THE STATE OF PLAY...

PS3 out at last...  allegedly all units pre-sold out of initial UK allocation. Although, lets see what turns up and for how much on Ebay over the coming weeks and months! What can it really do anyway; does it have a browser installed or not, and if so, is it over a private network like itunes and the like... Sony are belatedly going in that direction it seems, along with other corporates, jealous of Apple's success. 
The HD capability is of course significant and huge ammunition for the Blu-Ray camp.
Of course the Studios would love you all to be replacing entire library's of DVDs, thus giving them another renewed revenue stream; the general consensus being it won't happen like the rip-roaring success of DVD.
Which leads me on to mention the general flux in the industry at the moment. Too early for Digital, too late for HD? That seems to be a mood amongst many on both sides of the fence at the moment; with a slowing market and ever aggressive pricing. Packaged media, especially DVD, has been devalued to the point of no return. Will Blu-Ray save the day? And will HD suddenly rear it's head when more players, both dual and PC based, come onto the market.
From a Rental perspective there's much talk about a window returning, albeit only 4 weeks but a strategically interesting proposition for the market. For those that don't know... Video Rental lost it's window (exclusive period) a few years ago now, after a certain Warren L... (Warner Bros. Exec credited with largely creating the DVD market) embarked on a 'get-rid of Rental' mission, by manipulating a European Directive (European Rental Directive) to impose new restrictions and reverse pricing on UK Rental dealers. Other studios followed and we've seen a decline ever since, fuelled by baked-bean salesmen chasing short-term profit to the detriment of market longevity.
And now it appears some have realised the error in their ways by re-introducing a Rental window - first in Australia and soon coming to a store near you? Lets all confuse the buying public again shall we? We of course want our window back... less competition from Rental-By-Post, a returning market and a re-vitalized industry. Perhaps they're starting to remember that filmed media is an art-form afterall, not a pallet of baked beans.

Jaycee