Sony Blu-ray DVD Laptop. Buy in USA or wait and buy

[Parrothead]

Sony Blu-ray DVD Laptop. Buy in USA or wait and buy in Singapore when we arrive in June.

Two things I guess:

Generally speaking should I wait to buy a new laptop in Singapore (I'd like to know that there is local service support from a local vendor) or go ahead and buy in the USA prior to coming over?? I am thinking about buying a Sony laptop with a built in Blu-ray DVD like this one:

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/<wbr>IN ... =computers


Also - What's the low-down on Blu-ray DVD's over in Singapore. If I buy a stand alone Blu-Ray DVD player in the USA will it work over in Singapore?

Any advice is appreciated..!!

[Splatted]

I wouldn't be buying anything Blue-ray for a while till the dust settles which format the movie industries will be fully backing.

As you may be aware, both Blue-Ray & HD DVD security have been broken, and you now see HD movies available for download through the torrent networks.

What is happening now, some of the movie studios are delaying the release of new movie titles in this format, until they are confident the format is safe.

I would hate to invest in one format, only to find you can't buy movies down the track.

On the other hand, if it's for just plain old data-storage you want the drives, I would strongly recommend sticking with just plain old DVD format. HD DVD/Blue ray disks are much more sensitive to scratches, and are very expensive.

I've read of people getting the tiniest of scratches on their King Kong disk, only to have to return it to the store for a replacement.

What's the low-down on Blu-ray DVD's over in Singapore. If I buy a stand alone Blu-Ray DVD player in the USA will it work over in Singapore?

Singapore disks (if you can find a store that sells them here) would work on a player from the USA, as far as I'm aware. From what I've heard, there's no region-coding in this format.

Where you will need to be careful are voltage differences between USA & Singapore. USA, if I'm not mistaken work at 110V, while Singapore, I believe is 230V.

[Dobski]

N and S America share the same region code as East Asia (excluding China)
So you WILL be able to play US Blu Ray disks on a Singapore player, or vice versa.

Should also mention - Europe will have it's own region specific Blu Ray disks ! (Shared with Africa).
So nothing from Europe will be compatible with US or Singapore Blu Ray equipment.

So, if you want he newest titles from the US, you wont be able to play European titles.

Also, as Splatted mentioned above - the war is just beginning over which format will come out on top - Blu Ray or HDDVD - same sort of thing as the VHS/Betamax battle.
My money's on Blu Ray - better technically and more of the big film makers are part of Sony - who 'own' Blu Ray - but you never know !!!

[ksl]

I wouldn't be buying anything Blue-ray for a while till the dust settles which format the movie industries will be fully backing.

As you may be aware, both Blue-Ray & HD DVD security have been broken, and you now see HD movies available for download through the torrent networks.

What is happening now, some of the movie studios are delaying the release of new movie titles in this format, until they are confident the format is safe.

I would hate to invest in one format, only to find you can't buy movies down the track.

On the other hand, if it's for just plain old data-storage you want the drives, I would strongly recommend sticking with just plain old DVD format. HD DVD/Blue ray disks are much more sensitive to scratches, and are very expensive.

I've read of people getting the tiniest of scratches on their King Kong disk, only to have to return it to the store for a replacement.

What's the low-down on Blu-ray DVD's over in Singapore. If I buy a stand alone Blu-Ray DVD player in the USA will it work over in Singapore?

Singapore disks (if you can find a store that sells them here) would work on a player from the USA, as far as I'm aware. From what I've heard, there's no region-coding in this format.

Where you will need to be careful are voltage differences between USA & Singapore. USA, if I'm not mistaken work at 110V, while Singapore, I believe is 230V.

It looks like Blu-ray will take the lead according to Matsushita, otherwise known as Panasonic, with blu-ray being more competitive.

With regards to copying, they could possibly put a levy on each disk, that's what they were doing in Denmark on discs, and it was quite a whack, something like 35pence a few years back per disk, but that was the music industry that forced the levy, no idea if its still that way. But like everything else, anything can happen and will happen, if something better comes along!

http://www.digitimes.com/systems/a20070620PD201.html

Updated 25th june
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6762621.stm

[garnet4david]

Well i dont think blue ray is a great product. Its useless, 8 dvd in one piece of blue plastic hehe. I think DVD is still ok with me. Blue ray is only ok if you use it for backing up your hard disk. Furthermore, blue ray games (if exist one), or blue ray film is going to be damn expenssive. I suggest you to buy non blue ray laptop.

[Dobski]

Bluray films are selling in HMV, Orchard Rd for $51 or up to $70 for newer/more popular titles - your own point of view decides whether that's expensive or not.......

The quality is amazing when played on a decent, HD home cinema system - no doubts about that !

I'm not so sure that such high quality on a laptop is worth paying for, especially while it's still relatively new and the costs are still high........
As Garnet suggested - The huge data storage capabilites would only really be useful to specialist users.

[Yutenji]

Just moved from Singapore to Australia ... was considering buying PS3 mostly for the Blu-ray player (PS3 ~A$1k, Blu-ray standalone ~A$1.4k), but the games are a bonus.

But, informed by all dealers here that Blu-ray players ARE region coded.

So can someone confirm (1st hand please, none of this 'my friend's brother's girlfriend told me' nonsense) that PS3 bought in Singapore can play (a) Singapore/US Blu-ray discs and (b) ordinary DVDs from anywhere?

Thanks
JT

[bigfilsing]

What you have to realise is that for every high paid corporate RnD person theres a hundred tech guys out there trying to break the code. It's simple maths. They can't create something the community cant break!!! end of story . Ever wondered why Bruce Willis earns 10 mil a pictue ...it's copy rights.
Once they realise they are wasting time they will allow you to steam his movie into your living room, 10 mins after it's finished then we'll al lbe better off.
Fact= if they had a dollar for every viewer they'd have twice as much revenue as now.
Blu ray...HD ...call it what the heel you want...it's going nowhere.
As long as there's an editor that wants 100 bucks in his back pocket they are wating their time.

[Teema]

Personally I'm hoping for the Blu-ray camp. The capacity advantage IS significant, especially on a computer: 30gb for a dual layer HD-DVD, 50gb for a dual layer Blu-ray. Possibility of backing up my entire photo album on a disc is neat.

Blu-ray disc is also more scratch-resistant than HD-DVD. And the much bigger storage jump is worthy of a generation update. HD-DVDs only offers 3 times the capacity of DVDs. I hope they die soon

[Splatted]

Personally I'm hoping for the Blu-ray camp. The capacity advantage IS significant, especially on a computer: 30gb for a dual layer HD-DVD, 50gb for a dual layer Blu-ray. Possibility of backing up my entire photo album on a disc is neat.

Blu-ray disc is also more scratch-resistant than HD-DVD. And the much bigger storage jump is worthy of a generation update. HD-DVDs only offers 3 times the capacity of DVDs. I hope they die soon

It may have the capacity, but it's not the most safest way of backing up data, nor the cheapest.

on a per GB comparison, it's much cheaper buying a second hard disk for backup. Prices have plummeted! Statistically, much less read/write errors as well.

[Teema]

It may have the capacity, but it's not the most safest way of backing up data, nor the cheapest.

on a per GB comparison, it's much cheaper buying a second hard disk for backup. Prices have plummeted! Statistically, much less read/write errors as well.

A 320GB hard disc costs around $60-90 (USD) (internal HD, the cheapest kind).

We would need around 6 (50x6=300) dual layer Blu-ray discs to match the capacity.
If blank Blu-ray can match $10 or less, it beats the hard drive. That price point should be very easily reachable once the format reaches mass-adoption.

[Dobski]

Hi Yutenji, I have a PS3 that I bought in Singapore.
In answer to your questions:-

A) - I can play Blu Ray films I bought from Amazon.com (america) and HMV on Orchard Road in Singapore.
B) - I CANNOT play DVD's from any region.
(my home cinema system is region free for DVD playback)

PS3 games are not region coded.
PS1 and PS2 games on the PS3(the ones that are backwards compatible) are region coded

[Splatted]

Hi Yutenji, I have a PS3 that I bought in Singapore.
In answer to your questions:-

A) - I can play Blu Ray films I bought from Amazon.com (america) and HMV on Orchard Road in Singapore.
B) - I CANNOT play DVD's from any region.
(my home cinema system is region free for DVD playback)

PS3 games are not region coded.
PS1 and PS2 games on the PS3(the ones that are backwards compatible) are region coded

Just to further elaborate on this, wikipaedia has the following info:

The Blu-ray movie region codes are different from the DVD region codes.[9] The following are the region codes for Blu-ray discs:[10]

A/1 North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.

B/2 Europe, Greenland, French territories, Middle East, Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

C/3 India, Nepal, Mainland China, Pakistan, Russia, Central and South Asia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc

I was wrong previously when I said it they did away with region coding for this format. I'm not certain whether HD dvd is going to stay region free for much longer either.

[Splatted]

We would need around 6 (50x6=300) dual layer Blu-ray discs to match the capacity.
If blank Blu-ray can match $10 or less, it beats the hard drive. That price point should be very easily reachable once the format reaches mass-adoption.

Agreed, however the same argument was put forward for DVD9 format and at the time HD's were still cheaper.

Yes, DVD's got much much cheaper, but so did HD technology.

You will find by the time Blu-ray get down to $10 a disk, you will be purchasing HD's with TB's capacities for the prices paid today for 320gb capacity.

Hard disks will still be cheaper in the long run, I believe.

[Splatted]

It looks like Blu-ray will take the lead according to Matsushita, otherwise known as Panasonic, with blu-ray being more competitive.

I was reading just now on another forum which drew attention to the latest release titles of movies, and the differences between the high definition formats.

HD DVD has more content (aka = value for money) than blu ray in the release of the movie "300".

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=8228

This may change later once blu ray settles on it's specs.