Blu-ray add-on coming for Xbox 360, says Ballmer

WOW...I didn't see that one coming!!!

oh, have been waiting this only like... 4years or so.

Is a loose blu ray accessory really attractive? Why not just get a ps3?

Yeah, and knowing Microsoft, it's gonna be totally overpriced. Look at their other accesories, like the wireless adapter, memory unit, hard drives, and controllers. $100 for a wireless adapter is just rediculous, when you can get a higher quality adapter one for much less. Memory Units are the best example - pay $50 for 512mb, when you can buy a 16gb flash drive for twenty bucks less. Do the math.

Blu-Ray will be no different. No need to hold off on buying a standalone, or even a PS3 (and that's coming from a 360 fanboy..).

Loose add-on=suck
a Blu-Ray 360=awesome.

The fact that they waited till the PS3 was the same price before worrying about it is lame. IMHO MS should just scrap the 360, sell it and stop making new add-ons or wasting money on it any longer. And start right now on something new to come out in 2 years with Blu-ray and real next gen stuff packed in. The 360 has enough momentum to get by 2 years of R&D for the next MS console. But at this point trying to catch up to the PS3's forward thinking technology is a waste of time and will backfire in the end.

they will scrap the xbox 360 in max 3 years. its reached its max capability already adn the ps3 has just scratched its. youll see blu ray xbox next gen for sure.

There is a Video of the conversation. It sounds more like he was saying that the addition of a stand alone BluRay player is the way to go for someone that wants BluRay. Not that MS was going to have one like the HDDVD player.

Can Sony step in and start screaming licensing blah, blah, blah. We may see a 360 that can play BluRay movies, but I doubt we will ever see the next Xbox use BluRay as the media used for games. I may be wrong, but I think Sony holds that patent. Microsoft may have to start making all of their games come out in box sets.

its going to be sega all over again for microsoft

If this had come out years ago I would have picked one up in a heartbeat. Now there's no point because I know it won't even come close to the quality of my Panasonic DMP-BD55 and other high-end BD players.

why not offer a simple 4X br drive replacement program for 100$ they replace the drive in the 360 with a BR unit, and new 360s would have a BR unit in them....

Originally posted by ooZEROoo:

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Can Sony step in and start screaming licensing blah, blah, blah. We may see a 360 that can play BluRay movies, but I doubt we will ever see the next Xbox use BluRay as the media used for games. I may be wrong, but I think Sony holds that patent. Microsoft may have to start making all of their games come out in box sets.

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Sony just owns some of the patents. Philips or Panasonic hold the most patents. Pioneer holds alot. Almost everyone but Toshiba holds patents. It would not be up to any of them anyway. The BDA headed by Pioneer, would decide. Everyone seams to think that Sony owns BD and controls it. (not directed at you, just in general)
MS already has wrights to use BluRay. They would not be producing the player. MS contracts production out to Co's.

i do like the option to add a different player for hd movies and br movies unlike sony forcing you to buy the gaming system with the br but in the long run i think that sony has came out on top far as the br perspective ...i think all game console manufacturers should let you have the option to choose what to have in your systems and the only reason i haven't bought a 360 is cause of all the lockup errors they have had id still getting one soon...just don't like the idea of having to buy the hard drives form ms themselves instead of like sony where you can add more space yourself....sorry kinda rambled off subject

They should see an add on Blu-ray unit that will only work on 360 for $50, they would lose money but if it can only connect through xbox then at least they know it's going to their loyal fans.

And at $50 people would forget complaining about extra attachments.

Originally posted by chubbyInc:

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They should see an add on Blu-ray unit that will only work on 360 for $50, they would lose money but if it can only connect through xbox then at least they know it's going to their loyal fans.

And at $50 people would forget complaining about extra attachments.

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Not really sicne PC BR drives are in the 40$ range for the lower end stuff, at 100 to replace the drive in a 360 thats not a bad deal it covers shipping, labor,ect. New units can have one installed at the factory at no added cost.

DP....

I don't think one is coming:

http://majornelson.com/archive/2009/10/2...n-xbox-360.aspx

So it will be a PS3 that red rings. (Note the sarcasm)

Quote:

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Sony just owns some of the patents. Philips or Panasonic hold the most patents. Pioneer holds alot. Almost everyone but Toshiba holds patents. It would not be up to any of them anyway. The BDA headed by Pioneer, would decide. Everyone seams to think that Sony owns BD and controls it. (not directed at you, just in general)
MS already has wrights to use BluRay. They would not be producing the player. MS contracts production out to Co's.

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I know that, but what I meant was that Sony held the patent for BD as game media, but I could be wrong. As for the rest of your statement, you are correct, and thank you for educating the non educated.

Quote:

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Quote:

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Sony just owns some of the patents. Philips or Panasonic hold the most patents. Pioneer holds alot. Almost everyone but Toshiba holds patents. It would not be up to any of them anyway. The BDA headed by Pioneer, would decide. Everyone seams to think that Sony owns BD and controls it. (not directed at you, just in general)
MS already has wrights to use BluRay. They would not be producing the player. MS contracts production out to Co's.

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I know that, but what I meant was that Sony held the patent for BD as game media.

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that would cripple the future of BR.....so unless you got some proof I would say thats more a poor assumption.

I clearly stated I could be wrong and you misquoted me.

someone posted on another forum that sony has the patents to the actual disk and Panasonic holds rights to the players? If this was true and the next or current xbox uses blu-ray, would sony be making money off there competition?

It will be successful only if they release a bundle cheaper than 299 that a PS3 costs, or separate under 80euros that is more or less the price for a BD drive for a Desktop PC.

Originally posted by H08:

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someone posted on another forum that sony has the patents to the actual disk and Panasonic holds rights to the players? If this was true and the next or current xbox uses blu-ray, would sony be making money off there competition?

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Everyone of the companies whose patent is infringed will receive a duty for the patent that they are responsible for. Just like everyone that uses a DVD drive pays Toshiba and Sony a royalty for the use of a disk and DVD tech. The creator of USB gets paid if an USB port is used, the list goes on for ever.

So, yes, Sony as well as many other would profit from Blu-Ray. But many will profit no mater what media they use.

Originally posted by Paladore:

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they will scrap the xbox 360 in max 3 years. its reached its max capability already adn the ps3 has just scratched its. youll see blu ray xbox next gen for sure.

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Either that or a new proprietary format by Microsoft since Sony owns BluRay. I can actually see MS bringing back HD DVD in the next system just for games.

Sony does not own or control BluRay. They are seen as the controling force because of the PS3. They do not Own or Control BluRay.

The BluRay Disk Association controls BluRay. It is headed by Pioneer. If the BDA thinks it can make money by Licensing it, they will.

This was taken from another Site.
The Blu-ray Disc format was developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), a group of leading consumer electronics, personal computer and media manufacturers, with more than 180 member companies from all over the world. The Board of Directors currently consists of:

Apple Computer, Inc.
Dell Inc.
Hewlett Packard Company
Hitachi, Ltd.
LG Electronics Inc.
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
Pioneer Corporation
Royal Philips Electronics
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Sharp Corporation
Sony Corporation
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
TDK Corporation
Thomson Multimedia
Twentieth Century Fox
Walt Disney Pictures
Warner Bros. Entertainment

Seems to me that the PS3 is starting to show its future features it came out with. I wonder how much long the 360 is going to be around for as M$ originally stopped supporting the original xbox.

Originally posted by TBandit:

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Seems to me that the PS3 is starting to show its future features it came out with. I wonder how much long the 360 is going to be around for as M$ originally stopped supporting the original xbox.

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The original Xbox was supposidly more powerful than the PS2 yet it lasted some 4-5 years. If that's the case for the Xbox 360, next year may be it's last. PS2 on the other hand is still going after 9 years.

Quote:

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Originally posted by TBandit:

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Seems to me that the PS3 is starting to show its future features it came out with. I wonder how much long the 360 is going to be around for as M$ originally stopped supporting the original xbox.

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The original Xbox was supposidly more powerful than the PS2 yet it lasted some 4-5 years. If that's the case for the Xbox 360, next year may be it's last. PS2 on the other hand is still going after 9 years.

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It really depends on its support cycle, a console could last 10 years easily if the compensation agreed not to release theirs for 10 years. with the big 3 makers and top 5 or so software publishers its a hectic race for profit.

As for the Xbox it was more powerful but not that well supported and cost more the 360 jump started things early and made alot of headway despite all of its issues. The PS2 is still going strong(more or less) because of its install base and software support.

Due to the world financial crush I think the console makers have slowed down a tad on new console ideas, course the 360 dose kidna need a overhaul. I think a model 2 with more ram and higher CPU/GPU/bandwidth speeds as well as release games with the option of running new games in model 2 mode would make the 360 last another 5 years or at least till sony dose their new console.

All in all its going to be 3-6 years before we see a new MS/NIN/Sony console in stores.

they updated the news by saying that M$ denies future blu ray support at gamespot

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6237577.htm...stories;title;2

i remembered reading before that they weren't going to support it in the future about a year ago

I'm sure the next console will have Blu-Ray... If it still has DVD, well, wtf lol

MS wont use blue-ray they have no need to. they could resurrect HD-DVD or
design a new drive that would be consistent with DVD standards like DVD-18 or they might come out with a on the fly DVD compression mechanism.

i would like to see real 50GB games released but the reality of that ever happing is slim to none.

the only thing i can see from this is Msoft used BluRays for games is that the pirated games would virtually disappear. since at least for the PS3, it doesn't boot BluRays that are Burnable.

is msoft did that. no more pirated xbox games. thats the only thing i can see come from it.

Originally posted by DXR88:

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MS wont use blue-ray they have no need to. they could resurrect HD-DVD or
design a new drive that would be consistent with DVD standards like DVD-18 or they might come out with a on the fly DVD compression mechanism.

i would like to see real 50GB games released but the reality of that ever happing is slim to none.

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DVD 18 is Really Just DVD 9 With both sides of the disk being used right? I dont think people like that whole Switching sides/ or disks thing. just look at all the negative comments going to the xbox 360 version of Final Fantasy 13.

HD-DVD vs Blu-ray - it ain't over for Microsoft until the fat boy sings - and the fat boy just belted out one hell of a tune - I can hear the sweat dripping from his burger fuelled obese bulk and karaoke microphone on to the stage floor from here in the UK.

glassd, where are you getting this information from?

I have never heard anything about Pioneer heading the BDA. Now I know they are among the exclusive board of directors but that puts them in equal steed to Sony.

Excuse me for saying but your theory about various patents being held by numerous companies doesn't quite add up to me. It's an ultra violet (blue) laser based quite closely on the same mechanisms as DVD. How many patents can there be? One for the laser, one for the hard coating found on their discs, maybe one for the blue jewel case design... I realise there is quite possibly a few more patents based on the electronics etc. There really can't be that many for every company to hold some. I understand that to develop Blu-ray disc would have been a costly exercise with large capital needed for R & D, hence the requirement for the big guns in consumer electronics to support it, but surely they can't all hold a patent or two. There are 20 companies that sit equally among the board of directors and there are maybe a hundred more that are members/contributors.

The Blu-ray disc association was formed as a way to unify these major companies in a joint project, but at the same time keep it as a separate entity to avoid any monopolies on the market. I believe that most of the board of directors are considered equal.

I don't see how this is going to work... Well, the hardware itself is not the problem, but the recognition and consumer perception will be out of whack. The PS3 can play BD movies and games, while the BD add-on for the Xbox 360 can only do BD movies. If you look at the BD movie cases, sometimes there are tiny little stickers say "this works on PS3." It will be quite confusing if it says "PS3 and Xbox BD add-on."

Let's put it this way, any add-on for the Xbox 360 is a waste of money. You want choices? Good for you :) After my lesson with the HD-DVD add-on, yeah right, like i want another add-on (another brick on top of the HD-DVD add-on? No thanks).

Ryu77, The Blue Diode is just 1 small part of BluRay. Just having a Blue Laser does not produce picture/sound/etc… Many Companies came up with ideas/patents on the Whole of BluRay. Sony did not even develop the Blue light wave length laser nor was it their idea.(They did produce it) Information about BluRay can be found here http://www.blu-ray.com/faq/ here http://www.blu-raydisc.com/en/about/SupportingCompanies.html here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc_Association here http://www.blu-raydisc.com/assets/Downlo...02-09-16558.pdf I think Victor was Pioneer’s guy, may be wrong.

Originally posted by glassd:

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Ryu77, The Blue Diode is just 1 small part of BluRay. Just having a Blue Laser does not produce picture/sound/etc… Many Companies came up with ideas/patents on the Whole of BluRay. Sony did not even develop the Blue light wave length laser nor was it their idea.(They did produce it) Information about BluRay can be found here http://www.blu-ray.com/faq/ here http://www.blu-raydisc.com/en/about/SupportingCompanies.html here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc_Association here http://www.blu-raydisc.com/assets/Downlo...02-09-16558.pdf I think Victor was Pioneer’s guy, may be wrong.

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Yes, I have google too. ;-)

Your posts make it look like Pioneer are in control Blu-ray. I have not seen any reference to this and I am sure that this is not the case.

In regards to Sony not having any input into the Blu-ray format on a technical level, this also isn't true. One reference comes to mind, which is that of AVCHD. It was Sony and Panasonic that developed this format. Blu-ray's folder structure is almost identical to that of AVCHD, apart from an increased specification and the DRM mechanisms. Blu-ray was designed from the AVCHD spec.

I was not clear with my post or you did not understand me. Pioneer, at the beginning (I think still is) of the BDA was the Chair of the BDA. Not controlling/dictating/owning, Just the head Chair. I never said that Sony did not have any technical input or even came close to saying that. Sony is one of many that gave technical input into BluRay. I assumed that you had Google but you asked where I got some of my info. I used Google too.
The purpose of all of my posts was to make the point that Sony did not invent or control BluRay. Nothing more, Nothing less. It just seams that any time BluRay is mentioned, Sony is the company that is focused on by posters.

EDIT: I went back through my post and the closest thing to confusing is when I said that the BDA was headed by Pioneer. Should have said Chaired. Sorry for all of the confusion. No mater how it is stated, Sony comes no where to Control BluRay. They are just one of many on the Board.

Originally posted by glassd:

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I was not clear with my post or you did not understand me. Pioneer, at the beginning (I think still is) of the BDA was the Chair of the BDA. Not controlling/dictating/owning, Just the head Chair.

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Interesting, do you have any direct reference to this? I know they are one of the board of directors but I have never seen anything about a head chair.

Originally posted by glassd:

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I never said that Sony did not have any technical input or even came close to saying that. Sony is one of many that gave technical input into BluRay. I assumed that you had Google but you asked where I got some of my info. I used Google too.

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I thought I read somewhere that you said that... Could be wrong as it isn't there now.

Originally posted by glassd:

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The purpose of all of my posts was to make the point that Sony did not invent or control BluRay. Nothing more, Nothing less. It just seams that any time BluRay is mentioned, Sony is the company that is focused on by posters.

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Agreed, I have defended this many times myself. A big part of this is due to Sony being the most active company in the form of marketing (especially with the PS3), so consumers associate Blu-ray with Sony quite strongly. This is also why I argued the point about Pioneer being the head of BDA. I still believe (unless you can show otherwise) that they in equal position to Sony.

Originally posted by glassd:

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EDIT: I went back through my post and the closest thing to confusing is when I said that the BDA was headed by Pioneer. Should have said Chaired. Sorry for all of the confusion. No mater how it is stated, Sony comes no where to Control BluRay. They are just one of many on the Board.

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Still looks like you said head of the BDA to me, which is all I was attempting to clear up. :-)

I did say head which was wrong. I have not tried to go back and cover my tracks by editing post. It gives the time and date that a post was editid. As far as Pioneer being Lead Chair on the BDA, i can not find it but could swear that i had read that more than once. I can google it later as i am leaving work now and see if Vensent, the chairman, is from Pioneer. In an earlier post, i did say Head. May be tomorrow before Im able to search for the Chairman's (Vinsent) home company. Sorry if im wrong. Not trying to lie, just trying to prove the point that Sony is just 1 of 18 votes as far as what happens with BluRay. bff

there is no reason a dvd-18 player could be made. one in that a head is installed on both sides of the disc so no flipping.

there are multi head designs for cdrom and dvd rom already. just no products

Originally posted by senator29:

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there is no reason a dvd-18 player could be made. one in that a head is installed on both sides of the disc so no flipping.

there are multi head designs for cdrom and dvd rom already. just no products

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However, that nearly doubles the number of moving parts to wear out, and it more than doubles the production cost...putting it near to the cost of making a bluray drive. On top of that, the size would be much larger, and the movies would not play on any other device!

It is downright pathetic that they refuse to release a bluray drive, the only reason for this that I can think of is Microsoft's policy of overcharching for accessories...a $100 bluray drive made by microsoft would cost $200, and you can get a decent stand-alone player for that kind of money...the only other reason that they would not offer it is customer ignorance; they are counting on customers buying a 360, with the assumption that it plays blurays...this does not work when you are selling the blu-ray addon next to it for $200, especialy when the PS3 has bluray built in for just $100 more than the cost of the add-on.

BTW...the PS2 is still going strong because of price. For $100 you can get the latest PS2 brand new, and you can get most games for $10. On top of that, there are mountains of old consoles and games, making it possible to start gaming for under $60.

Ryu77, This is not where I got my idea. I actually think that the Insider at a site quoted earlier made the statement about Pioneer’s guy being the Chairman at the BDA.

Edit to say that this is a Quote.
Quote from Article
That word came from the chairman of the BDA's U.S. promotion committee, Andy Parsons, senior vice president of product development and corporate communications at Pioneer Electronics (USA).
More info on the article. http://www.broadcastnewsroom.com/article...e.jsp?id=879885 .

Here is another Quote
Los Angeles (CA) – So the Blu-ray disc is the only physical high-definition format left in the market, but that isn’t going to translate into lower prices any time soon, according to Andy Parsons, the Chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association. Parsons, who is also the senior VP of Advanced Product Development at Pioneer Electronics, told attendees at the DisplaySearch/NPD HDTV conference in Los Angeles that Blu-ray volume needs to increase before content makers and set-top makers can cut prices.
The rest of the article is here http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/39347/97/

i hate microsoft....

anyway, my reply notating the dvd-18 player was in reference to microsoft and their xbox 720 or whatever is next using a dvd format and not blueray. i don't see the need to try and "play" an xbox game in a dvd player.

so that would mean a dual sided dvd reader for a gaming machine "would" work.

and i hear you on additional parts and additional costs. but it is something that has been in the works for quite some time. since the cdrom reader has hit its limits of read speed the next step was to add heads. not 2 in the same spot but one on each end of the spindal and potentially heads on the top side of the disc. basically a simultaneous read capability in cdrom and dvdrom readers.

magnetic motion is the future and magnets would make this concept possible cheaply. hell, magnetic computing is apparently the next step. magnetic 8 bit registers, look it up.

Originally posted by glassd:

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Ryu77, This is not where I got my idea. I actually think that the Insider at a site quoted earlier made the statement about Pioneer’s guy being the Chairman at the BDA.

Edit to say that this is a Quote.
Quote from Article
That word came from the chairman of the BDA's U.S. promotion committee, Andy Parsons, senior vice president of product development and corporate communications at Pioneer Electronics (USA).
More info on the article. http://www.broadcastnewsroom.com/article...e.jsp?id=879885 .

Here is another Quote
Los Angeles (CA) – So the Blu-ray disc is the only physical high-definition format left in the market, but that isn’t going to translate into lower prices any time soon, according to Andy Parsons, the Chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association. Parsons, who is also the senior VP of Advanced Product Development at Pioneer Electronics, told attendees at the DisplaySearch/NPD HDTV conference in Los Angeles that Blu-ray volume needs to increase before content makers and set-top makers can cut prices.
The rest of the article is here http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/39347/97/

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Thanks for the follow up.

That says to me that he is the Chairman of the "Promotions Comittee" for the BDA, so obviously not the head of the actual BDA itself. Anyway, I can see how you could have made an honest mistake.

Originally posted by senator29:

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i hate microsoft....

anyway, my reply notating the dvd-18 player was in reference to microsoft and their xbox 720 or whatever is next using a dvd format and not blueray. i don't see the need to try and "play" an xbox game in a dvd player.

so that would mean a dual sided dvd reader for a gaming machine "would" work.

and i hear you on additional parts and additional costs. but it is something that has been in the works for quite some time. since the cdrom reader has hit its limits of read speed the next step was to add heads. not 2 in the same spot but one on each end of the spindal and potentially heads on the top side of the disc. basically a simultaneous read capability in cdrom and dvdrom readers.

magnetic motion is the future and magnets would make this concept possible cheaply. hell, magnetic computing is apparently the next step. magnetic 8 bit registers, look it up.

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Well the price is about the same hardware wise say you took the basic components of a DVD DR reader and give it 2 independent lens. You have at the least 50$ worth of parts at the most 80 and that's the range of most 4X BR players. So BR will replace DVD in time and more likely flash will replace BR.

I have not seen much about magnetic motion for data storage, but unless it can rival flash in physical size,data size and speed its moot.

Ryu, here is a recent artical that calls him Chairman. http://www.reviewseeker.com/articles/lis...e=DVD-712-20-10
At this point, I would challenge you to prove me wrong by showing me an article of someone else being the Chairman and what company he is from. btw, I am not mad or trying to argue with you. This is something that i have assumed untill this point and if i am wrong, I would like someone to prove me wrong.

Ryu, I guess i should not have been searching for Chairman Andy Parsons but PRESIDENT OF THE BDA, ANDY PARSONS . Part of a quote: Andy Parsons, President of the BDA as well as a VP with Pioneer, opened the conference with a series of statistics demonstrating Blu-ray's impressive sales performance. Quote taken from http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=2269 . I am through unless you want to send me a free movie for giving me a hard time about this. I was not mistaken thank you.
edit:spelling

Originally posted by glassd:

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Ryu, I guess i should not have been searching for Chairman Andy Parsons but PRESIDENT OF THE BDA, ANDY PARSONS . Part of a quote: Andy Parsons, President of the BDA as well as a VP with Pioneer, opened the conference with a series of statistics demonstrating Blu-ray's impressive sales performance. Quote taken from http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=2269 . I am through unless you want to send me a free movie for giving me a hard time about this. I was not mistaken thank you.
edit:spelling

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Ok, this is getting a bit silly and slightly off track. My original notion was to state that Pioneer as a "company" are not the head of the BDA. I think it is possible that Andy Parsons could have a dual role but I am sure that he treats each role with individuality. I can see that you have shown me something that I wasn't aware of with Andy Parsons being the President of the BDA. I was wrong earlier and I thank you for enlightening me. However, that was going off track from my original point, which is that I still think Sony and Pioneer as a company play an equal part in the BDA.

PS: Just to make sure that it doesn't look like I am a Sony freak, I have a $4,400 Pioneer AV Receiver (Susano Concept) and I love it!