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Machines on sale now won't be able to handle next-generation tricks
By Eric Benderoff
Chicago Tribune
Published on Monday, Mar 10, 2008
On the heels of Blu-ray's victory over HD DVD in the high-definition movie-format war, a fresh crop of improved Blu-ray players is coming.
That's good news, unless you were among the early adopters who bet that Blu-ray would reign. That's because older Blu-ray players can't play the new tricks.
The new players include data storage (for Web downloads) and have new interactive features and notable improvements to audio and video playback.
These are called Blu-ray profile 2.0 players, and they are not yet in stores, but the technology is on newer Sony PlayStation 3 gaming machines. Sony, Blu-ray's principal backer, recently introduced two profile 2.0 players, the BDP-S350 and BDP-S550, available in a few months. Prices will be $400 and $500. Other models are coming.
I saw the technology at the January Consumer Electronics Show, and it definitely will improve your home-theater setup. But it didn't dawn on me that this technology made the existing Blu-ray players obsolete.
The first Blu-ray players have profile 1.0, what Sony calls in its literature the ''launch profile.'' Those early players can't do the neat tricks that the ''profile of the future'' players will offer.
Is a profile upgrade a problem? No, early adopters often get burned. But when you upgraded your standard DVD player and picked Blu-ray, already a risky proposition, did you realize that even if that technology won, it would soon be outdated?
That's just frustrating, and another reason why Joe and Jane Consumer, the bulk of the market, get exasperated with technology.
If you have a profile 1.0 Blu-ray player, you will be able to play DVDs designed for profile 2.0 (and profile 2.0 players will play existing titles), but you will miss the cool features. The most notable for movie buffs are interactive Web content (some discs will have a gaming component to play along with a movie) and pop-up picture-in-picture treatments for actor and director commentaries.
There is one nice touch with 2.0, though. Unlike 1.0, a 2.0 player can be upgraded. If you own a Blu-ray profile 1.1 player, an in-between machine on store shelves today, it is partially upgradable. Got it?
On the heels of Blu-ray's victory over HD DVD in the high-definition movie-format war, a fresh crop of improved Blu-ray players is coming.
Get the full article here.
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