wah lau, still not on the HD bandwagon ar??

wah for such a staunch HD supporter, you seriously behind the curve..

even Xbox possibly going blu-ray..


Microsoft, Sony In Blu-ray-For-Xbox Talks

Microsoft found itself without a high-definition video partner last month after HD DVD developer Toshiba said it would drop the format.

By Paul McDougall
InformationWeek
March 7, 2008 01:03 PM

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and Sony officials are in talks that could lead to a version of the Xbox video game console equipped with a Blu-ray high-definition DVD player.

Sony Electronics U.S. president Stan Glasgow revealed the discussions at a media dinner Thursday in San Francisco, according to an account of the event published by London's Financial Times. Glasgow said his company is also engaged in talks aimed at adding Sony Blu-ray to devices made by Apple, according to the paper.

Microsoft found itself without a high-definition video partner last month after HD DVD developer Toshiba said it would drop the format. Toshiba's announcement followed commitments by virtually all major Hollywood studios to back Blu-ray.

Days after Toshiba formally pulled the plug on HD DVD, Microsoft said it would discontinue an external Xbox 360 drive that supports the high-definition movie format.

Microsoft had been selling an HD DVD player as a $129 add-on for the Xbox 360. Existing units are now selling for less than half of that on eBay.

The death of HD DVD puts Microsoft in a quandary. Sony's PlayStation 3 console features a built-in Blu-ray player. With HD DVD no longer viable, Microsoft needs to find an alternate high-definition format for the Xbox.

The company could itself move to Blu-ray. But it might also reject its rival's technology and focus instead on offering high-definition downloads through its Xbox Live online content service.

Microsoft already sells a limited selection of HD television and movie downloads on Xbox Live, which boasts more than 10 million members.

In the meantime, Microsoft has said that HD DVD's discontinuation won't hurt Xbox 360 sales -- insisting that it's games, and not movies, that dictate console sales.

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Added on March 8, 2008, 1:10 pmactually cheap player doesn't mean good blu-ray performance....
still alot of processing power involved when handling 1080p HD movies.. which is what PS3 has (2 teraflops of combined processing power)

don't believe, just see how long it takes for HD-dvd/blu-ray standalone to "switch on player, load in disc to 1st video image".. (compare that to PS3)

This post has been edited by ar188: Mar 8 2008, 01:10 PM

it's not just run of the mill video chipset ICs, but very powerful ASICs.. but as usual moore's law will be helping to lower the costs in the near future...

PS3 is a 2 teraflops software player.. at the moment, the standalone players using ICs are still not comparable in processing power.. you just have to check out how butter smooth is the 1.5X fast Fwd function, some standalone players might even stutter or jerk the frames at such function..

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Added on March 11, 2008, 1:36 pmas for power consumption, come on la, if you use aircon in your room, you already suck more power than Plasma Tv/LCD TV/ projector etc.. why bother about how much a PS3 consumes power in the household.. it's relatively small..

This post has been edited by ar188: Mar 11 2008, 01:36 PM

please la 200W? for 4hours that's like 0.8KWh... how much is that? the facts is that at 17sen a day, the electric bill is pretty insignificant to even bring up in the first place.
rm5 a month is insignificant..

This post has been edited by ar188: Mar 11 2008, 05:42 PM