14 DAY TRIAL // As some of you might remember, we've reported a while back (post-IFA) that one of Samsung's European honchos, Andy Griffiths, director of consumer electronics at Samsung UK, believed that Sony's Blu-ray format only had around 5 years left. However, it would seem that the respective statement created quite a fuss with Sony, since one of the company's big shots, namely senior VP of corporate communications, Rick Clancy, has just issued a "counter-statement" on one of the company's blogs, in which he harshly rebuffs the aforementioned estimation.
In his statement, Mr. Clancy claims that the predictions made by Samsung's rep are "far from the truth," and while he expected such a stand from the likes of Microsoft and Toshiba, whose "sower grapes" translate into upscaling technology, networked content, DVRs, etc., he would have never thought that a marketing manager for the world's second largest vendor of Blu-ray players might distrust the format to such an extent.
Then, Sony's rep goes on to present four reasons why Blu-ray will be just fine in the future. The first one is the large number of PS3 consoles available on the market and in customers' homes (more proof that Sony's bet on the PlayStation 3 paid off, after all), followed by the fact that, in the future, the number of titles available in Blu-ray format will increase a lot, compared to today's few hundred movies.
The third reason is related to the huge success of HDTV sets, Sony banking on the fact that people who purchased a full HD set will also go for an HD player (either the PS3 or a standalone model). Last, but certainly not least, Mr. Clancy expresses his distrust in the immediate success of networked entertainment, claiming that broadband connections, which can seamlessly deliver HD content, aren't yet sufficiently widespread around the world.
Our take on the subject? Well, looks like this issue really managed to get some Sony executives angry, because it might actually be quite true. While the statements above are all true (at least from Sony's point of view), I believe that Mr. Clancy overlooks Microsoft, Toshiba and the issue of upscaling, which has become so popular lately, too easily.
And the math is very simple, really. If you were to choose a Blu-ray player or PS3, you'd have to pay around 400 US dollars, plus the price of the HDTV (another 1,500 or so), as well as some 30 US dollars per Blu-ray title. On the other hand, Toshiba has just announced that a few of its future Regza plasma displays will actually provide built-in upscaling capabilities, which means that you'll get a "near Blu-ray" experience for a lot less. What would you chose now, really?
We are just a few, but there are many of you, Softpedia users, out there. That's why we thought it would be a good idea to create an email address for you to help us a little in finding gadgets we missed. Interesting links are bound to be posted with recognition going mainly to those who submit. The address is 
.