LMAO ... First Blu-Ray PC drive won't play Blu-Ray movies ...

[purbeast0]

Way to go Sony!

The first Blu-ray (BD) disc drive for desktop PCs is here, but be warned -- it won't play commercial BD movies.

Sony officially announced its BWU-100A product at its "Experience More 2006" event in Sydney yesterday, all the while acknowledging that there's significant room for improvement before the product is viable for integration into media centre PCs.

Vincent Bautista, Sony's product manager for data storage, told CNET.com.au that due to copy protection issues and lagging software development, the drive will only play user-recorded high-definition content from a digital camcorder, and not commercial movies released under the BD format.

Bautista says that one of two reasons for this is the fact that commercial content is encrypted with High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP), which can only be decrypted using a HDCP-compliant graphics card that offers DVI or HDMI connections. Since there are currently no PCs for sale offering graphics chips that support HDCP, this isn't yet possible.

The second reason, according to Bautista, is that BD playback software that can decrypt HDCP isn't "released as a saleable item yet". Today, the only HDCP-supporting BD playback application is the OEM version of Intervideo WinDVD BD that's bundled with Sony's VAIO VGN-AR18GP notebook. The AR18GP also offers an HDCP-compliant HDMI connector, which makes it capable of playing commercial movies without issue.

Bautista is optimistic that both issues will be resolved "soon", and says that despite not being able to play commercial content, the drive is still useful as a "storage device", particularly for those looking to create and distribute their own high-definition home movies on BD-R and BD-RE discs.

The Sony BWU100A has a write speed of 2x and will be available this month for AU$1399.

While it is the first in Austrailia and not the first (Since there is already a pioneer one out), I still do not understand the reasoning behind this ... it's like releasing a dvd player that won't play dvd movies.

Whatever Sony is on, please, can someone find out so I can go get some? It's some good ish.

 

[FoBoT]

it must be the "good" crack

 

[vi edit]

As if I needed another reason to completely avoid anything made by Sony.

I hope Samsung burries them in the ground in the next 10 years.

 

[So]

I won't touch a new encrypted video format. Period. DVD is broken, and it's STILL a PITA, but I can give it a pass because it's entrenched.

 

[cKGunslinger]

BD == Blue Ray?


Oh, BD = Blue-ray Disk, I suppose.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Sony, designing obsolesence.

 

[LordMorpheus]

Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski
Sony, designing obsolesence.

hey, don't knock it - it worked great for the detroit companies.

 

[buzzsaw13]

AU$1399 for a "storage drive", sounds great to me.

 

[Shadowknight]

So basically, it's an overpriced piece of crap that all it's good for is playing DVD movies. Mark it down to $50 like all the other DVD players, and we'll talk. I mean, they have an excuse for not playing Blue Ray because they're incompatible. Unlike Sony.

 

[Kyanzes]

Even their own product isn't compatible with their standard. Nice move. They really should have made some kind of a deal in this format war. Now they have to release unfinished stuff just so they can represent themselves on the market. Just like NVIDIA's HDCP compatibility on their products before the 7950 GX2.

 

[manly]

Blu-Ray is the next BetaMax?

 

[StevenYoo]

Originally posted by: manly
Blu-Ray is the next BetaMax?

seems like it

 

[frankgomez75]

Overpriced Hardware for not so stellar performance and incompatibility...

Sony FTL?

 

[PokerGuy]

Now that's what I've been waiting to buy, a blu-ray player that can't play blu-ray movies. Can't wait for that to become available here!

 

[Todd33]

I suppose you guys bash Sony and didn't read the article.

1. HDCP video card are for sale, maybe not in Australia or in pre-builts.

2. There are ways to buy the playback software with BD playback, a guy at the AVSforums has it working and will PM people the link to purchase it.

The Pc market is behind the retail standalone market, big deal. Neither of these things are Sony's fault, but bash away fanboys.

 

[SampSon]

From everything I've read on blu-ray, it seems to be a complete piece of garbage that will never hit mainstream because of red tape.