Christmas Rant (1 Viewer)

[Brad Vautrinot]

I know it's Christmas time and one should have a sense of peace and good will, but:

How can Sony offer a Blu-ray disc, e.g. Resident Evil: Extinction with its PIP, etc., while having no player in their line that is BD-J version 1.1 compliant and can take advantage of this feature?

Does this mean that I'll have to spend $500. on a Panasonic 30 or $2,000 on a Denon 3800 to take advantage of 1.1's features and even these players have no ethernet port?

Why is it that no Blu-ray players (that I could find) have an ethernet port? I take that back as the PS3 does have an ethernet port and, I believe, offering a FW upgrade to 1.1. I just don't want a game console.

When are these nitwits on the Blu-ray standards committee going to get their act together and agree on a set of standards similar to the way the HD camp did?

This whole scenario is getting quite frustrating (not to mention expensive) and I'm seriously thinking of going HD exclusively and abandoning Blu-ray altogether.

Sorry for the rant on this wonderful time of the year and perhaps I may be overreacting a bit but I've about had it with the BD b.s.

 

[MatS]

you are right the PS3 is now 1.1 compliant

the "I don't want a game console" is a rediculous statement.... if so don't use it for games and enjoy one of the best if not best BD players on the market

I never wanted another cd player but the last few dvd players I bought all had the ability to play cds

 

[Super_E]

Not really over reacting your rant is the EXACT reason I have waited to get blu-ray (I got a Panny 10a which is only 1.0.. ICK!!) But I will only purchase Sony, Fox and their subsidiaries for Blu-ray.

Disney will go neutral this next year so no worries there, I will wait until I can watch Disney movies on HD DVD with the special features as they were intended to be watched on a player FULLY capable of playing them.

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

This is a statement that you have made earlier too and with such confidence as if you had just gotten back from a press release by Disney stating the same. Obviously you know something that even the management at Disney does not know.

 

[Shane Martin]

I think your rant is a bit unfounded really. If you are going to rant, atleast make sure you have your facts straight.

The Panasonic 30 is currently 1.1 and the Samsung Uni-player will be. The PS3 is of course 1.1 compliant now.

Does the ethernet port really matter much? You can download and burn firmware updates and 1.1 doesn't allow for web based activities anyway. I personally find the web based stuff to be a joke but so be it.

The 30 is a great player and so is the PS3. I know plenty of folks that don't game on their PS3 and strictly play BR movies and use the media center functionality of it.

 

[Brad Vautrinot]

Shane,

My facts are straight. I stated that SONY had no 1.1 Blu-ray player in their line and then recanted as I realized that the PS3 can now be had 1.1 compliant. I also mentioned the Panasonic 30 and the Denon 3800. It just amazes me that Sony can release a Blu-ray DVD with 1.1 features and, other than the PS3, have no machine to take advantage of it. That's like Ford offering wheels that don't need lug nuts but having no vehicle in their line that can mount them.

I've had an S300 Sony player since October and already have had to have Sony send me 2 firmware upgrades. The average consumer (I shy away from the J6P term) isn't going to put up with this when their latest DVD's won't work. Sony and the Blu-ray boys had better get it together soon or they may find themselves left in the dust. Do they remember Betamax?

I can't download the FW upgrades as I use a Mac only and have to rely upon Sony sending me the disc by mail. But, then again I'm not a techno wizard when it comes to this stuff so that's ok. I agree that an ethernet port isn't a big deal for me and can live without it at least for now but who knows what the future will bring. It certainly might make FW upgrades easier since they seem to be coming almost on a bi-weekly basis as of late.

I'll keep hanging in there a little longer but right now Blu-ray, and Sony in particular, appear to be floundering in a sea of indecision and falling behind in movement, progress, and development and cannot keep pace with the other format. Hopefully, this will change very, very soon.

 

[Shane Martin]

HD DVD has the same problem as well. With the way electronics are today, I highly doubt it will change much.

 

[Brad Vautrinot]

So I understand and you're probably right.

At least HD set some standards and it's now up to the player manufacturers to comply. Blu-ray needs to do the same. Perhaps they have, to some degree, but the players haven't kept pace (apparently in both camps).

Well, I'm off to see if I can get a deal on a Panasonic 30.

 

[Bob_L]

Not quite, Shane. It is true that both systems have required periodic firmware upgrades. (Unlike Brad, I think this is a good thing that hardware/firmware combos CAN be upgraded these days.) However, Brad's original post is about the inability of Blu-ray to finalize the hardware and system software configuration for over a year and HD DVD does NOT have that problem. The HD DVD hardware spec has been finalized from the day the first player was released. But you already knew that.

Like Super E, the unsettled Blu-ray spec is the primary reason I haven't gone with a Blu-ray player. I think they've been playing fast and loose with customer trust and have been misleading about their hardware platform. I know this is OLD, OOOOOLD news; however, I needed to toss my two cents and and affirm that Brad's "rant" is far from unfounded.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I think the issue of finalizing specs is probably more a philosophical matter than people might want to admit. If I understand correctly, the extra stuff that comes w/ the newer specs (for BD) aren't exactly required for (nor follows from) the traditional HT cinema experience. Considering what they are and how the relevant technologies (and technology in general) and their uses have evolved (and continue to evolve), I'm not so sure it's actually so great to have the specs locked down forever right from the get-go, if ever at all, since it seems like these HD formats (or possibly an eventual hybrid) will likely be the final A/V formats for a very long time to come.

Who knows? Maybe we'll find the HD-DVD approach to be too restrictive a few years from now. OTOH, depending on how one looks at it, one might argue that HD-DVD is just some sort of new generation/revision of the old DVD spec that they never truly finalized. And if that's the case, why begrudge BD for not finalizing their specs right from the get-go?

Personally, I think the finalizing specs issue is rather moot as long as nothing gets broken or lost as a result of specs enhancements, etc. While the average consumer will not like to deal w/ firmware updates and player instabilities (of the true defect variety), I kinda doubt he/she would worry too much about missing out on features like PiP for the near term. Besides, neither format is really all that ready to entice the average consumer anyway...

_Man_

 

[Hank_P]

I agree with MatS. I have the PS3, own one game for it, and it's still in the wrapper, while I own about 20-25 Blu Ray disc. The PS3 has been flawless in every BR movie viewed.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Well, it's not as if the Profile 1.1/2.0 enhancements are new things that the BD group decided upon later; they're things that were in plans from the start but which they opted to make optional for a year and a half because it would just be too onerous to include in their first-generation players, despite those players costing twice as much as the HD-DVD players which did include them.

(Why yes, I am bitter about not being able to view the picture-in-picture commentary on Sunshine and 3:10 to Yuma next month; how could you tell?)

I'm sure other optional features will be made available for both formats, much like DTS processing (for instance) isn't in the spec but wound up included on almost every standard DVD player in time. But the BD profile 1.0/1.1/2.0 thing is the equivalent of holding back completed features for a later Special Edition release, and I've yet to meet someone who liked that.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Yeah, who the hell wants to double-dip on HDM players if it's an avoidable situation with proper planning and execution?

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

True that. And that's partly why I've held out until now and will be picking up a PS3 later today. Still, there will be no effective avoiding of double/triple/etc-dipping on players if the history of such things is any indication. If both formats survive, you'll inevitably want a uni-player at some point, and these things aren't built like they used to be nowadays either -- well, I certainly don't expect one to last me 10+ years like a good CD player back in the day.

_Man_

 

[Patrick Sun]

Hey now, I finally retired my venerable Panasonic RP-91 this fall after getting the Purple treatment from the HD Player Fairy (courtesy of the HTF-EMA trip this summer). That RP-91 has lasted at least 8 years and it still works (now the bedroom DVD player). I never had the urge to upgrade it until the new HDTV flatscreen sets became more affordable.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Oops, double post.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Hmmm... Maybe the lack of durability w/ my DVD players has something to do w/ having a family w/ kids. The kids definitely do put more wear on the players than I do, and my Philips 963 DVD/SACD unit died prematurely (after ~3.5 years) because one of them broke the disc tray. I guess it'll be good to have a PS3 handle the bulk of the video workload going forward while my 1-yo Denon SD uni-player handles mainly audio-only playback -- maybe it'll actually last 10+ years that way. I gave my first (soon-to-be 10-yo) DVD player, a Toshiba, to my mother long before the kids could put a lot of wear on it. Not sure if it still works all that well now, but I think she still uses it on occasion though she probably logged less time on it in 7+ years than my kids do in 6 months.

_Man_

 

[Super_E]

Nope just very very confident due to their tactics the last year. And also due to the amount of HD Player that have sold this season, Disney has consistently and without question always referred to "High Definition Media" Never blu-ray when they speak at press conferences.. They are smart business people who are leaving the door open for HD DVD and will walk through that door in 08.

You question me like you have been to a board meeting and know that it isn't happening...

I have been DEEP in this war since 2004 watching sides change and watching things happen... This is something I have foreseen for sometime and it will come to fruition in 2008. Disney wanted to see what the PS3 would do and see who they would fare with only going with the side with the larger content ability... Since their vote for the 51GB HD DVD disc I see little reason to keep pretending that they are not going HD DVD in the new year.

Remember I do own both but I have a strong predilection towards HD DVD, no question.

 

[Romier S]

Who the hell buys into a format without actually being informed and knowing that without said standardization in place they would be forced to double dip in the future? Oh that's right - the (usually) impatient early adopter.

I apologize, but I can't bring myself to feel sorry for anyone that bought an early Blu-Ray playback device without actually having any knowledge of the non-standardized nature of the hardware (no ethernet port, no dual video decoder, no persistent storage). It's not as though any of it was kept as some deep dark secret and the lack of hardware standardization is old, old news as mentioned.

So yes, while I agree that it most certainly was a ridiculous situation at the launch of the Blu-Ray format to not have such things standardized while the competing format had gotten thier shit together at half the price - it most certainly falls on the lap of the consumer to know what he or she is buying into and make informed buying decisions based on that information.

If you're not happy with the hardware situation, simply don't buy a player at the moment or at all until the hardware meets your particular expectations.

 

[Brad Vautrinot]

At the rate they're going (Blu-ray) I'll be in a nursing home first.