Owners of Blu-ray players may become frozen out, PS3 is safe

279w ago - The BBC reports on how owners of already purchased Blu-ray players may effectively find themselves locked out of future developments in the technology as their machines are not upgradeable.

Later on in the year, BD Live will be launched to support features to connect to the Internet and download content but as Internet functionality is not a strict requirement, no Blu-ray players currently on the market will be able to access this feature.

However, there is one small exception to the previous thought and that is the PS3 which should always be able to keep up with the Blu-ray technology updates due to the correct hardware and online access.

To quote: Machines released onto the market since November are called profile 1.1, but none of the standalone Blu-ray players can be upgraded to accommodate this profile.

Films will still play on the machines, but access to extra features is limited.

Later this year the Blu-ray camp will offer profile 2.0, called BD Live, which will allow the players which support the feature to connect to the internet to download related content, such as ringtones, trailers and photos.

But because internet functionality is not a mandatory requirement in current players, none on the market today will be able to access the feature.

The only Blu-ray player which can upgraded to use all the features is Sony's PlayStation 3, because it comes with the right hardware built-in and online access.