It`s certainly true that playback of the movie, audio and traditional extras and BDJ content will be accessible as usual, it`s just picture in picture features that will require hardware meeting the 1.1 spec, and online features will require players to meet the 2.0 spec. So ‘Obsolete` is very misleading in that article`s title, and they`re a little behind since this news has been known since April (at least about the delay. It`s been known for a year that no players have had the internal means to do PiP). I prefer to think of existing standalone players as “functionally dated.”

I`d consider 1.1 of more importance than 2.0 and it has certainly infuriated me that they`ve continued to delay introducing these features into Bluray (though its storage and pip functions are more advanced than that of HD DVDs. The bandwidth for the secondary video stream is higher, and the secondary video can be in HD). The fact Sony`s $499 player fails to even comply is pretty disgraceful and leaves me worried that players may start begin penetrating a larger user base of customers who will be oblivious to the facts about the specification changes that come into play at the end of October. What`s unfortunate in this regard is, although no new player after the 31st of October can fail to comply to this new spec, and although it`s likely at least one player will come to market before the cut off date that supports the new features, after October, hardware on the market right now will still be available, and of course it`s the current players that will be available for the cheapest prices come Christmas as retailers seek to get rid of stock… so which players are more likely to fly of the shelves? It`s a bit of a mess, and I think a good deal who end up with early players will be disappointed. This is the chief reason I continue to recommend the PS3.

I am at least less worried than I was that they might delay the mandate for the changes yet again however (it was meant to be finalised in June before being delayed of the 31st of October). I follow a lot of posts by Keith Jack on forums like AVS. He works for Sigma Designs who make the chipsets for the majority of Bluray players and tends to give updates on what`s going on behind the scenes. Testing by manufacturers has been underway for a while and he`s recently seen working demos on prototypes.

This is their new chipset which is shipping now:
http://www.sigmadesigns.com/public/Products/SMP8630/pdf_files/bluray8634_br.pdf