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Tag: blu-ray

  • HDTV Owners Prefer Blu-ray….They're Just Not Buying Them


    The latest survey from SmithGeiger shows that HDTV owners would rather watch movies on Blu-ray Disc than stream content directly to their TV.

    Well, hardly any surprise there. There’s never been any doubt about the phenomenal quality of Blu-ray images – but that still doesn’t seem to be translating into sales.

    Even with price drops in the US of between USD $200 and $300, the HD players aren’t rushing off the shelves.

    Texas superstore Bjorn’s and Pennsylvania-based Gerhard Appliances reported no sales change after Sony and Samsung cut USD $100 off their respective BDP-S350 and BD-P1500 models to USD $299 at the end of September.

    US consumer electronics retailers are hoping the fast approaching Black Friday – the day after Thanksgiving Day and traditionally one of the busiest shopping days of the year – will prove to be a sales bonanza even with the current economic troubles.

    Yet, while SmithGeiger’s survey of 1,600 HDTV owners revealed a 10-to-1 preference for Blu-ray over streaming content it underlines Blu-ray’s problem.

    Too many consumers seem happy with their DVD players and appear unwilling to fork out for another machine – even if Blu-ray prices are now dropping rapidly.

    This reluctance is a barrier that the consortium of companies behind the HD technology have so far been unable to overcome.

    So perhaps the news that the movie studios and consumer electronic makers are going to begin a USD $25 million advertising promotion for Blu-ray is a step towards addressing what could be a fatal flaw.

    Especially since more set-top boxes are focussing on offering streaming digital content, with the cost of the services decreasing.

    A monthly subscription fee to Netflix is seen by many as a cheaper alternative to purchasing a Blu-ray player and discs, not least if you already own the movie on DVD.

    Streaming content is going to continue to expand and will become more lucrative, especially as a wider library of TV episodes and movies becomes available.

    Blu-ray beware – time is running out.

  • When Will Wii Go HD?


    Nintendo’s lead game designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, has been making comments that suggest Wii could go HD sometime soon.

    The ability to support true next-gen graphics on HDTVs is one area the Wii falls down on compared to competitors Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.

    Although rumors have appeared on the Internet that the Japanese company might be working on a version of the Wii capable of supporting HD gaming, no official statements have been delivered by Nintendo.

    Now Miyamoto, one of Nintendo’s most influential people, has expressed his opinion on a possible HD Wii console, according to Softpedia.

    The man responsible for hits like Mario and The Legend of Zelda said that technology is constantly changing and that Nintendo should change with it.

    “I’m afraid we cannot confirm what we are doing today,” he said.

    “But the fact of the matter is that technology is evolving all the time and in Japan, for example……all the analogue broadcast will be stopped and shifted into the digital broadcasting. So many things are taking place and we are working in terms of the changes of the technologies all the time.”

    Hardly confirmation but it would seem that an HD Wii has become a "when" not an "if".

  • Service Offers Camcorder Storage Solution


    The Photo Archival Company has launched a new archiving service that stores digital camcorder footage to Blu-ray Disc or DVD.

    Charles Laughlin, president and founder of The Photo Archival Company, said it would unlock millions of hours of video trapped inside today’s generation of no-tape camcorders that record to internal hard drive, external USB hard drive or flash memory.

    He said video footage could be preserved to produce long-lasting DVDs or Blu-ray Discs.

    "The recurring theme from a typical customer is that it is impractical for them to archive their digital footage first hand," he said.

    "For the average household, it can be a daunting task to spend the necessary time to tend to the successful creation of several DVDs or Blu-ray Discs just to continue filming."

  • Shoppers To Be Tempted With Reduced Price HDTVs And Bundled Blu-rays


    Greatly reduced HDTV price tags and packages bundling sets and blu-rays are among the retailing treats likely to be on offer to US shoppers this holiday season, according to DisplaySearch.

    With the US economy ailing, Paul Gagnon, DisplaySearch’s director of North America TV market research, said stock market declines have impacted on people’s investments and consumers weren’t generally saving very much money.

    Paul Gagnon, director of N.American TV market research,DisplaySearch

    He said this could impact on their purchasing decisions during the Thanksgiving weekend and Black Friday holiday period, traditionally one of the busiest weeks of the year for the US CE and PC industries.

    “It’s an interesting time we’re in now," he said. “To combat this, retailers are expected to pull out all the stops this holiday season—lowering HDTV prices, offering bundled electronic packages with HDTVs and Blu-ray disc players, using ‘creative’ financing deals when possible such as in-store credit or ‘pay when you get your tax return’ options with the hopes of achieving their sales targets this holiday season.

    "Keeping shopper traffic high for the holiday season will be a priority for both retailers and TV manufacturers.”

    Speaking in a webinar exclusively for DisplaySearch clients, Gagnon detailed several potential TV scenarios for the 2008 holiday season:

    •   Consumers will become increasingly conservative in discretionary holiday spending, despite discount and promotion opportunities—leading to negative Y/Y Q4’08 shipment growth.
    • Consumers will take advantage of the best bargains and low price points—causing retailers to hit their unit sales targets, but miss revenue goals and negatively impact margins.
    • Consumers will continue to spend as they have on larger sizes and better featured sets—taking advantage of dramatically lower prices and sggressive retail promotions.
    • Consumers will turn to discount stores such as Costco and Walmart in greater numbers for electronic purchases this holiday season, in order to save money and get more shopping done in fewer trips.

  • No Blu-ray For Macs – For Now


    Steve Jobs quashed suggestions that Apple would upgrade its Mac OS X Leopard to allow Blu-ray because of the cost of licensing and drives.

    Speaking at today’s notebook keynote, Jobs said: "Blu-ray is just a bag of hurt. I don’t mean from the consumer point of view.

    “It’s great to watch the movies, but the licensing of the tech is so complex, we’re waiting till things settle down and Blu-ray takes off in the marketplace before we burden our customers with the cost of the licensing and the cost of the drives."

    Apple was an early backer of Blu-ray, but has been silent about adding Blu-ray drives to its notebooks or desktop computers.

    Other manufactuers, such as Acer and HP , have already been shipping Blu-ray drives with their systems.

    Responding to a question about HDMI, Jobs said the connector interface was "limited in resolution".

    Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president, went on to say that "for typical computer use, DisplayPort is the connector of the future".

    Among the announcements at the special event were a redesigned MacBook Pro built using a new construction process similar to the one for the MacBook Air.

  • Blu-ray For Macs?


    An upgrade to the Mac OS X Leopard that would allow Blu-ray is one of the more interesting rumors circulating ahead of Tuesday’s Apple event.

    Currently at 10.5.5, it could be that version 10.5.6 would allow Blu-ray discs to be handled without the need for third-party software add-ons, and would then allow Apple to add Blu-ray drives to its machines.

    If that happens and the MacBook family gets Blu-ray, then it’s likely to happen with the iMac and Mac Pro as well.

    Among the other Apple speculations is one suggesting Apple is working on networked LCD HDTVs.

    Jason Calacanis told CNET UK that an Apple LCD HDTV would be able to stream all your iTunes content from your Mac or PC. Basically the Apple TV box would be integrated in the TV sets.

    While Apple has been specific about what will be discussed at tomorrow’s event – "The spotlight turns to notebooks", according to the invitation, other announcements can’t be ruled out.

  • Will Iron Man and Dark Knight, Finally, Ignite Blu-ray?


    Iron Man is quickly becoming the highest selling Blu-ray disc yet, with an estimated 20 per cent of all discs of the super-hero movie sold last week being on the high-def format.

    Sales of Blu-ray versions of the blockbuster reportedly represented as much as 50 per cent of total Iron Man disc sales for some online stores.

    Although Paramount Home Entertainment has made no official statement on the sales figures, the movie is expected to exceed one million units sold.

    Until now, Blu-ray versions of popular movies, including I Am Legend, represented about 9 per cent of sales in the format.

    Iron Man’s success undoubtedly owes something to its appeal to comic book, special effects and videogame fans, all who are more likely to have PlayStation 3 consoles, which play back Blu-ray discs.

    But, after what can only be described as a sluggish start, could it also suggest that the format is finally reaching a level of acceptance that will tip it over into the mainstream?

    With the release of the Dark Knight – including a BD-Live version – still to come, the year the format war was decided may actually end on a high note for Blu-ray.

  • Sanyo Laser Could Double Blu-ray Discs' Capacity


    Sanyo has announced that it has developed a blue-violet semiconductor laser capable of outputting 450mW.

    The company said this allows it to read and write data on discs with up to four data layers at speeds of 12X.

    At present, Blu-ray discs store 25GB of data on each of its two layers. Sanyo’s four-layer disc would hold 100GB of data or about eight hours of HD video.

    Sanyo claims that a device equipped with the laser would be able to burn an entire two-hour program to disc in as little as ten minutes.

    The only thing you’ll have to wait for is the new laser coming to market – Sanyo said it’s unlikely to be available for at least another two years.

  • VUDU Offers HD Rentals That Rival Blu-ray


    VUDU has launched a new video format that rivals Blu-ray.

    Called HDX, it delivers full 1080p at 24 fps to screens 40 inches and up via web distribution using VUDU’s TruFilm compression technology.

    Just to put the icing on the cake, the company says it won’t be charging extra for HDX titles.

    While VUDU made no reference to Blu-ray in making its announcement, comments from Mark Jung, CEO of VUDU, can be taken as a challenge to the HD disc format.

    He said HDX raised the bar on picture quality for HD movies delivered on-demand, over the air, satellite or Internet and across the entire video landscape.

    “Accelerating consumer adoption of large screen HDTVs has fueled strong demand for the kind of viewing experience and picture quality only HDX can deliver,” he said.

    In August, the BDA reacted swiftly to the DISH Network’s claims that its “full” HDTV 1080p/25Hz image matched Blu-ray quality.

    But David Mercer, principal analyst at Strategy Analytics, suggested satellite providers are competing primarily with cable and IPTV companies, and not with the Blu-ray Disc format itself.

    Delivery times are the big snag to HDX with most broadband connections taking 3-4 hours per title.

    But as there are currently only 65 movies available in the HDX format, it’s maybe just as well.

    While the HDX films are only for rental it is hoped that a purchase option will be offered in the future.

  • Dark Knight To Be Warner Bros' First BD-Live Release


    The Dark Knight is likely to be the biggest Blu-ray release of the year – if not ever.

    So it’s appropriate that Warner Bros has decided to make the Batman tale its first BD-Live capable release.

    The studio will offer standard and limited edition releases when it hits stores on December 9.

    The standard version will include the 153-minute feature film spread across a BD-50 dual-layer disc with 1080p/VC-1 video (2.40:1) and English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround audio.

    Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround dubs and subtitles are also provided in English, French-Quebec and Spanish.

    Extras included on the first disc also include Gotham Uncovered: Creation of a Scene, a version of the film containing behind-the-scenes vignettes with director Christopher Nolan and his team discussing the planning of the film, the use of IMAX photography, the stunts, and more.

    The second disc will feature all-HD extras including featurettes and a collection of six episodes from Gotham Cable entitled Gotham Tonight.

    BD-Live content has not been revealed but Warner said a digital copy will be included in both releases.