If Xbox 360 Blu-Ray add-on. Where to buy?

thenobody

So if as reported (and which i am looking forward to) microsoft bring out a blu-ray add on drive, what country should it be bought in?

I go the HD-DVD in the states - because it was cheaper.
I buy the discs from the states because they are way cheaper than here, have combo disc versions and is no problem because HD-DVDs discs are region free.

So if blu-ray is the standard then that messes things up. I'd rather get the discs from the america as they are way cheaper but since they are region coded i would have to get the drive from there too. But, the region coding will probably be like dvds and get it from the console itself.
Which will restrict us to buying the drives and discs way over-priced over here.

How do you think this is gonna work out then?

Vic Vinegar

We're dealing with an awful lot of hypotheticals there.... better to wait for concrete evidence before speculating too much i would think

omalleyTown

If I was going to the states to buy a movie player I wouldnt get an add on for my 360.

If this is such a big concern for you, id just pick up a chipped bluray stand alone player or an american ps3 while you are over there.

If you go over there of course

WellyJ

And if your Aunt had balls..... ?

omalleyTown

WellyJ wrote: »

And if your Aunt had balls..... ?

She'd be your mother

xanthor

thenobody wrote: »

But, the region coding will probably be like dvds and get it from the console itself.

So far, most of them aren't region coded. With the winner apparent, that may change however.

Riesen_Meal

Id say its far too early, but im thinkin of buying an american ps3 for Bluray, then again, prob just get the UK one, less hassle....

Ps3 games are region free aint they?

thenobody

I was looking through them on amazon and could only find a few that werent. Blade Runner for example.
300 is, Die Hard is, Simpsons is, No Country for old men is, plus many more.

Seem the all regions ones are a rare exception

savemejebus

thenobody wrote: »

I was looking through them on amazon and could only find a few that werent. Blade Runner for example.
300 is, Die Hard is, Simpsons is, No Country for old men is, plus many more.

Seem the all regions ones are a rare exception

Check out this link http://bluray.liesinc.net/ and you'll find quite a large no. of region free blu-rays. Amazon have stopped putting accurate region info on a lot of Blu-Ray discs (was prob. cutting into their european sales) .Most of warners output is region free which is a huge library so the savings that you make ordering from amazon would allow you to still pick up discs online in Europe and even in shops (virgin were doing a buy 2 get one free offer recently) without spending silly money.

thenobody

Interesting thanks.

Have a €400 voucher been wondering what to use it on .... i may be leaning to a PS3

WellyJ

thenobody wrote: »

Interesting thanks.

Have a €400 voucher been wondering what to use it on .... i may be leaning to a PS3

I think there will be a lot of people making that same decision in the coming months, its a huge incentive to people to buy a PS3 now, Sony must be p***ing themselves with the death of HD-DVD

omalleyTown

WellyJ wrote: »

I think there will be a lot of people making that same decision in the coming months, its a huge incentive to people to buy a PS3 now, Sony must be p***ing themselves with the death of HD-DVD

Which is precisly why there are so many rumours out about microsoft jumping on bluray as soon as possible

WellyJ

omalleyTown wrote: »

Which is precisly why there are so many rumours out about microsoft jumping on bluray as soon as possible

Shutting the door after the horse has bolted......

Who is gonna buy a BluRay addon for 360 when they can just buy a ps3 for an extra few euro?

Unless M$ plan on HEAVILY subsidising the theoretical Bluray addon, and i mean down to around 100 euro, its not gonna work.

The HD-DVD addon was at a reasonable enough price but they are far cheaper to make. And even worse would be if they develop a new 360 with internal Bluray, because all current owners will be really pissed. I know I will be anyway.

With the news of the ps3 hitting 10 million units sold in the same time it took 360 to sell 6 million, there are dark days ahead for the 360 imo.

thenobody

And which is why they should release the Blu-Ray addon asap.

I dont want a PS3. Rather still have the xbox and have invested too much money in it to start again with a PS3.
Addon for BluRay would be perfect.

Id say they have it all planned out and ready to go though. At least they should have

Varik

thenobody

And play it through what?

How will that work and how will you get the sound out to an amp too?

Thanks

mcgovern

WellyJ wrote: »

Shutting the door after the horse has bolted......

Who is gonna buy a BluRay addon for 360 when they can just buy a ps3 for an extra few euro?

They'll probably charge similar to the price of the HD-DVD add-on, certainly not more than €200 which is about half the price of a PS3, not a "few euro".

WellyJ wrote: »

Unless M$ plan on HEAVILY subsidising the theoretical Bluray addon, and i mean down to around 100 euro, its not gonna work.

They will lose sales, no doubt about it, but the majority of people could not care less about HD, in fact I would bet 99.9% of people I know do not even know the difference between HD-DVD and Blu-ray and I know only one person with a HD player and he has a PS3 connected to a 15 inch LCD...

WellyJ wrote: »

With the news of the ps3 hitting 10 million units sold in the same time it took 360 to sell 6 million, there are dark days ahead for the 360 imo.

Even if the PS3 outsells the 360, I don't see how there are dark days ahead. 90% of major titles this generation will be multi-platform, regardless of which platform wins.
The 360 is still doing really well in the States, which is the major market for a lot of developers and I can't see the PS3 catching it there. Japan is already won by PS3, and looks like it will take Europe too, but its far from the 360s death knell.

WellyJ

mcgovern wrote: »

They'll probably charge similar to the price of the HD-DVD add-on, certainly not more than €200 which is about half the price of a PS3, not a "few euro".


They will lose sales, no doubt about it, but the majority of people could not care less about HD, in fact I would bet 99.9% of people I know do not even know the difference between HD-DVD and Blu-ray and I know only one person with a HD player and he has a PS3 connected to a 15 inch LCD...



Even if the PS3 outsells the 360, I don't see how there are dark days ahead. 90% of major titles this generation will be multi-platform, regardless of which platform wins.
The 360 is still doing really well in the States, which is the major market for a lot of developers and I can't see the PS3 catching it there. Japan is already won by PS3, and looks like it will take Europe too, but its far from the 360s death knell.

Why were you playing Harry Potter?

Varik

ps3 out sold 360 in january in the us,so did the ps2 but that does not count ms said it was due to stock shortages.

but i agree multi platform will rule this gen ,prob be no console winner

gta 4 getting nearer

lee_baby_simms

MS really need to address the noise levels of the 360 before they further market it as a system to watch movies on.

Varik

WHAT I CAN'T HEAR YOU MY 360 IS ON!!!! (turns it off)

SO!! sorry what were you saying, oh yes i agree

thenobody

No so for playing HD-DVDs
The drive is quiet enough. Its the console drive thats loud ... for the first few minutes you actually own the 360. After which you dont notice

mcgovern

WellyJ wrote: »

Why were you playing Harry Potter?

Because I have a 9 yr old sister who asked me to get it for her, not that I see how that has anything to do with the topic....

Julez

mcgovern wrote: »

Because I have a 9 yr old sister who asked me to get it for her, not that I see how that has anything to do with the topic....

Yeah sure we all have 9 year old sisters who ask us to get harry potter!!

mcgovern

Julez wrote: »

Yeah sure we all have 9 year old sisters who ask us to get harry potter!!

Not particularly bothered if you believe me or not, if you want proof of what I've been playing for the last few months I'll spank you at CoD4 if you want?

sprinkles

I really don't think that the extra storage issue will come into play this generation so I don't think that the 360 will fail as a games machine. It's not the entertainment hub that the PS3 is and the 360 wanted to be but ti's damn close and they only need to release a "cheap" blu ray ad-on to achieve that so it's not all doom and gloom. They won't use it for games. The next generation is 3 - 4 years off (if you believe the "i-analysts") - DVD's can hold out that long imo.

Vic Vinegar

sprinkles wrote: »

.....The next generation is 3 - 4 years off (if you believe the "i-analysts") - DVD's can hold out that long imo.

I hope so, i've got over 5 billion dvd's......:D

& 3 Blu-Ray movies!

WellyJ

sprinkles wrote: »

I really don't think that the extra storage issue will come into play this generation so I don't think that the 360 will fail as a games machine.

Played Lost Odyssey yet?

4 Dual layered DVDs.......

It has already come into play tbh.

djkeogh

Yea while I wouldn't mind getting into a bit of HD movie action, there are a number of factors which turn me off now

1. 360 is way too noisy for films. even quiet bits in games it gets distracting.

2. Have a huge DVD collection and my Upscaling player still keeps me happy.

3. Was leaning heavily towards HD-DVD.

I defo think I will be waiting for the next generation before moving to a different medium for films. Unless the Video shops etc for me to move through lack of rental options.

sprinkles

WellyJ wrote: »

Played Lost Odyssey yet?

4 Dual layered DVDs.......

It has already come into play tbh.

Come on. That's hardly the norm nor will it be for a while yet. Multi Disc games (2 discs) if needed will not be unbearable.

No multiplatform game is benefiting from bluray at the minute. Any game that uses more than the 8.9g on a bluray disc is down to lazy compressing and is the developers fault. Very few games on the xbox at the minute come close to filling the capacity of a dual layer dvd.

The need for bluray capacity could be held off until the next gen - that said I reckon we'll see a repeat of the release schedules we had this time around and the PS4 could be a year or 2 behind the Xbox361 so perhaps it may turn out to be required for the PS3 - still don't think the xbox will need it.

thenobody

well i think ive decided.
I am going to get a Playstation 3 in the states in a couple of weeks. Far cheaper (€270) and i have vouchers so will basically be free.
Only downside would be no being able to play region 2 Blu-Ray but that doesnt bother me as I wont be buying any here at such high prices.
So ill use the xbox for HD-dvd and region 2 dvds and Playstation for Blu-Ray and region 1 dvds.
I buy most dvds and HD films in the states and i think the Blu-Ray addon would again restrict to region B(2) Blu-Rays and dvds.

Prefer to use them for movies and streaming show downloads than playing games.
And with the HD projector i just got, cant be left without Blu-Ray.....

omalleyTown

Varik wrote: »

ps3 out sold 360 in january in the us,so did the ps2 but that does not count ms said it was due to stock shortages.

but i agree multi platform will rule this gen ,prob be no console winner

gta 4 getting nearer

Microsoft was only stock constrained with the Elite and Premium versions of the 360. You know, the only ones people should be buying. There were mountains of Arcade and Halo 360's in the retail chain for the month of January.

Something is a bit dodgy here. This was their 3rd christmas in the states. There is no way they were completly blind to what consumers might want in the new year. This is the company that forced extra units on retail just to meet their 10 million shipped target.

It looks they were clearing the retail channel for something.

Or they just messed up. Either way we'll find out this week at GDC.

thegoth

This was exactly what Sony needed. I think it was there only hope of catching the 360, but alot of damage has been done.

Alot of people were like me. They bought the 360 just to keep them tied over until the PS3 launch. The PS3 launch then got put back. In the meanwhile alot of excellent games began to appear on the 360. By the time the PS3 was launched, people who had planned to buy it, like me, were thinking hold on, why should I buy this. Its expensive, I dont really want Blueray yet, no decent games on it. I will wait until the price drops. Then more good games came out on the 360. The 360 is in another league when it comes to online play. You can download HD movies online. The PS3 still has no great exclusive, so why buy it ? The answer alot of people reached was there is no reason to buy it. One of my friends was a huge playstation fan, but has converted to 360 with the sceaniro above

Whoever actually sells more consoles is really not important here as Microsft will be the big winner. The reason is that they regard the home console market as I very long term investment. They want the 360 to be a home entermaint hub. By the end of the current console war, they will have greatly increased their percentage share of the market and will have released the next generation console before Sony, so they will be able to repeat the process again. MS should release a blueray drive for 99 euro if they really want to be agressive maybe with a free DVD.

As you can see from below I am not loyal to any manufacturer. I have owned something from them all.

thenobody

Looks like Microsoft has said they wont be adding Blu-Ray to xbox.

Looking forward to adding my PS3 now.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/a89966/microsoft-says-no-to-xbox-blu-ray.html

tvnutz

Microsoft pulls plug on HD DVD players

SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. said it will stop making HD DVD players for its Xbox 360 video game system after Toshiba Corp. ceded the high-definition video format battle to Sony Corp.'s Blu-ray.

Microsoft said Saturday it would continue to provide standard warranty support for its HD DVD players. Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida last week estimated about 300,000 people own the Microsoft video player, sold as a separate $130 add-on for the Xbox 360.

"HD DVD is one of the several ways we offer a high definition experience to consumers and we will continue to give consumers the choice to enjoy digital distribution of high definition movies and TV shows directly to their living room, along with playback of the DVD movies they already own," Blair Westlake, a corporate vice president of Microsoft's media and entertainment group, said in a written statement.

Microsoft was one of HD DVD's main backers, along with Intel Corp. and Japanese electronics maker NEC Corp., and its support for the format was seen as a big win for Toshiba's format.

But support for the HD DVD waned as major movie studios — Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Co., News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros. Entertainment — picked Blu-ray to distribute high-def DVDs. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. struck what seemed to be the final blow just over a week ago when it said it would only sell Blu-ray players and discs.

Microsoft said it is looking at how the HD DVD technology it has developed, such as HDi, which adds interactive features to HD DVDs, and its VC-1 video encoding technology, can be applied to other platforms.

The Redmond-based software maker said the decision to stop selling HD DVD players won't have a material impact on its video game business.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080224/ap_on_hi_te/microsoft_hd_dvd

Varik

sprinkles wrote: »

No multiplatform game is benefiting from bluray at the minute. QUOTE]

the PS3's Blu-ray version of MLB 2K8 has given the console a sizable advantage over the 360 regarding the amount of content that will be included in the final retail version.

"There is so much content included in the game that it couldn’t all fit onto the 360 disc. Free downloadable content will be provided for what was left out."

The 360 version of the game is having the unlockable stadiums and Cool Base alternate uniforms left out of the final retail version, while the PS3 version has the features included on its Blu-ray disc.

this game means notting to me but it's big the u.s

TheDoc

was gna get my dad to buy a ps3 for me from america for blu ray, but tbh i think ms will eventually bring an xbox blu ray player..

it would be financially wise and easy accomplished id say

so im just gna wait

i still cant weigh up paying 30-40 euro for blurays i have on dvd for a difference that isnt cost worthy imo

and yes ive seen d-dvd, bluray and normal...and ill stick with normal dvd until bluray comes to between 15-20

thenobody

Well they said they wont be bringing out a blu-ray addon

Im going over next week and will pick up my PS3. Got a PS3, remote and 4 Blu-Ray movies delivered for €355.
The blu-ray movies over there are way cheaper than here.

So ill play region2 dvds and HD-DVDs on my xbox and region 1 dvds and region A (and all region) Blu-Ray on my PS3.

Got the PS3 in the states mainly because it is much cheaper, had vouchers to use and i could get cheaper Blu-Ray movies from there.

nevaeh-2die-4

Ur jumping the gun we dont even know if a blue ray drive will be Released

thenobody

Well if it is released it will be locked to my consoles region and i need it to be region 1.
So its the best solution for me.

But MS confirming they wont be releasing a Blu-Ray addon just made it a easier decision

TheDoc

well im going gran canaria again this summer for 4 months, and when i was there last year 60gb ps3's where 300 euro ..

blurays were 20 euro but dno if copies or not, looked real

might pick one upwhen im over

savemejebus

Plenty of blu-rays available on amazon.com for under 20 and piles of the region 1 Blu-Rays work over here. See here for a list http://bluray.liesinc.net/

StickyMcGinty

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/03/07/sony_apple_microsoft_in_bluray_talks/

deffo a blu-ray add on on the way by the looks of it