Current Blu-ray players obsolete by the end of 2007

[The News Bot]

Current Blu-ray players will be rendered obsolete by the end of the year. The Blu-ray disc association, in an effort to realize the hitherto unseen potential of the format, has mandated that all BD players going on sale after October 31 must offer fully-functioning BD Java, in order to deliver PIP interactivity. Frustration comes [...]
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[sbowler]

The final nail in the coffin for BR?

[UKflames]

This certainly isn't going to help the P$3 either.

[amardilo]

I think I'll stick with HD DVD for now till a BD spec is finished.

[AgentCool]

I think the PS3 will probably get away with it given its upgradability, but that's a kick in the groin for anyone who shelled out around £1000 for a stand-alone. I don't think anybody can deny that the HD DVD camp have their heads screwed on right as far as product finalisation goes. I mean, for £307 I got myself a well-rounded Toshiba HD-E1 that has no future compatibility problems to worry about. People may argue that it might not support triple layer discs but, if that turns out to be the case, I can't see them being widely used (if at all) by HD DVD supporting film studios.

[andrew markwort]

One word - Betamax.

You really would think that with the supposed brainpower of electronics design teams that they'd have learnt this simple lesson by now.

[RLT]

Was considering a PS3 in near future, probably region A, due to a few forthcoming decent title releases, BUT gona keep my wallet 'locked' and wait even longer now to see what happens.
Either updated software for a lower priced PS3 or reasonably priced, f'ully speced' stand alone.
Although it's not essential to have all the features that are available on HD-DVD to enjoy a film it's still nice to have and shows now much more professional the HD-DVD camp has been so far.
Will just have to bite the bullet and wait for some of those good bluray only titles.

wouldnt the PS3 be able to incorporate BD java via an update though? It has all the other needs of memory and such, so wouldn't that be possible?

[Bond 007]

I would hope the PS3 will be OK since it acts like a computer in a console box with some extra ports, like a xbox360, and theoretically can be upgraded to do different things.

[Helicon]

Originally Posted by andrew markwort

One word - Betamax.

You really would think that with the supposed brainpower of electronics design teams that they'd have learnt this simple lesson by now.

There was nothing wrong with the design of Betamax, it was better than VHS, so this comment makes no sense.

[mattym]

current players will still be able to play movies(or they should)so it comes down to if you want to watch the fancy stuff of not. Hardly the final nail in the coffin, but not really very useful. Ps3 should be ok though

[mikeaitch]

Helicon-
I think he meant that the technical superiority of Betamax was ruined by other factors regarding it's rollout, and the unwillingness to licence the technology etc. Having 50GB discs and PS3 is not the guarantee of success that Sony may have thought, perhaps...

[andrew markwort]

There was nothing wrong with the design of Betamax, it was better than VHS, so this comment makes no sense.

Yes it does! As mikeaitch alluded to, I was simply referring to the fact that whenever two or more different versions of the same basic idea are offered to the public, everybody loses out. The classic example was Betamax versus VHS, but since then we've had the farce of different digital recording techniques competing against each other, SACD versus DVD-A, etc, etc, etc.

Nobody except someone with too much money to waste is going to buy into high definition DVD until there is only one version out there.

[RLT]

Nobody except someone with too much money to waste is going to buy into high definition DVD until there is only one version out there.[/QUOTE]

Not if we get a "play all" reasonably priced 'fully speced' player then it just doen't matter !

[stockyvillage]

it was easier to say vhs than betamax same as hd dvd than bluray dvd i rest my case