Sony Calls Current Blu-ray/HD DVD Format War a 'Stalemate

unger814 writes "Sony CEO Howard Stringer says that Blu-ray and HD DVD are currently in a 'stalemate' and is 'playing down the importance of the battle.' Stringer addressed a crowd at Manhattan's 92nd Street Y cultural center Thursday, where he said that 'it was a matter of prestige' which format wins. Stringer pointed to the switch by Paramount from producing movies in both formats to only HD DVD as a turning point. 'We were trying to win on the merits, which we were doing for a while, until Paramount changed sides,' Stringer said."

I see a pattern

[thatskinnyguy]

With all the formats out there, they all have one thing in common: they're all unpronounceable words. VHS and DVD. Try pronouncing them. I'm thinking HD DVD will eventually come out on top if the historical track record continues.

Re:Wow

[SQLGuru]

I willing to accept large amounts of cash and electronics in order to accept one format as the winner.....

Layne

Re:Not sure what he means.

[eln]

As tends to happen in most asymmetrical warfare situations, Sony will be turning to terrorism. If HD-DVD really gets a big lead, I would avoid the Electronics section at the local Wal-Mart if I were you.

Black Knight

[decipher_saint]

"We'll call it a draw"
~Black Knight

Re:I see a pattern

[SQLGuru]

Well, the marketing guys for the BetaMax wouldn't let them call it BM.

Layne

If only Sony could...

[PinkyDead]

..fashion some kind of crude weapon to break the impasse.

http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/11/hack-turns-ps3-.html [wired.com]

Stalemate?

[brunes69]

Well - if Sony PR is calling it a stalemate, thats the equivalent of declaring HD-DVD the winner.

Did anyone expect otherwise though? The statement "Never Get Involved in a Land War in Asia" has pretty much been replaced with "Never Get Involved On The Sony Side Of A Format War". Seriously - Betamax, Mini Disc, Memory Stick, A-TRAC - Why would anyone expect Sony to come out aheard this time? They have no idea how to trumpet a format.

Re:DO NOT LET SONY WIN!

[Kohath]

Thanks. Everyone was wondering what the Sony-haters were thinking on this. Turns out they were thinking "I hate Sony". Who could have guessed?

Merely a flesh wound!

[dsginter]

We'll call it a draw!

Re:Chess

[z0idberg]

Are you suggesting chess could be even more exciting?!

Re:If Sony's calling it a stalemate...

[JK_the_Slacker]

By the way, couldn't they have thought up a better name than Blu-Ray? WTH is a Blu Ray?

It's a death ray for Smurfs, of course. I'm having some installed on my sharks next Thursday... just in case.

Deja vu

[dysonlu]

Summary of comments on "Blu-ray VS HD DVD" article #242175: - HD DVD is winning - No, Blu-ray is winning - HD DVD is cheaper - Blu-ray is better technology. - Toshiba pays studios for support - Sony makes rootkits - There are no winners - The consumer is the big loser This is the same list as for the 242174 previous "Blu-ray VS HD DVD" articles.

Re:I'm curious..

[Bill, Shooter of Bul]

Well, knowing the inner workings of studio's accounting methods, everyone has lost vast sums of money, such that the format owners owe them billions of dollars, and only after they've paid up will they start to receive any royalties. Also any movies released for the past 30 years have had their accounting updated to reflect the cost of creating the new hi def discs, such that George Lucas, James Cameron, and Peter Jackson now owe them a combined total of 5 billion US.

Re:Blu-ray vs HD DVD

[wattrlz]

Well, the not buying movies thing is kinda spot on for cattle.

Re:Not sure what he means.

[UbuntuDupe]

Yeah, that a good point. A lot of axiom sets imply that 50 Gigs is less than 30 Gigs.

(I don't know if that's funny, flamebait, or insightful.)

The war is already over for me.

[Charcharodon]

I picked HD DVD.

Reason #1:

It's not SONY

Reason #2:

It was the first one I found a sub $200 player that I could hook up to my PC. (Xbox 360 HD DVD drive)

Reason #3:

It was the first that I found a usefull software for ripping and playback. (AnyDVD HD and PowerDVD 7)

Reason #4:

It's not SONY

Re:The Blu-ray Advantage

[Tim Browse]

But if you want to point to something that blu-ray has that consumers will care about, it's the Sony catalog. It is huge. And the crown jewel is the entire James Bond collection. Joe Six-pack WILL want to see those on his player.

Nonsense. The Sony man quite clearly said they were trying to fight the format war on merit, and not by strong-arming people by releasing their Sony-owned movies on BD only, because it's not like that's the reason Sony got into movie production in the first place, so they could ensure they controlled some content, and could make their new formats a success by linking the format to their content.

Sony would never do that! They'd never lie to us, surely? If they're fighting on merit, surely Sony movies and James Bond are available on HD-DVD...aren't they? Surely he wouldn't lie so blatantly..? Say it aint so.

Re:A pox on both their houses

[Tim Browse]

To this day, I still can't see much difference between HD and regular TV on my 50" LCD.

You need a big screen to tell the difference. You should see it on a 50"

Do you have ADD or something? :-)

Re:After the rootkit......

[edwdig]

Sony fucked me on the th-55 first. I died. I sent it in for repairs the fuckers at the repair shop fuck it up.

I understand that you're upset that Sony fucked up the repairs when you died, but I think the rest of us are far more interested in who ended up repairing you successfully.

Re:After the rootkit......

[billcopc]

Short form: fuck shit fuck sony fuck ass fuck DVD fuck ps3 fuckity fuck fuck

I love you!

Re:After the rootkit......

[Lord Apathy]

It was a self done. I have a great recovery system. I just rebooted and reinstalled from a clean backup.

Re:After the rootkit......

[bwcook0]

I agree. In 5 years I will go back to not buying sony electronics just because they are overpriced, and forget about the whole rootkit thing. but until then, it is definitely about the rootkit.

Re:Chess

[rk]

I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine.

Straight Outta Sony

[Hoi Polloi]

Sony fucked me on the th-55 first. I died. I sent it in for repairs the fuckers at the repair shop fuck it up. They say its not their fault and refused to honor the warranty. How the fuck can it not be covered? It died, i put it in a box and that is all I did. Some tech at the repair shop fucked it and covered his ass. That's what happened.

Aren't these the lyrics to an NWA rap?