How much does firmware updates hurt BD adoption?

[Antny]

Just wondering, I know that it will not hurt the tech savvy person but for those that are electronically challanged I think it is an issue. DVD never required a firmware upgrade and BD should be set up for the masses. I know for a fact many people (even in my family) would never want to buy a disc and not be able to watch it because they need to update the firmware. This isn't a shot to BD (I love mine, and I know HD-DVD needed them too). I just wouldn't want anything to stop it's growth especially including the plug-and-play people around. I know you can set it up to upgrade itself via the internet but I still see a slew of people that "can't be bothered".

Opinions?

[P@t_Mtl]

Yes very likely they would not be bothered but they will also be left behind very quickly. We are now entering a new age of tech with upgrades will ne needed bot just on BD but on cell phones as the become more like mini computers for example. I see mostly the older costumers that might have some trouble with this, dont forget in another 5 years the 12-15 age group will be real serious costumers, used to tech gadgets and firmware updates. I think overall it will not hurt too much.

[kpkelley]

I think the average consumer isn't aware that their player needs to be updated. This may be slightly detrimental as it will result in more people trying to return a "defective" player or disc and ignorance masquerading around as negative word-of-mouth. Since most of these issues will be brought back to the B&M stores, we can only hope that they will be properly trained and aware of these updates so that consumer ignornance doesn't affect blu adoption. That is a roundabout way of saying that it may partially affect blu adoption. I know that my sister was concerned when she bought a player, which is why she bought the same one that I have so that I can update it for her.

[atomik kinder]

Originally Posted by kpkelley

I think the average consumer isn't aware that their player needs to be updated. This may be slightly detrimental as it will result in more people trying to return a "defective" player or disc and ignorance masquerading around as negative word-of-mouth. Since most of these issues will be brought back to the B&M stores, we can only hope that they will be properly trained and aware of these updates so that consumer ignornance doesn't affect blu adoption. That is a roundabout way of saying that it may partially affect blu adoption. I know that my sister was concerned when she bought a player, which is why she bought the same one that I have so that I can update it for her.

I highly doubt this since almost every disc you buy has an insert telling you make sure your players firmware is up to date. Even if they ignore all of those, they are bound to hit a disc that won't play and will make them realize they need to do this.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by atomik kinder

I highly doubt this since almost every disc you buy has an insert telling you make sure your players firmware is up to date. Even if they ignore all of those, they are bound to hit a disc that won't play and will make them realize they need to do this.

True. They may not like it...but they will be aware.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Are firmware updates even that much of a problem anymore? Now that the profile 2.0 discs with BD-Live are coming out, aren't pretty much all newer players set to play those discs? (Even if the players, themselves, don't fully utilize the Live features?).

As of a year or so ago (heck, even earlier this year) I would say it was a big problem. And I guess if someone goes out and buys an older player that's been sitting around for a while, then it could also be an issue.

But since the general spec for the discs has essentially been finalized, I don't see this being too much of an issue going forward.

[CrabbyAzz]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

I see mostly the older costumers that might have some trouble with this, dont forget in another 5 years the 12-15 age group will be real serious costumers, used to tech gadgets and firmware updates. I think overall it will not hurt too much.

I disagree. Most children in that age group are less tech savvy than children 5 yrs ago. All the tech gadgets they use today are so plug and play that they never really know whats going on. Most of these kid don't even know you can save files in places other than Windows default locations. In fact, I would label these kids as tech lazy.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by Antny

Just wondering, I know that it will not hurt the tech savvy person but for those that are electronically challanged I think it is an issue. DVD never required a firmware upgrade and BD should be set up for the masses. I know for a fact many people (even in my family) would never want to buy a disc and not be able to watch it because they need to update the firmware. This isn't a shot to BD (I love mine, and I know HD-DVD needed them too). I just wouldn't want anything to stop it's growth especially including the plug-and-play people around. I know you can set it up to upgrade itself via the internet but I still see a slew of people that "can't be bothered".

Opinions?

Going forward, firmware updates are a fact of life for interactive media boxes. These are now special purpose computers, rather than being simple electronic devices.

Cableco boxes update all the time, but because they are generally limitted to a very specific set of boxes, and are "online" by definition, it all happens automatically.

So, auto-updates are one possible solution, but then there will be endless blogs about the evils of having your box connected to the Internet. All sorts of conspiracy theories about BD+ shutting down your box have been and will again be spewed. How will J6P deal with that?

Right now we see people screaming about BD-Live being live, while at the same time we're wading through toxic sludge of "downloads will rule" articles.

I wonder how these download gurus plan to get people past the fact that the system will pretty much have to always be connected to the Internet? Somehow THAT ubiquitous connectivity will be all consumer-friendly and totally not to the benefit of the content providers?

Gary

[Antny]

I met my neighbors in front of my house and they know I'm into HT so they were interested in upgrading to a BD player. I told them about the firmware updates and I got the "You gotta be shitting me face". With some explaining I believe they will take the plunge . I honestly believe it may not be an issue if firmware upgrades were only needed about every 6 months or so. For the last 2 movies I bought I had to update for them to work. Hopefully things can stablize even more over time so they are not needed so often. Whatya think?

[Midnightsailor]

I've found that firmware updates are rather simple to deal with. However, studios should definitely keep them coming a lot faster. There are lots of people who can't watch certain titles, even now.

[MOONPHASE]

i love firmware upgrades i think its the greatest thing. if you get a PS3 its really easy to upgrade the firmware just internet connection hooked up to the PS3 and just update when a new update is available

[CrabbyAzz]

Nice, but most people are not interested in using a PS3 with a net hookup to watch movies. And many homes don't have an internet connection and the owners aren't interested in ever having one. So the profile 2 players aren't going to improve the firmware problem much.