Yes Please

I would pay for a USB drive with Win 7 preloaded, only as long as there was not a premium charged. If the Disk is $100, the USB version should not be $150! Especially since a quality 4GB USB drive costs around $10 these days. I own 3 netbooks, and while I do own a USB CD-Rom I think it would be easier (not to mention faster) to load it from a thumbdrive. While I am quite capable of making a bootable USB drive from the disk, that is extra time I have to expend before getting started, so I would gladly pay the extra $10-$15 for it to arrive preloaded on the thumbdrive, but probably not much more than that.

Love Cheap Windows!

I use a Linksys WRT600N running DD-WRT. I works great when I am in the same room, I see 10 Mbs wireless transfers regularly, eveywhere else in the house I am getting between 4 and 6 Mbs, still better than 54g. There are some limitations to DD-WRT on a wireless N 5ghz router though. Also, it pretty much renders the USB port useless unless you want to run additional linux software to mount the harddrives. The DD-WRT firmware has to be very fine tuned to get the maximum speeds out of the 5Ghz spectrum as well. Unlike the D-Link routers mentioned above this router has 3 extrenal antenna and it also has 4 Gigabit LAN ports. All around a great router. I got mine for under $200 and I regularly see refurb units for under $150 especially on the Egg. There is my .02!

I had the same problem, I ended up calling the 800 number in hopes of getting a new battery, but alas, no such luck.

Is it just me, or does this player look like a re-branded Samsung BD-P1500? If that's the case, why wouldnt you buy the actual Sammy player over at Amazon for $207 w/ free shipping? Maybe they are releasing this player now so they can sell it for $129 on Black Friday? Cause honestly, that is about the most I would pay for this thing.

Havent needed to change as I have been a DirecTV subscriber for a long time. I have been extremely pleased with their efforts in adding national HD content. If only they were as persistent about getting my local channels in HD. I use OTA for local channels. However if I had my local cable company (Charter) I would have switched months ago. They offer a whopping 14 HD channels in my area, and only offer 3 of the 5 locals in HD. I feel bad for those who live in areas where they are not allowed to put up a dish!

I wouldnt mind seeing Sunday Ticket available on cable, Dish, or both. I am a DirecTV subscriber out of necessity, but would switch in a heatbeat if I could get my NFL fix elsewhere. DirecTV knows it has its NFL fans by the nads and they like to hold it over our heads. I for one would love to see some competition in this area.

I dont think the extra features are going to help sell any additional players. To be honest, I don't think it is the high price of the players that are hindering sales either. I think the average Joe (or Jane, to be PC) would shell out the $300 - 400 for a player if they weren't going to be gouged for the movies to play on them. $25 -30 average for a movie is outrageous, I own 2 Blu-ray movie. I own 40+ HD DVD's but bought nearly all of them after the format died and the movies were sold dirt cheap. If the BDA folks wanted to move more players, lower the price of the movies to around $15. I own 4 HD TV's but only one Blu-Ray player. I wont consider buying any more until the disks are a bit more reasonably priced. With DVD's selling regularly below $10, the average person is not going to pay nearly triple for the same movie, even if it is in higher quality.

Honestly, Profile 2.0 is not a huge deal to the average buyer (I realize the average buyer isn't likely reading this tech blog). Most people get a player that allows them to watch a movie, they don't need or want to interact with it while they are watching it. I know Profile 2.0 is the latest and greatest for BD, but really only techies like the folks here at engadget really give a rip. A Profile 1.1 player that sells below $300 is freat for everyone because it starts players on a downward price curve. The more players that make it in to the hands of the genereal public the better.