Reporting from the Australian launch event in Sydney for Sony's first PC Blu-ray Disc burner, the BWU-100A, CNET reveals that it won't play commercial Blu-ray Disc movies, only high-def footage from HDV digital camcorders!
And this is for a product that carries a fearsome price - AU$1,399, equivalent to £563. However those living in Oz get screwed more royally even that we in the UK do - the price in the USA is US$750 and that translates to £397 (ex VAT).
Sony has yet to announce the UK availability or pricing, so it's anyone's guess what the VAT-inclusive ticket might be over here.
CNET quotes Sony as admitting that there's "significant room for improvement before the product is viable for integration into media centre PCs" and says that the company was offering two excuses for the shortcoming.
The first was that no current PC yet includes a graphic cards that supports HDCP (High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection) - the encryption system used on Blu-ray Disc movies.
The second was that no player software that can decrypt HDCP has been "released as a saleable item yet" - though CNET points out that Intervideo's WinDVD BD is actually bundled with Sony's own VAIO notebook PC, the VGN-AR18GP, which is fully BD-compliant.
So, in effect, Sony is saying that it's not willing to bundle any compliant player software with the BWU-100A (in Australia, any way) - perhaps because it's worried about the pricing being pushed even higher. And, of course, since the VAIO does play Blu-ray movies then, presumably, it must carry an HDCP-compliant GPU as well!
Though we hadn't noticed it before, we've now realised that, in a masterful demonstration of the art of spin, Sony USA's July 18 press release about the BWU-100A completely ignores everything to do with playing commercial BD movies and instead concentrates on the positives.
What could you imagine is amiss when you read a line like this, "Now consumers, professional videographers and filmmakers can store, record and experience the highest capacity of high-definition video available – from capture to playback"?
Or this, " For personal content captured on a HDV camcorder, the BD drive is optimized for keeping the video in the native HDV 1080i for playback on home players compatible with BD-AV format and PCs with BD drives installed."?
Creepy or what?
So, is this yet another dark shadow over Blu-ray Disc or just an understandable blip? Check out the CNET story and let us know your thoughts in this thread in the HEXUS.lifestyle news forum.
HEXUS.links
HEXUS.community :: discussion thread about this articleHEXUS.lifestyle headline :: First AVCHD hi-def camcorders due from Sony in September
HEXUS.lifestyle headline :: Blu-ray and HD DVD blank-disc price shocker!
External.links
CNET Australia - First Blu-ray disc drive won’t play Blu-ray moviesSony USA press release - SONY UNVEILS FIRST BLU-RAY DISC DRIVE BURNER
