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The results for Sony's game division during the current fiscal year will not be good however, as the company ramps up investments for the PlayStation 3, which launches worldwide this November. Sony expects the segment to hemorrhage 100 billion yen ($871.6 million) in operating losses during the business year as it prepares the PS3 for launch.Knowing Sony, the company won't have any problem making this money back, especially if the PS3 is as popular as their previous consoles. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
That said, in the future Sony believes it can cut down on PS3 related costs quite a bit. "We believe that we can lower costs dramatically (on the PS3) through chip shrinkage and by cutting the number of parts but there is no way to avoid high costs in the first year," Sony Senior Vice President Takao Yuhara told a Tokyo news conference, according to Reuters.
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Warner Home Video (WHV) has announced the release of the first title in the HD DVD and DVD Combo Format (HD DVD on one side and Standard Definition DVD on the other): "Rumor Has It," which will debut May 9, day-and-date with its Standard Definition version. In addition, WHV will release three new HD DVD titles: "GoodFellas" and "Swordfish" on May 2 and "Training Day" on May 9.The only real downside I see here is price. "Rumor Has It" has a suggested retail price of $39.99 which is about $5-10 more than a normal HD DVD title. If you'd like to read more, the entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
"We are pleased to be continuing our rollout of new HD DVD titles," said Stephen Nickerson, Senior Vice President, Market Management. "But what is really exciting is the release of the first title, `Rumor Has It,' in the HD DVD and DVD Combo format. Purchasing a disc now in this format is the ideal choice that gives consumers the greatest flexibility in viewing options: If they own an HD DVD player, of course, they'll get all the benefits of HD DVD and be able to play the disc in existing DVD players. If they're considering a future purchase of an HD DVD player, they can still enjoy the movie until they upgrade."
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The companies backing competing formats for next-generation DVD technology will never again talk about forming a unified standard, an executive at Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said on Friday, leaving it to the consumer to choose the winning side.I have to agree with Mr. Tsuga. At this point, a unified format isn't going to happen. Leaving it up to the consumer isn't the best solution though, especially for those that invested in the losting format. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
"We are not talking and we will not talk," Kazuhiro Tsuga, an executive officer at Matsushita, the world's largest consumer electronics maker, told Reuters in an interview. "The market will decide the winner."
Matsushita, best known for its Panasonic brand, is a leading supporter of Blu-ray, one of two competing formats for the next-generation DVD. The other format, called HD-DVD, is backed by a group led by Toshiba Corp.
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Though movies on Blu-ray discs are expected to start shipping next month and a large screen iPod is still probably months away, Apple wants to make sure that when their next-generation iPod is released it will have a sufficient library of playable content already available for customers to watch.With 50GB of space available on a dual layer Blu-ray disc, there should be plenty of room to include a copy of the movie in an iPod compatible format. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
And Apple could be in a strong position to make their wish a reality. Already in the Blu-ray camp are Sony, who Apple have been working with closely of late with regard to its HD cameras; and Disney, who have been close partners of Steve Jobs' Pixar.
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Today at the National Association of Broadcasters convention, NAB2006, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT - News) and Universal Pictures announced their collaboration on the release of next-generation HD DVD discs using VC-1, the video compression standard recently approved by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) and one of the mandatory codecs in the HD DVD specification. Universal will also use iHD for the interactive features of the new titles. The launch of HD DVD players and titles last week in the U.S. represents the first broad market availability of high-definition optical media for consumers.The press release also mentions that all HD-DVD titles from other US studios are using the VC-1 codec as well. More information can be found here. Add a comment
As part of Universal's initiative to provide new digital entertainment experiences for consumers using the best solutions available, the studio is using VC-1 for its initial HD DVD titles, including "Serenity," "Doom," "Apollo 13," "The Bourne Supremacy," "U-571," "Van Helsing" and many more. Given the lower bitrate required with VC-1 to deliver pristine 1080p, high-definition movies, Universal will have room to spare within HD DVD's 30GB capacity for interactive features and other extras. With iHD, the studio is offering interactive menus that are overlaid on top of the movie and accessible without interrupting playback. Additional features, such as user-defined bookmarks that stay with the title, picture-in-picture commentaries, and network access to download new features and HD movies trailers, all access standard HD DVD features (secondary video decoder, network access and persistent storage).
