Will Meridian make an HD DVD player?

[kennyt]

Blu-ray has been out for ~18 months now and we still are seeing problems with every new big hit. Imagine what this is doing for the guy who bought it at BB and now his wife and kids can't play ROTSS on it! He looks like an idiot, and if he doesn't realize he needs a firmware update... Well...

One issue I have is as a MAC user, I have SO much hassle to get these on line! I have to go back to PC's to open stuff, then as the only PC I have doesn't have a DVD burner in it I have to go back to my MAC and copy it to a DVD-R. It's a huge headache and one I've never had with an HD DVD PLayer. Toshiba in fact mails me the new updates when they come out.

Does ANY Blu-ray maker do that??? Pretty sure not as I've owned most of them.

[deacongreg]

Originally Posted by kennyt

Blu-ray has been out for ~18 months now and we still are seeing problems with every new big hit. Imagine what this is doing for the guy who bought it at BB and now his wife and kids can't play ROTSS on it! He looks like an idiot, and if he doesn't realize he needs a firmware update... Well...

One issue I have is as a MAC user, I have SO much hassle to get these on line! I have to go back to PC's to open stuff, then as the only PC I have doesn't have a DVD burner in it I have to go back to my MAC and copy it to a DVD-R. It's a huge headache and one I've never had with an HD DVD PLayer. Toshiba in fact mails me the new updates when they come out.

Does ANY Blu-ray maker do that??? Pretty sure not as I've owned most of them.

Again kennyt, I agree. David, I really don`t understand why you do not see this as a problem. One thing though is obvious, it seems, that the SONY PS3 is the most reliable Blu-Ray unit on the market. Why? I don`t think we know, but maybe if you want to go the Blu-Ray route, SONY should push its own unit. Until they can do something to limit these updates.
David, hit eject, push play, thats all it should be. period.

[DaViD Boulet]

Imagine what this is doing for the guy who bought it at BB and now his wife and kids can't play ROTSS on it! He looks like an idiot, and if he doesn't realize he needs a firmware update... Well...

That is not the consumer purchasing either HD DVD or BD right now. I don't see why this fact is continually ignored.

Originally Posted by deacongreg

David, hit eject, push play, thats all it should be. period.

And 18 months from now that will be the norm. We ALL knew that there would be growing pains as profile 1.1 comes along in addition to more advanced use of java. It's not a big deal. We're early adoptors. If anyone is "surprised" by having to run an occasional update at this stage of the game they've clearly not been reading even a modicum of conversation about HD media over the past 2 years... since these evolving issues have been known all along.

Here's another shock. Some of your existing hardware doesn't have HDMI 1.3 and won't decode DTS HD MA either. Does that surprise you too?

Or were you planning on purchasing another BD/HD DVD player within a few years once the technology is fully settled and when prices come down? Most of us... both those who've purchased HD DVD and BD hardware, have been educated about the evolution of these technologies and aren't having a problem. I'm sure if tri-layer HD DVD media really makes it to market... these same "just push play" blu-ray protesters wouldn't have anything negative to say about needing to buy a new HD DVD player in order to play 51GB HD DVD discs... rather they will probably praise Toshiba for letting progress march on. Or are we prepared to play fair and give both formats equal room to grow?

[kennyt]

DaVID,

I personally will be upgrading my players as better ones come out, oh wait, I've already done that three times so far and already am planning on doing it again....

Unfortunately, these players ARE being sold @ BB and people no where near as into this hobby as I are buying them and having real world problems.

That is my point, these ARE the consumers starting to buy these and need to be the consumers who have success with them in order for the format to succeed.

Face it, it three J6P's are talking, one has a Blu-ray, one an HD DVD player and one is considering buying one.... If the HD DVD guy has had no problems, while the BD guy is bitching about problems with all the new discs his kids want to watch, which one does the third guy buy?? I'd be surprised if our wining on forums such as these doesn't push more people to HD DVD for exactly this reason.

As for being fair, I am strongly in the Blu-ray camp, but my loyalty is fading as my HD DVD player WORKS, best yet, Toshiba mails me firmware updates when they are needed! No Blu-ray player I am aware of does this and I think that is bad. If they did, then J6P would just put in a disc once in a while and be fine, but making us MAC users go through the BS we have to to get these updates is a real PITA even for a tech geek like me!

Sorry.... had to rave some...

[DaViD Boulet]

Merdian officially states they have not annoucned products for either format category:

Bob Stuart emailed me today and confirmed the following:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Thank you for taking the time to write to me. I am not sure where you read this, but Meridian has not yet made any announcements about for which, if any, formats it will build players. Certainly the battle still rages!"

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

Merdian officially states they have not annoucned products for either format category:

Bob Stuart emailed me today and confirmed the following:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Thank you for taking the time to write to me. I am not sure where you read this, but Meridian has not yet made any announcements about for which, if any, formats it will build players. Certainly the battle still rages!"

You sure like to troll around with that email.

http://media.meridian-audio.com/pres...ddvd-ces07.pdf

There they mention the players they're working on with MS. They haven't officially announced any player. That part is true, but they are working on them.