Video Asylum

Posted by 4season (A) on July 26, 2007 at 11:13:17

In Reply to: RE: Is there any word on the hardware upgrades BluRay needs? posted by Jack G on July 25, 2007 at 07:54:42

I don't think any of us really knows for certain how many existing B-D players can be upgraded to 1.1 status with a firmware update: Beneath the surface, these are all computers after all, and PS/3 for one, relies on software, not specialized hardware, to do some of it's video trickery.

There are ways to provide features like picture-in-picture even with 1.0 machines, but once you start having to pack two versions of the movie on the disk--one with PIP and the other without--you lose any advantage you might've had with the 50 gigabyte Blu-Ray media.

Of course NO existing B-D player will be upgradeable to the 2.0 spec save possibly for the PS/3, but I think for most folks, having an ethernet port and access to web features isn't going to be a biggie.