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Continuing to drive innovation, Sony® today launched the new BDP-S470 stand-alone Blu-ray 3D™-ready player.  The model can be upgraded to play Blu-ray 3D content with a firmware update available this summer.

The company also announced that the previously introduced BDP-S570 Blu-ray Disc™ model and the BDV-E770W and BDV-E570 Blu-ray Disc home theater systems will be Blu-ray 3D capable with firmware updates available this summer.

The new models, along with the previously announced BDP-S370, are now shipping and will be available at national retailers, Sony Style®, and www.sonystyle.com next month.

BluFocus Inc., an advanced testing and certification facility specializing in the assurance of quality media products and solutions, announced today the launch of their 3D-Focus Laboratory which will concentrate on the success of the 3D technology by providing services in the areas of 3D testing, certification, consulting/advisement and also offer a THX Certified High Performance 3D demonstration/testing environment for device manufacturers, content owners and producers to use as needed during their production process.

BluFocus’ 3D-Focus Lab will also be an advocate for informative collaboration amongst technology experts and will hold a webinar sponsored by MESA, THX and 3D@Home Consortium, on March 4, 2010 at 11am PST called “3D-Focus Part 1: 3D for Blu-ray” which will be an introduction to the 3D Technology in the areas of Encoding, Authoring, Equipment, Accessories and more. The goal is to promote collaboration and awareness of key companies within 3D so content owners, producers and developers know who they can go to for assistance. It also aims to provide a forum for attendees to ask questions and learn more. For more information on the “3D-Focus Part 1: 3D for Blu-ray” Webinar program visit http://www.blufocus.com/3D-Focus

S1Digital, the leader in digital entertainment solutions, today announced the launch of the S1Digital Blu-ray Disc Changer. The changer can hold 100 discs and seamlessly integrates with any S1Digiral Entertainment Server or Media Center.

When connected to an S1Digital Media Center or any third party Microsoft Windows 7 or Vista PC that includes media center, customers are able to load up to 100 Blu-ray and/or DVD movies into the S1Digital Bly-ray Disc Changer. Using the included playback software, each disc will be scanned and metadata and cover-art automatically downloaded to the server. Once catalogued, users can view more information about the movie, or watch the movie by selecting the appropriate cover-art, which is all available on the familiar and easy-to-use media center interface. The changer is simple to use and enables almost instant access to movies without having to physically find and load each movie. (This feature is coming soon).

HDMI Licensing, LLC, the agent responsible for licensing the High-Definition Multimedia Interface® (HDMI®) specification, today announced, on behalf of the HDMI Founders, that it has made the 3D portion of the HDMI Specification Version 1.4 available for public download on the HDMI Web site at http://www.hdmi.org. The purpose of this document is to provide public access to the 3D portion of version 1.4 of the HDMI Specification for those companies and organizations that require access to this portion of the Specification but have not executed an HDMI Adopter Agreement.

The document available for download is extracted from version 1.4 of the HDMI Specification. The HDMI Consortium intends to release a 1.4a version of the HDMI Specification shortly which will include updates to the 3D portion of the Specification. As soon as the 1.4a version of the Specification is published to Adopters, an update to the 3D portion of the document, available for public download, will also be published.

Following on the announcement of a broad range of Full HD 3D TV products, from VIERA consumer 3D TVs to a Prosumer Full HD 3D camcorder, at the recently concluded Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Panasonic is now unveiling its fully operational Blu-ray 3D™ Advanced Authoring Center located at Panasonic's R&D facility, Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory. The Advanced Authoring Center was recently upgraded and equipped with the latest 3D technological innovations, based on standards developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association. The Center now offers studios and filmmakers Blu-ray 3D™ image processing, interactive programming, as well as authoring and disc certification services, which are capable of making Blu-ray 3D™ Discs commercially available as early as Spring 2010.

Long before the Blu-ray 3D™ specifications were finalized within the Blu-ray Disc Association, Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory collaborated with studios and the creative community in Hollywood to conduct Blu-ray 3D™ encoding as well as menu and subtitle authoring trials. This type of early collaboration and research has given the Advanced Authoring Center expertise in guiding and advising companies during the key early planning stages of a Blu-ray 3D™ title.

OPPO Digital announced today the release of a new high-performance Blu-ray Disc player, model number BDP-80.

The new BDP-80 is a full-featured universal Blu-ray Disc™ player that supports BD Profile 2.0 (BD-Live and BonusView), DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, Super Audio CD (SACD), HDCD, CD and other popular media formats such as AVCHD, MKV video files, digital photos and music. Sharing the same decoder and similarly optimized firmware as OPPO's award-winning BDP-83, the BDP-80 features fast disc load times, quick response to user operations, and robust audio and video controls. In contrast to the BDP-83, which utilizes an onboard VRS by Anchor Bay video processor, the BDP-80 design has been optimized for use as a digital audio/video transport, emphasizing the accuracy of its digital audio/video outputs. At the same time, the BDP-80 is versatile enough to be used as a stand-alone universal Blu-ray player, thanks to its full array of output connections and audio/video decoding capabilities.

Sony Computer Entertainment Japan (SCEJ), a division of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. responsible for business operation in Japan, today announced that it would introduce “torne™” for PlayStation®3 (PS3®) computer entertainment system, a set of digital terrestrial tuner and application in Blu-ray™ Disc (BD) for viewing and recording digital terrestrial broadcasting on the PS3 system. “torne” will become available in Japan in March, 2010, at a recommended retail price (RRP) of 9,980 yen ($109US) (including tax). Users can enjoy watching digital terrestrial broadcasting and record them on the hard disk drive (HDD) of the PS3 system by simply connecting the digital terrestrial tuner to the PS3 system using the attached USB cable and installing the application from the BD. Release date will be announced at a later timing.

To accommodate those users who wish to record TV programs in high-definition on PS3 and store many high quality entertainment content already available on PlayStation®Store including games, anime, movies, TV dramas, music videos and many other various content and services, SCEJ will also introduce a “PlayStation®3 Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting Recorder Pack,” that comprises the PS3 system with 250GB HDD, the largest HDD capacity of the existing model, and “torne.” The special bundle pack will become available in March, 2010, concurrently with the release of “torne,” and will be a limited offer at a RRP of 42,800 yen ($467US) (including tax).

Nintendo of America Inc. and Netflix, Inc. today announced an agreement that will allow Netflix members who are also owners of Nintendo’s Wii™ home console to instantly watch thousands of movies and TV episodes streamed from Netflix directly to their TVs. Netflix is scheduled to go live on the Wii console this spring in the United States at no additional cost to Netflix members who have a plan starting at $8.99 a month, a Wii console and a broadband Internet connection.

The partnership between the two companies will extend the reach of content streamed from Netflix farther than ever before, thanks to the mainstream popularity of the Wii console. Wii remains the fastest-selling home console in history, and reaches more consumers than any other device that currently supports streaming movies from Netflix. In December 2009, Nintendo sold well in excess of 3 million Wii consoles in the United States. Wii is the top-selling home video game system of this generation, and as such brings the Netflix experience to a broad and diverse mass market.

"Our research shows that 86 percent of all U.S. Wii consoles are located in the living room," said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. "The Wii console is the social hub around which friends and family members gather to play games and have fun. Soon both new and longtime Wii owners will enjoy the benefits of Netflix – and a variety of informational and entertainment options – by being Netflix members and connecting their consoles to the Internet."

Freecom, an award-winning manufacturer of external hard drives and portable storage devices, today launched the ‘Network Media Center’, a simple to use, dedicated 3.5” network storage drive that reliably stores up to 2TB of data from an entire network in one central location. The Network Media Center makes it easy for multiple users on the same network to download and stream movies and TV programmes as well as store and access photos, music and other multimedia content from any PC that is connected to the network in their home.

Complete with a built-in BitTorrent client, the Network Media Center enables users to download and share large multimedia files across a network quickly and easily. Users can organise their data and control access to specific files by assigning individual usernames and passwords – ensuring that their individual content remains secure and segregated at all times.

The Network Media Center puts users within easy reach of their files wherever they are with a secure remote access option. The ability to access multimedia content while on the move makes sharing information with family and friends easier than ever before – the Network Media Center puts up to 2,000 movies stored in the DivX or AVI format, 400,000 MP3s, 1,336,000 digital photos or 440 full DVD movies at users’ fingertips anywhere, anytime.