Pinging the HDTV list..
Posted on 01/12/2008 11:34:47 AM PST by LibWhacker
Look, it will play *something*, just buy it already. 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?
ping
No worries; they’ll give you a screamin’ trade-in deal for a VHS unit...;^)
Great. I can trade my 8-track player in on a VHS player - send me that address would ya?
I thought the higher-end players were going to be compatible.
I’m not too interested in Blue-Ray yet. My current DVDs work just fine on my HDTV set. I will buy into the next generation technology when it has proven itself viable. Maybe I will just buy something from China that supports everything later. lol
As long as the player has at least an Ethernet port, it should be upgradable.
Now I’m confused.
Because of the format the whole operation is heavily dependent on software unlike regular DVD players, its almost like looking at the two as Windows vs. Linux, or like what is on the store shelves now is Windows 95 and the future Bluray discs will be 98, XP, Vista etc.
Bottom line is that its too buggy even the high dollars players require a periodic download. I am staying away from the whole mess and I am perfectly happy with my up converting 1080P regular DVD player.
Better yet, just wait another year before buying anything, then buy the new stuff that makes all the current stuff obsolete.
Then you’ll at least be ahead of the game for about a year before that stuff becomes obsolete, but at least you’ll have saved a few bucks and some space at the local landfill.
There are two video markets. The rental market will be taken over by downloads, but the purchase market will continue to use discs.
Full quality HD movies run anywhere from 20 - 50 gigs. That means that a 500 gig drive will hold somewhere from 10 - 25 movies — assuming the drive doesn’t crash and you lose all your heavily DRM’d movies. Optical disks are cheap, can be purchased at stores and don’t take any special technical knowledge.
Pinging the HDTV list..
My old DVDs look okay on the HDTV, but they weren’t too crisp. My Blue Ray displays them as if they were HiDef. They really look nice.
I have a beta unit, still like new, hardly used. I already have an 8 track player though.
This writer seems to want to pick holes in Blue Ray. He’s not even sure what will be available in October, but he’s absolutely sure my Blue Ray player won’t work.
Hog wash. Even if so, he should come back and tell us when he knows what the hell he’s talking about specifically.
Na, I’m skipping this gen of recorded material. I may jump on the next one if there is a clear winner, but I don’t wanna be the guy with the Betamax this time around.
And by the time any new features that require more than a firmware upgrade become "must-haves", players will have become so cheap that buying a new one will not really be an issue (except to that certain type of Luddite crank who is still using the rabbit ears on his 1967 Magnavox black-and-white TV and sees no reason to upgrade...)
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