As far as I can tell, current Blu-Ray players will still play all future Blu-Ray discs, but some of the special features will be unavailable. Kinda like how a cheapo DVD player can play the DVD fine, but might not be able to output the DTS soundtrack.

There was one CD format, and one DVD format after Sony gave up their competing format early on - I don't recall there being problems there. Anyone can release on Blu-Ray, and although Sony are widely credited as BR being their format, it's future is dictated by the "Blu-ray Disc Association" who founded with 9 members (including other electronics companies like Panasonic, Phillips, LG, Samsung, Sharp) and now have 18 board member and 65 contributing companies deciding how the format progresses.

It's by no-means a one-vendor process dictating where Blu-Ray is heading.
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Can anyone tell me if this is a good or a bad thing?
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I'd say a good thing. The more hate for Sony, the better!
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EDIT: This was a reply to the bottom of page 2. I didn't realise there was a page 3.

Would that really be surprising if HD-DVD is better quality?

Apparently Betamax was better quality than VHS, but VHS still won.. (Price and more storage space right?)

Can Blueray store more information than HDDVD?

I'm with Harrison on the Sony thing. I have used quite a few Sony products and have always been happy. Especially with their televisions.

Now going back to the latest posts, I don't see whats wrong with the PS3 having Blu ray. Isn't it similar to the PS2, where some people would have a PS2 rather than buying a seperate DVD player? At least if the PS3 has bluray, those who want a PS3 get the added conveniance of a blu ray player, and those that don't want a PS3 but do want blu ray can buy their own blu ray player.
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With BluRay v2 it can now do the same as HD-DVD.
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It isn't. The two formats support exactly the same encoding formats.

Betamax was better quailty. That is why it went on to be the industry standard in the professional market. It only actually failed in the consumer market. I expect you have seen DigiBeta video cameras used a lot in the news.

But as you say, VHS tapes were bigger and could record more per tape.

Yes, as detailed in my post on the past page of this thread, Single layer Blu-Ray holds 25GB compared to 15GB for HD-DVD, and dual layer Blu-Ray holds 54GB compared to 30GB for HD-DVD.

Really? What has been changed?

The only real differences between the two discs standards were that HD-DVD had a better mandate for audio over BR. Has this now been changed?

Oh and the other difference is the BR uses BD-J open source java for it's interactive content, whereas HD-DVD using a proprietor Microsoft language for its.
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BluRay v2 has more features now. You can also now stream 2 videos, like the commentary, which was always only audio, is now also video. Retrieve infromation via internet, discuss movies over internet in a group, and other internet features.
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Oh right, I know what you mean. This is the player profiles, with 3 versions up to now, used as the minimum set of standards required for a Blu-Ray player to support. These started with the profile BD-Video (profile 1), then Bonus Video (profile 1.1), and now BD-Live (profile 2).

The first profile, BD-Video supported all but the internet connection capability, but all features were optional. With the Bonus Video Profile was added, making all the additional features Mandatory (all players had to support them), and now the latest BD-Live (Profile 2) adds Internet connection capability to the list and makes it mandatory.

Due to this having been handled in these profile stages, those who bought into the profile 1 specification players are now complaining because they can't access any of these more recent additions to the format. But the Blu-Ray consortium argues that they can still access the main video and audio parts, just not the additional content, and it was never stated at the time that they would be able to.

For these reasons the PS3 is going to remain the only Blu-Ray player worth buying as it will be updated to support new player profiles as they become available. For other standalone players it will always require them to be replaced.
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Actually news programmes are one of the few where DigiBeta isn't king, due to the conditions etc. DVCAM is often used to make news reports. Most regular programmes though would fail QC if they used DVCAM due to the murkyness of the pictures in comparison to DigiBeta.
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That is true, for out in the field work DV offers smaller tapes and lighter equipment.
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