Previous
Windows 7 media center review
Logitech Harmony Adapter for Playstation 3 review
HD 101: What is ATSC, PSIP, QAM, and 8-VSB?
How to install a CableCARD tuner in your DIY Media Center
DISH Network launches remote DVR control
Engadget HD Podcast 157 - 09.29.2009
Paradigm SUB 25 subwoofer review
Engadget goes behind the Dolby logo
Breaking news Feed
- Boxee inks deal with first hardware partner: a 'Boxee Box' is coming
- Best Buy partnering with CinemaNow to stream first-run DVDs to 'all web-connected devices sold'
- Netflix coming next month to PlayStation 3
- Toshiba details CELL REGZA LCD TV, coming December to Japan (update: video!)
- Intel announces Atom CE4100 for insanely powerful cable boxes and Blu-ray players
- Media Center CableCARDs freed from OEM requirement
- Samsung's LED TV Couple packs a 7-inch tablet remote for streaming TV and so much more
- Toshiba BDX2000 Blu-ray player coming November for $250, gives HD-DVD the final cold shoulder
- PS3 Slim bitstreams Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA audio, at last
- Xbox 360 officially the only console to stream Netflix -- sorry, PS3 and Wii
Featured stories Feed
- Spears & Munsil High Definition Benchmark Blu-ray mini-review
- Ask Engadget HD: Is it (still) a good time to buy a TiVo?
- Pace and Rovi work together to make a standard set-top a true multi-room DVR
- Ready or not, the latest 3D technology is coming home
- How to automatically skip commercials in Windows 7 Media Center
- Ask Engadget HD: How do you evaluate HDTVs in-store?
- Sharp AQUOS LC-52LE700UN impressions
- Ask Engadget HD: Best home theater setup for gaming?
- TDK's heavily stacked 320GB disc shows its nearly-clear face at CEATEC
- Panasonic's 1080p twin-lens P2 camcorder seen behind three-dee glass at CEATEC
- RAmos W7 spotted blazing through Android
- CrunchPad is 'steamrolling along,' will cost between $300 and $400
- KAIST's HUBO shows off some newfound dexterity, hides emotions behind ill-fitting motorcycle helmet
- ITG's xpPhone gets options for larger screen and Windows 7, loses sense of identity
- Hallods F43 MP4 player packs a 4.3-inch 720p screen, outed in Japan
Resources
Sections
- Announcements
- Ask Engadget HD
- DIY
- Features
- Industry
- Misc
- Podcasts
- Polls
- Regulatory
- Reviews
- Blu-ray
- Cables
- Camcorders
- Displays
- DVRs
- HD DVD
- Media PCs
- Media streamers
- Other formats
- Other hardware
- Players
- Ports
- Receivers
- Recorders
- Remotes
- Set-top boxes
- Speakers
- Switches
- Tuners
Hardware
Manufacturers
WIN Network
- Autos
- Technology
- Lifestyle
- Gaming
- Finance
- Entertainment on AOL
- Lifestyle on AOL
- Sports on AOL
- Travel on AOL
- Also on AOL
Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in:
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
squiggleslash @ Dec 1st 2008 11:01AM
DrXym - I'd prefer they just standardize online downloads. Profile 2.1 could be the high level parts of HD DVD incorporated into Blu-ray (Advanced Content, etc.) It'd be an easy upgrade, and you'd get managed copy and a standardized download and standardized streaming system for free. BD-J with half a dozen third rate digital streaming standards is about the worst way of doing it, and does nothing to help create a flexible system that ultimately will allow digital purchases as well as digital rentals or subscriptions.
JBDragon - yep. It isn't easy to sell Blu-ray players at the moment. BD is a backwards format that's designed, essentially, for a world unchanged since the 1980s. It assumes people will want to visit stores to buy physical objects that represent the movies they want to watch.
But it's not the 1980s, or the 1990s, it's the 21st Century. Physical media is dying, and consumers are excited about systems that allow them to use their internet connections to watch libraries of content. HD is obviously a good thing, but it's not a compelling thing. What has proven to be compelling over the last thirty years has been increased convenience and features and anyone who produces a technology that offers slightly better quality but virtually no added convenience is not producing anything likely to be successful.
Behind it all, I think most Blu-ray manufacturers understand this. But they're screwed because the industry backed the wrong horse, so they're trying to make the best of it by incorporating the numerous proprietary streaming and download systems into their players, selling the players not as BD players but as generic "Better than DVD movie players".
Hence we have the situation thus far.