Christmas Rant (1 Viewer)

[ManW_TheUncool]

And who said 1.1 or 2.0 titles won't play in older players? I thought the only thing that won't work are the extra stuff that requires the higher specs. Everything else should still work the same. So if you buy a player knowing what it can and cannot do -- or simply don't care about the extra stuff -- then you should be fine.

Of course, it's certainly possible that there will be some unforseen glitches that need to be resolved (via firmware update or whatever) for the older players when playing 1.1/2.0 titles. But that seems to be something that comes w/ the territory no matter which format you choose -- even the old SD format had problems w/ older players handling stuff like dual layer discs during the early years.

Time will tell...

_Man_

 

[Shane Martin]

This is false. It's already been stated that movies with Profile 1.1 on them will play in older players. They showed how it would work at the various sites that have the first PiP titles on hand. Essentially it's just a different menu because the disc doesn't detect a profile 1.1 player.

For me I just couldn't live with SD any longer. Once you go HD, you don't go back. I couldn't just live with the limited titles HD DVD has so I went purple and now I can enjoy the movies in HD regardless of who wins.

 

[Todd H]

You do realize that even though it's an .exe file you can uncompress the Sony firmware file on a Mac using Stuffit? I have a Mac and recently updated the firmware for my Panasonic BD30 this way. Try it and if you have any questions let me know and I'll step you through the process.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Hell, I had a hard enough time explaining the various BD profiles to my family members who were impressed by the picture this Christmas and wanted to know what they should look for. It's needlessly confusing, and could have been avoided if the BDA had had their crap together a year and a half ago.

 

[Brad Vautrinot]

Thanks everyone for all the replies some of which have given me food for thought. Rant over.

Just one question. Since the Denon 3800 is still unavailable (and quite expensive) are there any opinions here regarding the Panasonic BD30K and for HD-DVD, the Toshiba HD-A35? Thanks.

 

[Todd H]

I have the BD30K and it's a fantastic machine. With the recent 1.3 firmware it loads as fast as my PS3. I have yet to find a movie it won't play. The only minus is no ethernet port, but it was fairly easy to burn a firmware CD. Plus it's profile 1.1 if it matters. IMO, it's the best standalone Blu-ray player out there.

 

[Brad Vautrinot]

Thanks, Todd

Yes, I can download the .EXE files to my Mac but then what do I do with them? I know I have to burn them to a CD (is a CD ok or do I need to use a DVD). I read somewhere that it has to be burned to an ISO disc or format but I have no idea what that is or what software I need to make one.

Brad

 

[Todd H]

To burn the BDP-S300 firmware on a Mac, do the following...

If you have Stuffit Expander installed (if not you can download it for free), just right click (or control-click if you have a one button mouse) on the downloaded file, go to Open With and choose Stuffit Expander. There will be a warning about opening the .exe file but ignore the warning and uncompress anyway. That will uncompress the file and give you UPDATE_BDPS300_VER0370.ISO. To burn this file as an image, you can do it in Toast (if you have it installed) or in disk utility using the instructions on the following page...

Burning a disk image file on a CD or DVD in Mac OS X

You need to burn the disc onto a cd and not a dvd.

 

[todd stone]

the ps3 blu ray is one of the best on the market

 

[Brad Vautrinot]

Todd H, Thanks so much for the help.

Todd Stone, I've heard a lot of folks say that.

Brad

 

[Douglas Monce]

The problem with not having the specs locked is that someone like me, who bought a player a year ago will not be able to take advantage of those new features. Every time they add something new, they are going to alienate part of their install base, and annoy people like me who actually like the special features.

As it is at this point I only buy a blu-ray when I can't get it on HD DVD because I know that everything on the HD DVD is going to work on my 1st gen player. I can't say the same thing of my 1st gen blu-ray player.

Doug

 

[Douglas Monce]

When this average user sees a feature on the menu, clicks on it, and nothing happens, or worse yet the player locks up, what do you think is going to happen. They are going to start getting discs returned to the stores as being defective.

And when "average user" is told, its not defective, your player just can't play these features, he is going to be pissed.

Doug

 

[Jason Seaver]

It'll be interesting to see how much the Profile 1.1 titles coming out in a couple weeks cause that. I suppose the fact that these formats have achieved relatively little penetration works in the companies' favor for that - the best selling BD player (the PS3) is actually upgradeable to use this stuff. It'll also be interesting to see what the lag for the information getting to customer service departments is - if someone brings a copy of Sunshine in and says the PIP commentary didn't work right, Best Buy will probably initially just give him or her a new copy (at which point the process repeats). Then comes the "it only works on newer players" and the "I just bought my Sony player here last week".

Ditto. I don't know if my Samsung BD-P1000 even does TrueHD.

 

[Douglas Monce]

I also have the bd-p1000, I think it just uses the core Dolby Digital signal when True HD is selected.

And you are probably right, the vast majority of blu-ray players are PS3s so it might not be a huge issue, but I'm willing to be there will be some returns.

Doug

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Thing is we're not the "average techno ignorant consumer" though (and that's what I was responding to). I think it's safe enough to say that if you're actually posting here in HTF, you should take more responsibility for your own choices. Now, I'm not saying that people shouldn't be upset about certain issues that crop up, particularly those that cannot be forseen. But most of this stuff comes w/ the territory though. It's what you get for being an early adopter.

Heck, I could be ranting about the fact my 5-yo HD RPTV can't take full advantage of any of these HD formats (or even upconversion of SD DVDs) because it's only 1080i and only has component inputs, not DVI or HDMI. If I waited just one more year, I wouldn't have had this problem. But I made my choice after doing my homework, and I'm perfectly fine w/ the consequences. Will probably just wait another year or two before I upgrade the display to take full advantage -- and yes, that was more or less part of my plan too.

Yes, I too am not crazy about bleeding edge stuff (even though I'm actually a tech guy in the world of computer software development), and I would not like to own a non-upgradeable, profile 1.0 player either. Heck, forget the profile issue; I don't think I can stand the slow load times and menu navigations and lack of certain basic playback functions (like reverse skip a chapter in the entry level Samsung). But that's precisely why I wouldn't take the plunge on those players -- and have ignored the HD formats for the most part until now. And all the folks I personally know would actually consider me the early adopter, LOL.

But going back to the "average techno ignorant consumer", I suspect if such a person actually bought into BD, he/she probably has plenty of $$$ to spend and can easily shrug it off when a new player is needed. I really can't see any budget conscious person jumping into BD w/out realizing at least some of the risks involved. Heck, there's a format war going on, and that in itself should be enough to scare most such folks away.

_Man_

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

FWIW, personally, my main rant is I want this darned format war to be settled asap. To me *that* is what's most annoying about all this.

_Man_

 

[Douglas Monce]

My problem isn't so much that as an early adopter I don't expect there to be issues with the formats. My problem is I have two formats to compare. One, HD DVD, works for all intents and purposes flawlessly (not withstanding the need for a firmware update now and then), The other format, blu-ray, works considerably less than flawlessly. And that has more to do with the fact that format was really not ready to be released when it was than anything else.

My blu-ray player has a very hard time with any blu-ray discs that are authored in the advanced format. Menus on discs such as pirates and cars, while very cool, are slooooooooow. So slow that the game on Cars is unplayable. Trying to bring up the pop up menu during the movie is like watching cement dry.

Now if I had nothing to compare it too, I would probably just chalk it up to the fits and starts of a new format. However when I have a format sitting right next to it that was designed and executed correctly out of the gate, it makes me look a little less favorably on blu-ray. The fact that blu-ray is still having issues like this almost 2 years after being released (I'm not talking just about 1st gen players here), makes me wonder why Sony really doesn't have its act together.

Doug

 

[Super_E]

I will agree with one thing for certain... The menus for Blu-ray are 100% unforgivable!!

 

[Edwin-S]

It does? I have an A1 and there is at least one movie I have where the PIP doesn't work: audio only.....no pic.

 

[Douglas Monce]

I guess I've been lucky, but I have had no problems with any features on an HD DVD. I've had no problems with any of the combo discs either. I think in the entire time I've owned the A1 I've had it lock up on me once, and I think that was on an SD DVD.

Doug