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 The High Definition DVD Studio Support Petition Campaign |
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BD "standard" Player Specification Delayed Due To More Problems (DARN - we had bad links in the latest newsletter - if looking for the "BD-R/RE Rolled Back" Story, it is here) BD Standard Player Profile Deadline is Delayed Now to November 1st 2007 - Debacle Continues Many of you may already be familiar with the widely discussed problems said to be dogging the Bluray format in regard to it’s final minimum player specifications, and the BD-Java implementations on future players. I compiled some of the commentary into my opinion piece earlier in the year, outlining some of what was being discussed in the various technical forums, and making no bones about my belief that the current Bluray standalone players on the market are already obsolete. The issues causing delays to Bluray releases were apparently potentially damaging HD DVD release schedules, also, and was the subject of our very successful letter writing campaign to Warner Brothers – which it seems ultimately helped free The Matrix Trilogy on HD DVD from being held back until the Bluray implementation problems were solved! (See our story on the release of The Matrix Trilogy on HD DVD on May 22nd!) It seems that quite a few people agree with this position. For instance, in a very recent editorial by DVD Town, called "Don't Get The Blues - Say No To Bluray", the Editor-in-Chief states: "Recent comments from the Blu-ray camp indicate that they have yet to complete final specifications for the interactive component called Blu-ray Disc JAVA (BD JAVA). What this means is that when the specifications are finally decided upon in late October, 2007, one's Blu-ray player bought before that date may not play parts of future Blu-ray releases.... HD-DVD knew the importance of a strong set of features from the get-go, and they had their mandatory features ready from the start." He wraps up his editorial with a very strong, and I believe accurate, recommendation: "I must draw a conclusion from all this: Don't buy Blu-ray. Not before the Blu-ray camp have finalized the format's specifications. Not before the manufacturer will GUARANTEE 100% compatibility with future Blu-ray releases." It has been confirmed in the forums that Bluray will not be getting The Matrix at all, nor some other key titles until these BD player profile problems and the associated BD-J challenges have been overcome. In a post on AVSforums, Bill Hunt, the Editor of The Digital Bits, said: “The Matrix films are not coming in Blu-ray on 5/22. I've spoken to very senior Warner reps this afternoon and confirmed this. It's the same BD-Java implementation problem (that's resulting in the Blu-ray delay) that's been holding back BD versions of Batman Begins and all the other Warner IME titles... they [Warner] don't want to delay releasing on HD-DVD just because Blu-ray interactivity is lagging. ” Batman Begins, and other titles like V For Vendetta, have also been put on hold for Bluray as a result of these issues. An interesting discussion was recently had on AVSforum in which a BDJ developer outlined some of the issues he has experienced doing a game for Bluray. Another article in Video Business also quotes a studio exec expressing his frustration at the situation. I have previously made no bones about my personal conviction that standalone Bluray players sold before the BD 1.1 deadline of May 31st would likely be obsolete. This is because the “interim” minimum BD player specification (now called BD-Video 1.0), which was supposed to be a stopgap standard for the launch of the format, did not have the capabilities of the “real, honest-this-time, final” minimum BD specification, or BD-Video 1.1. In fact, even BD-Video 1.1 STILL does not match the capabilities of the one and only HD DVD player specification – that would require the BD-Live 2.0 spec, which includes Networking abilities (which is only an optional standard for Bluray players, anyway – but that’s ANOTHER story J ) Well, the news just seems to get worse and worse for the Bluray Player Profiles. We have just heard that the BD-Video 1.1 spec has now been delayed until November 1st 2007, from their last target of May 31st. That means that none of the players sold until October 31st 2007 will even have to meet the basic BD-Video 1.1 minimum specification. There have been some fairly understandable reactions from various objective quarters, such as The Daily Tech, Gizmodo and the blogs at Wired.com. There was lots of debate on the forums as to whether my position on current standalone BD players being “obsolete” was a fair assessment or not. There were several people who claimed that we could not be sure that the current standalone BD players would not be able to be upgraded via firmware to handle the BD 1.1 standard. Well, that question now appears to have been answered, as a hardware insider recently admitted that the current standalone BD players lack the necessary hardware for then to ever be compliant with the BD 1.1 player profile. I am even more firm in my opinion that buyers should avoid these BD players until the standards are completed by Bluray and new BD players, that guarantee BD 1.1 compatibility, are on the market. I am not alone in this conviction – as this week's editorial at DVD Town (mentioned above) saw fit to issue a similar warning, saying that HD DVD is the only game in town if you are looking to buy into Hi Def discs, and warning readers not to buy the current BD standalone players. Of course, to be fair, I should add that BDA spokesperson Andy Parsons has downplayed the seriousness of this issue. Apparently, he feels that the situation cannot be blamed solely on BD-Java, and also it is not really that big a deal. Uh huh, yah… Looking ahead to the future, Parsons states in one interview: “Any new Blu-ray Disc player model introduced after October 31 must now fully comply with the full range of existing Blu-ray Disc player specifications.” Yep – I think we got that already - but is was supposed to be May 31st, which was still nearly a year after the Bluray format launched anyway... How can you go to market before you have even finished designing your player specifications? In yet another interview, apparently concerned about folks thinking this is strictly a BD-J issue, Parsons states: “What's caused the confusion is that BD-Java will be utilized to implement these new capabilities. It's not that this is a new version of Java, it's just the code that will be used to run these features…” Yep, we got that, too - the hardware is new, and the code needed to run this hardware is new, and between them your having a really tough time making it work. Yes, we got that part. I think many of us recognized these potential BD problems sometime last year, when it became apparent to those in the know, that there were THREE Bluray player profiles being worked on, and that the first one (BD 1.0) was only a temporary "standard" (apparently so they could get Bluray to market sooner). Contrast this with the STANDARD (and only) HD DVD ROM minimum movie player specification. HD DVD requires Ethernet network ports on ALL players carrying the HD DVD badge. Bluray on the other hand does not require this on ANY of it players, EVEN AFTER the magical October 31 date, since it is a feature of the BD-Live 2.0 profile, which is not going to mandatory for Bluray players at all. In fact, the BD-Video 1.1 profile doesn’t mandate the inclusion of TrueHD decoders on Bluray players, either – which again, is a requirement of HD DVD. BD folks say that “lots” of extra functionality will be added to 1.1 when compared to 1.0, yet the only major thing it adds to catch up to HD DVD players is “dual video stream decoding” which will allow BD-Video 1.1 to do real Picture-in-Picture functionality with two video streams – like HD DVD already does. So not only will the owners of current BD standalone players miss out on the extra functionality of the final, "really, honest, this time" BD player standard (BD-Video 1.1) – but it leaves some people thinking that all of this hardship will only lead to a “standard” mandatory BD player profile that could still, at the end of the day, be viewed as an underachievement by many buyers… Can you blame them? But What About Informing The Buyers Of Current Bluray Players? One thing that has really irked many observers is that the Bluray folks are not being very forthcoming to potential Bluray buyers about this situation. Many demos are being run in stores in the US and other countries, that show all of these "fantastic" features that Bluray is supposed to be able to do - features that are not actually possible yet in the current Bluray players, because they are only supported on the more advanced player profiles that have not yet been completed. Often times, these demos, and product literature, sits right next to the machines currently on sale, without indication that those machines are not capable of those features. Sometimes the literature states vague references to players needing the advanced profiles to do x, y or z - but nowhere do they seem to tell the buyer that the current machine only meets x, y or z standards and will never be able to do them. Some participants in online discussions have made a point of telling Bluray insiders that the official Bluray websites do not even cover the issue of profiles in sufficient detail to forewarn current Bluray buyers that they will not get these features on current Bluray players. But these warnings have not been heeded to date. We believe that this is a potentially very large consumer issue, and that the Bluray folks are creating a very real liability for themselves by not being more forthcoming and better educating consumers about the situation. . |
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