- Details
- Home Entertainment
While Sony has not announced how much their Blu-ray Disc recorders will be, AV Watch expects them to cost anywhere from 140,000 Yen ($1,226US) to 200,000 Yen ($1,752US), depending on the model. If you'd like to read more, Sony's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Sony today announces four new Blu-ray Disc Recorders. These new models offer strengthened functionality to give improved performance in the key areas of “high picture and sound quality,” “long-duration recording,” and “easy operation.” HD content in the home is rapidly increasing, whether it be digital broadcasting, personal/home video or movies. Sony envisions the Blu-ray Disc Recorder at the center of the HD era, and the four new models target three styles of customer viewing enjoyment: “HD broadcasting enjoyment,” “personal/home video enjoyment” and “advanced picture and advanced sound quality home theater enjoyment.” This range of choice will be a key factor in accelerating the diffusion of the Blu-ray format.
- Details
- Home Entertainment
The approval of Toshiba's 51 GB disc is good news for the HD DVD camp, allowing it to compete directly with rival Blu-ray Disc's (BD) dual-layer 50 GB disc. As with the BD50, it is likely to take some time for production yields to reach a commercially viable level. However, once this has been achieved it will arguably eliminate one of the principle reasons behind some studios' support of Blu-ray over HD DVD, thus potentially making it easier for Disney or Fox to adopt a format-agnostic position without losing face.Surprising, the HD DVD Promotions Group has not issued any press releases regarding this. Until they or the DVD Forum confirm this report, I would consider it to be a rumor. If you'd like to read more, the entire report can be found here. Add a comment
- Details
- Home Entertainment
High resolution picture and sound performance come together in the new Pioneer Elite BDP-95FD Blu-ray Disc player introduced at the CEDIA Expo today. Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. is showcasing its highly anticipated player, the industry’s first to offer bitstream output of all advanced audio formats including: Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital+, DTS-HD High Resolution and DTS-HD Master Audio. The BDP-95FD ensures a near cinematic experience with its ability to handle 1080p 24 frames per second (fps) reproduction rate preserving a feature film’s original sequence. Taking advantage of HDMI 1.3 connectivity, the new player provides smooth, pristine imagery and dynamic 7.1 surround sound to deliver the full emotional impact of Blu-ray Disc feature films as the director intended.The BDP-95FD be available at specialty retailers in October for a suggested price of $1000. Full details can be found here. Add a comment
The Pioneer Elite Blu-ray Disc player leads the industry with sophisticated home theater offerings including HDMI Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) to ensure seamless integration with other high definition theater components. In addition, movies, music and photos can be easily streamed from a home PC to connected 1080p television via the player’s enhanced home networking functionality for unrivaled entertainment.
- Details
- Home Entertainment
In addition, in order to allow consumers to enjoy the HD DVD experienceright out of the box, Toshiba is offering consumers free movies with thepurchase of their third generation players. With Toshiba's new bundlepromotion, consumers will take home the highly acclaimed HD DVDs "300" fromWarner Home Video and "The Bourne Identity" from Universal Studios HomeEntertainment...If you'd like to read more about Toshiba's upcoming promotions, their entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
...In addition to its bundle promotion, Toshiba announced "The Perfect HDOffer," which will begin on October 1st 2007 and continue until February28th 2008. As a result, with the purchase of any Toshiba HD DVD player,consumers will be able to select five HD DVD titles for free, from aselection of 15, via a mail-in offer. Full offer details will be availableat http://www.toshibahddvd.com.
- Details
- Home Entertainment
The new BDP-S2000ES and BDP-S500 will be available this fall and are priced at $1,300 and $700 respectively. Full details can be found here. Add a comment
The BDP-S2000ES and BDP-S500 units both offer 7.1 channel Dolby TrueHD,Dolby Digital Plus, and DTS-HD High Resolution Audio bitstream output,which is optional specification of HDMI ver1.3. This makes them a perfectmatch for the recently announced STR-DA5300ES and STR-DA4300ES AVreceivers, which also feature the ability to decode the advanced audiocodecs. The new BD players also feature Dolby TrueHD, along with the DolbyDigital Plus and DTS-HD High Resolution Audio decoding function via HDMI,to offer a better sound experience with existing receivers.
The Blu-ray Disc players feature 1080/60p and 24p True Cinema output.They are compatible with most standard DVDs and feature 1080p upscalingthrough HDMI to capable HDTV sets, improving the picture performance ofexisting DVD libraries.
- Details
- Home Entertainment
LG Electronics, the first company tointroduce a dual-format high-definition disc player, today unveiled itssecond-generation LG Super Blu(TM) Player (model BH200). Sporting bothformats' logos, LG's new high-def player is capable of Blu-ray disc and HDDVD playback with advanced BD-Java and HDi interactivity, enablingconsumers to choose from the widest variety of high-def content regardlessof disc format.While priced less than the BH100 when it was introduced, the BH200 still isn't cheap. For $999 you can buy separate Blu-ray and HD DVD players and still have money left over for some movies. If you'd like to read more, LG's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
On display for the first time at the Custom Electronic Design andInstallation Association (CEDIA) EXPO 2007 (booth #720), LG's Super BluPlayer will be available to U.S. consumers and custom installers inmid-October at a suggested retail price of $999.
- Details
- Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment(SPHE) today announced that the company's Blu-ray Disc(TM) sales acrossEurope have reached 250,000 while sales in North America are nearing theone million mark approaching the fourth quarter with the Blu-ray launch ofthe highly anticipated blockbuster SPIDER-MAN 3 and Steven Spielberg'sCLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND.With Spider-man 3 and the Spider-man Trilogy on the way, SPHE shouldn't have any problems exceeding the one million mark. If you'd like to read more, SPHE's entire announcement can be found here. Add a comment
These benchmarks follow last week's announcement that sales of thehigh-definition format in six emerging markets including Hong Kong,Singapore, Taiwan, Eastern Europe, South Africa and the Middle East nowaccount for 10 percent of SPHE's total business in the growing regions.
- Details
- Home Entertainment
New Medium Enterprises (NME) releases its latest commercial HD VMD (Versatile Multilayer Disc) Player and discs into the European market, debuting at IFA 2007. HD VMD brings full high definition (HD) 1080i/p, high quality players to consumers for an attractive RRP of euro 179, at soon to be announced stores.NME also announced that they will be launching into the worldwide market in October/November with a bundle containing a player and 5 HD VMD titles. If you'd like to read more, NME's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
HD VMD is positioning itself as "The New Definition of High Definition" by giving consumers what they have been craving -- an affordable, full HD player and DVD upscaler with superior image playback. Combining the best industrial opto-electronics and disc technologies, HD VMD brings together established DVD red-laser production infrastructure with novel break-through multilayer disc technology to deliver its Full HD picture. Consumers can expect more exciting developments to come, as HD VMD's multilayer disc technology is industrially capable of storing over 30 GB on a single sided disc.
- Details
- Home Entertainment
Sunplus Technology Co., Ltd. (TSE:2401) (LSE:SUPD), the world’s leading consumer IC design company, today launched its new generation DVD player platform - SPHE8203A, which is the world’s first SoC solution to support DivX high definition content playback. Sunplus will demonstrate SPHE8203A and its reference design at IFA 2007 (Stand 116, Hall 26) during Aug. 31-Sep. 5.If you'd like to read more, Sunplus' entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Sunplus’ SPHE8203A DVD turnkey solution has plenty multimedia added-on features, such as DVD servo control, MPEG1/2/4 video decode, MP3/AAC/PCM audio decode, USB and card reader functions, DVB transport stream demultiplexing, and HDMI 1.2 compliant transmitter. The superior compression and performance of DivX HD enables consumers to enjoy true HD A/V entertainment with legacy DVD-9 discs on SPHE8203A-inside DVD players, at a price point which is much more cost-effective than next-generation blue-laser players.
- Details
- Home Entertainment
While Venturer has not announced a price for the SHD7000, they expect it be "one of the lowest among entry-level HD DVD players". If you'd like to read more, Venturer's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Venturer Electronics today announced the launch of its first HD DVD player for the North American market. Responding to strong consumer demand for high definition video playback devices, Venturer will introduce the SHD7000 that offers the superior HD movie experience as defined by the DVD Forum.
Featuring 1080i video output and an HDMI connection, the SHD7000 is designed to be compatible with the vast majority of HDTVs already in North American consumers' homes. With Ethernet connectivity to the network , the SHD7000 also allows users to access bonus features from movie studio web servers and unlock special prerecorded content on some HD DVD discs. Dolby TrueHD rounds out the high definition experience by presenting the HD DVD disc soundtrack as it was meant to be heard, virtually equal to the studio master.
