Current Blu-ray Players Incompatible with 50GB+ Discs, Says BDA

[admin]

The Blu-ray Disc Association, the body that oversees the standardization and promotion of Blu-ray, has said that recent breakthroughs in higher capacity Blu-ray discs of 100 GB or even 200 GB will not benefit existing Blu-ray players, as these do not support discs over 50 GB in size.

This means that when triple and quadruple layer Blu-ray discs are released, people who want to be able to use them will have to buy brand new players. The only other solution is to ensure movie discs won't be allowed to use these higher capacity discs to ensure maximum compatibility.

Either way, Blu-ray owners are used to having to scrap existing players for new ones to access new features added to the specification after the launch of the format. Blu-ray profile 1.1 (BonusView) replaced the earlier Blu-ray profile 1.0 players which did not support certain advanced bonus features, now common on Blu-ray movies, such as picture-in-picture. Blu-ray profile 2.0 (BDLive) then supplemented profile 1.1 players to add Internet capabilities. Blu-ray profile 2.0 has since become almost standard, as few companies produce new profile 1.1 models in an ever competitive marketplace.

Support for 50+ GB capacity discs could very well mean the introduction of more profiles.

More:

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1558654/blu-ray-players-incompatible

[drfsupercenter]

Is that something the PS3 could do with a firmware update?

Or is that a hardware issue?

But then again, why are Blu-Ray manufacturers so eager to jump the gun? After the introduction of dual-layer DVDs, that was it... all movies conformed to the DVD standard. None of this "We're gonna make a new format but you need a new player" stuff.

[admin]

I think it may be a hardware issue by the sound of it, since standalone players can also be updated via firmware. It could either be a laser issue, or perhaps luckier, it would be because of memory/cache issues, which the PS3 might be able to solve through software as it has plenty of memory on board.

I don't think there's a need for 50+ GB discs yet, certainly not for movies and such. People are quite used to having multi-disc sets, and I think it even adds a bit more perceived value to the package.