Blu-Ray hardware, titles to hit stores May 23rd

After years of waiting and hundreds of Engadget posts, the much-anticipated but seemingly just-out-of-reach high definition optical disc technology known as Blu-ray has finally, at long last, been given an official launch date by Sony. Early-adopters, you have just under three months to lie, cheat, and steal your way to getting off on Tuesday, May 23, because that's when you'll need to be on a 12-hour line at Best Buy to get your anxious little mitts on a Samsung BD-P1000 and eight critically acclaimed launch titles such as "Resident Evil Apocalypse," "XXX," and "A Knight's Tale"- with another eight classics like "Species" and "SWAT" to follow on June 13th. Also available soon after launch will be more Blu-ray hardware, including Pioneer's BDP-HD1, Sony's BDP-S1, and several BD-equipped Vaio PCs, also from Sony. As we'd heard before, the Samsung player will retail for around a grand, and Sony will be charging $23.45 for new flicks and $17.95 for catalog titles.

[Via Zatz Not Funny]

[Nathan @ Feb 27th 2006 8:35PM]

Meh, i'd give it a few years...

[Sledge Hammer @ Feb 27th 2006 8:54PM]

Great, the sooner its out, the sooner prices will drop...but whats with the launch titles?!

50 First Dates, The Fifth Element, Hitch, House of Flying Daggers, A Knight�s Tale, The Last Waltz (MGM), Resident Evil Apocalypse and XXX, Kung Fu Hustle, Legends of the Fall, Robocop (MGM), Stealth, Species (MGM), SWAT Terminator (MGM) and Underworld Evolution.

Trust me, I know what I'm doing.

[Dave @ Feb 27th 2006 9:11PM]

The Fifth Element could be cool ... but no way will I pay what they're asking to buy a new player, and to re-buy titles I already own. Seriously, how many f-ing times do they expect us to pay for the same movie? Once is my limit.

[JohnnyCashAK @ Feb 27th 2006 9:15PM]

What do I care considering my surround system and HDTV don't have HDMI ports anyway? Yeah, I'm going to pay over a grand for hidef media I can't watch at it's full potential. I really hope this goes down in flames like Beta and Sony's stock takes a dive. It's like being convinced to buy a Porsche because there are all these 100 mile long highways being built in the future, then having them slap a governor that keeps you from going anything higher then 70 a few months before they open. Bastards.

[JD @ Feb 27th 2006 9:16PM]

Fifth Element, House of Flying Daggers, Kung Fu Hustle...yeah i'd get those at launch

[Nigo @ Feb 27th 2006 9:19PM]

In fact, Sony was launched Blue-Ray Recorder in Japan two years ago, it was also paraell imported to Hong Kong.

Here is the product shot(in Chinese)

http://avbuzz.htfriends.net/eq/br/brv1.htm

Each Blue-Ray Disc costs around U.S $20, but the digital broadcast has not operated in HK, so the recorder can be fully functional in Japan.

[Azrael @ Feb 27th 2006 9:30PM]

Good...hopefully they'll finally set a launch date for the PS3.

[Nathan @ Feb 27th 2006 9:31PM]

Question, would great classics such as A Clockwork Orange & Dr. Strangelove benefit fron HD? Wouldn't this only improve recent movies shot in high resolution such as Lord of the Rings?

[Darth Pixel @ Feb 27th 2006 9:39PM]

Clearly, re-releasing "old" titles is not going to sell Blu-ray or HD-DVD.

Old movie titles are to HD players what backward compatibility is to video game consoles. It helps bootstrap the launch of the new technology.

Now, when future releases are offered both in DVD format and Blu-ray/HD-DVD format, you will be able to decide if you would rather watch them in Standard Definition format or High Definition format.

As always with this kind of progress, people who can afford a HD player will buy the HD disc, while less fortunate souls will have to settle with the low-resolution version.

This being said, this is America and credit allows people to live above their means. Add this to the fact Americans hate to settle for inferior products and solutions...

[Shamma Banks @ Feb 27th 2006 9:40PM]

Reminds me of those laser disc, I was always meaning to get, but never did. I think I will wait awhile.

[guano @ Feb 27th 2006 9:48PM]

"Question, would great classics such as A Clockwork Orange & Dr. Strangelove benefit fron HD? Wouldn't this only improve recent movies shot in high resolution such as Lord of the Rings?"

It would be possible to re-release those older movies in HD. The film has to be rescanned at a higher res by these special machines, but it can be done.

[tiuk @ Feb 27th 2006 10:06PM]

Only thing I'd be interested in would be writting blu-ray discs so I can backup large amounts of data.

Does this mean they'll finally stop releasing movies on VHS? I was at someone's house this past weekend and they had VHS copies of movies as new as Minority Report and Terminator 3.. I couldn't believe it.

[Camperton @ Feb 27th 2006 10:07PM]

'now your wait is over' has a pretty menacing ring to it don't you think.

I'll be needing a version of this that plays all region of regular DVD's too, if thats even possible anymore. or I guess I'll have to hold on to my old player.

[Rex @ Feb 27th 2006 10:11PM]

Is blu-ray comparable to hdtv but on a dvd format? And seeing House of Flying Daggers on uber blu-ray would prolly knock your socks off...But wouldn't you need a super duper radical overpriced tv if you wanted to experience the super duper radical blu-ray format to the uber fullest? Or am I getting things wayyyyy twisted here????

[Cybert @ Feb 27th 2006 10:29PM]

Most films are stored on film guys. I've heard estimates as high as 10 megapixels for the resolution that film gives. All you have to do is send it through the machine again and start raking in the money.

[Brian @ Feb 27th 2006 10:34PM]

Ok, so I know I'm a lone voice here, but anyone else think they should stop using all that extra storage for high-def in a single movie title and instead cram a bunch of movies onto a blue ray disk? I'm perfectly happy with DVD quality, and I'd rather have 1 disk with 4 or 5 dvd quality movies than 1 disk with 1 high-def title. Hell, i'd rather have 1 blue-ray with 30 divx . .. .. mmmm, blue ray burning of torrents...[salivating]

[Justin @ Feb 27th 2006 10:40PM]

What on Earth is with Sony and crappy launch titles? PS2, the PSP (hooo boy talk about a lousy lineup) and now Blu-Ray. The only thing I'd purchase at launch would be The 5th Element - I happen to like the movie, but even if I didn't, I think it's the only title visually impressive enough to be worth watching at that high of a resolution.

[Camperton @ Feb 27th 2006 10:41PM]

14 -- to get the full HD effect you'll need a widescreen HDTV that supports 1080 progressive with a HDMI input for full digital quality. But one with 1080i or 720p with composite inputs will look great too.

[Modderbox @ Feb 27th 2006 10:49PM]

I still dont know about the new formats...HDDVD, BluRay...its all to perplexing. We still dont know a definate winner, untill then I'm not gonna buy in. Anyways for the initial releases the movies that are gonna be released arnt gonna be HD because they wernt recorded in HD, like the 5Th Element. I'm gonna wait for, like I said, a definitive winner in the war and for movies that have been truely recorded in 1080p.

[kevin @ Feb 27th 2006 10:56PM]

tee hee...getting off.

[Raider @ Feb 27th 2006 10:57PM]

Composite inputs are horrible for HDTV, unless you are referring to component cables. Even still you want to stay digital through HDMI or DVI.

5th Element is visually impressive, but so is House of Flying Daggers.

The Blu-Ray discs aren't too expensive. I mean at your mall's Suncoast Pictures a regular DVD costs $20-30. Of course there it would be $30-45 or something like that. But just goes to show you that it's not outrageously overpriced.

[Alex @ Feb 27th 2006 11:11PM]

"The only thing I'd purchase at launch would be The 5th Element - I happen to like the movie, but even if I didn't, I think it's the only title visually impressive enough to be worth watching at that high of a resolution."

I agree that the majority of those titles aren't what one would call impressive, but House of Flying Daggers in HD will be absolutely stunning.

[first time poster @ Feb 27th 2006 11:19PM]

if you guys didnt know, blue ray player that is supposed to cost 1000$ at launch is bundled with 1 5m hdmi cable, 1 5m dvi 1 10mcomponent cable and 1 10m optical cable.
all the cables included cost up to 300$ minimum (they are all high grade monster cable)
so the player itself is really only around 6-700$

the hddvd player only comes with the player, manual and a remote and power cable (there are no batteries for the remote)

long live sony

[William C. @ Feb 27th 2006 11:23PM]

VHS - Released in 1976
DVD - Released in 1996
Blu-Ray... 2006

666?

VHS vs. Betamax - VHS won
MultiMedia Compact Disc (Sony & Philips) vs. Super Density Disc

In this case, Sony & Philips abandoned their MMCD and joined forces with the SD format, which we know today as the DVD.

Now we have Blu-Ray, up against HD-DVD.

Place your bets...

[Paul J. @ Feb 27th 2006 11:36PM]

I guess I still don't understand why Blu-ray or HD DVD are necessary at this point in time. DVDs in 480p look plenty good, and cost like $15 new release. I'm not sure why I would want more boxes in my entertainment center, and more expensive movies. Do we really need a few more hours of awesome cast interviews, talking about how great those stunts were, or whatever else they cram on the disc as "extras".

[aegies @ Feb 27th 2006 11:37PM]

the prices you listed for blu-ray discs are the wholesale cost for discs, not retail. expect retail prices on sale to be about 10 percent more than wholesale cost, and for their prices to settle in at about a 20-30 percent markup within 45 days of release. by the way, that's expensive. that's about as much of an increase as analysts were predicting for blu-ray, which is in the neighborhood of a 15-25 percent increase in cost over current gen dvd.

[king louse @ Feb 27th 2006 11:40PM]

blah it won't be years before i can even consider this. 1080p tv's are expensive as hell, and i wouldn't accept anything less (none of this 1080i / 780p compromise...)

and when i get the tv, there's no way i'm buying it without a matching sound system - another couple of thousand at the very least.

blue ray is all about going big or not going at all. i really can't see this being adopted widely for at least a few years.

[Camperton @ Feb 27th 2006 11:41PM]

modderbox -- all films made on 35mm or higher (like75mm) film are in essence high def already. I high def tranfer of, for example, Apocalypse Now is going to look noticeably better than a standard def tranfer. Just compare a properly tranferred progressive DVD to a interlaced VHS of the same film. You are also mistaking the quality of the video transfer to the quality of an original pristine 35mm film print which still looks much better than even the best HD transfer. Yes, even on those horrible *old* movies.

[d3 @ Feb 27th 2006 11:43PM]

F the overpriced monster cables, let me pick my own cables and take the $300 off the price.

[Cedrik @ Feb 27th 2006 11:57PM]

Its about time!

[guano @ Feb 27th 2006 11:58PM]

Seems like a lot of you are underestimating how much better HD looks than DVD. Here's an image quality comparison using DVD res and HD res versions of The Fellowship of the Ring.

http://www.cornbread.org/FOTRCompare/index.html

I think it gives you a pretty good idea of the increase in quality, and these examples are even less of what it will really look like.

[Jeff @ Feb 28th 2006 12:05AM]

I'm guessing people complaining about the launch titles have never seen House of Flying Daggers.

a) it's a great, great movie
b) it's a great, great LOOKING movie, and perfect for high definition.

I can almost guarantee you that among early adopters, it will be the #1 launch title. I'm planning to buy it even before I get a player (my player will eventually be the PS3).

But several of those other films were well-reviewed and/or are cult favorites. Fifth Element was a DVD launch title so it's only fitting that it's a BD launch title - it's also got the kind of look that shows off what a high-resolution format is capable of. Ditto for Resident Evil: Apocalypse, which I know already had a high-definition transfer made for the DVD (and so was probably cheap to master on BD) *and* it has Milla Jovovich kicking ass. Kung Fu Hustle was a fun movie. Underworld Evolution has Kate Beckinsale in vinyl and leather - what more do you need in high-def??

The launch may be a bit lacking in "serious" titles - House of Flying Daggers is really the only one - but a lot of these will be good visual showcases for the format. They'll pretty easily convince people to buy into it, and they'll serve as confirmation that you made a good purchase decision when you get your player home. When you're sinking a lot of money into a high-definition player, you want titles initially that will show you why you wanted all that resolution. The classics can come later.

Seriously, though, HoFD is a great film in every way, and I was way excited when I heard it was going to be a BD launch title.

[alex @ Feb 28th 2006 12:06AM]

So am I missing something here? Just so we're all on the same page,cuz I tend to get lost in all of this. Am I to understand that all of you guys who are just itching to buy all these brand spanking new fangled DRM'ed HD-Blu-ray DVDs that's ONLY compatible with some DRM'ed HDMI/HDCP/HDMYASS yada yada compatible Blu-Ray DVD HDCP player that can ONLY be viewed on some as yet to be release HDCP LCD/Plasma tv screens have so much money to buy all these new equipment that literally the money is coming out of your asses and only SONY is the cure. Thanks for listening to my rant. You may go back to your salvating.

[fhornmikey @ Feb 28th 2006 12:22AM]

Ok, first of all, all of the HDDVD players and BluRay Players will be capable of putting out a 720p/1080i image via Component cables, which also lacks the HDCP so it is viewable on any TV with component inputs (of course if you want 1080p you will need to use HDMI cables). Second, TVs have been shipping with HDCP enabled HDMI ports for over two years now, so please get your facts straight, if your TV has an HDMI port it almost certainly has HDCP enabled. Third, 1080p TVs have been shipping for the past 6 months, with several already available on the market (if you don't believe me, go over to CNET's HDTV world and do a search for 1080p capable displays).

I do personally think that quite a few people underestimate the true difference of an HD source being displayed on a HDTV. The Lord of the Rings example does a very good job of showing this, another great example is the Terminator 2: Ultimate Edition, which has a VERY nice DVD transfer, but if you play it in your PC you can view a true HD transfer of the movie. The difference is simply staggering. That being said, if you don't have an HDTV you won't really notice a difference, but that should be a given anyways.

You can buy a very nice 1080i/720p capable HD display for under $700 depending on how large a screen you're looking for. Personally, I have a Sony Wega Trinitron 30inch CRT HDTV that looks wonderful for my cable HDTV service and I've been looking forward to putting it through the paces with a true HD source (although I'll be waiting until the PS3 launches to invest in anything Blu-Ray).

As a side note, HDCP has already been proven to be horribly flawed by several prominent cryptologists so it's only a matter of time until it winds up like the CSS protection on current DVDs. It has already been proven that you can arbitrarily generate irrevocable HDCP keys so it's only a matter of time until you see real products available on the internet (illegally of course, but legality won't stop it). I don't like HDCP any more than the next guy, but it seems like it's an insurmountable evil at the current time.

[AJH @ Feb 28th 2006 12:24AM]

I have been lucky enough to be using a BD recorder for a year now,in conjunction with a SXRD projector-and let me assure you BD is truely beautiful to look at.
I only have access to 'content'from Sony Pictures(Stealth trailers,Bewitched,Spiderman 2 etc.)and not full length films,and the projector is WAAAYYY outside my income bracket,but once you see it in action BD will seduce,and forget about buying the DVD version if the BD title is available..DVD looks like VHS next to BD.

[dacmonJ @ Feb 28th 2006 12:32AM]

So are these initial crop of blu-ray movies fresh transfers of the films or just crappy up-samples of the older transfers?

[AJH @ Feb 28th 2006 12:36AM]

the content I have seen are 'new scans'-one is more than 30 years old(the original film,not the scan...)

[Zenigata8o8 @ Feb 28th 2006 12:51AM]

that is cool to see the comparison with the upconversions but what i'd really like to see is movies now, that are being shot in 1080p like Sin City. i want to see films that actually lens with a high def camera then got the exact high def. transfer to a high def player able to send the full signal through. i own 2 lcd monitors, one is a 32" samsung lcd with 720p and the other is a 37" westinghouse 1080p monitor. i just recently read about the whole "early adopters" of HDTV and how they will get screwed with downconversion of signals if they use componnent video inputs. i use component now on my samsung with my xbox 360 but come ps3 time i'm going to rock full force HDMI to DVI cable on my 37" monitor. then i hope to see at least with movies, true 1080p transfers. as it stands now, ps3 games will be 720p, not 1080p yet

[Jason @ Feb 28th 2006 12:55AM]

I wonder how long it will take after launch for studios to start offering new dvd's in the HD formats...

Also... you can get a good (not 1080p) HDTV for $1000.00 these days... why in the world would someone pay $1000.00 for a Blu-Ray player? If the PS3 is really going to be $500 is Sony "forcing" people into the PS3 by puting out a dedicated DVD player that is not any better than the one available in the PS3 for twice the price?

I think the PS3 is the crutch Sony is using to try to ensure Blu-Ray is a standard and PS3 is widely sold... it's almost like a bait and switch... they really want people to buy PS3's... but again... noone knows how much it will cost to buy a PS3 so anyway...

The launch titles really make no difference... they will probably sell 50% of those to anyone who buys one of those $1000 players... if you have that much money to throw at something to just improve the quaility a little bit you are one of those people who will just buy up all the content you can get for it... new titles will really be where it is at.

I have heard rumblings from people in the video rental business that Studios want to release the DVD for a movie when it hits theaters so people can go in and watch a movie in the theater and buy a copy on their way out... i could see that making sense... also if they were available right away more people would buy the DVD and watch it on their home theater setup and still save some money on going to the movies!

But really... how many people will jump into an uncertain market for $1000 a player??? A safer bet would be to go with the HD-DVD which is about half the price... atleast if things flop you are not going to lose a grand!

[Matt N @ Feb 28th 2006 12:59AM]

There are two reasons that I'm not getting this in the forseeable future:
1. I have a great Samsung DVD player that upconverts my DVD's to 720p, which looks great on my 720p RP-LCD. Sure Blueray offers higher qualtiy, but seriously, not that much.
2. I refuse to pick a winner of the ugly HDDVD-Blueray battle until a winner is declared or until they get off it and allow dual-mode players. I don't have enough precious DVI inputs to buy a player for each format, suckas.

[Mark @ Feb 28th 2006 1:02AM]

HD-DVD Player $500
Blu-Ray Player $1000

....What the hell?!?! And the launch titles!?!?! They might as well include Glitter and Gigli! :)

[guano @ Feb 28th 2006 1:11AM]

@ fhornmikey

Are you sure about that component putting out 720p/1080i thing? There's been a lot of noise lately about how the AACS people are restricting the analog (component) signals coming from Blu-ray and HD DVD players to exactly one quarter full HD res. It is my understanding that (unless you hacked a player, I imagine) you can only get all the resolution out of your player through the digital outputs. Regardless of HDCP being cracked, this is going to put off quite a few customers.

[Chris @ Feb 28th 2006 1:15AM]

"Also available soon after launch will be . . .several BD-equipped Vaio PCs, also from Sony"

I thought Vista would be needed to watch copy protected hi-def formats on a PC? Vista isn't due until the end of 2006.

[fhornmikey @ Feb 28th 2006 1:19AM]

On second thought, if all the facts of this: http://gear.ign.com/articles/691/691408p1.html story are true then I am mistaken. Moreover however, if they are not going to allow a 720p/1080i signal to be transmitted over component video connection I would most definitely vote with your consumer feet and walk away from this technology.

[Will @ Feb 28th 2006 1:27AM]

#7, don't count on it, this just means you'll get 3 HD episoldes on each disc instead of 3 SD... What a ripoff TV series are...

[Jo @ Feb 28th 2006 2:11AM]

You would need to be dumb to spend twice as much and wait longer for high definitions movies...plus I'm not too excited about both formats. Why would I? I already have DVD's that can be up scaled to 1080i and it looks great, not to mention it costs a TENTH of what blu-ray does. You can�t forget to mention the fact that normal DVDs has tens of thousands more movies...next gen wont be worth getting for at least 2-4 more years.

[Jo @ Feb 28th 2006 2:15AM]

I already have HD movies, Time Warner has HD on demand with all the movies I need...driving to best buy and buying over priced media and hardware seems so antiquated already.

[biZ @ Feb 28th 2006 2:26AM]

I don�t get it, how can blu-ray or HD-DVD actually succeed; its not even compatible with many HD televisions today. Hollywood is going to kill this round of media with its draconian DRM, they'll learn however...after it hits the bank.

[jason @ Feb 28th 2006 2:30AM]

So who's with me (and Apple's Mike E.) in boycotting both HDDVD and BluRay? http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=29886

[Bo @ Feb 28th 2006 2:52AM]

Am I the only few that actually own a Sony 1080p TV to realize that the HDMI input can only accept 1080i???

To my knowledge, I don't even know any TV that has 1080p input. I have a Sony KDS-R60XBR1 (still top of the line 60" 1080p at the moment). 1080i still look pretty hot tho...