DigiTimes has reported that drive manufacturers in Taiwan have received inquiries and orders from large retail channels in the U.S. and Europe. According to the article, these retailers may plan to promote the sales of Blu-ray equipped PC's during the upcoming holiday season.
As BD burners are still very expensive, international PC brands are adopting them only for high-end PC models while DVD has remained as the mainstream standard of burners, the sources indicated. Therefore, their order volumes of BD burners are low, typically 2,000-3,000 units for a single order, the sources pointed out.

However, American and European retail channels have recently made inquires to Taiwan makers about OEM/ODM production of built-in BD burners and some of them have placed relatively large orders, as many as 20,000-30,000 units per order, the sources noted. These channels may plan to promote sales of BD-burner equipped PCs during the peak period prior to the 2007 holiday season, the sources pointed out.
Toshiba really needs to get going if they want to grab a share of the PC market. While the company has shown off a few HD DVD writers, they've been limited primarily to high-end laptops. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling sent out a press release this morning, announcing the launch of their new Travel Kit. Using the tips, templates, and resources in this free, downloadable kit, travelers can add a personal touch to their DVD and CD label designs.
LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling announced today the LightScribe Travel Kit that enables consumers to preserve their vacation memories and add that personal touch to their DVD and CD label designs. The LightScribe Travel Kit's DVD / CD label tips, templates, and resources are available for free download on lightscribe.com - just in time as people return from summer holidays.

To ensure that discs containing their travel memories stand out, customers owning a LightScribe-enabled drive can go to the Travel Kit (www.lightscribe.com/go/create) and download travel DVD and CD label designs, mailers, and disc sleeve designs that reflect their favorite trip memories to share with family and friends.
If you'd like to check it out, the Travel Kit can be downloaded for free from the LightScribe website. More information can also be found here. Add a comment
While HD DVD is currently dominating the set-top player market, the format has steadily fallen behind Blu-ray in regards to movie sales. According to a report by Home Media Research, Blu-ray movies outsold HD DVD by 2-to-1 in the U.S. during the first half of 2007.
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.

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.
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

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Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) announced today that they're seeing an increase in Blu-ray sales among the world's emerging markets. Since April, Blu-ray sales have accounted for 10% of the company's business in these regions.
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.

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.
If you'd like to read more, SPHE's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Verbatim Europe has announced that they will be unveiling the world's first single-sided dual-layer HD DVD-R media at IFA. These new discs are rated at 1x and can hold 30GB of data or 4 hours worth of high-def video.
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.

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.
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

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Yamaha sent out a press release this morning, annoucing the DVD-S1800 universal DVD player and DVD-C961 Super Audio CD/DVD changer. Both models feature 1080p video output via HDMI as well as DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD playback.
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 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.
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
While Blu-ray titles have been outselling HD DVD since the beginning of the year, the HD DVD Promotion Group has been quick to point out that they dominate the HD set-top market. With cheaper Blu-ray players starting to ship, this sales gap has started to close. According to Video Business, Blu-ray players are already selling better than HD DVD players at some retailers.
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.

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.”
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

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