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About a decade ago (shit, that went fast) I went into a department store, selected a shiny new Toshiba DVD player, asked an important question (at least for an Aussie): is this player multi-region? Got me a straight answer, bought it, went home, pressed play and then began to amass a collection larger than King Kong’s arse. Cut to today. As unfathomable as it seems, DVD is old hat already, and in its stead has arisen the victor of yet another format war: Blu-ray. While companies extol the virtues of this new format, prattling on about superior picture, sound and oh-so-happy feelings of giddy goodness, the relatively swift and EASY conversion to a newer format ain’t so simple this time around. Of course none of this is being discussed by the companies, but message boards online and electronics stores are being bombarded with questions no one seems to be able to give a straight answer to. You almost need to engage in a four year university degree to cut through all the bullshit being used to cover up the biggest consumer slap in face in the history of home entertainment. Is Blu-ray superior to DVD? In terms of visuals, sound, and capability to hold all sorts of special features – without question (for new releases). The picture is a feast, with one important distinction: movies shot in a bygone era being offered have got to be digitally remastered. A good percentage of them haven’t been, and at such a high resolution every grain, errant flick of snot, or greasy finger that has soiled the master print is gonna show up like an albino at a sun-tanning competition. Not to mention half the titles being released make no attempt to use the storage capacity for special features or the interactive features being spouted by the brochure regurgitating used-car salesman pitches from their makers. Next on Blu-ray’s mediocrity train is region-coding And this is where a lot of consumers are getting REALLY pissed. While defeated HD-DVD had no region coding, Blu-Ray has taken the previous (and ultimately ignored) DVD model and reduced the regions to three: A, B and C. Australian law – like most countries - had ruled back with DVD that region coding was a breach of a consumer’s freedom of choice, and forced manufacturers to make all hardware compatible with all regions. A lot of US and UK collectors also seek the option to buy worldwide, as the diversity in releases for each title can vary dramatically - both in content and in cost - from country to country. Well the studios are again attempting to gouge the international consumer by ensuring their various worldwide distribution arms have no competition from other countries. Not only are the machines coded, but also the discs, so even if you do have a player that claims to be region free, if the disc itself is coded, you’re up shit creek without a paddle – it won’t play. Fox and Disney have coded almost all of their titles, but the other companies have about a 70% average of un-coded product.
It means that even if you pay extra to get a region free player, you still have a 30% chance the movie you buy from overseas won’t play… in addition to the hundreds or thousands of international DVDs you’ve already bought that won’t be ‘backwards compatible’ as they claim unless they are from your region. Also a fact Blu-ray peeps won’t be letting you know is that no manufacturing standard has been set to date. What does this mean? Well, they don’t have to include all of the wondrous features advertised in such generalised, vacuous consumer information… every player, and therefore every rule, is different from brand to brand. To listen to them, you just buy a player and all is set to go! Not so… This is the most obvious rip off To watch Blu-ray in the quality being touted, you need a TRUE High-Definition Television, a Blu-ray player, disc, and a HDMI-cable. Let’s just say you already have the TV and you’re off to get a player. You buy it, thinking you can go home and watch Blu Ray movies at the ‘highest resolution’ – the whole selling point of this new technology. Wrong. The HDMI-cable(s), which if you want TRUE-HD are gonna set you back around 100+ dollars a piece, are not included with most models currently on the shelf… So in short, they are asking you to buy a machine that is double or triple the cost of a DVD player to play discs that are double or triple the cost of a DVD (that might not play if you buy them from overseas) that will also need the latest TV to play it, and require the additional expenditure of a criminally overpriced chord to actually use the machine the way it’s intended. Doesn’t sound so impressive now, does it? Then there’s ‘firmware updates’ (fancy online connectivity between you and the studios/manufacturers that’s supposed to keep your machines current). Half the machines are already incompatible with updates specs and plainly obsolete. Half the manufacturers (Samsung being a constant offender) don’t yet have the infrastructure in place to make the updates needed in a timely fashion, making you wait sometimes months for updates that are – if you listen to the bullshit of Blu-ray salespeople – supposed to keep you ‘up-to-the-minute’ compatible with current releases. What’s being done about this? Well, not much from the people wanting you to upgrade. There are dedicated people out there online making lists to inform consumers which discs are coded. There are certain companies that can work their soldering irons to unlock your players (for even more money). There are attempts being made to unify the manufacturing specs and whispers of true multi-region players on the way. But isn’t all of this evidence enough of the complete lack of respect given to the paying public? There is no excuse for not supplying an off the shelf, ready to do what’s claimed, machine that doesn’t need a freak’n Watergate length addendum attached to get to the truth. DVD was an easy, fast, consumer friendly change to a better quality of home entertainment. I adopted the format faster than a comic book geek would sell his mother for Wonder Woman’s undies. I am a law abiding consumer, supporting the studios by refusing to buy bootleg films; I spend considerable time each week reviewing their new products, and I am excited to adapt to the new technology. But until consumer gouging ceases, some simplicity and customer friendly measures are employed, I’m sticking with DVD. Blu-ray may be the future, but right now it’s nothing short of an overpriced/underperforming pain in the arse. You want my money (and I would guess many others) Blu-ray sellers? Then treat us right.   Comments
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