One wonders how many Eidos 20 BD Blu-ray DVD players Goldmund plans to sell. Granted the company lives in the high-end-equipment space, but seriously folks, what’s up with the price? Yes, this is a very posh Blu-ray player with features that include an “AC-Curator” power supply, which supposedly improves picture and sound stability "dramatically." Plus it features "Mechanical Grounding" construction, removing from the player mechanism from spurious vibrations. Then there's the Goldmund "Magnetic Damper," a device lowering the reading errors. OK, nice technology, but $16,900?
Goldmund is taking orders on this luxury piece of gear, but will the buyers of the Eidos 20 BD ultimately be stuck with something they don't use? In just a few years, Blu-ray will mean nothing — we'll be downloading all our high-def.
Via Goldmund
editor@dvice.com
By trs at 5:04 PM ON 02/26/08
While I'm with the author that the price is pretty out there, I did want to comment on AC-Curator addition. Having worked at a large electronics place in the past, one of the things they wanted us to talk to customers about when we were selling TVs was an AC power adapter. If this AC-Curator is essentially the same thing as what we had in our store, the effect is that it reduces the "noise" that the electricity gives off which really can effect the picture. I don't know if I would say dramatically, but you can definitely notice an improvement in picture quality when the AC is routed like that. Still not $16900 quality, but just thought I'd offer that clarification. ('Course I may be preaching to the choir in this forum! haha!)
By lonewolf at 11:59 PM ON 02/26/08
Okay, this thing is way over-priced, granted. There are a lot of nice Blu-Ray players out there for much less. The two new models Sony just announced that are Live capable sound like much better options.
But I had to post just to add a comment on the author's statement that in a few years, we will all be downloading our high def....
Really? And what do you base that on? That you read it somewhere else on the web? That Bill Gates thinks that is where the future of High Def content is?
Granted, digital downloads is already here in some ways. And it will become more prolific as time goes on.
But will it ever be a viable alternative to some type of media disc?
Whenever I hear anyone make a statement about how we will be getting our High def off downloads, I never hear them follow it up with the rest of the puzzle.
Where will we be storing entire libraries of High def content?
Maybe the author just plans on renting, but what about the ones who plan on building libraries?
And are we going to be allowed to keep the downloads we pay for? Or are these going to be rentals?
And again, where will store say 500 to 1,000 or more films if we collect movies?
Are the movies going to have True HD audio? Uncompressed as the Blu-Ray discs will?
Is the picture going to be equal to a pristine Blu-Ray release?
Or is this thing going to be compressed to hell and back like I would assume it would have to be in order to offer decent download times....
And what about Mom and Pop?
Are they really going to want, or be able to hook a computer up to their TV in order to download a high def movie and be savvy enough to play it on their high def TV? Or will that be beyond them?
Will they not prefer to buy a Blu-Ray movie and pop it in thier player and add it to their library of High Def DVDs?
What about Christmas and holiday gifts? DVDs sell really well at Christmas time, and Blu-Ray is going to be filling that gap as well. Are you suggesting that DD will be the gift we cannot unwrap at Christmas now?
Do you really think that the main stream audience will want digital downloads and the messes it would entail, such as hard drives crashing, viruses wiping out libraries, etc.. etc..?
The next time you post a comment about how digital downloads are going to become the saving grace of the future, have a few answers for us, the general public, because anyone with knowledge of what digital downloads entail, (ie; speed of download, loss of quality of the high def transfer etc..) knows the inherent problems that come with DD. They are not the magic answer as Bill Gates and some others might try and make you believe.
I'm sure teens and college kids will be all over DD. It will be very appealing to them. And in that sense, it will succeed on a certain measure. And a good deal of it will be pirated stuff off of bit torrent sites etc...
But the real content, to me, and I would think anyone who cares about image and sound quality, and having a safe secure method of storage... will want a media disc of some type. Right now, Blu-Ray disc is that method.
The whole idea of High Def, was to give people a picture that far exceeded that of SD DVD. Blu-Ray and the now defunct HD-DVD have been doing that.
I for one, do not want to take a step backwards with compression filled DD and compressed audio that do not meet the standard of real High definition.
I also want my library on something a virus, or mechanical Hard drive failure will not wipe out.
And lastly, I want to own my content, not rent it, like Bill Gates wants us all to do.
Now if the author has some real answers and solutions for his statement on DD, I'm sure we would all love to hear it. Otherwise, making off-the-cuff remarks about how we will all be getting our High Def content from DD is just plain irresponsible.
But I'm sure bloggers will keep posting this crap, and maybe they even believe it themselves....
By skullivan at 1:59 PM ON 02/27/08
"In just a few years, Blu-ray will mean nothing"
Don't believe the hype. It's going to be 5+ years before HD downloads are at the quality of Blu-ray and even longer before it's convenient. Even if downloads become more popular, they aren't going to replace films on disc for a long time.
That said, for $17K, couldn't they make the thing not repulsive looking?
By celebrity pictures at 4:27 PM ON 06/17/08
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By Euro 2008 Pictures at 4:30 PM ON 06/17/08
10x dude
By Endüstri Mühendisi at 4:36 PM ON 06/17/08
10x body
By siraj at 7:55 AM ON 07/23/08
I love HD player so blue ray contains 50 GB disc great