It's been all over GameTab.com, Kotaku, and EvilAvatar, and it's your news bulletin for today: At the "Experience More 2006" event in Sydney, Austrailia, Vincent Bautista, Sony's product manager for data storage told CNET.com.au yesterday that Sony's first Blu-Ray player on the market, "BWU 100A," will be able to play (and I quote) "User recorded high definition content from a digital camcorder, and not commercial movies released under the BD (Blu-Ray Disc} format."
But this is only half-correct, and supporters of Blu-Ray need not get upset about it. Let's look at the reasons behind the above statement and go from there.
There are two reasons Mr. Bautista gave:
First, CNET reports, "commercial content is encrypted with High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP), which can only be decrypted using a HDCP-compliant graphics card that offers DVI or HDMI connections. Since there are currently no PCs for sale offering graphics chips that support HDCP, this isn't yet possible."
There are, actually a few PCs that support Blu-Ray, however they are Sony made (their VAIO). It is also possible that these PCs just haven't been released in Australia yet, though with the internet, I find that hard to believe.
And second, CNET reports, "BD playback software that can decrypt HDCP isn't 'released as a saleable item yet'. Today, the only HDCP-supporting BD playback application is the OEM version of Intervideo WinDVD BD that's bundled with Sony's VAIO VGN-AR18GP notebook. The AR18GP also offers an HDCP-compliant HDMI connector, which makes it capable of playing commercial movies without issue."
This makes sense, as the software to play Blu-Ray movies isn't available in the current mainstream yet unless you pick up one of the few Sony PCs with the capabilities - or splurge on a new and fairly expensive video card.
So it's more-or-less a bumpkis report.
Keep in mind this is regarding the Australian release of Blu-Ray. Not the worldwide release. This isn't the first Blu-Ray player on the market, the Pioneer BDR-101A is the first PC Blu-Ray drive, but this Sony model it is the first Blu-Ray drive to make it to Australia.
Blu-Ray is stumbling in Australia, that's about it. It's not doing that great in the States or in Europe either, but it might be because they retail for around $1000 USD. It's far too early to condemn the Blu-Ray over these missteps, but it's most certainly not good press for Sony's new baby.
I'm just going to leave it at that today. Have a great Sunday!