CES 2006: First-generation Blu-ray disc players may not be full-featured

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CES 2006: First-generation Blu-ray disc players may not be full-featured

Las Vegas (NV) - In what may be one of the more stunning revelations of this year's Consumer Electronics Show, representatives of manufacturers of Blu-ray disc players and equipment - who did not wish to be quoted - told TG Daily that the first generation of Blu-ray high-definition disc players, to be made available soon, probably will not have full on-screen interactivity features after all.

The interactive layer - the component which Blu-ray proponents say makes it competitive with rival format HD DVD - is supplied by Blu-ray Java, or BD-J, an interpreted protocol created by Sun Microsystems. But since the Java interpreters are apparently not yet ready to be implemented in hardware, some manufacturers will apparently release "basic" or "plain" or "player-only" Blu-ray players in advance of BD-J. The watch-word for Blu-ray players with full BD-J capabilities - and with other features the basic players may to omit, such as recording capability - is full-profile.

Yesterday in a press conference, Philips Consumer Electronics President Rudy Provoost told reporters that BD-J interactive content was being interwoven with the main movie content to such a degree that, over time, the viewer would not be able to tell the difference between them. In a presentation today, TG Daily was shown a prototype Blu-ray service connection that allows consumers to pull up movies on-demand by browsing menus consisting of their lead actors' faces. If today's revelations turn out to be true, at least the very first Blu-ray models may omit all that browsing, demanding, and interweaving altogether.

Also left out of the first-edition players will be the capability for them to connect to the Internet and download streaming media, for distribution throughout the home. This capability, we're told, also requires BD-J to be present. News of this omission, in a sense, is also news of this feature's inevitable inclusion. Apparently, one of the bonuses consumers will receive for purchasing full-profile players will be a connection to an Internet-based streaming download service. Previously, we'd reported that the Internet connection served as an authorization channel, and as a key facilitator of both Blu-ray's and HD DVD's copy protection and digital rights management scheme, AACS. The streaming service may serve as incentive for consumers to connect to the Internet in the first place, to allow their media consumption habits to be "managed."

Presumably, the streaming service may create new avenues for the delivery of high-definition content to consumers, including the ability for them to simply press their own movies and pay for them automatically. But the interactivity layer will need to be present in order for such services to be utilized by consumers. This leads to another question: Is BD-J as ready for prime time as we were led to believe?

However, omissions of features such as the interactivity layer may be necessary to knock prices down. Floor representatives told TG Daily today first generation Blu-ray player consoles could sell for as little as half the price of the full-profile players demonstrated here this week, which are being priced for as much as $1,800. A "basic Blu-ray device," we're now being told, could conceivably sell for as little as $1,000, or even less for internal PC drives. Yesterday, Toshiba revealed that its first-generation HD DVD players will sell for about half the price of full-profile Blu-ray console players.

Pioneer Electronics, according to its representatives on the show floor, will not be among the companies selling a "basic" Blu-ray player, at least not this year. Instead, it plans an "Elite" model console, which will sell for around $1,800.

TG Daily also learned today that the Internet connection necessary for full-profile Blu-ray capabilities to be realized, will require a dedicated Ethernet cable. Wireless connections will apparently be prohibited, say floor representatives for Blu-ray manufacturers. One representative told us keeping high-definition content off of the WiFi airwaves is necessary for its own protection. This leads to yet another set of questions, the first of which is this: Will consumers be able to wire their own Ethernet connections through their existing Ethernet routers? Or will Blu-ray's connection to the Internet (as well as HD DVD's) be separate and exclusive, like CATV service? We may learn more over the next few days.

http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/01/06/1g...omit_features/

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