After the past week, it seems more and more likely that Blu-ray will be the movie disc format of the future. But with the exception of the Playstation 3, current Blu-ray disc players were built without future-compatibility capabilities, so come this October owners won’t be able to take advantage of features like Internet connectivity or enhanced interactivity (whatever that means—details are sketchy). “One key Blu-ray developer told BetaNews that although he builds discs for studios including Fox and Lionsgate, he did not buy a Blu-ray player for personal use.” Regarding current Blu-ray player owners, Blu-ray developers told BetaNews, “They knew what they were getting into.”
Representatives at the Blu-ray booth at CES told BetaNews that the PlayStation 3 is currently the only player they would recommend, due to upcoming changes to the platform. But Pioneer, Samsung, Panasonic and Sony have all been selling standalone Blu-ray players to customers.
So here’s how it’s going to work: current players are Profile 1.0, and can play future hi-def discs but no bonus stuff. Profile 1.1 dics will include additional bonus material that won’t play on 1.0 players—these discs will have a “Bonus View” sticker. Come October, Profile 2 capability will come to the market, which includes Internet activity, but only on Profile 2.0 players—these discs will have a “BD Live” sticker.
When asked why current players were released to the market when in such a primitive state, manufacturers blamed the release of HD DVD and said it forced them to come to market too soon. “We should have waited another year to introduce Blu-ray to the public, but the format war changed the situation.” Okay, well how about we just don’t buy any Blu-ray players for a while (not counting the PS3) until you guys decide to get your act together?
“Blu-ray: Early adopters knew what they were getting into” [BetaNews]
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“Where Things Stand In The Hi-Def DVD Format War”
(Photo: Getty)
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I’m still shockingly uninterested in the hi-def disc wars. It’s all about the downloads, baby.
@Buran: I didn’t say that it was civil disobedience and I’m not saying you should just copy anything and everything you want without paying for it. What I’m saying is that the part of the DMCA that makes it illegal for you to circumvent copy protection *when doing so for the purpose of making private backup copies or for transferring to a portable device for personal use* is stupid. The RIAA already said in court that copying your own CDs is stealing. That is just stupid. Obeying that part of the law is likewise stupid.
Will it be able to play the movie? If so, then I don’t care.
I have often wished that my DVD player had a button on it labeled “JPTFMA” — Just play the f***ing movie, already.
Sure, Blu-Ray is better. (chuckle) Better at pissing off its users maybe.
Don’t complain, YOU all picked Blu-ray, when HD-DVD had already fixed all of these problems and even bothered to future proof itself.
Good luck with your fractured format.
firmware upgrades. whats the big deal? even my several years old phillips dvd player has upgradeable firmware, easily done by burning the new firmware to a cd and sticking it in the machine. i did it several times as phillips upgraded the divx and other features. if you buy a player, just make sure it has upgradeable firmware. theres no reason at all why the manufacturers cant build players without it.
and i too love my ps3.
@firesign: except for the fact that almost all of the standalone 1.x profile Blu-ray players (i.e. NOT PS3) on the market can’t do this due to lack of Ethernet port. But other than that, things are great…. lol
I don’t care about HDDVD or Blue Ray. I think DVDs will be fine for a while yet, at least until someone finally gives us a 1TB disc.
I’ve got the BDP S300. There’s no reason why the current stand alone players’ firmware couldn’t be updated to the new profiles up to 2.0 where you need an ethernet port.
Thus, unless you really, really need the internet connectivity you’ll be fine with your current player. Just keep checking the support site for your model.
@Buran:
Magnusson-Moss is a fine example of a law enacted to prevent corporations from telling us what we can and cannot do with the products we’ve purchased.