Can you name some specific titles Jerry, because I really don't experience the sorts of problems you're getting, and I own a fair few Blu-Ray movies and have rented a lot more. I wont pretend I haven't had a movie that didn't play, but of the few I have had only a couple were down to incompatibilities with the player, the rest were damaged rented discs.

BD Live features don't stop the movie from playing, though they do advise you to update your firmware if you've got a capable player that hasn't been upgraded, but again if you don't want those features (mainly stupid games, like you say), just skip past the message.

"Under $100 players, fast load times and this level of universal simplicity are all key to DVD-Video's success. Why can't Blu-ray follow this path to success a little more closely?" Those of us who were early adopters of DVD know life wasn't like that back then, either. It's only relatively recently in it's life that DVD players have gone under 100 bucks, Blu-Ray's menus are childs play compared to the clunky mess found on many early (and even not so early) DVDs, plus they're accessible during the movie. Add intrusive layer changes, incompatibility with burned discs, audio sync issues, players that didn't support all audio formats, interlacing issues, non-anamorphic releases plus the mastering problems that were fairly commonplace back then (and still occur even today - evidence the recent furore over the Slumdog Millionaire replacement program) and it wasn't all plain sailing.

I'd agree slow loading is an issue, but newer players have largely solved it, and those buying into the format hereon will no doubt wonder what all the fuss was about. Just like all the DVD owners that weren't exposed to it's growing pains.

Dark Knight comes to mind.

Marely and Me - just last week.

There have been others. Pirates of the Caribbean a while back.

The whole point of the firmware updates is to close loopholes in the BD DRM system to prevent copying of BD media to our computers, iPods, iPhones, Apple TVs, VUDU, Creative Zen or other devices that can play music and video on the go or on your television even in cases when the copying is done with fair use in mind.

I have been holding off of Blu Ray largely because of the DRM. During the format war between HD DVD and Blu Ray I was hoping for HD DVD to win because it had lesser DRM than BD and had at the very least a Managed Copying provision. Once I read an article that was written while the format war was still continuing saying neither format won.

The real winner in the Blu Ray vs HD DVD fight is Piracy TM. Honest consumers willing to pay for media would turn to illegal methods to get their media fix if the media companies kept imposing DRM.

DRM is not about thwarting piracy its to prevent fair use -- as a matter of fact increased DRM in legally acquired content may contribute to more piracy of that content with the DRM restrictions gone in pirated copies.

I will not even buy a Blu Ray player until prices come down of both the players and the titles released on BD and the DRM is removed and/or cracked -- has been cracked a few times but every time by way of these new firmware updates players that are used to play BD media that has been copied to PCs will be disabled automatically by these updates from being able to play the media again.

So if you rip that copy of The Dark Knight you bought on Blu Ray on your computer and then try to play it on your fancy Blu Ray Disc Drive (and it played just fine earlier) with the next firmware update your player will refuse to play the media saying an unauthorized copy of the media was made -- or an unauthorized activity occurred with the disc and the player will refuse to play the movie any longer just because you copied it.

Now lets say you didn't copy the movie to your computer when the next firmware update comes out you should still be able to play The Dark Knight on your Blu Ray Disc Drive as long as you have not tampered or circumvented with the copy protection system (DRM) on the disc. If you did circumvent the DRM technology on the disc you should still be able to play it on your BD player till the next firmware update arrives.

The player with the new firmware update will detect the DRM was previously circumvented on the disc and the DRM in the player will cause the player to be disabled. You have performed an illegal action by using fair use to copy a BD movie to your PC. You will have to buy a new Blu Ray player if your existing one gets disabled and maybe also a new copy of The Dark Knight on Blu Ray with which you cannot copy to computer, iPod or any other device.

Personally, I am opposed to the DRM system on Blu Ray if the studios want to treat us like criminals why should we give them our business at all? Start boycotting movies -- I hardly see new movies at the box office that much anyways -- last movie I saw was in January and that was the film Valkyre -- since then have not seen any of the new movies of this year in theatres. Usually when the economy is bad entertainment spending is still somewhat high to say the least (surprisingly) but this time around may be lower than past recessions (just my 2 cents) how low is uncertain but in bad economic times all markets feel some pinch.

I have no interest in spending my money on expensive Blu Ray players and media. There is no Apple Mac compatibility yet for Apple machines running Mac OS X (sure Dell PCs and Hewlett Packard's HP PCs have Blu Ray drives -- but PCs by these other vendors running Linux are ill equipped for Blu Ray only Windows XP + systems (they'd like to require Windows Vista) will work with Blu Ray at the computer level.

I want to see Blu Ray prices fall down to levels they were at during the price war between it and HD DVD that benefited consumers -- till then I'd rather buy a new DVD Player capable of out-putting or up-sampling existing 480p or 480i DVDs (whether 4:3 or 16:9) to near HD quality at the very least. Besides why waste my dollars buying the same content again anyways on Blu Ray. Even if I got a Blu Ray player all movies I already have on DVD I won't upgrade to Blu Ray even if available I'd keep the existing ones on DVD and play them on Blu Ray drive (which would be a waste) and buy titles I didn't already own on DVD on Blu Ray's High Definition Disc Format.

I do agree with Jerry that players need to have easier access to required firmware updates and the way to do that is with both hard wiired (ethernet) and wireless connections.

I own a PS3 and have never had a problem with any film. I also own a Sony BDP-S350 that I update as needed via it's ethernet connection. The wireless connection on the PS3 is more convenient for sure.

As to BD-Live and all that....I personally could care less, but I'm sure there are folks that do.

I got a VERY VERY NICE email from Sony today offering me a PS3 to see how that machine handles updates.

Being the nut case that I am - I bought a PS3 the DAY it came out ($3,000 - ouch) and haven't used it much. Andrew Robinson was over around the Holidays and we had some issues getting it to play The Dark Knight. Other than that, its been flawless and upgradable all along the way. I wish I could say as much for the players I have had that I have had to dump.

I think I am going to get another player for my reference theater that is a little higher end. Ken Taraszka thinks the Denon is pretty strong. Sony also has a higher end player. Either of those could work for me.

Jerry

Might also be worth hanging on a little while and taking a look at Oppo's new Blu Ray player. If it's as good for Blu Ray as their DVD efforts it'll likely knock the competition out of the water, and for a lot less money than Denon's offerings.

I`m going to be cool, and real nice here. But, and however, when, when will our industry learn from its mistakes. The format war was not to long ago. Heck, Andrew, kennyt, and some others, as well as main stream consumers want to go home, and push play, and watch the movie!! Why should that be so hard, it is ridiculous.
And, despite what others say, since its inception, when you consider everything, the SONY PS3 has been the most reliable and trouble some free Blu-Ray player, period. They should make a flagship!!

WOW!

So many things to comment on....

Jerry,

While I own a Denon DVD-2500BTCi, I am not sure I would YET spend big $ on a Blu-ray player, for many of the reasons you covered, and some I will cover in another article. I think we are still pretty early on in this format and some bugs still exist.

Anonymous,

Just buy a damn Blu-ray player already! They are sub $200 for competent players and will WAY outperform any scaling DVD player. If you feel otherwise, you must be watching some 19" 480p set (and I assume you are not!) Seriously, get one, they are a huge step up in video and once you have it you won't want to watch SD DVD again! Forget about the new audio codecs which will simply blow your mind!

Claude,

I too own a PS3 and BDP-S350, I like the PS3 for games, the 350 for film, but it is really nice to have firmware just done!

Manchester Mick,

Good to see the UK represented! I am not so impressed with the Oppo Blu-ray player, it's set to sell for $499 IF and WHEN they are done with their trial which has been extended. For $500 I can get a solid BD Player and 15-20 titles from Amazon, I see the added benefit of playing CD and SACD, but if you have any SACD's (or DVD-A for that matter)) then you already have a player for them so all you are saving is a small bit of rack space.... Not worth the money to me!

In the words of Andrew Robinson

"I just want it to work!"

This is what Blu-ray is missing, still to this day. It is a huge step closer than when it started a few years ago, but it still has a way to go.

While I have seen numerous updates for certain models of Blu-Ray players and a few reports of firmware upgrades going wrong and "bricking" players, I really have to wonder just who is to blame here. It's probably on both the software and hardware developers.

Prime example; My Sony BDP-S550 has only had a single firmware update, compared to some other models that have had four or more firmware updates.

vlad,

I think you are right, but the heart of the problem to me is that Blu-ray and HDMI were not standardized before release, so we are all still trapped in an evolving system and no one seems to know what wil finally shake out of it!

I've been using a Panasonic BD-50 since last fall. Yes, there have been nearly monthly firmware updates, but they've essentially been optional. No Blu-ray disk I've bought has ever refused to play - maybe because I have no interest in BD Live, and have it disabled in the player's setup. I do updates by burning CDs, usually months behind the other hobbyists at the AVS website - I wait to see if anyone complains of problems caused by an update. So far none have been.

As Ken says, " Blu-ray and HDMI were not standardized before release" is one of the reasons I have held off on buying a blu-ray player. The other being the outrageous price for a blu-ray disc. $24.99 for any movie is too much. This reminds me of the Vista fiasco caused by MS for not telling the third party vendors they were releasing a new operating system. When I can buy any HD DVD player for under $100 I will jump in. Until then I am quite happy to watch upconverted SD DVD's on my Panasonic plasma HDTV.