Disc format has not burdened PS3 cost?

[SpOoNmAn]

Phil Harrison has gone off the deep end, he's been hanging out with Kenny K a little 2 much.

He's been quoted saying...

The cost of including the new technology is 'non-existent', There's this sort of misunderstanding that the Blu-ray disc player for movies is somehow burdening the console with unnecessary cost.

Now heres what gets me....

That is completely not true. We put our Blu-ray disc functionality in the console purely from a game design point of view.

He shouldnt have used the term *purely*.

We all know why it was added and him thinking consumers don't know the truth...well that just irritates me.

[CamDawg]

What, Sony being less than truthful with us? I'm shocked!

[SpOoNmAn]

Speaking of disc format, have any bluray titles begun to use VC-1 yet?

Can a player that only decodes mpeg4 play vc-1 encoded discs? or does it still play it, just won't look as good?

What Im getting at is the recent confirmation of the PS3 using only mp4. Just wondering if this would cause a problem if they started making discs with VC-1, or could it be updated down the road via software?

[CamDawg]

Yeah, there are a few BD movies that have been done in VC1. Word on the street is that the movies in VC1 have the same pic quality as HD-DVDs also done in VC1.

[Jon Liu]

that's good to hear! I really enjoy VC-1 as a codec. It seems to be superior in a lot of ways to a lot of the HD stuff I see on TV, on computer with Mpeg-4 or H.264...

[GoatMother]

lol, I always look forward to reading the next stupid thing said from a Sony or MS executive, even Nintendo at times as well.

[Jon Liu]

as do I! It's always entertaining and.. what's more, the people here always have a different twist on the matter that makes it even that much more entertaining!

[GoatMother]

Originally Posted by Jon Liu

as do I! It's always entertaining and.. what's more, the people here always have a different twist on the matter that makes it even that much more entertaining!

Definitely.. Spin makes the gaming forum go round

[SpOoNmAn]

Noone answered my question(or gave an opinion).

Seeing as the ps3 is only supporting Mpeg4, what happens when someone puts in a bluray disc that is using VC-1 as a codec? Does it bypass that and play it in the "less than stellar" mp4?. Thats already bad news right there if some are buying a ps3 and expecting flawless HD playback right?

[Jon Liu]

dang, I don't know the answer to that question, but I would definitely like to know the answer to this regardless!

[WormholeXtreme]

Any BD player(including the PS3) or HD DVD player has to be able to decode MPEG2, MPEG4 and VC1. It has to if it has the BD label or HD DVD label.
And yes Warner is now using VC1 for their BD titles. They are already encoding with VC1 for HD DVD so it's just easier to use that for BD if possible than to pay to encode it again.

[SpOoNmAn]

So youre saying the ps3 supports vc-1 even though its been said it doesn't? How could someone at sony not know what you just typed? Wait I take that back, lol. They just need to get their stories straight.

[Jon Liu]

If I am not mistaken, he is correct that all are technically supported, but where teh difference lies is in the software. Right now, HD-DVD has utilized VC-1 For almost EVERY single title. Blu-ray still is primarily using Mpeg-2. They've also used AVC (not quite sure what that is but, I think Disney has used it) as well as now started to use VC-1 with the Warner titles...

PS3, being a Blu-ray player should be able to decode all. At least from my understanding.

[MadBryan]

i don't think Sony has said it won't do VC it just won't advertise it and put the logo on the machine cause its a M$ codec. I think, but I'm sorta guessing