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Tag: warner-brothers

  • YouTube HD Videos Now In Widescreen


    After weeks of trialling its new HD capabilities YouTube has officially launched its high-def channel.

    Users clicking on the newly added "watch in HD" option will automatically see the videos play in widescreen (16:9 aspect).

    YouTube originally announced its intention to go widescreen in November following the video sharing giant’s recent decision to start hosting full-length Hollywood movies.

    As well as boosting HD content, YouTube plans to add filtering options, including the ability to search HD videos.

    The Google-owned company will also be adding three new landing pages – youtube.com/music, youtube.com/news and youtube.com/movies – with a view to simplifying categorization and search.

    With competition intensifying as the likes of Hulu showing high definition videos, the improvements suggest YouTube is responding well to the challenge.

    The changes come just as Warner Music is pulling all its music videos off YouTube because of Google’s refusal to pay more money.

  • Bright Day For Dark Knight Blu-ray Sales


    Warner Brothers’ The Dark Knight has eclisped Iron Man to become the fastest selling Blu-ray Disc movie of all time.

    Approximately 600,000 Blu-ray copies of the movie sold on the first day in the US, Canada and UK.

    This represent 20 per cent of the total three million copies sold during the first 24 hours.

    An estimated one-sixth of the high-def discs were bought in the UK, with most of the remainder presumably being snapped up in the US.

    Warner Brothers is now predicting that it will sell one million BDs by the weekend.

    Iron Man’s day one record had stood at 250,000 BDs.

    Not surprisingly the studio has been quick to talk up what the figures mean for Blu-ray.

    Kevin Tsujihara, president of Warner Brothers Home Entertainment, said: "Numbers like these in this economic environment firmly establish Blu-ray as where consumers are headed."

  • The Matrix to be released on Blu-ray

    Seven-disc set will include the five Matrix movies, hard-cover book and biogs

    The film that played a major part in converting mainstream audiences to DVD is now to be released on Blu-ray.
    Warner Home Video has announced that they will bring the highly anticipated The Ultimate Matrix Collection to Blu-ray on October 14th.

    The sci-fi action hit starring Keanu Reeves was an immediate success on DVD, particularly in the sell-through category. Previously, most DVD owners were satisfied with renting movies.

    Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Studios home entertainment, recently claimed that Wanted, starring Angelina Jolie, could have a “Matrix-effect” on Blu-ray.

    He suggested that the highly visual nature of the new thriller could be the trigger to mass sales of Blu-ray devices when it is released in the format.

    Whether one movie can have such an effect remains to be seen. However, signs that Blu-ray is gaining momentum have also come from Japan, where shipments of Blu-ray players and recorders in Japan have increased to a six-figure level with 122,000 in June alone.

    This is a dramatic increase compared to May when it was only 82,000 units.
    It is expected that these figures will continue to rise in coming months, as Japanese workers receive a bonus in July and the Olympics in Beijing are held in August.

    Both of these factors are predicted to boost the consumer electronics sector.

    The seven-disc Matrix set will include five BD-50s – one disc for each of the three Matrix films, one for Animatrix, and one for The Matrix Experience – and two DVDs.

    Also included in the set will be a hard-cover book with photos and information from the films.
    Video will be presented in 1080p VC-1 and accompanied by a Dolby TrueHD soundtrack.
    Among the extras with this release are three exclusive In-Move Experience BonusView features, 35 hours of extras and digital download of The Matrix.

  • Blu-ray disc prices could fall in line with DVD

    Warner Brothers is to reduce cost of Blu-ray movies in a development that could see discs being sold for the same price as DVDs

    Warner Home Video is to launch aggressive pricing initiatives for the fourth quarter of 2008, including its most comprehensive Blu-ray Disc promotion yet.

    From September and continuing into the first-quarter of 2009, Warner will offer a Blu-ray point-of-sale rebate programme in which retailers will be able to order participating catalogue titles for around US$11.

    Among the featured titles are The Fugitive, Enter the Dragon, Clockwork Orange, The Shining, The Aviator, Road Warrior and Swordfish.

    The strategy could result in Blu-ray discs at retail being on a par with current DVD prices.

    Even including a retail mark-up, the price paid by consumers should be significantly less than the titles’ current average of US$20 to US$25 retail price at outlets such as Amazon.com and Best Buy.

    The scheme will work by allowing retailers to buy the titles at their present pricing but obtain rebate money back upon the sale of each unit, reducing the cost to around US$11 for retailers.

  • Japan's HD offerings boosted by launch of new VOD service

    The growing market for high definition television in Japan has received a further boost with the start of a VOD service by the country’s largest retail chain, Tsutaya.
    Users will be able to download titles from home using the acTVila portal that is popular on Japanese plasma and LCD HDTVs.
    They will have 48 hours to watch the films or TV shows as many times as they want.
    The new service from Tsutaya, which counts 27.2 million members at its 1,330 branches across Japan, is the latest sign of the growing popularity of HDTV in the country.
    The retailer plans to make deals with four Hollywood studios – Paramount, Warner Brothers, Walt Disney and NBC Universal – to expand its available online library to 2,000 titles by the end of the year.
    It added that high-speed fiber-optic connections are required for use of the service – which are currently available in about a quarter of Japan’s 48 million homes.
    The service launched with downloads of the first season of hit US series “Heroes”, “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives”.
    Each full length movie will cost 735 yen (about $7 USD) with other prices still to be announced
    Tsutaya hopes that the new service will pull in more customers with higher disposable incomes in the 40-50 age range.
    AcTVila was developed by Japan’s major television makers – Sharp, Sony, Matsushita, Toshiba and Hitachi – and is compatible with several dozen models of plasma or liquid crystal display sets.