Sony lines up Blu-Ray players and recorders at the CES

Sony lines up Blu-Ray players and recorders at the CES

LAS VEGAS - After nearly a year of accusations and counter accusations and failed talks, Sony finally announced the first high-definition Blu-ray DVD players aimed at the international markets. This is the first salvo in the format war between the HD-DVD and Blu Ray camps led by Toshiba and Sony respectively.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Sony also introduced what will eventually be its product line for this year. Of course, the one product hugely anticipated from the Sony stables remains the PlayStation 3.

Users are eagerly awaiting the release of the next generation gaming console to see how its fares in comparison to Microsoft's Xbox 360. But the focus at the moment is the Blu-ray hardware which Sony provided a peek into on Wednesday. A Blu-ray player named BDP-S1 is all set to debut this summer, although Sony has not revealed the pricing of this model.

Ben Feingold, president of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment said that by showcasing their readiness at the CES "We want everyone to know that there will be plenty of software content." Sony said that some of the first movies out on the Blu-Ray format would be Bram Stoker's Dracula, The Fifth Element, For a Few Dollars More, The Guns of Navarone, A Knight's Tale, Kung Fu Hustle, Black Hawk Down, Species, SWAT, XXX, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Desperado and Hitch.

Rival Toshiba has already said that its HD-DVD players would start shipping by March 2006. Analysts maintain that the uncertainty over the formats will eventually dampen the enthusiasm of consumers and there would be no clear winner in the Sony versus Toshiba format wars.

"To the degree this is perceived by consumers as a format war, everyone's going to vote by leaving their wallet in their pocket," observed Van Baker, an analyst at Garter. "If any of these guys are expecting to go mainstream, they're going to have to come to agreement, or else someone has to win."

Extensive talks aimed at presenting a unified format met with failure late last year and both camps had announced that they were going ahead with their respective formats separately. Hewlett-Packard, which was with Sony got cold feet and decided to support both formats saying that it was looking for consumer benefit in total.