Bach: Nope, still no Blu-ray Xbox 360 planned

by Alexander Sliwinski on Jan 9th 2009 11:37AM

Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division (you know, Xbox), has reiterated for the ... well, we've lost track of the amount of times he's said Blu-ray isn't coming to the Xbox 360. Just for the sake of tradition, TechFlash asked the question again and Bach balked saying, "We have no plan to do that."

When pressed, Bach, having spiritually gone to his happy place, explained it's not a feature they get "a ton" of requests for. From a technical perspective it doesn't help the Xbox and it would raise the cost of the product. Bach emphasizes that HD content is available through Netflix and the Live Marketplace. Maybe Robbie will get lucky and the Blu-ray questions will end ... yeah, no chance.

[Via CVG]

Source

Tags: bach, blu-ray, blu-ray-xbox, microsoft, robbie-bach, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (96)

Well seeing as he doesn't know how to turn it on, I doubt he will know whats on the inside of it.

Has anyone explained to Robbie the difference in quality between a bluray disc and streaming HD media?

Saying that the difference is so ambiguous as to require an explanation just proves how useless BRD is in the first place.

Oh yeah. And explaining the difference between VHS and DVD to your granny makes DVD useless too? Or do I not follow?

you could explain it to him and 100,000 people but the truth is most people can't tell unless you have really great equipment all the way around, which most people don't. Streaming HD is clearly better than DVD and to the majority, that is good enough to keep them from buying yet another player and movies that cost more than their dvd counterparts and simply don't deserve blu-ray. If every movie was The Dark Knight or Pans Labyrinth or Transformers you could build a stronger case, but watching the fucking Devil Wears Prada in blu-ray is pointless.

Only time i really noticed Blu Ray is at a Best Buy. They had $5,000 dollar Samsung uber screen playing a computer generated movie (Madagascar??). Other than that im agreeing with the majority of the people on this post.

Its not needed, too late etc.

I don't know about you but watching 300 in 720p from the Marketplace in Live was certainly not proper 720p. I have a basic set up and could easily tell the lesser quality.

@esat

I know what you mean, even HD can't make that movie good.

I know right? I'm the only person I know that thought that movie sucked!

@Esat Dedezade:

I've seen some comparison shots of WMV-HD (XBL Marketplace) vs. Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD and it was surprising how well WMV-HD could stack up. I can't find the article (was going to post it up for you), so take as you will.

That said, I love Blu-Ray. There is no substitute for raw quality. I don't think the 360 needs an add-on player as people buying the 360 are doing so mainly for games unlike the PS3 which many people, like myself, bought mainly for Blu-Ray.

Just to make it clear:I am in total concurence* with the principle that the 360 does not require a blue ray player.

* http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cromulent

"Oh yeah. And explaining the difference between VHS and DVD to your granny makes DVD useless too? Or do I not follow?"

You don't follow. Granny can tell the difference between a disc that doesn't need to be rewound, a smaller case that fits on the shelf, and the ability to pause the film without looking at a weird static and bouncing images.

Or that some people still like to have physical media, while plenty of people also can't stream HD content - an SD movie rental from iTunes took me four hours. In that same four hours, I could have earned the money and driven to a store to buy the Blu-ray.

Most streaming HD these days is 720p. BRD is 1080p. Despite what people *want* to think, there *is* a difference. If 720p is fine for you, then great. But don't pretend that there isn't a difference when there clearly is.

I've found people that badmouth BluRay do so mainly out of ignorance. And, they do it to make themselves feel better about what they currently have, instead of having to admit that they might be missing out on something.

I like not paying $200 extra dollars for a disc drive that'll require me to replace my $10 per DVD collection with $25 per Blu-ray collection.

I'll hop right on that one.

Hey, Spartan....you don't HAVE to replace anything you don't want to. Blu Ray players DO play DVDs.

I don't WANT to replace my copy of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (AGAIN) for a film with a source material that can't likely get much better looking...so I won't, I'll stick with my DVD. Imagine that! I don't HAVE to buy something just because it's available! ZOMG!

Meanwhile, I've replaced several eye candy flicks and the visual difference is STUNNING. Even with non eye candy movies, if you can't tell the difference between DVD and HD when properly displayed, then you really shouldn't worry about it at all. I'm sure that you couldn't tell the difference between Beta, VHS, and DVD.

Why won't people let it go. The Xbox isn't (and in my opinion shouldn't be)getting a blu ray drive. Microsoft finally got their price point down to about $200.00. Why would they want to go and ruin that with a media drive? They can't use it for games because then older consoles won't work with bluray games and it is already too late in the cycle for it to be worth the revision efforts etc.

Just wait until the next consoles, they'll more than likely have blu-ray players in them.

If you think about it, many people (in my opinion) that play on the 360 seem to be about 18 or younger, though there are many adults (18+) that play too! Some, not all of these adults have a beautiful home theater system and a gorgeous 42"+ HDTV. everybody else has a smaller TV and all of the kids are even lucky they have a 360 and if they do, they have a small tv. If you have a TV over 32", you will see a difference in movie quality. I don't think there is a need for a Blu-ray add-on.

Think of it this way. If MS charges $100 for an external wireless adapter, for crying out loud!, how much would they charge you for a blu-ray player?

Also, how much would it cost MS to develop this? If it costs alot, they will pass on the costs of development down to Bill Gates? NO! They will pass it on to us because we all know that everybody with a 360 has the money to add this external device to our system!

A few more years and we will have a better system. Now I will be pissed like crazy if MS doesn't include INTERNAL wireless on their next system. That is something to complain about.

No need for Blu Ray now. The players are sub $200. Next Generation will need Blu Ray for at least the storage capacity and the bullet point, but right now there is no need for the 360 to have Blu Ray functionality. Smart play on MS part, IMO.

He's right it doesn't add to the core business. Since 360 games come on DVD, you don't need a BluRay drive in the unit to play them.

All it really does is add BluRay movie playback. And honestly, we're getting past the point where that's a big deal anyway. As BluRay players drop in price, the value of putting one in the 360 also drops.

I'd love to see 360 have a BluRay player. I'd love to see everyone have a BluRay player. But honestly, if I were MS, I probably wouldn't put it in.

With a crappy economy and a large margin of people who don't have / can't afford the digital equipment required for Blu-ray (and not to mention the $25-$35 movies), who is surprised that the Microsoft doesn't want to jump on board quite yet?

The technology simply isn't taking off and at this rate, something far better will be out long before BRD topples DVD (which I doubt will ever happen anyway).

Not really true.. Blu-Ray Player penetration is BETTER than DVDs looking at time since launch. Convergence isn't a bad thing. Putting an OEM BD drive in the XBox won't take away from the gaming experience, but inrceases the versatility of the hardware and could lead to a quicker decrease in BD media pricing. In Canada, the Elite holiday bundle is $400.. ditch the crappy games that come in the box, throw in a BD Player and you've got a machine on par with the PS3.

quad: That's such a joke stat, it's ridiculous. Technology is far more widespread now than when DVD came around. There were people who still didn't have VCR's when DVD came out, times have changed and any new technology is going to have a faster market penetration than something from back in the 80s.

"who is surprised that the Microsoft doesn't want to jump on board quite yet?"

Me! I'm surprised!

...yeah, I lied.

oolz:
What are you talking about? Why does a new product have to have a faster adoption rate than in the 80s? Are you saying something can't start slowly and succeed (like the cell phone did)?

There were not many people who didn't have VHS decks when DVD players came out. VHS hit the big time around 85-86, Blockbuster was huge by the early 90s and was everywhere when DVD came out in 1997.

Anyway, this idea that BluRay just isn't catching on is ridiculous. It sold pretty well this Xmas. No, it hasn't beat out DVD yet and doesn't look like it will next Xmas either. But it's definitely getting rolling.

"quad: That's such a joke stat, it's ridiculous. Technology is far more widespread now than when DVD came around."

That doesn't even make sense. Technology is more widespread? Do you think people didn't have TVs back when DVD was introduced?

http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/01/06/blu-rays-first-two-years-outpaces-dvds/

I don't think it's a joke stat at all, but telling of the format. The Blu-Ray seems so strange. I can't really wrap my head around it.. it's an improvement in entertainment and while it may not be the format people hoped for, why be pissed off about an improvement in quality and tech?

There's so much backlash against any positive reports about BD, it's hard to see the detractors as objective.

The whole problem is that blu-ray is patently useless for 2/3 of the market, the ones that still have SDTVs. These people, however, got tangible use out of DVD's

So however fast blu-ray moves, it'll hit it's upper limit a lot quicker than DVD, and have nowhere to go from there

Comparing adoption rates per year is stupid - you could probably make a pretty strong case for UMD or Betamax as well, if you do it that way.

"Comparing adoption rates per year is stupid - you could probably make a pretty strong case for UMD or Betamax as well, if you do it that way."

Expain how it's stupid and which way would be better. Khan has a point that it may hit a ceiling faster, but that depends on the HDTV adoption rate.

Explain how it's stupid? I'll do it in the easiest way possible - the world's population is a lot higher now than it was when DVD was released over a decade ago.

VHS (1970's) - world pop: 4 billion
DVD (1990's) - world pop: 5.7 billion
BRD (2000's) - world pop: 6.7 billion

And that's just one of the more basic factors affecting the numbers. You also have to account for the proliferation of technology, the overall wealth of people, the cost and volume of production available, and a million others.

So I'll say it again: comparing two non-concurrent timelines in order to show how successful you are is stupid. Looking at overall market penetration is probably a better idea.

You need to be more clear on what you're arguing. What you just described with percent market penetration is also a rate. I'd agree that percentages are the best way. The beauty of the the raw sold numbers is they can be easily converted into a percentage... you just have to know the size of the market in each time period.

Overall I'd say BR is doing quite well at this time and as the article points out the deck is actually stacked against BR far more than it was against DVD, yet it continues to pick up steam. Here's the source article, you should read it:

http://www.dvdfile.com/article/blu-ray-disc-exceeds-expectations-13104

Well I never said it was dying - to me, it just doesn't seem to be experiencing the success that many are hoping it would have by this point. And as was mentioned above, it'll likely hit the cap prematurely due to lack of market penetration of HDTV's.

@El Serpiente - This has nothing to do with Microsoft, and everything to do with lame technology. How much does Sony pay you to bash me every time I post anything even slightly contrary to your fanboy doctrine? Just go away already.

What lack of market penetration of HDTVs?

HDTVs sold very well this Xmas, despite the downturn.

The market penetration of HDTVs is very high in the US, other developed markets are doing well too. If you look at the potential demographic of BluRay buyers (youngish people who buy stuff, not retirees), the penetration of HDTV is very high.

I just hope the adoption/penetration of my beloved electronic cigarettes gets boosted. Seriously, those things are freaking awesome.

Totally. It would be pointless to include Blu-ray on a 360. Because the 360 games are DVD-based, devs wouldn't be able to use a BRD for game content, and the price of the BR hardware would push the 360 price above the $200 sweet-spot (Arcade).
On top of that, the prices on stand-alone BR players are dropping significantly now that the war is over. You'd be able to buy a $100 stand alone player before they worked through the details of implementing BR in the system.

Why are people still asking them about this? It just generates non-news!

Because some people want one :P

I don't want one, that's why I have a PS3.

I just need my Xbox360 to play games nothing else.

IF anything they could always release a Blu-Ray add-on drive for use with movies, ala seperate HD DVD drive?

Choice is king no?

Maybe in a year or two, and say cost $125?

Thank you! I thought it was getting a little weird with everyone saying the 360 didn't need on 'in' it. The should just release the damn add-on.

God forbid they go directly up against one of their competitors major selling points...

Who said the difference was ambiguous? HD streaming doesn't offer HD audio, and the video is subject to compression artefact, interrupted transmission, delayed start times, etc.

While digial distribution of HD is nice, and meets the needs of SOME people, physical media is still important to some consumers. I'd put my theatre set-up for physical BD media against streaming HD any day.

the 360 doesn't really need blu-ray.....

For a split second I wondered interest a classical music composer who is incidentally deceased, would have in such a matter.

Having thus realised my folly I took it upon me to share with you all this most humorous of experiences in the hope that you, my dear reader, will feed me with the three hearts so bright, with their sublime orange glow so that a smile may pass upon my face and make by day that tiny bit better.

/randomness

I don't mind voting you up, just for your earlier contributions. But could you have at least proof read that before submitting?

And i just got the joke.

Again, it would've helped if you proof-read. I don't care too much about grammar, but missing words and wrong words like "by" instead of "my" ruins the flow. I don't care about "you're/your" mistakes like other grammar nazi, because that doesn't interrupt the flow, and sometimes you don't even notice the error. I rarely notice my your and you're errors until I proof read.

Other than that, your doing well, so keep em coming :).

I apologise profusely. I was holding a conversation with one of my peers whilst simultaneously forging the above comment thus rendering my concentration less effectve than normal resulting in the grammatical errors that you have rightly pointed out.

Hey, stop it. There's no need to be patronizing. Just look out for missing words or wrong words. I don't care about missing commas and misspellings. I think that fair.

See how weird that last sentence sounds? Damn, i'm gonna get downvoted for being an ass, won't i?

J I wasn't being patronizing or sarcastic honestly!! Having read it back I can now see how you may have thought that, but I was just being random and exuberant in my choice of words I assure you! :)

That's the problem with the internet, you cannot convey your tone to others.

You're doing it again.

Are you saying I should've used the word "sarcastic" instead of "patronizing." Sheesh, you could've been a little more subtle. I feel like a fool now.

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