Before You Buy A Blu-ray Player Read This

Been reading this week about the impending inevitable victory of Blu-ray Disc in the high definition marketplace? Hang on just a minute before you rush off to Best Buy. Impending changes to the specifications Blu-ray discs are authored to will cause problems for the current models of Blu-ray players. Ah, yes, let us count the ways early adopters get ripped off by changing specs.
Back in October it was reported that new Blu-ray titles from Fox produced to the current Blu-ray spec would just not play on many of the early players. Now the Blu-ray booth at CES last week said they cannot recommend any current Blu-ray player except for the PS3 due to upcoming changes to the spec. Yes, early adopters of Blu-ray will be left out in the cold when the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) introduces BD Profile 2.0. Unlike HD-DVD, which mandated these additional features from the beginning, the companies behind Blu-ray left these capabilities out to meet a lower price point.
What's worse is the attitude the BDA seems to have, which is 'you should have known.'

Representatives at the Blu-ray booth at CES told BetaNews that the PlayStation 3 is currently the only player they would recommend, due to upcoming changes to the platform. But Pioneer, Samsung, Panasonic and Sony have all been selling standalone Blu-ray players to customers.
In order to allay confusion, the BDA has adopted special labels that will be placed on Blu-ray movies. Those with a "Bonus View" sticker will require Profile 1.1 players, while those with "BD Live" will require Profile 2.0.
In addition, the BD-J interactivity layer, based on Java, has continued to evolve since the introduction of Blu-ray Profile 1.0. This means that early players may have a buggy implementation and perhaps more importantly, they are not powerful enough to play the latest films properly.
When BetaNews asked developers of BD Live whether they were concerned about a backlash from early adopters who supported the format from the beginning, we were told: "They knew what they were getting into."
BDA President Andy Parsons echoed that sentiment at the Blu-ray press conference Monday, telling BetaNews that it's normal for new technology to change and older hardware to become obsolete.

Yes, I'm sure some stickers on the packaging is going to eliminate any customer confusion over compatibility issues. Bottom line: HD-DVD was a completed spec ready for public release but Blu-ray disc was not. "We should have waited another year to introduce Blu-ray to the public, but the format war changed the situation," a Blu-ray developer said at CES last Monday.
I think the disclaimer that has started showing up in Blu-ray packaging is evidence of that. (see picture.)
And they wonder why people decide to stick with good old DVD...

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