Another reason to go PS3?

[v85rawdeal]

I don't yet know how relevant this will be, but knowing Sony and their part in Blu-Ray development, it may just come to a PS3 near you soon....

Just in time for viewing holiday movies, Samsung Blu-ray players that can connect to the Internet will be updated to make them capable of accessing some 300 movie and TV shows in high definition (720p resolution) via Netflix. Until now, the Samsung models Bd-P2500 and Bd-P2550 have only been able to display standard-definition titles. (However, those number some 12,000.) Owners of the devices will require a firmware update available online. Samsung said Wednesday that the upgrade will allow Netflix subscribers to stream HD content for the first time. In a statement, Samsung exec Reid Sullivan said that as a result its company's Blu-ray players now represent "the ultimate HD digital entertainment delivery system."

[Ghost]

On one side I am very interested in getting a PS3, I thought the PS2 was one of the better consoles since the Super Nintendo and there are some games on it I really wish to play such as the new Resident Evil.

But on the other side I am somewhat disappointed in its game library, there aren't that much games that I am really interested in, in fact at some points the Xbox 360 sounds more interesting, yet I have sworn never to buy one of M$' consoles.
I am also not happy about Sony's policies, wanting to get rid of the second hand market as they feel they are loosing money.

As for the whole blue ray issue, I am not sure.
I spoke with someone from a computer store who didn't have a high opinion of it, unless it really catches on it could just as well end as the laser disc.

[AlexJ]

Blu-ray already has a much bigger user base than Laserdisc ever did (I think Laserdisc was in 2million US households, against nearly 6 million PS3 alone sold in the US so far).

[Harrison]

I don't think that Blu-Ray will fail or become a high end enthusiast format. As Alex already said, there are a lot more PS3's already in just the US than Laserdisc players ever sold. And that isn't counting the standalone blu-ray players.

All stores I now go into have ever increasing Blu-Ray sections next to their DVD shelves, showing that the format is gaining popularity. And since winning the war against the HD-DVD format it is the only format for the next generation of video releases.

The only thing holding it back and DVD still selling well is that a large percentage of people still haven't upgraded to HDTV yet, so still have their SD CRT TVs and so continue to buy DVD. And with the price of DVDs heavily discounted in most stores I will continue to buy DVDs too at the moment. And even when I can run Blu-Ray discs I think it is only worth buying films that really benefit form HD on the format. For a lot of films the DVD version will be good enough for me.

[Demon Cleaner]

Pioneer showcases 16-layer 400GB optical disc. Read on.

[woody.cool]

Pioneer showcases 16-layer 400GB optical disc. Read on.

NICE

I could fit my entire hard drive on one of them

[Demon Cleaner]

Pioneer showcases 16-layer 400GB optical disc. Read on.

NICE

I could fit my entire hard drive on one of them

Right, but I guess the hard drive is cheaper

[Harrison]

But for rom collecting!!! Now we are talking! Finally a media that is large enough to actually back the collections up without needed to spend weeks and a stack of discs.

Would also be great for storing video editing projects. Anyone who has ever edited videos and done post production will know what a nightmare file storage is for them. While editing you can end up creating some huge files on the system's HD, and when you complete a project you always want to try and preserve all of the files in case you need to come back to it at a later date to re-edit the project. Maybe for an update to a company campaign or other change. If you haven't backed up the editing files you can be quite stuck to update anything. Would be great to have a single disc with 400GB storage. Dump the project off to a single disc and then its there ready if needed.