Within the next three months?
Following the news that Toshiba is
planning to halt production of HD DVD compatible equipment, the rumour that Microsoft is now looking to revert to ‘plan b’ and release a standalone Blu-ray player for the Xbox 360, has hit the net.
Australian online technology magazine,
SmartHouse, claims
that ‘insiders at Microsoft’ could launch the Blu-ray within the next three months.
Microsoft has always said that they’d be prepared to release a Blu-ray player if it was what consumers demanded. Albert Penello, group marketing manager for Xbox hardware
recently told the Guardian that
"It should be consumer choice; and if that's the way they vote, that's something we'll have to consider".
In the SmartHouse article, Michael Ephraim, MD of Sony Computer Entertainment has said that they’d welcome Microsoft on board.
“In fact it is quite logical for them as the PS3 has been very successful in driving consumers to Blu-ray. In fact we believe that it has done more to win the format war than traditional Blu-ray players,” he said.
We'll have to wait and see whether the Xbox 360 Blu-ray player materializes, but following the Toshiba news, it's now looking very likely indeed.
Source ::
SmartHouse 
printer friendly layout 
discuss in the forums 
email to a friend
IE7 Search
Firefox 2 Search
HEXUS.community :: your right2reply
What would have happened to sony's multimedia plans if HD-DVD had suceeded? They would have been relegated to purely a game player with networked media capabilities and not the hub they had hoped for...
Actually I had a think about that - it might have been a smart business move afterall - if your format fails then you force everyone to buy the refresh model and throw out their old ones. Again as early adopters are quite likely to be 'brand loyal' (to use the polite term for it) they probably would stump up again for their favourite console, especially if the costs were lowered to bring it in line with the competition.Quote
Actually I had a think about that - it might have been a smart business move afterall - if your format fails then you force everyone to buy the refresh model and throw out their old ones. Again as early adopters are quite likely to be 'brand loyal' (to use the polite term for it) they probably would stump up again for their favourite console, especially if the costs were lowered to bring it in line with the competition.
Interesting point and when you think about it quite possible! I guess MS have done themselves out of that one with prople only having to buy an add-on!
;)Quote
Ah my mistake, I thought those third parties still licensed/purchased sub-components from Sony.
Every BluRay device will have a licensing fee attached to it, but that will go to the BluRay consortium, not just Sony. i don't know how much of the actual hardware Sony manufacture themselfs, i know Sanyo manufacture a lot of the blue laser diodes etc. and there will be other companies producing chipsets, pickups, mechanisms and all the other parts needed to make an ODD.Quote
The drop in TV prices before Christmas created huge demand and the best value hi-def player was the PS3.
As the low volume of HD-DVD units sold over the same period was cited as a key reason for the Warner pull-out it could be argued the PS3 is/has killed HD-DVD.
However there is a big benefit for some peeps.
All HD-DVD player prices have fallen like a stone and since they happen to be fine DVD players as well they could be a fantastic purchase even ignoring the hi-def format.
As for the 360, well mine will stay as is and I'll be saving for a blue-ray recorder instead :)Quote
Reply