General discussions : Non mobile discussion : Sony's first Blu-ray drive doesn't play movies
>
New Topic
>
Reply<
Esato Forum Index
>
General discussions >
Non mobile discussion
> Sony's first Blu-ray drive doesn't play movies
Bookmark topic
Sony used an event held in Sydney, Australia, to announce its first Blu-ray drive for PCs is available. The BWU-100A was unveiled at the Experience More 2006 show, and you'd think Sony would cover all the important bases with this first outing, but think again.
Although the drive is a fully working model that can be used to play back HD content, this content can only be user created, with no facility to play commercial Blu-ray movies included. Sony said there are two major issues that stop this drive from playing Blu-ray movies, copy protection, and software support.
In order for a commercial Blu-ray disc to play, you need to be able to decrypt the High-Bandwidth Content Protection (HDCP) copy protection it uses. This can only be done via a DVI or an HDMI connection to a graphics card that supports HDCP decryption. Currently, Sony says there are no cards that support this.
The other problem Sony points out is a lack of software support for playback; Intervideo's WinDVD BD is the only available playback software. That software is currently only bundled as an OEM product with Sony's own VAIO VGN-AR18GP.
Sony product manager Vincent Bautista believes the drive is still quite useful as a storage device, and--in the future--the protection and software issues should disappear.
And guess how much we're paying for this thing- $1060.00
--
Posted: 2006-08-23 03:29:41
Edit :
Quote
One (hyphnated) word. Rip-off! But all new technology has to start somewhere.
--
Posted: 2006-08-23 09:42:37
Edit :
Quote
I'd be willing to buy this drive for 400$
I don't care about the hd I need it for data storage but for 50-100$ a pop (25 gb - 50 gb) discs that's just crazy, I'd pay max 10$ for a disc now and max 2$ in the future
--
Posted: 2006-08-23 14:27:27
Edit :
Quote
The only reason it didn't play the movie, was because of a software issue! I personally feel that Blu-Ray will triumph over HD-DVD, but this is a much closer battle than VHS/Betamax.
They probably used a Windows machine anyway, what do you expect, driver conflicts everywhere! lol
Should of used a Mac Pro!
Cheers
--
Posted: 2006-08-23 15:52:22
Edit :
Quote
Actually the main problem is that there aren't any commercially available graphics cards that can handle HDCP encryption at the moment. Once they do become available, there'll be codecs coming out left, right and centre for every single media player you can think of!
--
Posted: 2006-08-23 16:22:03
Edit :
Quote
New Topic
Reply
