Microsoft – almost ready with the answer to BluRay?
>From Tweakers.net
We all remember the “deathâ€Â of HD DVD of Toshiba and Microsoft…..
It made Blu Ray the big winner……
BUT; as Microsoft was NOT stepping into the Blu-Ray camp AND they where more and more promoting their own Xbox 360 movie channel options….. I came to the simple conclusion that Microsoft is not going to “bet on the loosing part†Blu-Ray…… BUT they are going to put their money on the streaming part.
In the new update of Xbox360 you will find the option (at first for USA use only) of watching movies via Netflix…..
AND now the next step has been made (or more; they are still busy…… but….)….. In combination with Akamai, Microsoft is developing a tool /internet service (“Smooth Streamingâ€) to watch HD video via streams….. They use their Silverlight application for that (uh….Silverlight; you can compare it with Adobe Flash).
Akamai will introduce this to their customers at the beginning of 2009; but a preview is here….. – and I was really surprised by “how fast the movies load†and “the quality of the footageâ€â€¦.. = btw; you need to install Silverlight – don’t worry – probably that one will become more handy during the next few months uh….  
So; this could be the killer for Blu-Ray uh…??
[...] vandergriendblogvw wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptWe all remember the “death†of HD DVD of Toshiba and Microsoft….. It made Blu Ray the big winner…… BUT; as Microsoft was NOT stepping into the Blu-Ray camp AND they where more and more promoting their own Xbox 360 movie channel options… … [...]
Seems to me these are two different things, one is playing from a physical medium, the other plays streaming media.
But, if they have a large number of titles available, this could be very convenient for a lot of consumers, no need anymore for a physical medium to play the content.
On the other hand, they have to improve the features, when I read “In addition to instantly streaming movies to the TV, Gold members can fast-forward, pause, and rewind—all using either the Xbox 360 Controller or Media Remote”, I’m thinking, my cheap, 20 euro DVD player did that already years ago, without the need to be a Gold member or whatever…
Well; it is (TODAY) all over the news that blu-ray needs/is going to drop their prices of the players and movies; as the sales are not even close to what they should be….
AND -wow I am wondering how they got to this thought – the EXPERTS think that the new STREAMING could be better/faster/cheaper/etc than BluRay….
Ooooh btw – also in the news; big rumor is; Xbox is going to offer HD also via Netflix…… If this is true….. I do think that;
)
1. we know what kind of company microsoft is going to take over (oooh Netflix..??
2. they got it all better organized than any other streaming organisation….. and that could be the blu-ray killer. With AND xbox AND online…
I have no idea how they are going to do this; real streaming or saving to the HD….. and maybe also with a small kind of Silverlight integrated into the Xbox software..??
Streaming would be a very good idea for many people. I would use it, if they have enough titles to choose from. And the costs can be low, so the price a consumer pays should be reasonable too.
I think we will hear more about this in the future, a chance for Microsoft to gain some ground in this market, definitely.