Steve jobs called Blu-Ray, in the context of why it is not in a Mac computer, a "bag of hurt"
He meant that the licensing and all the HDCP is complicated/costly for an individual and a company that that would "hook you up" with Blu-Ray.
I am living this first hand since I just oredered a PS3 as a Blu-Ray player/media console/gaming console. I am going to give Sony a chance to be a part of my digital entertainment experience in the home. This is not just marketing-speak because there is a real digital entertainment experience one way or another.
Whether you are a laptop and earbuds audiophile or a pipe and slippers dedicated media room type if you want to watch Blu-Ray movies, there has to be an HDMI cable (even internally to a laptop screen) and AACS copy protection which has a hardware integration.
So last night I was at Circuit City picking up an auto power inverter for my nephew for Christmas (great deal - 100W for $20!) and I decided to look for and HDMI-DVI cable or adapter - I think I received one with a Samsung LCD, but I wanted to see what they have. Granted HDMI-DVI would only apply to "older" devices such as video cards and CRT or rear projection HDTV's. But all they had was a $46 HDMI-DVI adapter, and it was the CC store brand! (I will place my order with monocable if I need one.) Also they had a total of 32 Blue-Ray movies. I am wondering, as others have, whether they have won the battle and lost the war for the HD format. Meanwhile I ordered 8 used DVDs from SecondSpin. My oppo upsales beautifully to 1080i over DVI on my monstrosity of a Sony CRT HDTV. I would like to watch a lot of the Criterion Collection Blu-Ray transfers though
