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Blu-ray high-definition movie discs outsold films on the rival HD-DVD format by 2-to-1 in the United States in the first half of 2007, Home Media Research said on Tuesday.If you look outside the US, the gap is even larger. Media Control GfK International has reported that Blu-ray is currently selling HD DVD by a 3:1 margin. At this point, I don't think price cuts or promotions like free movies are going to save the format. If Toshiba, Microsoft and Universal can't pull off a win this holiday season, they might as well pack it up and go home. Add a comment
The division of Home Media Magazine said total sales of Blu-ray discs, using a Sony Corp-backed technology, totaled 1.6 million units from January 1 through July 1, compared with 795,000 HD-DVD discs sold in that period.
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Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) today announced an increase in total Blu-ray Disc(TM) (BD) sales across six emerging markets including Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Eastern Europe, South Africa and the Middle East -- illuminating the positive reception from retailers and consumers for the new high-definition format since its launch just four months ago in April 2007.If you'd like to read more, SPHE's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Since April, Blu-ray Disc sales have accounted for 10% of SPHE's business in the regions. The company saw a 21% increase in BD orders across the month of June alone. "It is extremely positive to see an increase in volume of BD software sales in these markets where piracy has previously ravaged the DVD business," said T. Paul Miller, Senior Vice President, International, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
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Verbatim and its Japanese parent company Mitsubishi Kagaku Media (MKM) will be unveiling the world’s first single-sided dual-layer HD DVD-R. The twin-layer storage medium offers a capacity of 30 Gigabytes and can be written to at 1 x speed. The European official market launch will be held at the end of August at the IFA in Berlin.No word on price or availability. As we find out more, we'll let you know. In the mean time, Verbatim's entire press release can be found her e. Add a comment
Verbatim is the first brand to launch a single-sided, writeable dual-layer HD DVD-R with 30 GB of data capacity, which is compatible with current drives and burners in the market. The new, high-definition medium offers space for up to four hours of film material in HD quality. “The growing popularity of high-definition TV and programmes in particular is pushing up demand for recording media with a high storage capacity for high-resolution content," says Torsten Leye, Marketing Manager Optical at Verbatim.
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Yamaha, the innovator in home theater and digital audio and video reproduction, today introduced the DVD-S1800 universal DVD player and the DVD-C961 Super Audio CD/DVD-Audio Changer. Both feature a host of advanced features and capabilities designed to maximize the performance of high-end home theater installations. Ideal for those who demand the ultimate in video and audio realism, the DVD-S1800 and DVD-C961 not only offer 1080p video output via HDMI, but also support DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD playback. Both units will be on exhibit at Yamaha's CEDIA 2007 booth (#450).The DVD-S1800 and DVD-C961 will be available in August for a suggested retail price of $449.95 each. Full details can be found here. Add a comment
The DVD-S1800 DVD player and DVD-C961 changer both utilize industry-leading video processing technologies to deliver remarkable performance. In addition to upconverting video to 1080p, the units can also output 480p, 576p, 720p and 1080i signals, all over a pure digital HDMI connection. To ensure the highest possible video quality even through their analog outputs, the models also feature a 216MHz/12-bit high-performance video DAC. Noise Shaped Video(TM) technology from Analog Devices uses oversampling and sophisticated techniques such as multi-bit sigma-delta processing and bit-shuffling to relocate converter noise to a part of the spectrum where it can be removed by an analog filter. This improves signal accuracy, allowing signals to be displayed at much higher resolutions.
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At Ultimate Electronics and Abt Electronics, Toshiba’s second-generation players are still the best-selling individual models, but collectively, Blu-ray players have been outselling HD DVD Toshiba models in recent weeks.The article also points out that set-top Blu-ray player sales could be even higher, but manufacturers are having a hard time meeting demand. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
At Ultimate, the shift began in June when Sony rolled out Blu-ray’s cheapest set-top player to date, the $499 BDP-S300. Ultimate also carries second-generation Samsung and Pioneer Blu-ray models.
“It’s a slight lead, not a huge margin, but we expected this to happen as [Ultimate] is selling three HD DVD players, versus five Blu-ray players. There is a depth point of view now,” said Matt Duda, Ultimate director of merchandising for video. “But there is no single Blu-ray player overtaking Toshiba’s models.”
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CD-DVD Speed v4.7.7.3 - DownloadMore information can be found on the CD Speed website. Also, feel free to share your experiences in our forum. Add a comment
- Disc Quality Test: added support for blu-ray testing with Mediatek based drives
- Added preliminary support for HD DVD-RW SL/DL
- Small improvements and bug fixes
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ONKYO USA has announced the launch of its first HD-DVD player, the DV-HD805. This player has been introduced to realize the potential of high-definition HD DVD content. It is also one of the first HD DVD players to take advantage of high-bit-rate audio streaming via HDMI version 1.3a. The DV-HD805 will be available in the fall of 2007.According to Onkyo's press release, the DV-HD805 will be priced at $899. This is pretty expensive, considering its reportedly based on the Toshiba HD-XA2 which is priced at only $499. Full details can be found here. Add a comment
The DV-HD805 is designed to partner with Onkyo’s 2007 A/V receiver line-up. Both the HD DVD player and the A/V receivers feature HDMI version 1.3a connections, making the combination of these components the perfect platform for high-definition 1080p video images. It also nicely complements Onkyo’s A/V receivers by streaming of the new lossless surround sound formats, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, as well as two “lossy” formats, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD High Resolution Audio.
