Get Ready for Blu-Ray 2.0

We waited for the Blu-Ray vs HD battle to be over for a long time. Now that Blu-ray has won, we find a new standard creeping in. Welcome Blu-Ray 2.0.

So whats the difference in 2.0 versus whats already out there? I mean, a Blu-Ray player is a Blu-Ray player right? Well, not exactly. You see Blu-ray has profiles which determine what features are available for playback.

Let me try to break it down for you.

From the first Blu-Ray player released until around November 2007, they were all profile 1.0 players. They offered no local storage, no Internet capabilities and a secondary video and audio decoder was optional.

Profile 1.1 aka “Bonus View” players are being sold now along side of the Profile 1.0 players. Profile 1.1 players allow for picture-in-picture content which allows you to browse other features while the main film is running. To do this they had to include local storage which is at minimum 256k. These added features mean that Profile 1.1 players also have a mandatory second video and audio decoder.

Profile 2.0 aka “BD-Live” players are set to be released this year. They include a local storage upgrade over Profile 1.1 players. This takes local storage from 256k to 1 gigabyte. Along with the added memory, Profile 2.0 players will have an ethernet port for Internet access. Once you are hooked up to the Internet, BD-Live will give you access to content such as online shopping and games.

Both Sony and Panasonic have already stated their plans to make BD-Live players. The Sony BDP-S550 will be priced at around $500, and Panasonic’s DMP-BD50 will be between $500 and $650. Both should be available this fall.

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