DO NOT spend money on Blu Ray "authoring" packages!

[neil wilkes]

Unless it is either
Sonic Solutions Scenarist 4, with Blu Ray addon (for the BD-J) and the CineVision set for proofing. Cost = $150,000, or
Sony Blu-Print. Cost = Unknown

Why?
Because Roxios DVDit Pro, Adobe's forthcoming EncoreCS3 and all the rest of the packages available cannot produce a master disc you can distribute or have replicated.
Only the above packages have the necessary licenses to produce replication Masters. ALL others are strictly for BD-R only.

Also - watch the spec change f**k up Blu Ray in October.
P-I-P is going to be optional.
BD-J is mandatory.
Network connectivity is optional.
Watch out for a whole range of new discs that simply will not work on a lot of players.

 

[Ge Someone]

BD-J is mandatory.

Isn't that called BD+

Thanks for the advise although in time BD-R might become a thing for the "home users" like most of us, that will be years from now.

 

[Chris Gerhard]

Isn't that called BD+

Thanks for the advise although in time BD-R might become a thing for the "home users" like most of us, that will be years from now.

BD+ is the next level of copy protection and it is a apparently ready. Fox and possibly Disney insisted on this extra level. Whether or not it is really secure will be interesting to see. BD-J is the Java based Blu-ray interactive stuff and it is coming soon. New discs with these features that won't be accessible by the early players isn't the big deal Neil tries to make it in my opinion. There is zero chance movies and concerts and other Blu-ray releases won't be playable in current players. There may be interactive discs that are specifically made and labeled for only the BD-J capable players and there will be many discs with features that can't be accessed, but as far as BD-J turning current players into bricks, I am not concerned. BD-J may be so cool that many will want to upgrade. The two new Pirates of the Caribbean Blu-ray discs used the Java stuff to some extent and all players were upgraded by firmware to play the discs. A nuisance it is, but fatal it isn't.

Chris

 

[neil wilkes]

BD-J is the Java based Blu-ray interactive stuff and it is coming soon. New discs with these features that won't be accessible by the early players isn't the big deal Neil tries to make it in my opinion.
Chris

Not according to SonoPress Europe & Abbey Road Interactive.
Additionally, they are *both* saying the problem in the spec change also has to do with PIP and Network connectivity.
These are not being made mandatory in new players, yet Network Connectivity is going to rapidly become a way of delivering Interactive Content by hooking up directly to a website so the interactive content is not on the discs, but streamed at you from a website down a broadband connection. If your player does not support this, that's half your disc features screwed.
PIP is not quite as serious an omission, but again - anything *designed* to use this feature will simply not work properly/at all on players that have this left out.

BOTH HD formats are broken. Nobody should really be buying into either one right now.

 

[Chris Gerhard]

BOTH HD formats are broken. Nobody should really be buying into either one right now.

Not unless you want the best possible video quality for the few hundred movies available on those formats. I paid $200 and $340 plus shipping for my HD DVD and Blu-ray players respectively. I received 5 free HD DVD's in the mail. We have watched about 30 Blu-ray discs and about 6 HD DVD discs in the 4 months we have owned the players. We are currently finding about 1 HD DVD and 3 Blu-ray movies per month we like to watch after watching a bunch that were mostly not movies we wanted to watch the first couple of months due to the wow factor. I am confident both of my players will play the new releases for years and I understand neither will do some of the more advanced audio and some of the interactive stuff.

The software selection isn't what I had hoped for, but otherwise I am happy with both players. I want HD DVD to bow out, it is absolutely redundant and unnecessary. I could never fault anybody for waiting until this unfortunate and stupid format war ends and I could never fault anybody for not buying either if it doesn't end.

All I ask is that the new releases on both formats play on my players while understanding I won't have access to many of the new features. I don't often do anything with DVD except watch the movie and so far that is exactly how I use the new formats. Both have worked great for me. Watching "The Adventures of Robin Hood", a 1938 favorite of mine on HD DVD was really amazing. Right now, I consider both technical successes and understand some specifications and issues need to be resolved, but the problems will be solved and pretty quickly at this point. Until you see and hear Blu-ray in your own theater, I don't think you can really be too critical of the format, only the mess the market is right now.

Chris

 

[Ge Someone]

BD-J is the Java based Blu-ray interactive stuff and it is coming soon.

I see,
Seems like HD-DVD has something similar called HDi, which seems to be mandatory to get the HD-DVD logo.
Here Microsoft stepped in to design this (complete with a server implementation on the Internet side of things). I like to stay neutral to this subject, but I found a pro HD-DVD article that highlights what Neil is saying. click.

Please don't let this spoil anybodies HD pleasure.