Official: the talks are on MS talks to Sony about BD drive.

akodoreign

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Oct 16, 2007
985
0
From: FT.com / Technology - Sony, Microsoft discuss Blu-ray for Xbox 360

Sony is in talks with console rival Microsoft about offering a Blu-ray drive for the Xbox 360, according to a senior executive.

The Japanese electronics maker has until now touted Blu-ray as an advantage its PlayStation 3 holds over Microsoft’s console. Microsoft has backed Toshiba’s HD-DVD format and offered an HD-DVD drive that can be plugged into the 360.

But after Sony’s victory last month in the high-definition DVD format war, Stan Glasgow, Sony Electronics US president, said the two sides were now talking about Microsoft adopting Blu-ray.

A Blu-ray drive in a 360 would make Microsoft more competitive with the PS3, but it would also mean extra revenues for Sony’s electronics division. It would also add further cost to the 360, meaning a premium edition of the console could be necessary.
A Blu-ray drive could be incorporated in its top-of-the-range Elite Xbox, or Microsoft could again offer a drive as a plug-in peripheral.

Mr Glasgow, speaking at a media dinner, added that discussions were also taking place with Apple, which has not offered Blu-ray drives on any of its computers so far and has focused on digital media via downloads and streaming through devices such as its Apple TV.


The Sony president said he did not believe Blu-ray would be overtaken by high-definition content becoming available over the internet. Bandwidth limitations meant it was still available to only a few, he said, and consumers favoured disks they could own.

“Downloading will build over time, but this will be over a period of years,” he said.
On Blu-ray pricing, Mr Glasgow expects prices of players to drop to as low as $299 by the end of the year. They currently cost $399 and higher. He feels the price of a player could fall to about $200 by the end of 2009.


The prices of Blu-ray players are not expected to fall as precipitously as they did with regular DVD players. The Blu-ray Association, the group controlling the standard, has yet to license it to Chinese manufacturers, who would be expected to drive down prices.





Edited to add the full article (since its a site that has to be registered for)
 
Last edited:
I don't see why Sony would do anything to help the XBox weaken a competitive advantage that the PS3 has (BluRay capable)....

I don't care how much money Sony is losing, it doesn't make sense.... I assumed someone like Samsung or Pioneer would make a BluRay external drive for them....

It's moot for me anyway as I bought a Samsung Duo to play my old HD DVDs as well as BluRay. Since the XBox will probably get a new generation in 2-3 years, I wanted something to future proof my collection.... Since I still have a functioning Laserdisc player in my stack, I've gone this route before....
 
I don't see why Sony would do anything to help the XBox weaken a competitive advantage that the PS3 has (BluRay capable)....

Sony makes money on every piece of media sold with no investment. Sell the media, make money. That's how come CD was such a cash cow for Sony and Philips.

I don't care how much money Sony is losing, it doesn't make sense.... I assumed someone like Samsung or Pioneer would make a BluRay external drive for them....

They will probably source from several so that no one supplier is locking them down.

You have areas where they must cooperate (PCs) and areas where they compete vigorously (game consoles). The smart move treats them fairly on the gaming side so that they don't jeopardize the cooperative environment they have on the PC side.

Your approach (screw 'em we won) isn't a realistic point of view IMO.


It's moot for me anyway as I bought a Samsung Duo to play my old HD DVDs as well as BluRay. Since the XBox will probably get a new generation in 2-3 years, I wanted something to future proof my collection.... Since I still have a functioning Laserdisc player in my stack, I've gone this route before....

There's always something over the horizon.
 
My only point that I was surprised that Sony would willingly help blunt one of their competitive advantages by negating their BluRay advantage by helping MS get up to parity on that capability.

I know there are significant dollars involved, but if it is an add on, you might only be looking at a couple of hundred thousand units..... (using the HD DVD drive sales as a comparison point)
 
A Blu-ray Xbox? Don't count on it - Media Wonk - Blog on ContentAgenda.com - 1500000150

A Blu-ray Xbox? Don't count on it - March 11, 2008

Much has been made of Steve Ballmer's recent acknowledgment that Microsoft will "support Blu-ray in ways that make sense." Probably too much. Ditto Stan Glasgow's revelation that "discussions" are underway between Microsoft and Sony about incorporating a Blu-ray drive into the Xbox 360 to replace the now-defunct HD DVD strap-on Microsoft was selling. "Discussions" can mean a lot of things in corporate PR-speak. But one thing I suspect it does not mean in this case is that an Xbox Blu-ray strap-on is coming anytime soon.

An internal Blu-ray drive for Xbox, I think, is out of the question. It would add significant cost to the system at a point in the lifecycle of the platform where Microsoft is looking to take as much cost out of the box as possible in order to meet growing retail price competition. Why would it want to narrow Xbox's current price advantage over Sony's PlayStation 3?

The drive would also be useless for games, since developers who published on Blu-ray would be cutting themselves off from the base of Xbox 360 consoles already in the market that do not have Blu-ray drives. That means Microsoft would be adding significant cost to the system solely to support movie playback.

Further, adding an internal Blu-ray drive would mean adding support for BD-Java and BD+, two technologies Microsoft labored mightily to try to keep out of the next-gen DVD formats. I doubt it's going to invest the developer time needed to add those technologies to Xbox now.

Even the introduction of an outboard Blu-ray drive seems like a stretch. Microsoft certainly won't get the kind of price break out of Sony that it got from Toshiba, which means the drive would likely have to sell for at least $150 and probably more. And even with an add-on, Microsoft would still have to deal with supporting BD-Java and BD+. Perhaps a way could be found to include such support in the drive, rather than adding it to Xbox itself, but that add even more to the cost of the drive.

Bottom line: I just don't see any strategic reason why Microsoft would add a Blu-ray drive to the Xbox 360--at least not until it sees evidence that Blu-ray is really driving sales of PS3 to gamers, as opposed to people looking for a low-cost Blu-ray movie player.

The same issue of BD-Java and BD+ support also argues against Microsoft adding native Blu-ray support to Windows Media Center.

So what was Balmer talking about? I doubt he has in mind much more than adding a Blu-ray driver to Windows (a no-brainer at this point) while leaving full playback support to third-party developers. I'm sure Microsoft also stands ready to renew its previously spurned offer to optimize its VC-1 encoder for Blu-ray (another no-brainer if studios want to continue using VC-1 for high-def).

Beyond those obvious steps, however, I wouldn't expect to see a wholehearted embrace of Blu-ray by Microsoft.
 
thats addressing an internal drive. I agree with that.

I do believe an add on drive will be available in May. Remember how adamently MS denied the Elite SKU coming out. :D
I guess you missed this part.

Even the introduction of an outboard Blu-ray drive seems like a stretch. Microsoft certainly won't get the kind of price break out of Sony that it got from Toshiba, which means the drive would likely have to sell for at least $150 and probably more. And even with an add-on, Microsoft would still have to deal with supporting BD-Java and BD+. Perhaps a way could be found to include such support in the drive, rather than adding it to Xbox itself, but that add even more to the cost of the drive.
 
If MS doesn't support/create a BD add-on drive for the 360, then there will be more and more PS3 exclusive in the future...HDDVD lacks significant space for large HD graphic games...
 
If MS doesn't support/create a BD add-on drive for the 360, then there will be more and more PS3 exclusive in the future...HDDVD lacks significant space for large HD graphic games...
Well they dont even use an HD-DVD drive for the games now, hasnt seemed to hurt them yet
 
The only loss to MicroSoft for not producing a Blu-ray add on, is it might send customers to the PS3 for it's 2 for 1 function (games and movies). I'm sure MicroSoft is carefully calculating how many customers they might lose, and is it advisable for them to produce the BD add on, or not. There won't be any HD DVD or Blu-ray games made for the XBOX 360. Maybe the next generation.

Probably right after pigs fly. :haha
 
MS sided with HD DVD...the BD Nazi should tell them, "No Blu-ray for you." (heavy sarcasm)

If Microsoft wants to add a Blu-ray drive, they do not need Sony. All they need do is license it from BDA, and then start producing them.

If they are talking then they probably are trying to strike a deal for some special considerations.
 
The trickiest part of this is that they need to handle BD+ decryption with the X-Box and I'm not sure that it's set up to do that with its present hardware.

AACS is already there.
 
Would you want to share your most closely held business secrets with MicroSoft?
 

There's no such thing as an HD-DVD player (according to Best Buy)

Battlestar Galactica Blu-Ray where are you?

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 0, Members: 0, Guests: 0)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)

Latest posts