Crave: "Five reasons you shouldn't buy a Blu-ray player yet"

[camper]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

But again. Do you think the person that is doomed because he can't burn a CD and can't find someone to help him have a fully wired houise with ethernet going behind the TV and know, when setting up the player, the IP addresses and what ever else he needs to get it working?

Oh yes, he can definitely have someone wire his house for the internet and install network jacks, setup his equipment, and all of that jazz. For a price, and for the average consumer that price might not be worth paying.

The problem is you're looking at it through your eyes and not willing to see from anyone else's. Not everyone has someone at their beck and call, willing or ABLE to help setup anything computer (or network) related. They have to pay for that sort of support, and for someone who wants HDM, the prospect of spending hundreds of dollars to wire a home just to make sure they can watch a movie, is not usually top priorty.

Your budget is $5,000 and that's it. You're TV is 3k, speakers, receiver and Blu Ray player comes to 1.5k. 500 for equipment installation, but now you have add on another 600 to network your living room, including the router and/or switch. So what do you give up so you don't break your budget? Oh yeah, and how much is it going to cost you for repairs if something goes down?

Not to mention, are you willing to have your walls cut into, or are you willing to do that? When you own a home, these things become important. Every room in my house except the kitchen, dining, and bathrooms are wired with 1000Base-T. My house is setup for it, I've been doing IT for 15 years and I can see how the common user is going to have an issue with firmware updates.

And since most homes are networked via WIRELESS, and no BD player (except the PS3 with an adapter) can hook in other than hard-wire, you've added another bit of complexity.

It is a joke to make a big deal about FW updates and how complicated they are when at the same time whining that not every player is 2.0 There is a lot more involved with having a working network connection on a player then what is involved with FW upgrades.

No, it's not a joke. And no, it really isn't complicated if you have experience doing it or are comfortable giving it a shot. And yes, there is a LOT more that goes into a home network than calling Verizon or Comcast and having them install their DSL/Cable Modem service and a cheap $100 linksys router for you (with admin admin STILL being the username and password to it since most people don't have a clue how to change it, let alone how to get into it) and plugging in a network cable like the 3 step pictograph shows.

But the fact remains, that for someone who is not tech savvy it sounds complicated. There are a vast multitude of people who bough VCR's, enjoyed them, wore them out, but never set it to record on a timer because it was too complicated for them.

Now you want them to suck it up and download their firmware (if they can find it on the cumbersome manufacturer's sites), burn the firmware to CD on their PC, load it onto their player, and then upgrade?

Early adopters expect, and are willing to do this. They're early adopters. J6P does not want to BE an early adopter. They want it to 'just work'. Nobody wants to put in a Blu Ray movie they just bought for $30 at Best Buy, read a little note that says they might have to upgrade firmware, and then not be able to watch said film until they do so.

My hope is they get it straightened out ot the point where firmware updates are EXTREMELY rare and don't impact the playing of the actual movie. Meaning, that they might (only on the rarest of occasions) be required for special content and that's it.

~Camper