EngadgetHD is the first to report something we all suspected. Blu Ray players are not ready for BD+ DRM.

Fox has released it's first two Blu Ray titles after a long hiatus from releasing anything for the platform. Fox's The Day After Tomorrow and Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer both use Blu Ray's proprietary BD+ DRM. According to the article, players will likely be unable to play the titles without a firmware update. The Samsung BD-P1000 was reported as being able to play the new discs after a long delay, but the newer Samsung BD-P1200 was unable to play the discs at all, giving a firmware update necessary screen on both discs. There is at this time no firmware available for the BD-P1200 to remedy this situation. It is unknown at this time how players from other manufacturers will fare with these titles. Both Disney and Fox claim BD+ as one of the pillars of their preference of Blu Ray over competing HD DVD. I doubt the Blu Ray consumer would agree at this point.

I imagine this is just the first of many reports on how Blu Ray's unfinished specification is negatively affecting Blu Ray player owners as BD+ and BD-J begin to be implemented in disc releases.

Electronics retailer Best Buy is now making buying a new Toshiba HD DVD player a little sweeter deal.

Toshiba already offers buyers of a new HD DVD player five free HD DVDs from a short list of fifteen titles. Now Best Buy is adding to that number. Buyers who purchase a Toshiba HD-A30 receive an additional four HD DVD titles from Best Buy at purchase, upping the total number of free discs to nine. Toshiba HD-A2 buyers at Best Buy are treated to two HD DVD titles at purchase. Best Buy also offers Blu Ray buyers an incentive to purchase. They receive five free titles from a list of eighteen at purchase.

Best Buy has always given the impression of slanting Blu Ray as far as display space and endcaps are concerned. It's nice to see them offering an HD DVD incentive of their own, and letting their customers make their own decision.

Are you old enough to remember when VHS and Beta slugged it out in the 80's to see which format would become the standard for videotapes?

Right now, two high definition optical disc formats are waging a war in the marketplace and the media to see which will emerge victorious and eventually replace DVD. Will this format war more closely resemble the DVD-Audio vs. SACD battle that was silently fought and lost by both sides?

The consumer electronics industry is divided. The movie studios are divided. The media is divided. The end result of all this division is a confused consumer who is reluctant to buy into either side, and the only parties that are really happy with the way things are playing out are those that have an interest in high definition video-on-demand becoming the way we receive our high definition content in the future.

WesleyTech.com is reporting that Samsung has cancelled their new flagship Blu Ray player, the BDP-2400.

According to WesleyTech, there is no explanation for the cancellation. They also note that the forthcoming Samsung combo player, the BD-UP5000, has been postponed until December. Since Blu Ray specifications are in a state of flux, one can easily jump to the conclusion that Samsung was unable to release either unit within the time window necessary to include the Blu Ray Profile the units were designed to implement. We'll see if that ends up being the case, or whether Samsung is scaling back their Blu Ray support in favor of a combo player focus that eschews partisan players altogether.