Sony BDP-S300
Sony’s BDP-S300 is one of the more affordable blu-ray players on the market, and has sparked a fair amount of interest in the hi-def disc battle. The player outputs at resolutions up to 1080p/24, decodes Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital and DTS, upscales DVDs to 1080p, plays MP3 and JPEG files and even plays high-definition MPEG-4 AVC-HD footage stored on a DVD, and it supports x.v.colour. The BDP-S300 is a bit slimmer than some of its competitors, with eject and power buttons on top of the equipment. The player features the usual assortment of component, HDMI, composite and s-video connections but, as is common with current blu-ray players, ethernet connectivity is notably absent. Picture quality is excellent on blu-ray and DVD upconversion to 1080p, but there is no Dolby TrueHD decoding and load times are slow, particularly on newer BD Java discs.

Sharp BD-HP20H
The Sharp BD-HP20H is Sharp’s first entry into the blu-ray player market. It includes an HDMI 1.3 output, capable of outputting video up to 1080p/24, plus 7.1-channel audio bitstreams, but DVD playback when upscaled to 1080p has been criticized as softer and noisier than other players. Unfortunately you won’t find an ethernet connection, and the BD-HP20H is a profile 1.0 player, which means it won’t support advanced BD-Java features found on forthcoming profile 1.1 blu-ray discs, such as picture-in-picture. The deck’s firmware can’t be upgraded either, so it will never deliver the full blu-ray experience.

Samsung BD-P1400
The BD-P1400 has seen a radical change in design since Samsung’s previous blu-ray player, with all-over gloss black finish, sloping fascia, and subtle blue lighting. The player supports Dolby True HD, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital, DTS and DTS HD and can output blu-ray movies in pure 1080p/24 over its HDMI 1.3 connection, but its digital media file support is fairly limited, restricted to just MP3 and JPEG playback. Rare among blu-ray players, the BD-P1400 comes with an ethernet port for making firmware updates, but unfortunately the BD-P1400 is a profile 1.0 player and not 1.1, so it won’t support advanced features found on forthcoming BonusView blu-ray discs, and like all profile 1.0 players (with the exception of the PS3) it can’t be upgraded to 1.1.

Sony Playstation 3
The Sony PS3 accounts for the vast majority of blu-ray players finding their way into people’s living rooms. What’s more, it has cool written all over it. It’s all curves and gloss black, and can be oriented horizontally or vertically. The power supply is also integral, so there’s no power brick or wall-wart to spoil the aesthetics. Manipulating high-definition video and graphics as high in resolution as 1080p at high speeds requires a lot of processor power. At the heart of the PS3 is the Cell Broadband processor, developed jointly by IBM, Sony, and Toshiba. It’s a multi-core design, with eight “synergistic processing elements”, each of which is capable of true parallel processing. The PS3 is the fastest BD player on the market. Sony has included full support for Dolby’s lossless TrueHD codec, in addition to Dolby Digital and DTS. The PS3 is also fully upgradeable so it’s possible that support for other audio formats could be added later. The PS3 has an ethernet connection, which makes firmware updates simple to download. Built-in networking is an advantage for the PS3 over standalone BD players, few of which currently have an ethernet port.

So which to go for? Thankfully, all these players offer 1080p/24 output and DVD upscaling, with a variety of audio formats to choose from, but all except the PS3 have a limitation. The blu-ray format was rushed to market in a half-finished state to compete with Toshiba’s rival HD-DVD format, so many of the features found in HD-DVD right from the start will only appear in blu-ray profile 2. This means that profile 1.0 or 1.1 players will be unable to play all the features of newer blu-ray movies. But the PS3, basically a very powerful PC in a box, is fully upgradeable and therefore a good deal more future proof than the others. It’s already been upgraded to allow 24p output and DVD upscaling (considered to be just about the best on the market). So for anyone concerned about full compatibility with future blu-ray releases, the PS3 is the obvious choice.

The planning process that existed prior to 2007 for the use of spectrum capacity reflected a situation where the BBC had sufficient capacity available for the services that it wished to provide. However, in recent years both the BBC’s and third parties’ service demands have increased. In addition to the BBC’s aspirations to provide HD, several public service broadcasters, including five, S4C and TG4, are expected to be directed by the Secretary of State to be carried in BBC multiplex capacity. The BBC appreciates that available capacity may no longer be sufficient to cover their service aspirations, and therefore the importance of using the spectrum efficiently and effectively. The report recommends that in order to increase viewer value, the BBC needs to consider its service prioritisation, for example by accommodating HD services which the public appear to value highly.

Ofcom favours a market led, service and technology neutral approach, arguing that giving spectrum to one use will tend to reduce flexibility and blunt incentives. The one exception to this market led approach is programme making and special events (PMSE) which already uses interleaved spectrum on a large scale. This is an extremely diverse community, and Ofcom considers that it would not be able to take part effectively in an auction. They will therefore award a package of interleaved spectrum to meet PMSE users needs.

Licence exempt use of interleaved spectrum will be allowed for cognitive devices. Cognitive radio is a new technology that can detect spectrum that is otherwise unused and transmit without causing harmful interference. It has the potential to support many uses, including high speed broadband. The technology is particularly suited to operating in interleaved spectrum, where a significant capacity is often unused at any particular location.

Most of the available interleaved spectrum will be reserved to meet the needs of PMSE users. PMSE is an existing user of interleaved spectrum, but comprises a large and diverse community who would find it difficult to coordinate a bid for access to spectrum. A single package of interleaved spectrum will therefore be awarded to a licensee who will act as a band manager. Channel 69 will continue to be available for PMSE use throughout the UK on a licensed basis, and greater licence exempt use of channel 70 will be promoted for PMSE in the interests of community users.

Geographic packages of interleaved spectrum suitable for local television will be awarded, but their use will not be restricted to this service. Ofcom has identified around 25 possible locations across the UK where there is evidence of sufficient demand to justify offering such packages. Each package could allow the operation of a low power DTT multiplex carrying several channels.

No spectrum will be reserved for DTT services in HD. Many organisations and individuals have pressed Ofcom to set aside spectrum for DTT in HD, but Ofcom has since published detailed proposals for upgrading the DTT platform to introduce new technologies on one of the six multiplexes. They are now confident that HD can be accommodated by the introduction of DVB-T2 and H.264 technology without setting aside any further spectrum.

No spectrum will be reserved for mobile television or mobile broadband, but the spectrum will be packaged in a way that enables the widest possible range of uses, including additional DTT multiplexes. Ofcom regards mobile broadband, mobile TV, and additional DTT multiplexes as the most likely uses of cleared spectrum, but does not see a case for reserving any spectrum exclusively for these uses.

Channel 36 will also be auctioned alongside cleared spectrum. The channel is currently used for ground based aeronautical radar, but this will cease in 2009. Channel 36 will therefore be available UK wide before other cleared spectrum, which will only be fully vacated when digital switchover ends in 2012. Early use of the channel will be allowed, but it will not be auctioned separately as many options for using this spectrum would involve combining it with other frequencies.