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Woolworths has become the first major retailer to solely back one of the new high definition DVD formats.Take note that Woolworths has not dropped HD DVD altogether, as the company will continue to sell HD DVD titles online. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
The high street firm has announced that it will only stock Blu-Ray high definition DVDs from March, with HD-DVDs being dropped from stores to be sold online.
The move comes after Blu-Ray DVDs outsold HD-DVDs by ten-to-one in Woolies stores over Christmas. From March Woolworths stores will have a Blu-Ray DVD chart in all 820 stores and a Blu-Ray DVD back catalogue section in larger stores.
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Following overwhelming consumer and media response of Blu-ray technology being the leading format of choice for home entertainment - Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment and Panasonic Electronics today announce the official extension of Disney’s Magical Blu-ray Tour to visit seven additional North American cities in 2008. The announcement was made by Bob Chapek, president of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.The 2008 tour will also give visitors a first look at upcoming Blu-ray titles such as Finding Nemo and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Full details can be found here. Add a comment
Disney’s Magical Blu-ray Tour, sponsored by Panasonic, will continue to educate consumers across the country about the leading, state-of-the-art high-definition home entertainment technology through hands-on interactive kiosks, product demonstrations, and a special presentation theater where consumers can experience first-hand the amazing capabilities of Blu-ray Hi-Def. The tour extension will commence in Toronto, Canada beginning January 24 and continue on to six additional locations across the nation.
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HP (NYSE:HPQ) and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) today announced that SPHE will license select catalog titles from its vast home video library for production and distribution via HP’s DVD manufactured-on-demand service.The list of available titles has not yet been finalized. However, content currently being targeted for release includes classic TV shows, foreign and independent movies and recently broadcast TV shows and sporting events. If you'd like to read more, HP and Sony's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
This agreement makes Sony the first major Hollywood studio to present its home video titles using HP’s service.
“HP’s manufactured-on-demand service provides us with a viable means of delivering a broader range of niche and library product to consumers,” said David Bishop, president, SPHE. “We know there is strong consumer demand for these titles, and by working with HP we can monetize our deep product library and help give retailers the means to bring a wider offering of Sony Pictures product to consumers without a significant investment in inventory.”
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First of all, I want to say that none of those rumors were substantiated. Nobody ever talked to us. I know nobody talked to Paramount because Brenda, their PR person, sent out a statement immediately. This is business as usual for us and there are no plans to make any changes. We just made an announcement of our new HD DVD titles yesterday, with American Gangster. We also have a lot of other things planned. It's business as usual.If you'd like to read more, the entire interview can be found here. Add a comment
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Predicting falling demand for HD DVD as consumers learn that the industry’s leading film supplier will stop producing in the format, Trans World Entertainment, Newbury Comics, Video Buyers Group members and Hastings Entertainment are among the retailers beginning to emphasize Blu-ray.While the war isn't over, its going to be hard for HD DVD to increase their disc sales without retailer support. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
The format war is not over, however, as 1 million HD DVD devices are in households and plenty of HD DVD titles line shelves. But there is hope among some retailers that if they proactively push leader Blu-ray, they can spur the fledgling high-def business. To date, studios and retailers have blamed format war confusion for stopping consumers from adopting high-def.
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While Toshiba may be able to keep HD DVD on life support by offering cheap players, the format won't survive long on sales numbers like this. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Please feel free to share your thoughts in our forum. Add a comment
The product announcements come in a week when the top 10 high-definition disc sellers are all Blu-ray Disc releases, according to an analysis of Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales numbers by Home Media Magazine’s market research department.
Net HD DVD sales, according to Nielsen, constituted only 15% of hi-def disc sales last week. And the top HD DVD seller, The Kingdom, sold just 10% as many copies as the top Blu-ray Disc release, 3:10 to Yuma.
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While the iTunes Digital Copy is chock full of DRM, it makes it easy for consumers to transfer the movie into their iTunes library. Not to mention, it saves them from having to purchase the movie again from Apple. More information on the Digital Copy included with Blue Harvest can be found here. Add a comment
Just announced at Macworld, Twentieth Century Fox today released the studio's first Special Edition DVD with Digital Copy for iTunes, the Family Guy “Star Wars” parody FAMILY GUY PRESENTS: BLUE HARVEST - in stores now. Consumers who purchase BLUE HARVEST with the additional Digital Copy of the movie can effortlessly transfer a copy of the film to their iTunes library and then view on a Mac or PC, iPod, iPhone or on Apple TV...
...The new iTunes Digital Copy provides a consumer friendly way to transfer a DVD purchase to a user’s iTunes library. Once a customer buys the DVD, they insert into their computer, enter a unique code into iTunes and iTunes automatically copies the movie to their iTunes library within minutes. Customers own the iTunes Digital Copy of the movies and it has all of the same great viewing options as other iTunes Store video content, including the ability to be viewed on a computer, iPod, iPhone and Apple TV. Each DVD will only transfer its iTunes Digital Copy to one iTunes library.
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Last week, Best Buy spokesperson Brian Lucas said the retailer would continue stocking HD DVD so long as studios release content in HD DVD and there is a market for the format.As someone who reads the Sunday circulars religiously, I can say that, in most cases, retailers are giving equal ad space to both formats. However, with Toshiba's latest round of price cuts and more titles being released on Blu-ray, things could swing either way. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
“As far as we’re concerned there are still two formats and the format war is not really over,” Lucas said.
He said Best Buy would continue telling customers about the two formats and not take sides so they could make “an informed decision.”
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Toshiba America Consumer Products,L.L.C. ("Toshiba") today announced that it is stepping up its successfulmarketing campaign for HD DVD as it experienced record-breaking unit salesin the fourth quarter of 2007. Major initiatives, including jointadvertising campaigns with studios and extended pricing strategies willbegin in mid- January and are designed to spotlight the superior benefitsof HD DVD as well as the benefits HD DVD brings to a consumer's current DVDlibrary by upconverting standard DVDs via the HDMI(TM) output to near highdefinition picture quality...While Toshiba claims that this new promotion is a result of their record-breaking sales, the steep price cuts make it look more like a last ditch effort to grab market share and clear out their existing stock of players. Either way, it will probably make the format war drag on for another few months. If you'd like to read more, Toshiba's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
...Taking the holiday season sales based on promotional prices into fullconsideration, these new manufacturer's suggested retail prices (MSRP) aredesigned to meet the potential demand for HD DVD players in the U.S.market. Effective on January 13, 2008 the MSRP of the entry-model HD-A3will be $149.99, the HD-A30, with 1080p output, $199.99, and the high-endHD-A35, $299.99.
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"Contrary to unsubstantiated rumors from unnamed sources, Universal's current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format," said Ken Graffeo, executive vice president of HD strategic marketing for Universal Studios Home Entertainment and co-president of the HD DVD Promotional Group.Take note that this statement doesn't dispel any of the rumors claiming that Universal will support Blu-ray as well as HD DVD. In any case, we'll have to wait and see how this shakes out. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
