The Blu-ray camp has been playing with the anti-piracy protection fire and once again consumers got burned. The addition of the BD+ copyright protection technology rendered recent Blu-ray discs basically unplayable, as several such players don't support the new protection software.

The BD+ technology was finalized in June, 2007 and therefore, it affects all the players released previously.

According to initial http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/multimedia/display/20071010222535.html, the BD+ discs won't play at all on LG Electronics BH100 and Samsung BD-P1200 players. Sony's S1 and several Panasonic models still offer playback capability, but the "playback" has actually been stretched to the limit thanks to the extremely slow load times.

Samsung has already managed to issue a firmware update, which can be downloaded from its site. Also, Sony announced that the PlayStation 3 will play BD+ movies after the 1.93 firmware is applied.

The first two movies to feature the BD+ technology are Twentieth Century Fox's The Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer and The Day After Tomorrow.

This might be just the start of a firmware frenzy that won't last for some time. It's understandable that companies are eager to do everything in their power to protect their turf, but they shouldn't be amazed if consumers took another step back and decided to take a rain check on purchasing a next-gen player. You simply don't get people to come willingly to your camp if you place barbwire around it.

Blu-ray Security Update IS More Anti-Consumer Than Anti-Piracy


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