Blu Ray Spec 1.1 pushed back to Oct 07 from June 07

[RobertR1]

What does it mean!?

"'Blu-ray Disc players released after Oct. 31 will feature markedly improved functionality over models currently available for sale.

The Blu-ray Disc Assn. has mandated that all hardware streeting after that date must be able to play back picture-in-picture video, as driven by BD Java interactive technology. Many players on shelves now can handle BD Java, but to varying degrees. Few Blu-ray players include picture-in-picture capability, for instance, not even the PlayStation 3.

Sony’s current and summer 2007 stand-alone models and available Pioneer and Philips units are among those lacking the picture-in-picture feature.

With two different pools of players at retail in the near future, studios will have to navigate how to best create titles that play universally. A title with a highly touted picture-in-picture feature, for example, might not play properly on all players.

Additionally, after Oct. 31, all Blu-ray players must hold a minimum 256MB of persistent memory storage, which will help power the picture-in-picture feature. Also, any Blu-ray player that features an Internet connection is required to have 1GB of such memory, in order to hold whatever content users decide to download from the Web."

So if you want to hold off on a fully spec'd BR player, wait until the holidays. While the PS3 does have the raw power, Sony has been very tightlipped about it being firmware updated to sped 1.1 or above in the future. Still, the PS3 is the safe bet until proper players comeo ut.

 

[Capeta]

Sounds messy...

 

[patsu]

Em... more firmware upgrade for PS3. May have to throw away some early Blu-ray players.

 

[RobertR1]

Em... more firmware upgrade for PS3. May have to throw away some early Blu-ray players.

It'd be nice if Sony would actually go on record and assure us that the PS3 will be firmware updated with the upcoming specs.

I recall Sony engineers discussing DTS-HD MA support in the spring update but clearly that did not materialize so something concrete on both matters would be nice.

 

[DemoCoder]

The PS3 does include PIP! Go buy or rent the BluRay version of the horror movie "Descent" and watch "The Descent Experience"

 

[wishiknew]

Isn't 'PIP' in Descent achived by storing 2 full length movie encodes on the disc with the regular and the one with PIP.

Don't mind this workaround as long as studios use BD50, AVC and Dolby ThueHD.

I personally its the hardware dual stream decoding chips holding up 1.1.

 

[RobertR1]

The PS3 does include PIP! Go buy or rent the BluRay version of the horror movie "Descent" and watch "The Descent Experience"

That's a hack PIP. 2 full movie encodes on one disc. Not quite the active 2nd stream.

 

[patsu]

It'd be nice if Sony would actually go on record and assure us that the PS3 will be firmware updated with the upcoming specs.

I recall Sony engineers discussing DTS-HD MA support in the spring update but clearly that did not materialize so something concrete on both matters would be nice.

Sure... but we heard nothing otherwise, so my assumption is it will still come. They have also promised DVD upscaling.

At one point, Sony indicated that PS3 can decode 2 full AVC streams using less than 50% of Cell. Is it more difficult to implement PIP as opposed to 2 full streams ?

 

[Rolf N]

Sure... but we heard nothing otherwise, so my assumption is it will still come. They have also promised DVD upscaling.

At one point, Sony indicated that PS3 can decode 2 full AVC streams using less than 50% of Cell. Is it more difficult to implement PIP as opposed to 2 full streams ?

Two independent streams, depending on how they are laid out on disk, can potentially excercise the drive, with frequent seeks between two streams.

However I think it's pretty stupid to store a (low res) commentary stream separately. It should just be interleaved with the primary video stream. When playing "just the movie" the extra data for the commentary can just be ignored. That's not a big loss as the achievable transfer rates are ample and it's more important to keep the drive streaming data back-to-back, not least for noise levels.

 

[Per B]

I think it would be cool if they defined a mandatory level of 3D graphics support for a future version of BD-J, basically turning every future Blu-ray player into a gaming console. I mean, the games for the Blu-ray players doesn't have to be full-blown games, but rather interactive versions of certain scenes where you can try them out yourself.

Could the TI Omap processors be used in Blu-ray players? Are there any other chips for blu-ray players with some 3D hardware support?

 

[RobertR1]

I think it would be cool if they defined a mandatory level of 3D graphics support for a future version of BD-J, basically turning every future Blu-ray player into a gaming console. I mean, the games for the Blu-ray players doesn't have to be full-blown games, but rather interactive versions of certain scenes where you can try them out yourself.

Could the TI Omap processors be used in Blu-ray players? Are there any other chips for blu-ray players that has some 3D hardware support?

The player prices are already high enough. Adding more defeats the main purpose, which is to drive the prices down quickly to the mass consumer level.

They have game consoles for proper games.....

 

[Per B]

They have game consoles for proper games.....

Well, that could be said about 3D-capable mobile phones as well... and I'm pretty sure that market will eventually take off.

My take on it was that with efficient 3D tech like PowerVR we get 3D almost for free, so why not define a profile for that in Blu-ray as well?!? Very few have the option to develop for the PS3, but by giving the option to develop simplier games for the blu-ray players could open up a new market which should also benefit Blu-ray.