Nimbus

VERY interesting article:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...1960294,00.asp

NEW YORK, May 10 (Reuters) - Sony Electronics is seeing the supply of electronic components tightening with accelerated sales of mobile phones and other devices, its president said on Wednesday.

"Overall component supply is tightening up," Stan Glasgow, president and chief operating officer of the Sony Corp. division, said during an event in New York. He noted that a wide range of electronic devices such as mobile phones are "selling at a phenomenal rate."

Glasgow added that the company would not have enough inventory to supply demand for next-generation Blu-ray DVD players in the United States.

"It's going to be expensive," he said. "It will take time to get component prices down."

Glasgow's comments come amid a brewing industry war over the technology behind the next most advanced line of DVD players.

Blu-ray technology is competing with HD format DVD players as the next standard in the $24 billion-a-year home video market. Toshiba Corp. started rolling out its HD DVD format players in Japan over a month ago, becoming the first company to offer next-generation optical disc players worldwide.

Glasgow said he believed the battle over formats could be resolved within 12 to 24 months, but entertained the possibility of creating a player that combined both technologies.

"A lot has been invested" in such advanced DVD players, he said. "It's expensive having two different types of hi- definition technologies."

Augustes

Admitting the "need" <> "A lot has been invested" in such advanced DVD players, he said. "It's expensive having two different types of hi- definition technologies."

Nero

Apparently, as it stands now, there will be no dual format players due to the BR license agreement.

If Sony is open to the possibility, it is definitely a sign of weakness on their part. He may have meant, "we'll keep it looking good for 12-24 months to save face before we give it up 'for the good of the industry'."

I'm guessing that behind closed doors, Sony is feeling the pressure from studios who want to go agnostic. The whole reason the studios want to release on HD is because DVD sales are peaking. The format war will actually hurt HD format sales. Logically, then, they won't tolerate it for long.

Augustes

Thanks for sharing the article

Nimbus

It would be cool if they just created dual players and sold both HD-DVD and BD as ‘one’ format with the differences being thought of in a similar way to the differences between single layer and dual layer DVDs. That way TV series, etc could be released on the larger capacity BD discs and HD-DVDs could be used for regular films that don’t require as much space.

redford

In theory it would be cool.

However, it is much more expensive to manufacture BR product due to lower manufacturing tolerances (from what I've read). Therefore, I wouldn't want a dual format player because it'll cost a fortune (stand alone BR players cost a fortune).

What is interesting is that Sony is apparently open to the idea, whereas up until now the very idea was absurd... why make a dual format player when HD-DVD will be dead?

I guess the news of HD-DVD's death has been greatly exaggerated.

"The next generation doesn't start until we say it does." -Sony

Nimbus

Sony was the one refusing before. It would be VERY interesting if HD-DVD were the one who refused now.

Augustes

Yea, I don't think it would be good to have a dual format player.

Wasn't HD-DVD calling Blu-Ray, "disruptive technology" at CES 2006?

I don't want no disruptive technology in my player.

redford

As far as I know, when Sony refused they were percieved (at least by me) to be leading in the race. Now, I give the edge to HD-DVD, especially given that they've hit their release dates and their expansion into the 360 add-on. I'd be surprised if HD-DVD went along with it now, since one of their big selling points is affordability.

Nero

Sony blinked the day they started selling VHS machines.