CES: Sony cheers Warner move; preps advanced Blu-ray players
JAN. 6 | LAS VEGAS—Sony Corp. chief Howard Stringer reversed his previous description of the high-definition format war as “at a stalemate” in light of Warner Bros.’ abandonment of the HD DVD format and cheered what he now sees as a Blu-ray victory.
Stringer closed Sony’s Sunday press conference on the eve of the Consumer Electronics Show here by saying, “All of us at Sony are feeling Blu. But that is a good feeling. We thank Warner to release only in Blu-ray.”
The HD DVD format has shown pluck, with its set-tops—particularly Toshiba players—topping sales during the holiday season’s Black Friday week. But Blu-ray set-tops surged during December, overtaking HD DVD players, Sony VP Chris Fawcett told VB after the press conference.
“Every week after Black Friday, Blu-ray set-tops collectively beat Toshiba players,” he said. “During the week leading up to Christmas, Blu-ray set-tops were 67% of market share unit sales, and Sony was 50% of that.”
Sony will continue to advance the format with the planned 2008 rollout of two BD-Live/picture-in-picture players, the company’s first with these enhanced capabilities.
Pricing and street dates haven’t been determined, but Fawcett believes they could come as early as summer. The models are dubbed Sapphire 3 and Sapphire 4. Both are similar, but the latter will have more elite audio abilities.
To date, more than 4 million Blu-ray devices have sold, including PlayStation 3 units and set-tops, according to Sony. Toshiba has counted 1 million HD DVD set-tops and Xbox 360 drives in homes to date.
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| Submitted by: | Tami (cosmictami@telus.net) 2/4/2008 11:47:54 PM PT |
| Location: | Vancouver, Canada |
Well put chuck. Take the red pill and see reality. Sony does stink and in more ways than just seedy business practices. This is my second post about this subject and I see more reality in Chucks reply than any other. From professionals in "the business", to consumers, like myself and Chuck - we see the light and it is HD. Sad for sure that a format with such potential screwed up by a bunch of greedy #$&%*@. HD is cheaper and working just fine. I am amazed at the quality, INTERACTIVITY as well as the special features.
| Submitted by: | Chuck 1/7/2008 5:59:47 AM PT |
| Location: | Where there is no BluRay in Site |
Sony sure knows how to spin things in their favor. They tell lies to gain momentum and consumers. Scare people into thinking one thing. I wish everyone could take a movie in HD and play them side by side with all of the PQ, sound and extras and they will know which is the better format. The biggest reason it wins is because for the cheaper price you get the exact same thing BD gives you. Why pay for a name? Sony products are not that good. If it were not for PS3, BD would be cancelling their appearance at the CES. They have nothing else. BD cost more, bugs in hardware and software and their earlier players are obsolete. That is rediculous. Warner was not see all of these things because they were seeing the 500 mil waived in their face by Sony and all of the other who took the "Blu Pill"
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