2007 @ 12:05pm

Down with BluRay...
Sony is one of the most anti-consumer companies I know. Between their rootkit, lack of respect for fair use, and legal suits they've filed, there are definitely not my first choice for ANY products. The only other company I know that has this total disrespect for the consumer is Apple.

Top Reasons BluRay will fail:

1. BluRay Players Costs More
2. No fair use provisions
3. Quality is on par with HD DVD despite BluRay having size advantage.
4. There is a growing grass movement that hates Sony and will actively encourage others not to use it.
5. Cost more to produce on BluRay than HDDVD.
6. Lots of HD DVD Titles are dual format - include both HD DVD and DVD formats on the same disc. This is huge marketing advantage - buy your DVD today and playback in HD tomorrow.
7. The BluRay name missed its mark. They did a marketing survey and found that the average Joe said that they'd need an HDDVD Player for their HDTV - duh, it's not like I have a BluRayTV now, eh?

The two items that could save BluRay would be if a dual format player was made available in the sub $200 range and if their was a disc that had both BluRay and HD DVD versions (one on each side). Neither of these seem practical and the later doesn't have the same impact as being able to have a DVD version on the second side which is much more useful to everyone that has a DVD player but isn't ready to move up to a HD Player.

Sony, "Now selling Beta Max 2 (cough, BluRay)..."
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Aaron Martin-Colby (profile), 13 Nov 2007 @ 11:10pm

Stalemate, indeed.
I agree with Freedom. I'm not a big fan of Sony. Still, I suspect that the stalemate will translate to a dual-format world. I can't imaging any company backing down.

I also do not think that Video-On-Demand services will leap-frog the DVD wars into obsolescence. People, myself included, want to have portable media and a 20GB movie file is just not viable. We don't quite have the storage, yet, and we sure as hell don't have the transfer rates.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Babylon, 15 Dec 2007 @ 11:57am

Not that I care
Isn't Sony the great Armageddon with putting Malware on their cd's. Good lord Blue Ray worth of malware spewing from these discs!
[ link to this | view in thread ]