1/ Proprietary Formats: We all remember Beta and what a rousing success that was. Well youd think Sony would learn about those closed proprietary formats.
Beta: True, it was the better format than its competitor VHS but only Sony devices could play back Beta at that time. Competing formats caused consumer panic in the 70s when home video should have been at the dawn of a golden age.
SACD: Youd think Sony would have learned from Beta but again it came up with another proprietary format. This time the industry tried to create a multi-channel successor to the CD. To be fair, its probably not SACDs fault that hi-res audio never really caught on. SACD only ensured it didnt stand a chance.
Blu-ray: When will Sony ever learn? The successor to the DVD should have been one unified format but Sony has decided that HD DVD needed a competitor.
You can see how Sonys zero sum gain approach with endless format wars have cripple the development of unified standards and practices thus holding back all consumer electronics technology.
2/ PC Blu-ray Players: The latest example of Sonys degeneration is its Blu-ray players for PC.
Sony PC Blu-ray players will not be able to play high definition movies on the PC. Good move Sony! Please remind me what good is a PC Blu-ray player that cant play Blu-ray movies on the PC?
3/ Sony Studios: In the late 80s Sony was considered an innovative consumer electronics company that made high end TVs and budget priced but consistently reliable audio products. But then in a kind identity crisis it decided to become a music and movie studio. Sony bought CBS Records in 1988 and the following year Columbia and Tri-Star Pictures. Now Sony is one of the biggest movie and music studios on the planet. This opens the door to creepy conflict of interest issues when buying Sony hardware designed to playback any digital media. This is why Sonys PC Blu-ray player wont playback movies.
Sony's double dealing as both movie studio and hardware manufacturer is why the Blu-ray format will have more than the single layer of high def content protection required by the studios.
AACS is the body that produced the high definition content protection unanimously required by all the studios and mandatory for all high definition disks. Itll prevent your HD movies from being copied or moved around on your network.
Sonys Blu-ray, studio suck up that it is, didnt stop at the AACS copy protection. Blu-ray adds two more layers of copy protection. Also Blu-ray wont support Mandatory Managed Copy, Windows Vistas method of copying high definition movies to your network. The HD DVD format assures at least one backup on your network with MMC. Blu-ray will leave Managed Copy support to the studio releasing the movie. Of course, Blu-ray is on the side of studios not innovative hardware technology because Sony is also a studio.
4/ Sony DRM: A consumer electronics company doesnt just enter the content game without also entering the
DRM game. Digital Rights Management is the pesky layer on any digital media that prevents it from being copied, exactly what the AACS produced for HD movies. However Sonys own DRM used on CDs purchased from its BMG line was particularly devastating.
In order to play a Sony BMG CD on your computer it forced an install of a program called RootKit. The program turned out to be a Trojan horse that installed hidden files which posed a security risk to your computer, leaving you vulnerable to hacks. Sonys damage control on this issue has been nonexistent. They released a fix that was supposed to uninstall RootKit but that fix, Sonys web based XCP uninstall only installs malware on your computer.
The
Rootkit is still causing problems to this day. Its just another example of Sonys hubris. The company doesnt care because it feels its above its customer base.
5/ Sony PS3: Where do I begin on the nightmare?
The PS3 isnt so much of a gaming machine, but Sonys attempt to win the cold war by putting a man on the moon. Instead of dealing with the current generation of set top box gaming technology with cost/benefit finesse, Sony just went for broke. The only ones going broke are the consumers that are planning on picking up this monster mess. PS3 is supposed to include HDMI, Blu-ray, games at 1080P, and a Cell CPU that is very expensive to mass produce. It made for great press releases over a year ago when they promised it would be released by spring of 2006.
PS3 Rundown: PS3 "Clear Black" launched Nov 11th in Japan part of a worldwide simultaneous release: Some lucky Japanese will get their PS3 by Christmas, if you live anywhere else, don't hold your breath.
$599 60Gig HDD / $499 20Gig HDD: Face it, including an HDD on both versions is a great gig. Too bad Microsoft didn't think so.
$599 version Memory Stick/SD/CompactFlash compatible: $499 version, not so much memory. I forget why I care.
$599 version gets HDMI NextGen x1: No HDMI on $499 and no 1080P games on the HDMI version.
$599/$499 are subsidized by Sony to price it competitively: Xbox360 retails at $400 and Nintendo Wiii will retail at $250. They call that competitive?
PS3 wireless Bluetooth controller with six axis sensing system: Still not as cool as Nintendo Wiii's full motion sensing controller. PS3 gets no Force Feedback ie no shaky.
Months after the original launch date Sony has back peddled on the promises listed above. The latest word is that there will be no 1080P games, regardless of whether you buy the PS3 with HDMI or not. PS3 couldnt produce acceptable frame rates when testing the only game produced with 1080P graphics, Gran Turismo HD. So, Gran Turismo will be downrezzed to 720P and Sony said there will be no 1080P games for Sony PS3. Sony will only make 1080P possible with movie playback on the more expensive PS3.
Sony fan-boys with something to say in response will have to speak up. I might not hear you because NHL 2007 on my Xbox360 is turned up pretty loud.
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