Hi All !

I have been contacted personally by Bang & Olufsen, who wish to confirm to all members and readers of BeoWorld, that the BeoVision 7-40" LCD with the inbuilt Blu-Ray Player is not being shipped at present, anywhere.

B&O are planning to make this version available in May this year, and owners of Mk3 with standard DVD players inbuilt will be able to buy an upgrade kit at some point in the future - no firm dates as yet.  For the record, visually, the Mk3 player with Blu-Ray is identical to the current version.

Upgrade kits will be available for dealer fitment around June/July this year for current Mk3 versions, and early guesses at a cost for the upgrade will be around £750.  As a guide to see wether your BeoVision 7-40 is upgradable, if the writing in the Menu is White - it is upgradable. If the writing is red, your set is not upgradable.

Hope this helps

Lee

Aha!

That means that if your not contacted by B&O whenever there's a rumor around, the rumor must be true!

9 LEE:

if the writing in the Menu is White - it is upgradable. If the writing is red, your set is not upgradable.

Hi Lee:

Can you please help to elaborate on what would constitue that the BV7 is upgradable or not? I am currently ordering a BV7 here in North America and I would like to have a little bit more details as to what would deem that the set if not upgradable. (i.e. A set with a certain range of Serial#, Year being made, etc?) Sorry that I am not too familar with the set yet and what Menu you mentioned means, but any other info would make it a bit easier when I talk to my dealer.

Since I am currently enjoying my Bluray discs and if I know that in future my set can be upgraded is an option that I would like to have since I am purchasing a new set.

Thanks!

Only the MK3 1080p 7-40 is upgradeable for use with the Blu-Ray disc player - as Lee points out, the writing in the top right hand corner will be white on these sets as opposed to earlier MK2 variants - as a wildly general rule serial number 205xxxxx onwards?  I am sure someone will more accurately identify the earliest serial number.

I have learnt that the first sets will ship in June and the strong rumour is that the blu-ray player will not be backwards compatible with standard def DVD's - which makes the MK3 or MK3 sets without DVD players cracking value for money IMHO - just hook it up to a PS3, then you get upscaled standard def DVD's and a blu-ray player for a fraction of the price. 

Your dealer, if dealing in new products, can only sell you a MK3 - it has four HDMI inputs unlike the earlier variants which had DVI and Component inputs for HD sources.

KingOfSnake:

I have learnt that the first sets will ship in June and the strong rumour is that the blu-ray player will not be backwards compatible with standard def DVD's 

You have got to be kidding.. So.. IF I buy a BV7 with BluRay.. then I won't be able to play my DVDs???? What kind of sick joke is this?

I hope it stays a rumour!

that is the word on the street and it would not surprise me if true

Surely even B&O couldn't score such a spectacular own goal!

I have been told that this is untrue and that the Blu-Ray module will be able to play standard DVDs.

As for which sets are compatible, any new BeoVision 7-40 will support it. I think Lee may have lost a little information in transit - the writing he refers to is that in the display to the right of the screen. If the writing is red (similar to that in the BeoSound 9000), then the set is not upgradable. If the writing is a kind of very pale blue/almost white, then it will be upgradable.

You are so right!

I thought I did have the blu-ray player, but it turns out I don't! It will be upgraded in April says the dealer....

Nearly had a heart attack this morning when the discs didn't work, apparently I had misunderstood and that the TV

would arrive in March and will be upgraded at a later date.

Alex:

I have been told that this is untrue and that the Blu-Ray module will be able to play standard DVDs.

Of course it will. It doesn't even need an answer. It's this kind of stuff that's got me very disillusioned with this board recently. Bizarre.

Blu-ray players will play standard definition discs. Indeed, most customers own more SD discs than Blu-ray. Can you imagine any company releasing a Blu-ray only player? Doesn't even need a reply.

Esh:

would arrive in March and will be upgraded at a later date.

I hope your dealer swaps out your current MKIII and replaces with a MKIV. The new model will have an upgraded 100Hz panel and other improvements. I also hope he's doing this upgrade for free. Did you check?

I wouldn't assume so. The enhancements are the panel and the surround sound decoder, other than this and Blu-Ray being fitted by default, there will be little change. I can't see these upgrades alone being something to worry about/want upgrading.

Improvements will be made all the time, so there's no point in trying to stay on the edge of technology - you'd be replacing everything in your house every month!

Oh I must remind some of the largest dealers in the country not to express similar doubts but to check their facts by consulting Beoworld.  Personally I hope it is a baseless rumour but wouldn't surprise me............. egg on your face if it proves to be correct!

Alex:

I wouldn't assume so. The enhancements are the panel and the surround sound decoder, other than this and Blu-Ray being fitted by default, there will be little change. I can't see these upgrades alone being something to worry about/want upgrading.

Improvements will be made all the time, so there's no point in trying to stay on the edge of technology - you'd be replacing everything in your house every month!

My dealer didn't mentioned that there will be upgrade anytime soon i.e. until Q3/4 in the 2009. Only mentioned that they plan to do the Bluray upgrade. Do you have some more details as to what upgrades are planned for the MK4 of the BV7? Can they be retrofitted back into the MK3 or they can't?

If the upgrades for BV7 are within this 1-2 months, I just might wait for it to comes out.

I'm with Moxxey here. Hasn't this been well sorted for months now? 

BeoVision 7 MkIV: 100/120hz panel w/ blu-ray. It will launch late spring/early summer depending on your market. 

The blu-ray player will play regular DVDs. Good gracious!

The upgrade is available to everyone who's bought the TV in the US as we've only ever sold the MkIII here. Europe is a slightly different story. 

A welcome upgrade to an already great television.

Might be a dumb question.. but can we opt to upgrade the panel as well??

Nothing's been said so far, but it's unlikely. It's not something I'd fret over though - the improvement will be a marginal increase and the cost of buying a new panel and disassembling the entire television won't be worth the picture improvement...

KingOfSnake:

Oh I must remind some of the largest dealers in the country not to express similar doubts but to check their facts by consulting Beoworld.  Personally I hope it is a baseless rumour but wouldn't surprise me............. egg on your face if it proves to be correct!

You'd be surprised what your dealer does and doesn't know. Many dealers come from a primarily sales orientated background so sometimes get confused themselves. Sometimes they are overly keen to make a sale, too. No-one is saying they should be referring to Beoworld - or any other forum - but they are as bad and as guilty as others for spreading the OLED rumours, the 'Blu-ray won't play standard definition discs' angst and so on.

KingOfSnake:

that is the word on the street and it would not surprise me if true

How could it possibly not surprise you, if true?  How far into the deepest darkest corners of the far East would B&O have to delve in order to find a manufacturer supplying a Blu-Ray player which cannot play normal DVDs?

i'd be VERY interested in this tv , if they could assure me that digital text works and you can add an internal recorder of some kind that just fits on the back or inside even and is controlled by the beo remote

come on bno , get it integrated !!

nobody wants loads of boxes connected up to the tv and loads of remotes all over the place  just because you didn't think about putting the features in in the first place

Given the need with Blu-ray to frequently update firmware,what provision is B & O making to address this requirement?

good question i bet there using a basic panasonic unit for reliabilty

female hdmi port for ps3 lol