Have you seen this.

apparently this may also include the PS3.

[Link: blog.homecinemachoice.com]

cheers, Adam.

This is just an over-the-top response to the BD Group finally getting BD+ out the door. Obsolete is a strong word used to scare people into buying new toys before the former ones are broken.

it is an over the top article (i.e total BS) but not because of BD+

BD has 4 profiles. A profile describes the minimum characteristics of a player. The profiles are (a profile further down on the list includes the profiles above it)

BD Audio: meant for Audio disks like DVD-A or SACD. Such a player does not need to handle video at all

BD Video 1.0: these are most players today and all stand alone (the assumption is that the PS3 can be a live player)

BD video 1.1: any new video player introduced after Nov (could be Oct, not sure any and it was not in the article) must be this profile (i.e. no new video 1.0 players) this is relatively the same as video 1.0 but must have a second decoder for PiP and enough processing for it

BD live: this player requires an internet connection and extra memory to be able to handle “live” content. This could be as simple as DL extra subtitles or as complex as an online game (like Disney’s example of a tea party)

The article is not about BD+ that all players must handle (but some might need a FW upgrade) but about BD video 1.0 becoming illegal for new designs next year. The joke is that a BD video 1.0 player will be just fine, the only thing is no PiP video on titles with PiP. The studio will have a choice, so someone with a BD video 1.0 title might just get the audio (for example for a commentary) or might not even get the choice.

So what your saying is that Products currently shipping that will be prohibited from manufacture after Oct are not obsolete?


Sounds like the definition of obsolete to me!

No, what I am saying is in 5 years the BD player the person bout last year will still be able to play the new disks that are still coming out.

If you need to know the definition of obsolete, just look at HD DVD because in a year or so no one will still be making movies for it.

Since I don't work directly or indirectly for a movie studio or have a working crystal ball ( i dropped it and it hasn't been the same) my only reply to your opinion other than time will tell is, Ha!!! (meant in a good natured way)

Why do you think the PS3 will be obsolete? It has more then enough processing power to be able to emulate the functionality needed to do PiP which is the only thing added to the 1.1 standard. Why do you believe Sony won't just release a firmware/software update which tells the system how to deal with the new standard?

While this may be an issue for other stand-alone products, something that has the computing capability such as the PS3 should have very little problems at all in being able to deal with this change.

some people made a mistake and bought into the BS and HD DVD. Now they consider it their duty to convince others into making a mistake. Maybe if enough people make it they can postpone buying a BD player or even better both dye and they can pretend they did not make a mistake.

I hope your right, i've bought into both formats, blu-ray via a PS3, and a standalone HD DVD player, this article did set alarm bells ringing though.

If I had spent £1000 pounds on a stand alone blu ray player only to find out within months that it would not do everything the format was capable of, I would be p****d off to say the least.

I have no preference for either format, however I think it's a disgace that the blu ray camp should bring product's to market with reduced functionality where hd dvd is fully formed.

cheers, Adam.