Upgrading firmware profile 1.1 to 2.0

[guineapig]

Has anyone found a way to do this with their stand alone player? I am thinking of buying a blue-ray player now with the warner bros news but am starting to seriously re-consider due to all the stuff I have been reading about profile in regards to early adopters. It seems as if things might have been rushed. idk.

[CAB]

The only player on the market today that is said to be 2.0 profile (BD Live) upgradeable is the PS3. $399 is a steal for that unit. Panasonic has their BD30 that's 1.1 compliant but doesn't and won't decode DTS lossless. If you want something today that's future proof - get a PS3. If you don't want a PS3, hang on the sidelines until 2.0 players ship in a few months.

BTW, I use a generation 1 standalone purchased in Nov/Dec of 06 and it's rock solid with 1.0 and 1.1 titles. I have no reason to believe that it won't play the movie when 2.0 media ships.

Edit: I think you mean profile 2.0 instead of firmware. 1.1 = Bonus View. 2.0 = BD Live and includes 1.1.

[guineapig]

From what I read the majority of 2.0 blue-ray players aren't going to be coming out till the end of 2008 that is a while to go. hmm. $400 is a bit steep for me, not to mention that i would prefer not to support sony and rather buy a stand-alone from another company. How great is this upsampling of standard dvd's? I have heard some say this is only slightly less than the high def formats.

[CAB]

If you're looking for cheaper than $400 you're not going to find much luck for a good while. You won't see $2.99 Blu-rays in the bin next to the check-out at the Piggly-Wiggly. HD optical media is just one part of the HD experience and it's gonna cost more. You'll find yourself disappointed and frustrated if the display and audio aren't up to the quality of the source content.

Wait for it a while. To answer your question about upconverted DVD, I am so spoiled now, my DVDs are rotting on the shelf. Someone that said that it was slightly less than HD DVD or Blu-ray probably didn't have the gear.

[aygie]

Originally Posted by guineapig

From what I read the majority of 2.0 blue-ray players aren't going to be coming out till the end of 2008 that is a while to go. hmm. $400 is a bit steep for me, not to mention that i would prefer not to support sony and rather buy a stand-alone from another company. How great is this upsampling of standard dvd's? I have heard some say this is only slightly less than the high def formats.

Then someones been bullsh*ting you mate. Upscaling is the biggest overrated garbage i've ever heard. Seriously it doesn't compare to Blu (or HD DVD for that matter)

[Blu boy]

Originally Posted by guineapig

From what I read the majority of 2.0 blue-ray players aren't going to be coming out till the end of 2008 that is a while to go. hmm. $400 is a bit steep for me, not to mention that i would prefer not to support sony and rather buy a stand-alone from another company. How great is this upsampling of standard dvd's? I have heard some say this is only slightly less than the high def formats.

just so you know its just blu not blue. upscaling is really nice but blu ray is much better

[RUR]

Originally Posted by guineapig

Has anyone found a way to do this with their stand alone player? I am thinking of buying a blue-ray player now with the warner bros news but am starting to seriously re-consider due to all the stuff I have been reading about profile in regards to early adopters. It seems as if things might have been rushed. idk.

We could better address your concerns, if we knew precisely what they are. What are your concerns as an early adopter? Rushed how and why is this an issue affecting your decision process?

Originally Posted by guineapig

From what I read the majority of 2.0 blue-ray players aren't going to be coming out till the end of 2008 that is a while to go. hmm. $400 is a bit steep for me, not to mention that i would prefer not to support sony and rather buy a stand-alone from another company. How great is this upsampling of standard dvd's? I have heard some say this is only slightly less than the high def formats.

It's true that the number of 2.0 players will increase as the year goes on, and that prices will certainly fall. If you don't wish to purchase a Sony player, and aren't willing to pay $400, then you're compelled to wait for a player/price combination which meets your criteria. The only people favorably comparing SD DVD upsampling to Hi Def discs are some HD DVD folks grasping for any argument, good or bad, to support their vanishing format. There really is no comparison.

[rondanto]

I have the bdp 300 and have upgraded the firmware twice by rewuesting the firmware disc from sony. I first upgraded to2.6 and now to 3 +

[kscoyote]

Originally Posted by rondanto

I have the bdp 300 and have upgraded the firmware twice by rewuesting the firmware disc from sony. I first upgraded to2.6 and now to 3 +

That is firmware versions, not Profile. There are only 3 profiles

1.0 will play all movies
1.1 will play all movies + do Picture in Picture
2.0 is 1.1 plus extra internet stuff

[Richard Paul]

Originally Posted by guineapig

I am thinking of buying a blue-ray player now with the warner bros news but am starting to seriously re-consider due to all the stuff I have been reading about profile in regards to early adopters. It seems as if things might have been rushed.

HD DVD was released with lesser specs than Blu-ray in terms of bandwidth, capacity, and interactivity. For instance I have seen BD-J games on Blu-ray such as a top down shooter (Chicken Little), pinball game (Surf's Up), and strategy game (FF: Rise of the Silver Surfer) that as far as I know have no equivalent on HD DVD. As such HD DVD may have started out with PiP and internet connectivity but in many respects it is an inferior format when compared to Blu-ray.

Originally Posted by guineapig

$400 is a bit steep for me, not to mention that i would prefer not to support sony and rather buy a stand-alone from another company.

I don't know if any BD-Live players will be available by summer that would be under $400 but there will be several Bonus View players under that price. As such if price is a consideration you may want to think about getting a Bonus View player. Compared to HD DVD a Bonus View player would not have internet capability but it would have all the technical advantages of Blu-ray. Also Blu-ray has support from most CE companies so there would be a range of players to choose from.

[guineapig]

Originally Posted by RUR

We could better address your concerns, if we knew precisely what they are. What are your concerns as an early adopter? Rushed how and why is this an issue affecting your decision process?

Well I sorta feel like getting a player now that has a profile that can't be updated is a bit of a rip-off. That was my biggest concern. As a previous owner of a computer with windows me (felt rushed and unstable) I was pissed to see windows 2000 come out so soon I felt ripped off. I guess I don't want something like that to happen.

The other concern is spending an excess of money on something that isn't really certain. Blu-ray seems like it is doing better but it also could be a bit of propaganda from the sony team. I could really care less about disk storage size, as they both seem to be able to hold a lot of data, depending on the number of layers. I have heard that blu-ray has horrible load times (up to 3 minutes) have to look into that. etc.

The other consideration is wether it is really even worth it. My standard player is starting to act up and it is choice of $60 standard, $130 hd-dvd, and $400 blu-ray. I have a nice catalog of standard dvd's and it seems like some of the more obscure films just have been released on standard dvd. Criterion from what i have read is going to wait it out. So it does seem as if it could also be a war of high def vs standard. If it is the latter why pay $400 to upsample when I can play $150

Originally Posted by RUR

The only people favorably comparing SD DVD upsampling to Hi Def discs are some HD DVD folks grasping for any argument, good or bad, to support their vanishing format. There really is no comparison.

Or the people that have already invested a considerable amount in standard dvds for their library and don't want to be tricked into the next latest greatest.

[guineapig]

Originally Posted by Richard Paul

HD DVD was released with lesser specs than Blu-ray in terms of bandwidth, capacity, and interactivity. For instance I have seen BD-J games on Blu-ray such as a top down shooter (Chicken Little), pinball game (Surf's Up), and strategy game (FF: Rise of the Silver Surfer) that as far as I know have no equivalent on HD DVD. As such HD DVD may have started out with PiP and internet connectivity but in many respects it is an inferior format when compared to Blu-ray.

Thanks, I will have to look into this more. I have the opposite but that was most likely a stooge for the hd-dvd camp. I guess specs aren't really everything though, as the wii is much more popular than the ps3. I guess that is something else to consider, like game systems, Which movies are on which format.

[guineapig]

Originally Posted by Aygie

Then someones been bullsh*ting you mate. Upscaling is the biggest overrated garbage i've ever heard. Seriously it doesn't compare to Blu (or HD DVD for that matter)

How does it compare with some older movies? Many of my favorites are from the seventies when picture quality wasn't the greatest to begin with.

[jorg]

Originally Posted by guineapig

How does it compare with some older movies? Many of my favorites are from the seventies when picture quality wasn't the greatest to begin with.

Personally i would suggest the ps3 for these reason

1. It is future proof no matter what happens with blu-ray the ps3 will be work with it or it wont happen

2.It is a high quality solid machine that wont break on you

3. It as some of the fastest load times around 30 sec.

4. The ps3 upscales all of your dvd to a really nice picture quality
(it is true that up-scalled is not as good as blu-ray[native hd] but they
do look good compared to be four)

[plee]

Originally Posted by guineapig

Well I sorta feel like getting a player now that has a profile that can't be updated is a bit of a rip-off. That was my biggest concern. As a previous owner of a computer with windows me (felt rushed and unstable) I was pissed to see windows 2000 come out so soon I felt ripped off. I guess I don't want something like that to happen.

The other concern is spending an excess of money on something that isn't really certain. Blu-ray seems like it is doing better but it also could be a bit of propaganda from the sony team. I could really care less about disk storage size, as they both seem to be able to hold a lot of data, depending on the number of layers. I have heard that blu-ray has horrible load times (up to 3 minutes) have to look into that. etc.

The other consideration is wether it is really even worth it. My standard player is starting to act up and it is choice of $60 standard, $130 hd-dvd, and $400 blu-ray. I have a nice catalog of standard dvd's and it seems like some of the more obscure films just have been released on standard dvd. Criterion from what i have read is going to wait it out. So it does seem as if it could also be a war of high def vs standard. If it is the latter why pay $400 to upsample when I can play $150



Or the people that have already invested a considerable amount in standard dvds for their library and don't want to be tricked into the next latest greatest.

I think in your situation that you should stay away from HD for awhile longer (maybe towards the end of the year) because of your cost and profile concerns. But as like computers prices will fall as time goes by so there comes a time you have to say that is a good price, knowing that tomorrow it may be xx cheaper, just the nature of the business. Also, if you buy a HD-DUD player just for upconverting your DVD's you'll just be wasting money as most Blu players do a good job and your library of movies for HD-DUD will start diminishing come May and beyond. So you need to buy a Blu player later, if I was in your situation I would get a cheap upconverting DVD player and wait till the end of year to see what players I can get.

[RUR]

Originally Posted by guineapig

Well I sorta feel like getting a player now that has a profile that can't be updated is a bit of a rip-off. That was my biggest concern....

Hopefully, you've read enough to know that 2.0 adds only online content. To me, that's merely a distraction from what I really want i.e. the best PQ/AQ possible, but I understand it may be important to you.

The other concern is spending an excess of money on something that isn't really certain. Blu-ray seems like it is doing better but it also could be a bit of propaganda from the sony team. I could really care less about disk storage size, as they both seem to be able to hold a lot of data, depending on the number of layers. I have heard that blu-ray has horrible load times (up to 3 minutes) have to look into that. etc.

"Excess" is a flexible term and there are no guarantees with any new technology. In any measurable way, Blu-ray is doing far, far better than HD DVD and that's not propaganda. I can point you to several unbiased articles from world-class publications predicting the demise of HD DVD and, if we were in Vegas, the odds would heavily favor Blu-ray. You should care about disc size (and bandwidth), since they make it easier to achieve the best PQ/AQ by avoiding authoring compromises. Not an issue with many titles, to be sure, but why not seek the best PQ/AQ on all titles. Load times are improving and, on average, are similar for both Blu-ray and HD DVD.

The other consideration is wether it is really even worth it. My standard player is starting to act up and it is choice of $60 standard, $130 hd-dvd, and $400 blu-ray. I have a nice catalog of standard dvd's and it seems like some of the more obscure films just have been released on standard dvd. Criterion from what i have read is going to wait it out. So it does seem as if it could also be a war of high def vs standard. If it is the latter why pay $400 to upsample when I can play $150.

Only you can decide if it's worth it. If you choose a cheaper HD DVD player in order to upconvert, that's fine so long as you understand that the most likely outcome will be a finite number of Hi Def titles available for you to play. Blu-ray won't be so limited.

Or the people that have already invested a considerable amount in standard dvds for their library and don't want to be tricked into the next latest greatest.

There's no trick involved. Both Blu-ray and HD DVD look substantially better than the best upconverted SD DVD's. The only folks claiming otherwise are bitter HD DVD fanbois, who really do know better.

[guineapig]

Thank everone, for your responses. I think I will just sit it out for the time being.

[jorg]

Originally Posted by guineapig

Thank everone, for your responses. I think I will just sit it out for the time being.

respectable choice hope u stay around the forums

[Anhslaught]

Ok I was going to ask if there was going to be a 2.0 update for the older players. After reading this, I'm realizing you don't really need it and even if there was an update disc for it, it would be useless since it cant even connect to the internet!

But..............what about profile 1.1? Is there a disc that would allow an update for that? It would be nice to be able to watch PiP. I have a PS3, so I'm good, but my bro in law has an early Sony Bluray player. He's a video junkie like me, so I told him I'd find out and tell him about it.