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27 September 2007

New Medium Enterprises (NME) announced today that they will be launching its HD VMD technology this fall. The company has more than 100 movie titles which will be available through mainstream retail outlets as well as online retailers like Amazon.com.

New Medium Enterprises(NME) (OTCBB: NMEN), provider of the revolutionary new high definition HD VMD(Versatile Multilayer Disc) disc technology solution, announces its worldwide commercial launch this October-November, into the North American, European, Asian and Oceana regional markets. NME is positioning its new HD VMD format as the most practical and cost-effective solution in the HD market by giving consumers what they have been craving -- an affordable, full HD Player and DVD up-scaler with superior image playback. HD VMD also has a growing list of over 100 blockbuster Hollywood and Bollywood film titles which will come available through its network of distributors in those markets. Players and films will be available in soon to-be-announced mainstream retail outlets across each region, as well as accessible online through Amazon.com, PC Rush.com and NME's e-commerce Web store from mid October.

It's going to be interesting to see if HD VMD can compete with Blu-ray and HD DVD. Honestly, without the backing of at least one major Hollywood studio, I don't see it going very far in the US market. If you'd like to read more, NME's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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25 September 2007

Forrester Research released a new report on Monday, stating that the battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD is likely to run another 18 months. As Reuters reports, consumers are waiting for prices to come down and for the format war to end before buying a next-gen player.

Sales of next-generation DVD players are not seen as likely to take off for another 18 months as consumers are still waiting for prices to fall and for the battle over two competing technologies to be resolved.

Referring to the high-definition DVD format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray, Forrester Research said in a report on Monday that while the two camps have "been fighting what seems to be a war of attrition for consumers' hearts and minds," few consumers are warming to either type of device.

The report also states that Blu-ray will eventually win out over HD DVD. However, the Blu-ray camp will need to cut prices to do so. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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26 September 2007

At a recent press event, Sharp unveiled its latest Blu-ray Disc recorders. Along with the easy to use BD-AV1/AV10 series, the company introduced two hard drive equipped models, the BD-HDW20 and BD-HDW15. Both recorders feature two digital tuners, 1080/24p video output and, depending on the model, either a 500GB or 1TB hard drive.

Sharp Corporation will introduce into the Japanese market two new AQUOS Blu-ray Disc Recorders: the BD-HDW20 featuring a hard drive with a 1-TB (terabyte) capacity, the industry's largest, and the BD-HDW15 with a 500-GB hard drive. Both models reflect Sharp's consistent focus on true full HD image quality and are capable of recording and playing back digital HDTV data exactly as broadcast.

In designing these AQUOS Blu-ray Disc Recorders, Sharp placed emphasis on faithfully reproducing high-resolution video images from digital broadcasts and Blu-ray discs on the AQUOS LCD TV. They are equipped with hard drives from 500 GB to 1 TB in capacity, and also support dubbing (moving) video from the hard drive to BD-RE or BD-R discs. HDTV programs recorded on the hard disk can be dubbed (moved) to Blu-ray discs while retaining exactly the same image quality as broadcast, enabling users to easily create an HDTV library.

While Sharp has not announced how much their Blu-ray Disc recorders will be, AV Watch expects the BD-HDW20 and BD-HDW15 to cost 300,000 Yen ($2,600US) and 200,000 Yen ($1,733US) respectively. If you'd like to read more, Sharp's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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20 September 2007

The NPD group has issued another report, examinging consumers' awareness of high-def players and content. According to the report, only 52% of the people surveyed were aware that high-def players were available and out of these, only 11% intended to buy one in the next six months. The report also points out that while 29% of the respondents were aware of HD DVD, just 20% had heard of Blu-ray.

Among those who currently own HDTVs, half (52 percent) are familiar with the availability of high-definition DVD players, but only 11 percent expressed strong intentions to buy one in the next six months. Seventy-three percent of HDTV owners reported that their current traditional-format DVD player still works well for them, so they do not need to replace it; while 62 percent said they are waiting for the prices of high-definition players to fall.

According to NPD, consumers' knowledge of the HD DVD format is more prevalent than for the Blu-ray Disc format. While 29 percent of respondents were aware of HD DVD, just 20 percent had heard of Blu-ray Disc. Consumers who purchased a Blu-ray Disc player reported that they did so because they believed it was superior to HD DVD; while those who purchased an HD DVD player did so because the price was lower than a Blu-ray Disc player.

One important point to take from this survey is that most consumers are happy with standard DVD's and aren't ready to buy a high-def player yet. As NPD points out, manufacturers and studios need to do a better job explaining the benefits of these formats, if they want consumers to go high-def. If you'd like to read more, NPD's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment