Luminous

iTrader: (3)

These movie and hardware companies are almost signing their own death warrant Technology is cool, but just as it was appearing that HD was not going to win the war, the Blu-ray camp are told that all machines sold to date will need to be replaced (apart from PS3) in order to access new content.

It looks like there are 3 planned generations of machine, 1.0,1.1 and 2.0. Everything sold so far is 1.0, 1.1 is currently available, but 2.0 are not even out yet. So confusing, and they wonder why people are not flocking to the new standard of HD movies

BBC NEWS | Technology | Blu-ray future limited for some


P.S. my response is simple...torrents on a PC. No need to buy a new machine here Looks like I will be waiting at least 2 more years before moving on.

Sonic'

Read that earlier, only the PS3 is capable of any updates

Doesnt affect film watching though, only extra features

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Lets hope it does not affect that actual film watching. However, I still feel there are going to be improvements that some people may end up missing out on. The fact that the new discs were telling people to flash their firmware seems a strange move if there has been no change to the actual format of the films.

It would just be nice to live in a world where companies would just support the best technology, rather than constantly thinking about how much cash they can extract. I note that one of the features of v2.0 players is that they can sell you ringtones based on the film you are watching...*sigh*

Sonic'

I wouldnt worry in a year or two all movies will be streamed anyway and the format war will be over, certianly from a media perspective

MrRA

I don't think it's anything to really worry about. Some manufacturers offer the ability to update the firmware on their Blu-Ray players. Pioneer do, I know that.

Edcase

Have to say, it's gonna be a bit longer than that.

PeteBrant

Digital distribution on a mass scale is decades away.

People like to buy things, they like to have the item in thier hands.

Music downloads have been around for a long time and even they are outsold 70-30 by CDs

BluRay has effectviely won the format war - and will be the format of choice for home viewing in the next 5 years or so.

Aside from anything else, you won;t be able to buy a standard DVD playe rin 5 years - It will all be BluRay, in much the same way as Now days Currys et al only stock LCD's/Plasmas to any great extent.

Sonic'

Im amazed digital distribution is still so far away

10 years ago I did a lot of work for a rapidly expanding company with 800 new staff, racks and racks of servers, that company specialised in Video Streaming movies to the home

Now that was 10 years ago

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

I think the reason that online distribution is not yet available for video is simply down to capacity. I was reading a report a few months back (sorry, forgot the source but was some mainstream pc mag). If you took just one popular program and tried to stream it to as many people actually watch it on TV, the backbone of the internet simply did not have the capacity.

Even if it did just manage to do it, add in the many other channels and it all comes crashing down.

The last nail in the coffin are the ISPs. They are complaining about having to bear other companies distribution costs. If we look at current bandwidth caps, FUPS etc then most connections out there that home users have cannot download more than one HD movie per month.

Its still a long way off. I am sure it will come, but whether it arrives in a way that we actually will want is another matter. Just look at the BBC iPlayer. Only works on PCs, cannot work with Firefox. Hogs your connection to upload to others (no inbuilt bandwidth cap options). Then it limits you in what media player you can use. You have to be online at the time you attempt to play it the first time to get a license. Oh, and it deletes the file from your harddrive after so many days.

Thats before we get to commercial organizations who are going to stuff adverts down your throat and endless proprietary software apps

Shark Man

I honestly can't believe they released a format, then make it an obsolete version just as its about to go mainstream
Talk about f**king with your most loyal customer base (i.e the ones who buy stuff as soon as it hits the streets)

I mean, if it was only a firmware update (which I'm sure could have been engineered into it one way or the other - but probably not in fear of hacked firmware etc) it would be forgiveable.

Is it so hard to develop and finalise the format FIRST before putting it into production, rather than doing both at the same time

GazTheHat

Not until the cable infrastructure is replaced/updated. Not happening this decade.

PeteBrant

Look at it this way - In Japan, and Korea and various other parts of Asia, they have 100MB connection speed,s often more .

Is there a mass move to digital distribution there?

Nope.

Sonic'

Cable infrastructure is being replaced/upgraded or rather is about to go ahead on a big scale, at least that is what the job adverts are currently saying