Since three of those links are to corporations with actual funds and reputations behind them, I seriously doubt they'd make accusations of that scale without some backing information. Then again, nothing they're accusing Sony of is illegal AFAIK, but it certainly colors readers views of them. Probably enough that if false, Sony would be going after them for a retraction/correction.
Take a look at comcast, FIOS, and uVerse VoD solutions, as three that I've seen personally. The prices on VoD are pretty darn low, and could mean the end of Netflix, as it's virtually instantaneous select to view. Then there's also AppleTV/iTunes, which offers a several viewing options with the cheapest being quite acceptable. Granted, all of these are below HD media capabilities in resolutions, but are generally better than DVDs and several work with what you already have, no extra components required.
As for rental periods, most movies are view once for me. My video library is actually quite small as compared to my music library. There's only a handful of movies that I'd watch more than once, so I bjuy very few these days.
Odds are that BD will be as obsolete as DVD for the next gen video standards. Was it Panasonic that was talking about 33Mb video in 5-10 years? No way that will fit on even a 10 layer BD disk.
Early adopters get fried - that's why they call it bleeding edge. That's about the lamest excuse I've read.
Hint, it's not, for so many many documented reasons - go read bluraysucks.com for some more info - it's slams both HD formats btw, even though BD is worse than HD DVD
Those are the lamest excuses I've ever read. Most of the information is invalid or out of date. Not one of those complaints about HD apply to me or affect me in any way. Most of those complaints are about getting screwed for being an early adopter. That happens with all new technology, not just BluRay and HD-DVD.
I guess you didn't bother truly reading it then. The removal of fair use is the primary theme and the ways that consumers are getting screwed.
I'm just glad one format is chosen, and in my opinion the better one was. More room, more capability and more features. The only thing BD has is more capacity as realized. The 51GB HD DVD triple layer spec would have removed that as well. From what I recall, BD's triple or higher layer specs required new players, HD DVD didn't.
If BD removed region encoding, ROM-Mark, BD+ and allowed for non encrypted disks to be played on players, then it would be the better solution.
BD requires AACS and ROM-Mark, IIRC. BD players won't play home burned disks, only commercially pressed ones, due to the Rom-Mark and AACS requirements. BD has region codes. BD lacks (still) many of the features already present in HD DVD. BD also costs about twice as much, even before the firesales. And last but not least, BD has BD+, essentially a back-door into your player that can brick it if some content provider's BD+ code decides your player doesn't match up with their expectations.
To be fair, BD also had more space. (Yes, had, the proposed 51GB triple layer HD DVDs evened that score as well, even though BD could have layered one more on top of that, but that's a never ending game of one-upmanship.
I'll condense this down to just the topic at hand, and not some esoteric discussion about passwords, as that is a wide open arena with many solutions.
No. In all three cases people went outside the well known, well documented processes because *they could* when due to problem nature and environment was well within engineering specs that they shouldn't be able to do what they did. Even the Hyatt case would have been avoided with such a simple ingeneering practice as "the engineer should have been there" since, by definition, any singular building is a prototype. You're wrong.
Let's rephrase that: You're wrong.
There's not a system made that cannot be gotten around. Chernobyl was a classic case. Three Mile Island was actually the result of engineers being forced to put in human overrides because the managers felt that computers needed a human hand guiding them.
Lastly, the Hyatt case solution you present looks obvious in hind sight, but the entire concept of signed plans arose precisely so the engineers wouldn't have to sit on their ass for 9 months while a building was built doing nothing and getting paid considerable sums.
So you: 0. Human Stupidity: 3.
Hint: hind sight recommendations to prevent a particular problem from arising is easy. It's also easily gotten around, or becomes ridiculously expensive and unmaintainable. That's why processes are put in place, and why there are repercussions for when someone steps outside of accepted and approved processes and things go badly, like in these three cases.
You can engineer something so well it never gets built, or put into place accepted uses and processes, and build it.
Seems to all be either very first release players (1.0 which were identified as non compliant), or people trying to play back an audio codec thats not supported on their system, or old firmware.. Nothing that's not obvious or easily fixed. Yeah, let's just blame it all on out of date firmware. The BD spec is about to come out, everything before then is merely prototype hardware.
But, I'm not paying $400 for a PS3 or any other BD system. I probably won't even pay $100
Fine - you don't like BluRay (or to be more precise Sony). Then why are you responding to a BluRay message discussion then other than to be an argumentative troll?
No, I don't like Sony specifically, but for more reasons than their buying the win in the HD format war.
As for responding in a "BlueRay" message discussion, I'd rather call it an HD media message discussion, which Blu-ray happens to be the only material version of as of 2/19/2008. And wasn't the title of this "Toshiba to Halt HD DVD production" Mr Troll?
Furthermore, in this thread the initial discussion was about someone not knowing what BD was, implying it was good. (Hint, it's not, for so many many documented reasons - go read bluraysucks.com for some more info - it's slams both HD formats btw, even though BD is worse than HD DVD.)
...fact is, the problem isn't the system per se - the problem is that too few people actually give a damn enough about forcing a change in the nastier incidents within it, at least not until the impact of any aspect affects them personally. While Sony buying BD's victory over HD DVD is certainly despicable, it is actually a very small issue for now. Sony only bought HD DVD's demise. They have yet to mandate anything on the masses. Not only that, BD could very likely still fail, despite it's "victory". That is why I despise Sony, primarily because I think the first time BD+ is actually really used and borks a decent percentage of BD players, BD itself will die. BD is not really a convincing improvement for the current displays owned by 90+ percent of the populace. DVD is still very compelling, and that combined with the emerging download market may very well spell the doom of BD.
Actually, I hope it does. If BD had not included region encoding and BD+, it would have been my favorite due to the superior technical specs for PC use. But, since BD insists on making players that won't play home recorded content, has Rom Mark, and BD+, and region encoding, you won't find a BD player in my house. You might find a burner for data though, but that won't help the media companies.
Have not seen that. Please provide link to the reference. Just google Blu-ray player audio problem.
Also, in reference to your GGP, the lowest price on a new BD player on and available from Amazon is $349.... I do know that the press release after the HD DVD defection about BD Live players was that they'd start at $599.
The best BluRay player out there now (at least until the HD-DVD manufacturers switch over to make more BluRay competition) is the PS3 and it will do BD Live 2.0. That unit new is under $400, with a movie thrown in, and you get a free game machine as a bonus. Best deal around.
Perhaps I don't want a viral game system, or is that a viral BD system? But yes, the PS3 is probably the best deal out there, which makes BD all the more questionable when a game system is both the cheapest and the "best" BD player. But, that still goesn't get around the fact that I do not want a PS3 gaming system.
But, I'm not paying $400 for a PS3 or any other BD system. I probably won't even pay $100 unless they'll play home burned BD disks. The only option there is PC BD players/burners. And if I'm buying a burner, there's no need for a player. The burner is just over $360 currently.
The industry wonks themselves have stated they'll be obsolete. Also, haven't there been a lot of reported issues with various players playing the couple of BD Live disks that are out?
Also, in reference to your GGP, the lowest price on a new BD player on and available from Amazon is $349. The lowest price for new/used in their reseller listings is $249. I'm not up on the quality of BD players so I don't know if any of those are "decent" prices for what you're getting. I do know that the press release after the HD DVD defection about BD Live players was that they'd start at $599.
Are you sure those are not engineering mistakes? If you ask a user to remember half a dozen, ten characters, unpronunciable password, they *will* stick them to a post-it on the monitor, and that's an engineering problem. That's not an engineering problem. That's a policy problem. Or would you call someone dying by driving into a bridge pillar at 120mph an engineering problem? (Keeping the person alive that is, keeping the bridge pillar intact is an engineering problem that was addressed successfully, as I've never seen a car damage a bridge pillar) Because something is possible doesn't necessarily make it an engineering "mistake". An engineering mistake is the foam on the space shuttle external fuel tank, or the first iteration of the V-22 Osprey's with composite bearings for the tilt rotors (don't know if they changed this - if not, expect more crashes) or the Tacoma Narrows bridge or any of a number of leaning buildings/towers. I know of at least 3 that I've personally visited. Something about building on sand and lack of proper foundations.... All are old though.
If you burden field technicians with unproper unergonomic "safe" mechanisms you know they *will* find workarounds, and that's an engineering problem. If you leave out the project management cycle on-field implantation, there will appear on-field problems that *will* be managed out the project management cycle and that's an engineering problem too. Your hypothetical tangents do not apply to any of the three situations presented.
At Chernobyl, a manager and some flunkies decided to run unauthorized "tests" that "failed" the first time because of safety devices. They then disabled those safety devices, and voila. The "test" itself was something that was cooked up by those morons.
The Hyatt was the result of someone going "That's too hard/impossible to build, let's change it". When building to approved blueprints, code states you do not change anything without a signature approval.
At three mile island, had they just let the computers do their thing, everything would have been fine. The employees didn't trust the computers, and overrode them. They did this at least on two separate occasions during the event, thwarting automated corrective actions that would have prevented the meltdown.
In all three cases, people went outside the well known, well documented processes because "they knew better". In two cases I'd say they expended significant effort to do so.
You'll notice I did not argue your 13.4% number. That's because Nielsen numbers are nothing more than an estimate, and can only be stated to be an estimate, however correct or incorrect. I didn't feel like researching it to determine the level of (in)correctness. Even HDTV sales numbers are questionable: my first question would be is that "shipped" numbers or actual retail sales minus returns(exchanges)?
Your leading statement is merely an attempt to argue by innuendo. Nicely done!
I think trying to have something removed from a site like Wikileaks will result in publicity. Having something removed from someone's blog that's read by 2 people will not.
6 million HDTV homes by the end of 2007 receive HD programming in some form or other. Not that I really feel like defending an AC, but that study only covers payed HD programming. Guess you missed the part where I indicated that those were subscribed HD source numbers? Nice editing.
But, to get to the point, those were the only available numbers I had available. HDTVs sold don't equal out either, because many people I know that have HDTVs, have more than one. So total number sold don't mean much either, other than giving a maximum potential penetration.
I guess you missed the gleeful cackle when the BD guys got the first whiff of victory? The one where when asked about BD 2.0 players and price drops, they responded effectively: no price drop. You can expect prices to start at 599 to 699, and there will be no foreseeable price drop in the future. I didn't keep the link, but that's what they said.
So I wouldn't go holding my breath waiting on a price drop.
I guess it'd be redundant calling an AC a troll, idiot, moron, and just out of the question to suggest that they provide links or any backing info of any kind.
6 million HDTV homes by the end of 2007 receive HD programming in some form or other. This is from subscribed HD sources and may not cover all HDTVs, but likewise it is no guarantee that all those subscribers have HDTVs either. With 6 million being <5% of the more than estimated 106M households in the US (2000 data), I think that answers anything the AC wishes to say.
On the need for glasses, on TV's less than 42" at normal viewing distances, HD content isn't that noticeably better than DVD sources. On larger TV's, the differences are directly affected by the quality of the TV itself, as there are large disparities in rendering capabilities of TVs, so my response to you might be "get something other than a bottom end 'HDTV'"....
And FYI: my current HDTV is greater than 42", and has enough processing power to render acceptable quality pictures even out of SD satellite sources. It upconverts everything to 1080i and has very good filters that limit things like the stair stepping effects.
But really, if you don't know what "Blu-Ray" is by now, you must live in a cave somewhere.... Why yes, I know it's an excessively expensive DRM'd to the hilt piece of Hollywood catering hardware that won't play anything not bought on a commercial BD disk.
Unfortunately, HD video in commercial format will be limited to BD, as D-VHS is a fringe format. I wonder whether BD will limit HD media in the same way Laser Disks were limited. I'm not so sure that HD content is all that convincing for most people with the TVs they have. The last study I saw says that less than 5% of US households even have HD TVs.
After reading through more items, I think the only course I'd take on BD is a PC based BD solution. Burner's are selling for less than the PS3, and I have no desire for a PS3 for gaming anyways. Also, PS3s will not play home movies recorded on BD disks, one of the things I wanted to be able to do with my HD player.
When 2.0 comes out on disks, those will not play on any current player
This is false, according to all the information I've read. The movies will play. But the "extra" features will lack capability. I can't find anything that will confirm or deny, other than reports in the media that all current BD players will need to be replaced except for the PS3. I did find that "home" recorded BD disks will not play in any commercial player, hence negating any reason for buying a commercial player when you can buy a burner for less than a player anyways.
... In addition, Blu-Ray requires the player support almost 50% more throughput-- that, combined with the higher capacity, means that Blu-ray discs can be compressed less and therefore have much higher quality audio and video. That's why a side-by-side comparison of the two almost universally favors Blu-ray on all the AV sites. And the (lack of) differences between the two formats show that on almost every double blind test that there's no difference in formats, but it is the transfer that makes the difference. You can be a whatever-phile, but format makes no difference to even the above average viewer. Arguing about which format delivers a better picture is like arguing which receiver/amp combination delivers the ultimate in sound. Above a certain level it becomes completely subjective. Both HD formats are in that region, at least until the next iteration comes along.
Well, I know I'd be pissed if I bought a Blu-ray player and a Blu-ray disk, and somewhere in the itsy bitsy tiny print, there was something about a 1.0 and a 1.1. Blu-ray players came to market with NO details on what profile they support. Just try to find out what profile a Blu-ray player has. It's not on the box. I checked 4 different ones.
When 2.0 comes out on disks, those will not play on any current player, with the possible exception of PS3's (Sony claims they will....)
For these, and many more reasons, I bought a HD DVD player, which supports a far superior format. Yes, I said superior. No region encoding. More features. No potential for content provider code running essentially as root and rewriting (bricking) your player. As for Blu-ray's reputed "more" space, show me a dual layer disk. It's not even known whether current players will actually play a dual layer disk. HD DVD players will. As to the codecs, HD DVD supports more advanced codecs. Blu-ray is largely old technology with a new specification that makes them incompatible with everything else out there.
This is not to say everything on Blu-ray is bad. I like the coating, and wish all DVDs would apply it. Anything that improves scratch resistance is a good thing.
Slashdot Mirror
It's a 33M pixel picture as compared to the roughly 2M pixel picture for HDTV. (My bad, not Mb, but Mp(ixel))
Since three of those links are to corporations with actual funds and reputations behind them, I seriously doubt they'd make accusations of that scale without some backing information. Then again, nothing they're accusing Sony of is illegal AFAIK, but it certainly colors readers views of them. Probably enough that if false, Sony would be going after them for a retraction/correction.
Downloads are already here.
Take a look at comcast, FIOS, and uVerse VoD solutions, as three that I've seen personally. The prices on VoD are pretty darn low, and could mean the end of Netflix, as it's virtually instantaneous select to view. Then there's also AppleTV/iTunes, which offers a several viewing options with the cheapest being quite acceptable. Granted, all of these are below HD media capabilities in resolutions, but are generally better than DVDs and several work with what you already have, no extra components required.
As for rental periods, most movies are view once for me. My video library is actually quite small as compared to my music library. There's only a handful of movies that I'd watch more than once, so I bjuy very few these days.
Odds are that BD will be as obsolete as DVD for the next gen video standards. Was it Panasonic that was talking about 33Mb video in 5-10 years? No way that will fit on even a 10 layer BD disk.
Then your IT geek card is in doubt, as 1s of googling brings up:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08012/848675-96.stm/
http://times.busytrade.com/1153/4/Toshiba_Cuts_Prices_and_Increases_Marketing_for_HD_DVD.html/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080220.RBLURAY20/TPStory/?query=Toshiba/
http://gizmodo.com/344680/the-real-reason-warner-went-blu+ray/
I don't think the payouts nor the amounts are in doubt.
What is in doubt is whether BD will actually succeed. It's price tag makes downloads look inviting.
Those are the lamest excuses I've ever read. Most of the information is invalid or out of date. Not one of those complaints about HD apply to me or affect me in any way. Most of those complaints are about getting screwed for being an early adopter. That happens with all new technology, not just BluRay and HD-DVD.
I guess you didn't bother truly reading it then. The removal of fair use is the primary theme and the ways that consumers are getting screwed. I'm just glad one format is chosen, and in my opinion the better one was. More room, more capability and more features. The only thing BD has is more capacity as realized. The 51GB HD DVD triple layer spec would have removed that as well. From what I recall, BD's triple or higher layer specs required new players, HD DVD didn't.If BD removed region encoding, ROM-Mark, BD+ and allowed for non encrypted disks to be played on players, then it would be the better solution.
BD requires AACS and ROM-Mark, IIRC. BD players won't play home burned disks, only commercially pressed ones, due to the Rom-Mark and AACS requirements. BD has region codes. BD lacks (still) many of the features already present in HD DVD. BD also costs about twice as much, even before the firesales. And last but not least, BD has BD+, essentially a back-door into your player that can brick it if some content provider's BD+ code decides your player doesn't match up with their expectations.
To be fair, BD also had more space. (Yes, had, the proposed 51GB triple layer HD DVDs evened that score as well, even though BD could have layered one more on top of that, but that's a never ending game of one-upmanship.
This was known or rumored already for weeks and weeks, even prior to the WB announcement IIRC.
Along with the $120M paid to Fox at the last minute to get them to stick with BD, and the reputed $400-500M WB received, I'm not shocked at all.
Sony bought the win in the format war, and that alone would be enough of a reason to not buy into the inflated BD format. (Inflated as in cost)
Let's rephrase that:
You're wrong.
There's not a system made that cannot be gotten around. Chernobyl was a classic case.
Three Mile Island was actually the result of engineers being forced to put in human overrides because the managers felt that computers needed a human hand guiding them.
Lastly, the Hyatt case solution you present looks obvious in hind sight, but the entire concept of signed plans arose precisely so the engineers wouldn't have to sit on their ass for 9 months while a building was built doing nothing and getting paid considerable sums.
So you: 0. Human Stupidity: 3.
Hint: hind sight recommendations to prevent a particular problem from arising is easy. It's also easily gotten around, or becomes ridiculously expensive and unmaintainable. That's why processes are put in place, and why there are repercussions for when someone steps outside of accepted and approved processes and things go badly, like in these three cases.
You can engineer something so well it never gets built, or put into place accepted uses and processes, and build it.
Fine - you don't like BluRay (or to be more precise Sony). Then why are you responding to a BluRay message discussion then other than to be an argumentative troll?
No, I don't like Sony specifically, but for more reasons than their buying the win in the HD format war.As for responding in a "BlueRay" message discussion, I'd rather call it an HD media message discussion, which Blu-ray happens to be the only material version of as of 2/19/2008. And wasn't the title of this "Toshiba to Halt HD DVD production" Mr Troll?
Furthermore, in this thread the initial discussion was about someone not knowing what BD was, implying it was good. (Hint, it's not, for so many many documented reasons - go read bluraysucks.com for some more info - it's slams both HD formats btw, even though BD is worse than HD DVD.)
Actually, I hope it does. If BD had not included region encoding and BD+, it would have been my favorite due to the superior technical specs for PC use. But, since BD insists on making players that won't play home recorded content, has Rom Mark, and BD+, and region encoding, you won't find a BD player in my house. You might find a burner for data though, but that won't help the media companies.
The best BluRay player out there now (at least until the HD-DVD manufacturers switch over to make more BluRay competition) is the PS3 and it will do BD Live 2.0. That unit new is under $400, with a movie thrown in, and you get a free game machine as a bonus. Best deal around.
Perhaps I don't want a viral game system, or is that a viral BD system? But yes, the PS3 is probably the best deal out there, which makes BD all the more questionable when a game system is both the cheapest and the "best" BD player. But, that still goesn't get around the fact that I do not want a PS3 gaming system.But, I'm not paying $400 for a PS3 or any other BD system. I probably won't even pay $100 unless they'll play home burned BD disks. The only option there is PC BD players/burners. And if I'm buying a burner, there's no need for a player. The burner is just over $360 currently.
The industry wonks themselves have stated they'll be obsolete. Also, haven't there been a lot of reported issues with various players playing the couple of BD Live disks that are out?
Also, in reference to your GGP, the lowest price on a new BD player on and available from Amazon is $349. The lowest price for new/used in their reseller listings is $249. I'm not up on the quality of BD players so I don't know if any of those are "decent" prices for what you're getting. I do know that the press release after the HD DVD defection about BD Live players was that they'd start at $599.
At Chernobyl, a manager and some flunkies decided to run unauthorized "tests" that "failed" the first time because of safety devices. They then disabled those safety devices, and voila. The "test" itself was something that was cooked up by those morons.
The Hyatt was the result of someone going "That's too hard/impossible to build, let's change it". When building to approved blueprints, code states you do not change anything without a signature approval.
At three mile island, had they just let the computers do their thing, everything would have been fine. The employees didn't trust the computers, and overrode them. They did this at least on two separate occasions during the event, thwarting automated corrective actions that would have prevented the meltdown.
In all three cases, people went outside the well known, well documented processes because "they knew better". In two cases I'd say they expended significant effort to do so.
I don't know about the rest of them. Yes, I'm an engineer. Two of those were covered in my engineering class.
You'll notice I did not argue your 13.4% number. That's because Nielsen numbers are nothing more than an estimate, and can only be stated to be an estimate, however correct or incorrect. I didn't feel like researching it to determine the level of (in)correctness. Even HDTV sales numbers are questionable: my first question would be is that "shipped" numbers or actual retail sales minus returns(exchanges)?
Your leading statement is merely an attempt to argue by innuendo. Nicely done!
It's MSRP. Real prices should be somewhat lower.
And current BD players need to be liquidated. The BD Live (2.0) players are coming, and all current players (PS3 excepted) will be obsolete.
I think trying to have something removed from a site like Wikileaks will result in publicity. Having something removed from someone's blog that's read by 2 people will not.
But, to get to the point, those were the only available numbers I had available. HDTVs sold don't equal out either, because many people I know that have HDTVs, have more than one. So total number sold don't mean much either, other than giving a maximum potential penetration.
I guess you missed the gleeful cackle when the BD guys got the first whiff of victory? The one where when asked about BD 2.0 players and price drops, they responded effectively: no price drop. You can expect prices to start at 599 to 699, and there will be no foreseeable price drop in the future. I didn't keep the link, but that's what they said.
So I wouldn't go holding my breath waiting on a price drop.
I guess it'd be redundant calling an AC a troll, idiot, moron, and just out of the question to suggest that they provide links or any backing info of any kind.
6 million HDTV homes by the end of 2007 receive HD programming in some form or other. This is from subscribed HD sources and may not cover all HDTVs, but likewise it is no guarantee that all those subscribers have HDTVs either. With 6 million being <5% of the more than estimated 106M households in the US (2000 data), I think that answers anything the AC wishes to say.
On the need for glasses, on TV's less than 42" at normal viewing distances, HD content isn't that noticeably better than DVD sources. On larger TV's, the differences are directly affected by the quality of the TV itself, as there are large disparities in rendering capabilities of TVs, so my response to you might be "get something other than a bottom end 'HDTV'"....
And FYI: my current HDTV is greater than 42", and has enough processing power to render acceptable quality pictures even out of SD satellite sources. It upconverts everything to 1080i and has very good filters that limit things like the stair stepping effects.
Unfortunately, HD video in commercial format will be limited to BD, as D-VHS is a fringe format. I wonder whether BD will limit HD media in the same way Laser Disks were limited. I'm not so sure that HD content is all that convincing for most people with the TVs they have. The last study I saw says that less than 5% of US households even have HD TVs.
After reading through more items, I think the only course I'd take on BD is a PC based BD solution. Burner's are selling for less than the PS3, and I have no desire for a PS3 for gaming anyways. Also, PS3s will not play home movies recorded on BD disks, one of the things I wanted to be able to do with my HD player.
This is false, according to all the information I've read. The movies will play. But the "extra" features will lack capability. I can't find anything that will confirm or deny, other than reports in the media that all current BD players will need to be replaced except for the PS3. I did find that "home" recorded BD disks will not play in any commercial player, hence negating any reason for buying a commercial player when you can buy a burner for less than a player anyways.
... In addition, Blu-Ray requires the player support almost 50% more throughput-- that, combined with the higher capacity, means that Blu-ray discs can be compressed less and therefore have much higher quality audio and video. That's why a side-by-side comparison of the two almost universally favors Blu-ray on all the AV sites. And the (lack of) differences between the two formats show that on almost every double blind test that there's no difference in formats, but it is the transfer that makes the difference. You can be a whatever-phile, but format makes no difference to even the above average viewer. Arguing about which format delivers a better picture is like arguing which receiver/amp combination delivers the ultimate in sound. Above a certain level it becomes completely subjective. Both HD formats are in that region, at least until the next iteration comes along.Well, I know I'd be pissed if I bought a Blu-ray player and a Blu-ray disk, and somewhere in the itsy bitsy tiny print, there was something about a 1.0 and a 1.1. Blu-ray players came to market with NO details on what profile they support. Just try to find out what profile a Blu-ray player has. It's not on the box. I checked 4 different ones.
When 2.0 comes out on disks, those will not play on any current player, with the possible exception of PS3's (Sony claims they will....)
For these, and many more reasons, I bought a HD DVD player, which supports a far superior format. Yes, I said superior. No region encoding. More features. No potential for content provider code running essentially as root and rewriting (bricking) your player. As for Blu-ray's reputed "more" space, show me a dual layer disk. It's not even known whether current players will actually play a dual layer disk. HD DVD players will. As to the codecs, HD DVD supports more advanced codecs. Blu-ray is largely old technology with a new specification that makes them incompatible with everything else out there.
This is not to say everything on Blu-ray is bad. I like the coating, and wish all DVDs would apply it. Anything that improves scratch resistance is a good thing.