Leave it up to sony again to release a product prematurely. How many more changes should we expect? If I bought a profile 1.0 and now want to see picture in picture I now have to buy another $500-$1000 player. Sony should focus on getting profile 1.0 players cheaper. MFG now have to add a second audio/video decoder and memory. So much for the prices coming down anytime soon.

We should have had a Blue ray disc with HDDVD features. Sony should have not been able to help with the featureset/hardware at all. They are gonna screw it up like they did with PS3. They again released a product based on higher specs with no regard to user experience.

Sony makes some great products but the thing I hate about them is the love to obsolete a product just months after they release it. DVI -> HDMI, BD Profile 1.0 -> BD Profile 1.1, all 500 versions of the PS3, etc...

I just wish the would let the product life cycle not go obsolete so fast.

I might be able to understand that a firmware upgrade might be able to work on a PS3 (maybe, becuse of its gaming features may have all the harware specs needed) but I am not sure I understand how it will work on a previous stand alone player. Check out this article from the UK:
http://www.tech.co.uk/home-ent...402030689

If this is true, I am not sure why Sony would be proud of this BD release on 1.1 spec if it truly does obsolete the older players.

I know the PS3 can be fixed to accommodate this but what about the existing set top machines? They should make internet access standard like the HD-DVD players did.

Too many people associate old HW capabilities with newer hardware. Most new equipment can undergo firmware updates unlike machines of the past. Therefore, most of your comments about "obsoleting" current products just doesn't hold true. No different than a bios update on you PC.

Note the article:
"Unfortunately, some existing players will not be able to access the new special features, including the Playstation 3. >>>>> However, Sony has previously said that it will release a firmware update to fix that problem.

It's great to see how companies like SONY modify standards and makes players incompatible with the new disc formats just adding more and more reasons to not buy any BD movies.

So thanks SONY, I am truly happy that I'm not buying any BD movie, you really did your best to convince customers that your products SUX.

I predict a very bad Christmas for Bluray.

This is why it's good to have a STANDARDS comitte such as the DVD Form(which agreed upon the HD-DVD specs.)

This is also why no likes Sony's propreitary crap; besides being closed, it's rarely forward thinking.

is to be THE standard of ANY format that is close to 100% uncopyable. They want company xyz to pay $2.00 per disc of EVERY COPY made (like blu-ray publishers have to do now). They want no-body to be able to copy anything. They want all the gold and the biggest pot in the world.

there is not comment, just zule.

BRAVO

i dont know what they thinking ...
they must be dumb !

This is all stuff that HDDVD has done right from the beginning. Every day BD gets more like HDDVD, just goes to show where the real value is. Capacity means nothing and Sony is starting to realize that so they are adding features in an attempt to be competitive with HDDVD.

So if you already own a Blu-Ray player that's not 1.1 speced, you're out of luck eh? Don't worry, Sony will do it again and mess up the 1.1 player owners too. Aren't you glad you chose Blu-Ray? I didn't think so...

Sony is what it is and where it is because they know what they do, did and will do, let them do, at the end we will all be benefited.

I mean really now. DVD went through just as much of an evolution all the way through it's lifecycle up to this point. I remember when we got our first DVD player about 2-3 years after DVD first came out and we were considered 'early adopters'. Here Bluray and HDDVD have been out a year and everyone makes it seem like they should both have their acts together allready.
With the exceptions of the processor and graphics markets we need to remember that any new technology (including windows lol) takes 2-4 years to pound out the bugs and make a really useable product. All of you who have allready bought HDDVD and Bluray players (with the exception of PS3 owners) were taking a gamble and throwing a $1000 vote for your favorite team, you were funding research and hardware for the next gen devices which will actuially be done right. You were not buying a good product, and you should have known that going in.
There is also talk of 1600P standard coming out in a year or so also (which will make 720p even worse looking than it allready is). Standalone players are not going to be able to keep up with the pace being set by display and content companies. If you really wanted to stay ahead of the curve then get a media PC which can have a BD and HDDVD player in them, and can have easially upgradeable parts to keep up with technology. Sure it's expensive at first, but give it a few years and you will find that it's a lot cheaper in the long run.

sony ceo says the war is at a stalemate because they are trying to get people attention away from the fact they are starting to lose sales to the better features on hddvd. i mean damn they package spider-man 3 with the ps3. that says it all right there.

I think this content memory is going to be trouble. I could see how easily this could be used for 1x play or (2x play) discs in the future.

Why would anyone want one? Even if you were stupid enough to get a standalone player, and that standalone player did not have an Ethernet port, I would bet that you could re-flash your player by burning a disk or by a USB flash drive.

You don't think Blue-ray will have a "Forget this disk" option?

You're all blowing this out of proportion. Most of the features on this disc will work on every Blu-ray player. A few features may require a 1.1 player (which the PS3 will likely be updated to), or may work differently on a 1.0 player (i.e. you'll see picture-in-picture on a 1.1 player, while you'll view the additional video separately on a 1.0 player). It's not like the whole movie won't work, it's one or two small features which may not be as well-supported on 1.0 machines.

Firmware upgrade? no problem! just include the program in the new movie's disc. That's what the extra space is for... So please stop telling people it's the end of the world!

Ha! I have no sympathy to those morons that paid $1000 for a stand alone Blu Ray player instead of buying a PS3. Blu Ray is the way to go and the PS3 is still the best buy for your money. The PS3 platform virtually ensures that your player will not go obsolete in under a year as Sony MUST upgrade the PS3 BD capabilities if they expect to remain relevant in the gaming console wars.