As the article explains, it works on the PC too, providing that you have a graphics card which supports it. It just plugs in through your USB 2.0 port. I’ve also heard that it works on Macs as well (but I’ve lost the link for that).
Anyway, I just thought that some of you might me interested in that, since not everyone wants to get an Xbox 360, but some of you might still be after a cheap high definition video player. And, if I’m not mistaken, the 360 HD-DVD drive is the cheapest one on the market at the moment, especially if you already have a device compatible with it.
Smart move. I’m not sure how many additional unit sales it’d equal to, but the more devices it works on, the better.
Still, though… they’re not pushing HD-DVD hard enough. While not everyone is planning on buying Blu-Ray either, I think a lot more people know about Blu-Ray than HD-DVD.
The website - thedvdwars.com - seems to suggest that the current leader (in sales and the number of movies currently available) is HD-DVD, although I do believe that Blu-Ray has more companies supporting it (unless that has changed). HD-DVD players are typically cheaper, although I don’t know if that still matters very much given that the Playstation 3 is out now ($300 for a 360 + $200 for the HD-DVD add on, whereas the cheaper PS3 is $500).
I wonder how much the PS3’s launch is going to boost Blu-Ray sales. Personally, if I decided to get a high definition player I’d wait (well, I basically have to if I want to get one for a console; the PS3 doesn’t come out here until March). Sooner or later it will become clear which format will become the winner. I just hope that won’t too long as it could potentially be costly for early adopters. Especially for people who buy stand alone players, I’m not sure how useful owning a high definition paper weight in a few years will be…
Both the formats are being pressed onto the market too early anyway, DVD’s have only recently even overtaken VHS for video sales and rentals and now they’re trying to make them obsolete. Sony is out for some kind of revenge for Betamax, not to mention getting people to re-buy all the Sony movie properties they already bought a year or two ago on DVD. Being an early adopter in this case is an admission of addiction to techno toys, you’re pretty much asking for whatever risk and abuse they’ll put you through.
PS3 sales don’t guarantee that blu-ray movies will go well, especially if they are more expensive than regular DVD movies. The PSP sales for example didn’t save the UMD movies, though in the U.S. they were popular for some time.
Anyway, it’ll take quite a while for the PS3 to actually help blu-ray as with 500K units worldwide it’s quite a laughable sampling more than anything else…
I’m sure that Sony WILL use the PS3 numbers to claim the market penetration blu-ray has had but I’m also sure that while partially correct, it won’t mean all those people wanted or even knew what a blu-ray player is when they purchased a PS3, nor that they will be buying blu-ray movies.