I’m starting to wonder if the Three Stooges are handling the current roll-out of blue laser DVD players, specifically Sony’s oft-delayed BDP-S1 and Samsung’s BD-P1000. The latter player, as you may recall, was shipped this past June with a factory noise reduction setting in its Genesis processor that actually degraded HD image quality, proving that being first isn’t always a good idea when you’ve stepped into a minefield.

Now comes news from Yahoo.com that Sony’s BD-P1 Blu-ray player (MSRP $999) has again missed its twice-delayed release date of October 25 due to a shortage of blue laser diodes.  According to the Yahoo article (dated 10/23), Sony has decided that these components should instead be directed into as many PlayStation 3 players as possible, given that Sony expects to have 400K PS3s on hand for its November 17th launch. 

Sony’s most recent Blu-ray delay is not good news for studios that had hoped for a more ambitious 2006 holiday selling season.  In fact, blue laser players continue to be scarce from all manufacturers, with Toshiba’s 2nd-generation HD-A2 also behind schedule and Panasonic’s DMP-BD10, which is late out of the gate.

For Sony, the decision to hold back their Blu-ray player in favor of PlayStation 3 units was probably a no-brainer, given the vastly larger market for game consoles.  While this year’s introduction of blue laser DVD players has met mostly with collective yawns by consumers, there are plenty of gaming fanatics counting the hours, seconds, and minutes until PS3s hit the shelves next month.

The rollout of blue laser DVD players has ranged from the truly comedic to semi-tragic at times.  It’s not enough that the players are overpriced for the mass market, or that movie titles have only trickled onto store shelves.  Now, we have missed product launch dates and assembly line defects to contend with - hardly the sorts of things that inspire consumers to invest in a new video format.

Sony’s recent missteps with laptop battery recalls and software problems in some Bravia LCD HDTVs that would not allow them to be shut off have only put a bigger magnifying glass on the PlayStation 3 release date, one that Sony had better pray comes off without a hitch as it will effectively kick off the holiday electronics buying frenzy.

As for Blu-ray players, Christmas 2006 is starting to look more like a squandered opportunity than a splashy kick-off for the format. Given the increasing popularity of video-on-demand and Internet downloads of TV shows, it is going to take a major product and promotional blitz to get Blu-ray - and HD DVD - off the ground as further delays are encountered.

In the meantime, perhaps someone ought to be thinking about putting someone else in charge instead of Larry, Moe, and Curly?