At a recent press event, Sony Japan unveiled four new Blu-ray Disc recorders, the BDZ-T50, BDZ-T70, BDZ-L70 and BDZ-X90. These new models utilize a new MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 encoder, giving them the ability to store up to 16 hours of high-def video onto a single 50GB Blu-ray disc. They also include features like a built in hard drive, True Cinema 24p output and support for Sony's BRAVIA-Link technology.

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.
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
At this year's Consumer Electronics Show, Toshiba announced that they were developing a triple layer HD DVD disc with a capacity of 51GB. This increased capacity gave a lot of hope to HD DVD fans as it would eliminate the primary advantage held by Blu-ray. Toshiba submitted their 51GB to the DVD Forum in April and according to a report by Screen Digiest, it was approved for production on August 31st.
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
Toshiba has announced that they will continue to offer five free HD DVD's with the purchase of a HD DVD player until February 28th, 2008. On top of that, the company will be including copies of "300" and "The Bourne Identity" in the box of their third-generation HD DVD players.
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...

...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.
If you'd like to read more about Toshiba's upcoming promotions, their entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Pioneer recently announced their new Elite Blu-ray Disc player, the BDP-95FD. According to Pioneer's press release, this high-end player features 1080p/24 output, HDMI 1.3 connectivity and is the industry’s first to offer bitstream output of all advanced audio formats.
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 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.
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
Sony recently unveiled two new Blu-ray Disc players, the BDP-S500 and BDP-S2000ES. Both models feature 1080/60p and 24p True Cinema output as well as 7.1 channel Dolby TrueHD,Dolby Digital Plus, and DTS-HD High Resolution Audio bitstream output.

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.
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