Fox's new Blu-ray titles with BD+ won't play in all players

[admin]

Boy did we see this one coming. Fox just came out of their hiatus and with their first two releases they opted to use Blu-ray's optional DRM, BD+ -- which has been part of the spec, but this is the first time it's been used. The problem is that all the Blu-ray players aren't ready for BD+ yet, and without a firmware update you can't play the movies at all.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/10/03/foxs-new-blu-ray-titles-with-bd-wont-playing-in-all-players/

Another victory for DRM!

[admin]

More BD+ woes:

The most severe problems have been reported on Samsung's BDP-1200 and LG's BH100, which are both said to be incapable of playing back the discs at all. Less catastophic issues (error messages and playback stutter) have been reported for Samsung's BDP-1000.

-- snip --

Samsung promised a firmware update within 'a couple' weeks, while LG said an update is expected in 3-4 days.

http://slashdot.org/articles/07/10/04/1836249.shtml

I would be pretty pissed if I had to wait a couple of weeks just so I can watch the movie I bought on a player that cost twice as much as the HD DVD equivalent. And when manufacturers say "couple of weeks", it's usually a lot longer than that.

[Chewy]

seems related to BD-Java

I sense that all this is not ready for prime time yet, duh!

PS3 works tho

[admin]

The F4:RotSS disc problem seemed to be BD-J related (it doesn't have BD+), while the DAT problem could be related to either (it does have BD+, and the first link in this thread has the screenshot of the error screen that shows up).

If it is indeed BD-J related, then this other news story from the other day is more relevant:

Blu-ray Hardware Specs Playing Game of Catch-up

[Chewy]

when I read up on some of the comments on these news stories and it was compared to when dvd's first came out, it made me glad I had waited a couple of years for the technology to mature?

[admin]

I actually don't remember DVDs having so much trouble when it first came out, unless the title was a very complex one (like seamless branching ones), which was lucky because some of the early DVD players couldn't be upgraded easily through firmware (and some of the cheaper players don't even have websites where you can find firmware updates - updates has to be done through the supplier/service center). The thing is that these latest Blu-ray movies aren't all that complex, not when compared to existing HD DVDs that already have HDi based interactive and even Internet connected features. Things are really going to hit the fan when Blu-ray 1.0, Blu-ray 1.1 and Blu-ray 2.0 players are all in people's homes - studios will have a hell of a time trying to ensure their discs work on all 3 types of players, although they will probably give up on 1.0.

The HD DVD release specifications (the one and only version of the specs, none of this 1.0/1.1/2.0 nonsense) requires all players to have an ethernet connection built in (so all are net connected, assuming you can get the player connected to your home network), so their firmware updates are a bit simpler and might even be automatic. I don't know why Blu-ray didn't add ethernet into their initial specs, considering that Blu-ray players costs twice as much as HD DVD ones. I'm guessing that it might be a Sony ploy to make the PS3 more attractive, since it is clearly the best Blu-ray player out on the market now (due to it's powerful processor and ethernet/storage specs, which means that only software updates are needed to eventually bring it to 2.0 specs).

[admin]

Samsung, Sony Blu-ray Players Get Firmware Update to Fix Compatibility Issues

[toomanycats]

I really hate having to have my Satellite box hooked up to my phone line. Every now and then my wife lets the rabit and he really loves that plastic in phone lines. (The Rabbit is a walking/hopping meal for the future as far as I am concerned. I loath having to have a DVD player hooked up to the net. I personally will be sticking with DVD's for a long time. My Zenith DVB 318 is still playing solidly and my long in the tooth Samsung PLCXW15 Projector is still going strong. The image looks best upconverted to 1080i even though the projector is XGA. The Zenith has been downgraded to the first firmware which allows 1080i through the YPrB output, it now has the LG logo on the screen instead of the Zenith logo.

[dazuk1972]

when I read up on some of the comments on these news stories and it was compared to when dvd's first came out, it made me glad I had waited a couple of years for the technology to mature?

I'm not buying Blu-ray or HD DVD. DVD itself has good enough picture and sound for me so how better can it get? I've heard and read a lot of bad news about Blu-ray and HD DVD and I believe it's a waste of money. As you know, with HD DVD, when you buy the player you have to by the television to make it all compatable and these pieces of equipment are not cheap. My Sky TV has HD channels but people have to subscibe to them when the ordinary digital versions of those channels are free. It's a waste of money paying for them to get them as the HD versions when the sound and picture can't be that better. Of course, I won't be getting HD Sky TV because not only would I have to pay out extra money for that, then I'll have to buy an HD television to watch TV and an HD DVD player to watch my films except and as far as I know ordinary DVD discs won't work in HD DVD players. Then I'll have to either have two televisons in my living-room so that I can watch DVD through one and HD DVD through another or buy all my DVD's again and each choice is dumb. Not to mention HD DVD films are too expensive. Blu-ray and HD DVD means nothing to me.