Quote: "Those are completely different forms of "media"."
So are DVD and Blu-Ray. Just because they are both classed as 'optical storage' doesn't mean they are the same. The differences are pretty important. OMR sheets ('Optical Mark Recognition') could be classed as optical storage but I am sure you would admit they are very different to DVD's.
Quote: "You need a 40"+ TV to even see the difference between upscaled dvd and 1080i."
I would disagree. I don't think you have been watching the right movies or possibly had incorrect settings because there is a big difference. Upscaling DVDs mean the player has to interpolate the pixels inbetween so it will never contain the same details as a proper HD picture. Perhaps you have been viewing movies which were not originally recorded in HD?
There is also the extra content which can be stored on the disc and the much more flexible interactivity such as additional online content (BD-Live). The whole menu system and BDJ (Java) allows it to do much more than just provide movie playback.
Besides, to watch upscaled DVD's you still need a HD TV whether that's 1080i or 1080p (both are still classed as HD).
Everyone would love a 1080p TV (I know I would) but they are too expensive. Until prices come down, a 720p/1080i TV still beats the pants off a standard TV (and that's without buying it dinner first
).
Quote: "Where did you get these figures from anyway?"
They were released at the European PlayStation Day event on the 7th May 2008 by Simon McDowell (SVP Europe, Sony Pictures).
Quote: "The blue-ray players are most definitely nearly all PS3s since the players here are garbage and are rarely bought because they are the same price or more than a PS3."
The players here are 'garbage'?! I would like to know how you can generalize like that. I would agree that the PS3 is the best value player for the money due to its ease of firmware upgrading but there are some excellent top quality BD players out there and they seem to be selling pretty well with those that want (and can afford) the best HD experience.
Just out of interest, Futuresource have announced that in Western Europe, Blu-ray player sales during the first three years of the format have outpaced DVD player sales during its first three years. That's pretty significant.
Quote: "Whats the point of having a large capacity disk if you need to install some of it on the PS3 anyway"
And where would it install all this data from? Thin air? It has to be stored somewhere in the first place.
Chart data provided with kind permission from
ELSPA