Microsoft says 'no' to Xbox Blu-ray

[meStevo]

You never answered my question regarding the rental.
I am sure the retailers will not be happy about this.

Downloads still far away from being a prime product.
Remember most people that buy movies, they want to own it, not rent it for couple days. I would love to watch my movies 1-2 months after, even a year later.
Now that Blu-ray won the market against HD-DVD, I am sure they will start making more money, cheaper players, and hopefully cheaper discs.

I'd rather own a disc and play it whenever I want it than re-renting the movie to watch it.
Also if M$ wants to convert the 360 into a media player, then they need to start making quieter 360's.
That's my personal preference.

Completely agree, as I type this we are watching Rules of Engagement.... though we cannot hear our 360.

Like the RROD stuff, I think that's been rectified too. Everyone's environment will determine the effect of this certainly.

I am in complete agreement otherwise... I don't like the rental model as it stands on Xbox Live among other places. I have never paid for a rental, but have enjoyed some things like Jericho S2S1 which looked really damn nice (fiance literally said 'that looks like OTA'... i didn't know she knew what OTA was, she calls everything just 'HD').

To me, to succeed over a physical format, it will take a medium-highish (few/no artifacts, but 1080p not needed) buffet-style rental system. I'd pay $20/mo for unfettered access, or perhaps x tokens per month to view a movie. Give me either diminishing returns or free reign for repeat viewings. Throw in a commercial at the beginning of it for some ad revenue and I won't mind either.

We are a long way from that, not just bandwidth-wise (which I think is closer than many want to admit) but idealogy-wise for the studios.

In the end, people are paying for these movies online. While they continue to do so, that form will continue as-is until someone is able to broker some buffet-style deal. Until then... congrats Blu-Ray when you get to an economical price range.

 

[Ramy]

Gaming - News - Microsoft says 'no' to Xbox Blu-ray - Digital Spy

I fixed the link for you.

 

[Ronnie-]

The point of my post is that the issues he points out are resolved in current models. I am the owner of a 360 that is connected via VGA and have yet to have something downscaled, and enjoy the Media Extender functionality. These things are impossible to do apparently in the world of JoeSP.

Starting a post with "Anyone who buys a XBOX360 now knows that the '3 Ring Circus' could visit them" and including in that post "...does not have all the outputs (HDMI for one)..." is outright lying. I mean lying over specs and whatnot is one thing, but lying about something that is physically present on 99.9% of new retail 360s sold right now (some 60gbs have popped up at OD recently) completely forfeits any point you were trying to make in the same handful of breaths.

I havent had any problems using component either however there have been times that I wish it were hooked up through HDMI if for no other reason that I have more HDMI inputs available to me. Most of the "shortcomings" have been addressed I admit, I simply wish that one had been taken care of at the beginning. That aside, I have been very pleased with my 100% trouble free 360, and for gaming purposes, I use it more than either of the other two systems. The sound could be a factor for some, however It isnt any louder than the PS3 (and I hear neither since I usually have my surround cranked up).

 

[Tom_P]

Well there are others like me, that just buy another 360 with HDMI. I had 3 RROD, the first one right out of the box a lauch day unit. Got it to work only to last a little over a month and got a refund. The second unit (new) lasted for almost a year, got a refurb that lasted 5 months, but M$ sent me a new unit after I talked to a Manager. That one I sold it to a friend, and got me an Elite. Also I bought another Premium back in Jan 07 for my son, because my console was getting a beating, and we keep fighting for playing time.
Like Elstevo stated, I've used VGA to get 1080p on my premium unit. Now I use HDMI and could not be happier.

Also I have a PS3 basically for BD, and the flexibility to play the exclusive games of that cosole.

 

[riffjim4069]

MS is taking a huge risk not integrating future models with a BD in my opinion. I don't think the public is ready for downloadable media...they still want the hard media in hand.

 

[Ronnie-]

Well there are others like me, that just buy another 360 with HDMI. .

That is an option sure, my point is that it shouldnt have had to be an option. It isnt like HDMI wasnt around when it was released. Seems like a pretty big oversight to me. That being said, I am not bothered enough to go buy another one since mine is trouble free and does what I want it to do.

 

[meStevo]

MS is taking a huge risk not integrating future models with a BD in my opinion. I don't think the public is ready for downloadable media...they still want the hard media in hand.

BD/Downloadable media is an option though, not a choice that needs to be made. For a vast majority of this generations console owners, they probably couldn't care less about HD media, physical or downloaded. It has helped the PS3 tremendously this generation move units, but it undermines publisher support when they release a title and it under performs for the number of consoles in circulation.