Blu-Ray Technology

What's new in the world of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray

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Blu-Ray and HD-DVD Recorder News


Current Archive


  • BBC, ITV to launch free satellite HDTV in UK by 2008
    Although there's a lot of grumbling in the UK about that £135 ($270) yearly television license fee (only $87 for a black and white set!), it's hard to complain that the BBC doesn't try to use all that money in cool ways.

    Adding to their already-ambitious plans to distribute HDTV through torrent, datacasting, and IPTV, the Beeb announced today that, after years of delays, they've been approved to pair up with ITV and launch a free 200-channel HD-capable satellite service called Freesat in the spring of 2008. The move is designed to provide digital service to the estimated 25% of the British public that can't get the successful Freeview DVB-T service, but it'll also be free to any license payer who ponys up for one of the several available interactive receivers. Hmm, that's an interesting version of "free," must be the British spelling.
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    Monday, April 30, 2007

  • Hitachi Demos Four-Layer Blu-Ray Disc Playback

    Hitachi showcased playback of a four-layer Blu-Ray disc featuring a capacity of 25GB per layer. The company said that the drive used for reading was a standard Blu-Ray drive, at its booth at the 2007 International CES.

    Hitachi 4 layers blu ray disc


    There have been other academic reports of creating fourlayer (100GB) or even six layer (200GB) disc media by TDK. Some companies have also showcased playback of multi-layer BD media using test players embedded with a special optical head. But in the current demonstation, Hitachi used a 'standard drive'.

    "This is the first demonstration of quadruple disc readout using a player based on an optical head generally used in current BD drives on the market," said Hitachi representatives.

    Hitachi used an optical disc drive based on the "GBW-H10N" supporting 4x speed BD recording, which Hitachi-LG Data Storage, Inc. announced in July 2006. However, the company made some alterations to the firmware and the optical system inside the head, to make the player compatible with four-layer BD playback. Frontend signal processing (Renesas) and other circuits are the same as those used in the "GBW-H10N."

    Of course, the demonstration did not include playback of video. Hitachi set up a reference system that included a PC, the BD drive connected to an oscilator, tuned to display the HF reading signal and especially the javascript:void(0)
    Publishdata patterns of the disc, which indicate the BD recording marks. According to a report on the Japanese Tech-On website, the first layer (L0) of the 100GB disc included a series of 3T patterns followed by 4T patterns marked on a layer one (L1) above it, 5T patterns on L2 and 6T patterns on L3. When the player picked up signals from each layer on this disc, it displays the signals' waveforms using the oscilloscope. The frequencies changed depending on the layer being read, so demonstration observers could recognize the readout of each layer. However, the drive was not set to pick up the 2T patterns, which are the smallest found on data Blu-Ray discs (3T to 11T for the data features on DVD).

    Hitachi said, that developing this technology required a drive capable of detecting which layer to read. The company has not specified how the pickup lens actually detects the readout layer, but reportedly explored a wide variety of methods including a very basic way, in which the pickup lens finds a targeted layer by scanning each layer in order of shorter distance from the optical head.

    Quadruple BD capacity could be used for storing Digital Cinema Picture Quality content in the future. For example, a 100GB disc could hold 3.5h hours of 64Mbps video (resolution 4K-2K).

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    Friday, April 27, 2007

  • Fastmac offers Blu-ray upgrade for laptops

    Fastmac on Friday announced a Blu-ray optical disk upgrade for Apple PowerBooks, iBooks and MacBook Pros. The upgrade costs $799.95. The low-profile drive also works in Mac minis. Fastmac estimates delivery within 10 days.

    The drive replaces the existing optical drives on these machines with a Blu-ray model that can store up to 50GB of data on a single disk, compared to 8.5GB for a double-layer DVD.

    The drive supports reading, writing and re-writing to single (25GB) and dual layer (50GB) Blu-ray media at 1x speeds. It also works with DVD and CD media, able to write to DVD-R and DVD+R discs at 8x in single layer and 2x in dual/double layer mode; it can rewrite to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 4x speeds. The Fastmac drive also supports DVD-RAW reading and writing and up to 5x speeds and CD-R and CD-RW discs at 8x speed.

    System requirements call for Mac OS X v10.2.8 or later. The drive is compatible with the following Mac models, according to Fastmac:


    • - iBook G4

    • - iMac G5

    • - iMac Intel

    • - MacBook Pro (17-inch)

    • - Mac mini

    • - PowerBook G3 Pismo

    • - PowerBook G4 Titanium (667 Mhz or higher)

    • - PowerBook G4 Aluminum


    Fastmac notes that the disc requires Roxio’s Toast 8 Titanium or other third-party software compatible with Blu-ray disc drives in order to add support in the Mac OS X Finder.

    “Native support for Blu-ray burning within iLife & iTunes is expected in the future via Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, but cannot be guaranteed at this time,” said the company in a statement.

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  • Sony Launches the “Museum of Low Res” (MoLR)
    Museum of Low Res


    Do you still own a standard TV and DVD or even a VHS? Well, if you do your place or at least your TV set should already belong in a Museum! At least according to Sony!

    The main Blu-ray backer launched the "Museum of Low Res" (MoLR), a consumer website which takes you on a virtual tour of the history of technology and the conception of Blu-ray Disc itself. The tongue-in-cheek website visually explains the Blu-ray disc format; from a giant TV sculpture demonstrating the resolution power of Blu-ray Disc, to a robotic arm sculpture highlighting its storage capacity.

    Is it worth the time to take a look at it? Yes, a bit of humor in this battle of the formats is a good thing. We tend to forget that the main goal of high definition movies is entertainment and fun. Sony brings that back a little with this site. At least for the European market since the site was launched by Sony-Europe.

    The image represent what Sony says is the first High definition TV that reached 1080! I always loved videowalls!

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  • Fuh Yuan retracts $299 Wal-Mart HD DVD statement

    That sound you're hearing is your hopes of a $299 HD DVD player anytime in the immediate future deflating, that is, is Fuh Yuan is to be believed this time around. Unfortunately, it seems that the firm pulled the trigger a bit too soon on a hopeful order, as a recent retraction on the company's website insinuates that Wal-Mart simply inquired about their ability to "provide a schedule" along with "cost and quantity" details for Wally World to evaluate. Currently, it seems that the "capacity is still under consideration," but it did leave the door open to believe that this idea may still be churning in the background by cordially inviting anyone with an up-to-snuff manufacturing facility to ping them for more details. The good news is that a sub-$300 HD DVD player isn't a matter of "if," it's just a matter of "when," and as long as Wal-Mart keeps burning down price barriers, we're sure it'll surface (arguably) soon.

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  • HD DVD sales are less than 2,000 behind those of Blu-ray Disc

    In a recent battle of press releases, the Blu-ray Association announced that sales of Blu-ray Disc titles have surpassed one million units in less than a year since the format’s introduction. In a statement from the HD DVD Promotional Group received by DailyTech, it appears that sales of HD DVD movies are not far behind those of Blu-ray Disc.


    According to stats cited by the HD DVD Group, which are based on recent data from Nielsen Videoscan, Universal, Warner and Toshiba, HD DVD titles are now at 998,059 units sold, representing less-than 2,000 units shy of Blu-ray’s announced figures. Of course, while the next-generation formats fight over claims of collective sales of one million, a single DVD title could easily sell over one million units on its own.


    “Yes, these are still small numbers compared to DVD sales, but point being – HD DVD is still very much in the game,” read the HD DVD Group statement. “As more HD DVD titles hit the market (take a look at pre-order rankings for Planet Earth and The Matrix Trilogy) and as prices for HD DVD hardware continue to drop below the $400 mark, we're seeing more equal week to week movie sales ratios between the formats.”


    The HD DVD Promotional Group announced last week that it has sold more than 100,000 standalone players in the U.S. since introduction, and claims to be currently outselling dedicated Blu-ray players by a four-to-one margin.


    “Why are we just focusing on dedicated players? So we can compare stats on similar hardware with similar attach rates,” explained the HD DVD Group. “That's a key driver of software sales and shows that price is clearly a factor for consumers in deciding to buy dedicated high definition hardware.”


    “Bottom line is that HD DVD is staying focused across the board on creating great products at great prices,” the Group added.


    Special thanks to Dailytech.com for this story !

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    Thursday, April 26, 2007

  • Blu-ray Trounces HD DVD Again
    Sales of Blu-ray HDTV DVDs once again trounced rival HD DVD in March and the Sony-backed format now has a 69-31 percent sales lead in the first three months of 2007.

    That's according to Nielsen Video Scan, which tracks the sale of the new high-def DVDs.

    Blu-ray supporters say the widening lead is evidence that the format is pulling away from HD DVD in the high-def DVD format war. The two formats are competing for the new high-def DVD audience.

    However, HD DVD backers tell Video Business that its format will rebound due to lower player prices and the release of 70 new HD DVD titles between now and summer. Toshiba, the biggest supporter of the HD DVD format, recently introduced a $399 player.

    Ken Graffeo, executive vice president of marketing for Universal, the only studio to exclusively support HD DVD, conceded that Blu-ray would keep its lead until the fourth quarter. But he said HD DVD should perform well then.

    “Fourth quarter is really going to be a telling time,” he said.

    HD DVD supporters credit Blu-ray's sales dominance to the release of several big titles in the spring, including Sony's Casino Royale, which has been the top high-def DVD seller.

    But Blu-ray backers say retailers will start to act accordingly after seeing the sales numbers.

    “We think retailers will start to dedicate more space to Blu-ray, rather than split it half and half,” Sony worldwide president David Bishop told Video Business. “That will further send a signal to consumers that it is the dominant format.”
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    Monday, April 23, 2007

  • HD DVD Gains Momentum Across Europe (20/4/2007)
    Hollywood and European Studios Show Broad Support with Nearly 600 Titles Expected in 2007; European Promotional Group Formed

    At a press event today at the CeBIT tradeshow in Hannover, Germany the companies of the HD DVD Promotion Group recapped a strong year for the high definition format and provided an overview of what customers across the region can expect in 2007. Adding to the global promotion structure for HD DVD, a new entity was also announced, the European HD DVD Promotional Group, Ltd., to bolster marketing efforts for the format as HD DVD gains momentum across Europe.

    By the end of Q1 2007, more than 100 titles will be available throughout Europe. More than one-third of these titles come from European studios and none of them are currently available on any other high-definition format. The overwhelming majority of the discs are replicated locally. With more than 21 studios and distributors, 14 authoring studios and eight replicators producing HD DVD content and discs throughout the region, the number of titles is expected to increase rapidly throughout the year with an estimated 600 titles expected worldwide by December 2007.

    "Our goal is to achieve global penetration of the HD DVD format, so a lot of work has gone into making sure that authoring houses and replicators across Europe were given the training and expertise they need to get up and running quickly allowing a wealth of European content to hit the market right from the beginning," said Yoshihide Fujii, Chairman of the HD DVD Promotion Group and President and CEO of Toshiba's Digital Media Network Company. "This will be a key differentiator for HD DVD in Europe for the foreseeable future. Combine that with a solid line-up of US titles and affordable hardware and consumers have a lot of options to create a home theater experience that is unparalleled."

    Examples of the wide range of content originating in Europe include "Stalingrad (Enemy at the Gate)," "2 brothers," "Les Choristes," "La Grande Vadrouille," "L'Armee des Ombres," "Le Cercle Rouge," "Das Parfum," "Graf Montenegro," and "La Tigre e la Neve."

    Hollywood studios also made a strong commitment to the market and announcing the release of several great US titles including "Babel," "Casino," "Charley and The Chocolate Factory," "Dreamgirls," "Happy Feet," "The Holiday," "The Matrix Trilogy," "Ray," and "World Trade Center." All of these titles will feature multiple language tracks allowing seamless viewing in a variety of countries. Studios also announced expansion into a greater number of European countries and are committed to announcing HD DVD titles on the same day and date as DVDs wherever possible.

    Toshiba announced a new HD DVD player for the European market, the HD- EP10. This mid-range model, which features 1080p output, was designed to meet the increasing consumer demand for 1080p HDTVs. The new player, priced at 699 Euros, rounds out Toshiba's product line-up, and will be available in May 2007.

    Attendees of the press event saw a live demo of HD DVD's new advanced interactive features, working on both multiple PC platforms and consumer electronics based players -- effectively showing the wide breadth of support for these features. HD DVD titles with advanced interactivity will take advantage of HD DVD's mandatory specifications for network connectivity, secondary video decoders and persistent storage. Titles using player memory as well as the secondary video encoder for picture-in-picture were shipping throughout 2006, and titles using network connectivity are expected to be available in 2007. Using Microsoft's HDi interactive technology, the live demo showed how to download HD trailers and other content from the Internet, synchronized storyboard playback seamlessly switching between full screen mode and story board and subtitle download. To date, HD DVD is the only format delivering titles using true picture-in-picture.
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  • HD DVD First to Reach 100K CE Players Sold in the U.S.



    Marking the first anniversary of HD DVD hardware and movies sold to consumers, the North American HD DVD Promotional Group announced that sales of dedicated HD DVD consumer electronics players reached more than 100K units sold in the United States, ahead of any other high definition format. This figure does not include sales of HD DVD PC drives or the Xbox 360 HD DVD player, which are also selling strongly.
    As consumers see lower prices for high definition players, the manufacturing efficiencies of HD DVD are keeping the format one step ahead. As the first to bring CE player prices down below the $400 mark, Toshiba is hearing encouraging news from retailers.

    "Toshiba remains committed to drive sales with strategic pricing and marketing to complement the rapid market adoption of HDTVs," said Jodi Sally, vice president of marketing, Toshiba America Consumer Products. "Retailers are showing a significant increase in sales volume this month so far. On Amazon.com, our HD DVD players continue to rank among the top ten best sellers of all DVD players, which says a lot about how consumers relate to price."

    Quality, price and great viewing and listening experiences are recognized benefits of the HD DVD format. With mandatory features such as a network connection, picture-in-picture, persistent storage, and decode support for Dolby True HD, every player can take advantage of new interactive and audio features as they are introduced. That means a quantum leap for the consumer experience with minimal investment in new audio equipment and the ability to update any player on the market as needed. Consumers can also enjoy combo discs that include a DVD version as well as an HD version on a single disc for playback on a variety of machines. These are all exclusive features of the HD DVD format.

    With titles like The Complete Matrix Trilogy coming in May from Warner Home Video, and more than 70 new titles expected to be released before the end of July, HD DVD owners will have more than 300 titles worldwide to choose from this summer, with more to come in the fall and holiday seasons.

    The North American HD DVD Promotional Group includes companies like Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Warner Home Video, Paramount Home Entertainment, HP, Intel, Microsoft and Toshiba.
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  • Audio processor is next-generation DVD companion
    Single-chip audio processor is designed for demanding processing tasks associated with emerging standards, such as next-generation HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc

    As consumer electronics manufacturers ramp products supporting the next-generation HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc DVD high-definition DVD formats, Cirrus Logic has introduced a single-chip audio processor, the CS49700, designed to meet the demanding processing tasks associated with these emerging new standards.

    Available today in volume production, the CS49700 enables mass-market home theatre products, such as audio/video receivers, combination high-definition DVD players and receivers and Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD players, at all price points.

    Today's DVD standard calls for chips that support two primary audio decode surround-sound standards, Dolby Digital and DTS standards.

    For next-generation Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats, audio processor ICs must support up to six surround-sound audio algorithms, including Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTS Master and DTS High Resolution, any of which may be featured within high-definition DVD disc media.

    The CS49700 supports each of these audio formats and is designed for home theatre products such as mid- and low-tier.

    With its 32bit, dual-core structure, the CS49700 generates true parallel processing power of 1.8GOPS (300MIPS).


    The CS49700's hardware design and software features, including firmware, are optimised for audio processing, which provides a more efficient chip solution that requires less memory and reduced overall processing power compared with many general purpose DSPs.

    'While early generations of high-definition DVD equipment often rely on two or more DSP processors, Cirrus Logic has delivered a single-chip solution that is available today and meets all of the complex audio requirements of Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats', said Keith Cheney, Vice President and General Manager, Embedded Products Division, Cirrus Logic.

    'Through Cirrus Logic's audio focus, we have delivered to manufacturers a full-featured but cost-effective IC solution that will speed the introduction of new products and give consumers an amazing audio experience that matches the high-resolution video'.

    Compared with today's standard DVD format, supporting all of the necessary audio algorithms and system clocking challenges for both Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats is substantially more complex.

    In addition to the numerous current standard and additional new algorithms that must be supported, many of these new algorithms require bit-rate processing far greater than the typical 384Kbit/s of today's DVD systems.

    For example, lossless surround sound algorithms, such as Dolby's TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio, require bit-rate processing as high as 18 to 24Mbit/s, respectively.

    Multiple audio formats also present myriad clock frequency challenges, to which the CS49700 adeptly manages via an advanced phase-lock-loop (PLL) that generates a system clock source.

    The CS49700 also offers such post-processing algorithms as Dolby Pro Logic IIx, DTS 96/24, Neo:6, MPEG, AAC, SRS Circle Surround II, Dolby Headphone, Dolby Virtual Speaker, SRS Tru-Surround XT and THX Ultra2, which are built into the IC's on-chip ROM.

    The CS49700 also provides support for the HDMI 1.3 interface, the emerging digital audio and video interconnect standard that is used to send digital audio and video signals among home theatre equipment, such as A/V receivers, DVD players and flat-panel televisions.

    The CS49700 is currently in volume production and is available in a 144-pin LQFP priced at US $7.50 in 100,000-unit quantities.
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  • Sonic Streamlines HD DVD & Blu-ray Disc Menu Creation With Plug-in for PhotoShop
    Sonic Solutions has introduced Scenarist Designer PS 2.0, a major advance in menu-design workflow for high-definition formats.

    Scenarist Designer PS 2.0 automates the conversion of Adobe Photoshop graphics into standardized interactive menu components suitable for authoring for both Blu-ray Disc (BD) and HD DVD format in Sonic Scenarist. Extending the efficiency and precision of automated menu generation to designers on all Photoshop-supported platforms, Scenarist Designer PS 2.0 handles the advanced content modes of both high-definition formats and is now available for both Macintosh and Windows platforms.

    Designing menus for HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc titles is very different from DVD-Video. Scenarist Designer PS 2.0 is unique in that it returns the control of menu component creation to the professional graphic designer who can create menus for high-definition titles using the industry-standard Adobe Photoshop. By basing the menu-design process on familiar concepts such as using layer sets to group button elements, Scenarist Designer PS 2.0 lets designers stay focused on the visual aspects of their work without worrying about the details of conversion for various output formats. Once a menu’s background and button-state graphics are defined, the export from Photoshop of a compatible menu for one or more target formats is handled automatically via the Scenarist Designer PS 2.0 plug-in, saving hours of authoring work for each project. Offering flexible control and customization of dithering options for HDMV’s RGBA palettes, Scenarist Designer PS 2.0 ensures that menu graphics are of the highest-image quality.

    “Scenarist Designer PS 2.0 is a huge step forward for us, as it seamlessly bridges the workflow gap between the environment preferred by our graphic designers and the authoring tools that we depend on to create compelling titles for both BD and HD DVD,” said Ole Lütjens, Creative Director, of MX Production Services in San Francisco, California. “Once we’ve achieved just the right look for our menus, it’s now a quick, painless task to bring them into Scenarist with all the elements appearing exactly where they’re supposed to be. And, the menus never look different after they’ve been multiplexed, which is a problem we have seen with many other systems. This simplifies our work tremendously, especially for projects that are to be released in more than one high-definition format.”

    Depending on the selected output formats, Scenarist Designer PS will output all components required to automatically reconstruct a menu in either Scenarist BD or Scenarist HD DVD authoring workstations, including button positioning information and graphics for each button state (dithered to associated RGBA palettes if needed for HDMV menus in BD projects). The menus are then completely ready for assignment of navigation commands by authoring specialists, either directly in the Scenarist environment (for Blu-ray’s HDMV and BD-J modes) or in a simple text editor (for HD DVD’s HDi mode).

    “Scenarist Designer PS is a massive value proposition for menu designers and graphic artists who are grappling with the vast complexities that HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc introduce,” said Rolf Hartley, senior vice president and general manager of Sonic’s Professional Products Group. “By working within their graphics’ platform of choice, Designer PS enables these artists to save a significant amount of time by outputting not only the art but also the BD data structures and the HDi markup required all from within the same job.”

    Scenarist Designer PS 2.0 is available immediately through Sonic’s resale channels worldwide.
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  • U.S retailer to stock $199 HD-DVD player
    Rumours are doing the rounds that WalMart, the American retailer that owns British supermarket ASDA, will be shifting HD-DVD players for as little as $199, and as soon as autumn of this year.



    It seems as if a Chinese manufacturer, Fuh Yuan, in cooperation with TDK, has been brought in to produce the blue laser drives in a move that may swing the format wars.

    Up to now the Blu-ray system seems to have been trumping HD-DVD but this could shift the balance.

    Rumours say that the contract is for 2 million units, with Broadcom providing the system-on-a-chip decoder, in a deal for $100,000,000 and it is said that a new factory has already been opened for the work.

    Those in the know say the units could retail for between $199 and $299, with even the higher price representing good value as the cheapest player now available, the Toshiba HD-A20, comes in at $399. The cheapest Blu-ray available is $599.
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  • Is Sony's Blu-ray Disc technology set to suffer the same fate as Betamax VCRs?
    Quite possibly, judging by the news from International Herald Tribune that Toshiba - Sony's deadly rival in the high-definition disc-player war - is licensing its HD DVD techology to Chinese manufacturers for low-cost production.

    Although the parallels between the Betamax vs VHS war aren't precise, it's worth remembering that it was JVC's decision to widely license VHS that ended up being the deciding factor.

    The one certain result of Toshiba's licensing decision is that set-top HD DVD players will be available at massively lower prices than Blu-ray players.

    Confirming that prices of HD DVD are going to become very affordable, the AV Science Forum is reporting that Chinese manufacturer Fuh Yuan has signed a deal to make two million HD DVD players for the giant supermarket chain Walmart (owner of ASDA in the UK).

    If HD DVD is pitched at affordable prices and Blu-ray stays out of reach of the masses, then the Toshiba system looks certain to grab the lion's share of the worldwide market for hi-def players and win the current formats war.

    About the only thing that might keep Blu-ray Disc in with a shout is if it, too, gets licensed to the Chinese - and at an affordable rate.

    If that doesn't happen, Blu-ray Disc might stagger on for few years but looks sure to eventually go to the wall as Betamax did.
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  • Fastmac ships first slimline Blu-ray optical drive upgrade for Apple portable Macs, Mac mini



    Fastmac today announced that it has begun shipping the first & only Blu-ray optical drive upgrade for Apple's PowerBook, iBook & MacBook Pro computers. The new slimline, slot loading drive uses one of the fastest & most compatible Blu-ray mechanisms to provide up to 50GB of storage on 1 disk, without sacrificing compatibility with standard DVD & CD recordable media. Fastmac's Blu-Ray optical drive has been tested & certified compatible with Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 video production software. The drive is available now for order for a special introductory price of $799.95. Each drive carries a 1 year warranty and a 30 day money back guarantee .

    Fastmac's new Blu-Ray slot loading drive has been tested and certified compatible with Adobe's forthcoming Premiere Pro CS3 video production software that includes Adobe Encore CS3 and is part of the Adobe Creative Suite 3 Production Premium Collection. Adobe Encore CS3 integrates with Adobe Photoshop & Adobe Premiere to provide a rich set of creative tools for the production and output of full-featured, menu-driven DVD and Blu-Ray Discs. It is the only video production and editing software available for the Mac OS that supports built-in Blu-Ray Disc authoring for playback on stand-alone Blu-Ray DVD players & the Sony PlayStation 3.

    Fastmac's new Blu-ray slot loading drive gives photographers, videographers & musicians the ability to save anything, anywhere- in the field, on location, in the studio, at work or at home. System administrators and database administrators can archive and retrieve large amounts of data on one convenient disk. And consumers can now watch today's latest HD content in true high definition with surround sound anytime & anywhere they happen to be.

    Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disk (BD), is the name of a next generation optical disk format developed by a consortium of electronics and computer manufacturers including Apple, Dell, HP, JVC, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony & TDK. The format was designed to enable the recording and playback of High Definition (HD) content and to allow storage of large amounts (up to 200 Gb) of data. While current optical drive technologies rely on a red laser to read and write data, the new format uses a blue-violet laser (hence the name, Blu-ray). The blue-violet laser has a 38% shorter wavelength (405nm) than a red laser (650nm), allowing the drive's optical pickup unit to focus more precisely than ever before. Data can then be packed more densely on standard sized disks. Despite using a new type of laser, Blu-ray drives are compatible with standard DVD and CD media through the use of a combined red, blue & violet optical reader and writer.

    In addition to broad support from the electronics, music, computer & video game industry, 7 out of 8 of the major Hollywood film studios support Blu-ray media and 5 out of those 7 (Disney, Fox, Lionsgate, MGM & Sony) have decided to release their movies exclusively in the Blu-ray format. With its forward and backward integration with new and old media, Blu-ray is destined to become the successor to today's DVD format.

    Fastmac's slimline Blu-ray slot loading optical drive supports reading, writing and re-writing to single and dual layer Blu-ray media at 1x speeds. The drive is also compatible with standard DVD and CD media and can write to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 8x speed in single layer and 2x speed in dual/ double layer mode. It can rewrite to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 4x speeds. The drive also supports DVD-RAM reading and writing at up to 5x speeds and standard CD-R and CD-RW burning at 8x speeds.

    Fastmac's slimline Blu-ray slot loading optical drive upgrade requires Mac OS X 10.2.8 or higher and is compatible with the following Apple computers:
    • iBook G4
    • iMac G5
    • iMac Intel
    • MacBook Pro (17-inch)
    • Mac mini
    • PowerBook G3 Pismo
    • PowerBook G4 Titanium (667 Mhz or higher)
    • PowerBook G4 Aluminum

    Blu-ray burning requires 3rd-party software such as Adobe Premiere CS3 or Roxio's Toast 8 Titanium, which enables Blu-ray disk support in the Mac OS Finder. Native support for Blu-ray burning within iLife & iTunes is expected in the future via Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, but cannot be guaranteed at this time.
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  • Blu-Ray `Casino Royale` tops March charts selling 59,000 copies
    Blu-ray booster 'Casino Royale' was March's top next-gen title, handedly surpassing HD DVD's biggest seller for the month, 'The Departed.' Meanwhile, HD DVD backers say they're looking to a fourth quarter of more titles and cheaper players to close the sales gap with their rival - reports HighDefDigest.

    According to Video Business, industry sources peg the month's high-def top title as Sony's 'Casino Royale,' which sold 59,000 copies on Blu-ray (the studio shipped a record 100,000 units of 'Royale' to stores last month.)

    HD DVD's leader was again Warner's 'The Departed,' which saw 16,000 copies move over retail counters. Though clearly trailing 'Royale,' it was still higher than the 13,000 HD DVD units of 'Departed' that sold in February.

    But while HD DVD backers have pointed to the "PS3 factor" and a smaller number of HD DVD titles on the market as reasons for their less-than-stellar sales performance vs Blu-ray since the start of the year, according to Video Business, they are now counting on a fourth quarter of new titles and cheaper players to close the gap. Exclusive to HD DVD, Universal Studios Home Entertainment is planning its most aggressive line-up of titles yet for the upcoming holiday season, while a wave of low-cost, import HD DVD players are expected to fill store shelves and combat the onslaught of the PS3.

    "[The] fourth quarter is really going to be a telling time," said Ken Graffeo, Universal executive VP of marketing and head of high-definition, of the format's planned marketing assault of more titles and cheaper players. "It comes down to bringing it to the general audience at a price that they're willing to pay,"

    Opponents say that the window of opportunity may be fast closing for HD DVD, however, with the Blu-ray camp citing lessening retailer support and limited fourth quarter shelf space likely to squeeze HD DVD out of storefronts.

    "We think retailers will start to dedicate more space to Blu-ray, rather than split it half and half," Sony worldwide president David Bishop said. "That will further send a signal to consumers that it is the dominant format."
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  • Sonic Solutions has launched Scenarist BD Edition 4.3, an important upgrade to its revolutionary high-definition authoring system that makes the creat
    High-def movies will soon reach the mass market thanks to Wally's World


    Reports came in late last week of Wal-Mart planning to stock inexpensive high-definition disc movie players for under $300. The retailer reportedly is ordering 2 million players produced by Great Wall Corporation in China, with parts developed by Taiwan’s Fuh Yuan and Japan’s TDK, in a $100 million deal.

    Although the news was initially pegged as a huge boost to the HD DVD camp, closer examination and more accurate translation of Chinese reports indicate that the players for Wal-Mart are “Blu-ray (or blue light) HD DVD” players, adding an extra layer of confusion to the matter. Both next-generation optical formats use blue or violet lasers, so unless the player is to be compatible with both HD DVD and Blu-ray, the exact nature of this low-priced will be unknown until we get official English confirmation.

    Wal-Mart spokesperson Mellissa O’Brien would not comment on the apparent deal between the retailer and its Chinese manufacturing partners, but did offer to Home Media Magazine, “[Most] of the shoppers asking about and purchasing either Blu-ray or HD DVD are already pretty savvy technically about both — they are the kind of consumer that absolutely wants the very best and latest in quality that's available. It's not quite yet a product the average shopper is attune too, but we anticipate that will change very soon as prices continue to come down.”

    The release date of the player is just as widely speculated upon as the price. However, reports cite the manufacturer’s plans of fulfilling the entire 2 million unit order by the end of 2008 point to a release likely within a year’s time.

    Toshiba recently dropped the price of its entry-level HD DVD player to $399, making a low-cost high-definition player for under $300 look extremely plausible. Blu-ray hardware maintains a higher price point in the market, with Sony planning for a $599 standalone player coming this summer.

    Currently, the cheapest Blu-ray Disc player is in the form of the PlayStation 3, which until recently, allowed consumers to buy into the format for $499 with the 20GB console. Sony is now offering only the 60GB model, citing overwhelming consumer preference.

    For Xbox 360 owners, the least expensive way to watch HD DVD movies is with the add-on drive which retails for $199. The drive also works on high-end computers, giving home theater PC owners another cost-effective option.
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  • Sonic Releases New Scenarist V4.3 To Streamline Hollywood Blu-ray Disc Production
    Sonic Solutions has launched Scenarist BD Edition 4.3, an important upgrade to its revolutionary high-definition authoring system that makes the creation of Blu-ray Disc (BD) titles with advanced interactive content significantly more accessible and straightforward.

    Bringing speed and efficiency to all aspects of the BD title authoring workflow, Scenarist BD Edition includes new networked multiplexing capabilities, streamlined asset management capabilities, and the industry’s best-of-breed still-image encoder for the highest-possible quality menus and HD slide shows. Scenarist BD Edition is also the world’s first application to allow professional authors to enable BD-Java functions used to create advanced interactive programming with drag-and-drop simplicity and produce BD-Objects and JAR files through a wizard-based workflow. The simplified workflow is integrated into a full-featured Java editor to provide the ideal balance between ease and control and make Scenarist BD Edition the world’s only comprehensive authoring system for creating Hollywood-class Blu-ray disc titles. Sonic will be demonstrating Scenarist BD Edition at NAB (Stand SL4314), April 16th to the 19th in Las Vegas Nevada.

    “Creating the advanced interactive content that our major motion picture clients demand for BD can be extremely time consuming and expensive,” said Duncan Wain, President of Scope Seven. “Scenarist BD Edition 4.3 streamlines our Blu-ray development process, improves our ability to deliver innovative productions, and significantly increases our output capacity.”

    Now featuring the world’s first graphical user interface (GUI) for creating BD-Java, Scenarist BD Edition 4.3 allows professional authors to create compelling interactivity and menu navigation without knowing the rigors of BD-J programming. Combining an efficient drag-and-drop user model with the ability to gain access to the deepest levels of Java programming, Scenarist BD Edition 4.3 provides users with the simplicity they need for base-line capabilities as well as the fine-tune control required for developing first-of-kind advanced interactive titles.

    Scenarist BD Edition 4.3 is also available as part of Scenarist High-Definition Workgroup which also includes Scenarist HD DVD Edition; CineVision, for high definition video compression; and Scenarist Designer, which provides a highly efficient menu creation facility for both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc.

    “Sonic’s continuing role at this important stage in the rollout of high-definition formats is to arm high-end authoring facilities with an enriched set of refined tools that enable them to create titles more efficiently for their customers, the Hollywood studios,” said Rolf Hartley, senior vice president and general manager of Sonic’s Professional Products Group. ”Our professional customers are rapidly moving into full production mode and capacity demands are increasing exponentially. Scenarist BD Edition 4.3 comes at exactly the right time to power the high-impact BD titles that Hollywood demands.”
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  • Blu Ray Gains Momentum Thanks to the PlayStation 3
    Sales of Blu Ray discs and players have increased dramatically in the last month, thanks to the worldwide debut of the PlayStation 3.

    Sony can now be pleased with the sales numbers provided by Home Media Magazine, at least concerning the Blu Ray discs. According to the publication, almost 70% of the HD discs sold in the first quarter were in the Blu Ray format, and only about 30% were HD DVD.

    February 2007 has been the month when Blu Ray finally took off, while March confirmed the ascending trend, with nearly three out of every four high-definition discs sold being in Blu Ray format.

    Apparently, the Blu Ray was the first choice for consumers even when they were offered the same movie in both formats: since Warner’s “The Departed” was launched on February 13, 53,640 copies of the film on Blu-ray disc have been sold, and only 31,590 on HD DVD. The estimations were made using Nielsen VideoScan’s point-of-sale data.

    The Top 10 HD movies is also dominated by Blu Ray titles, with SCEA’s Casino Royale in pole position: an estimated 59,680 Casino Royale BR discs were sold in the first quarter of 2007, but Martin Scorsese’s “The Departed” could be considered the winner since it sold enough to put the title on second place in Blu Ray format top 10 (and also second in the top 10 for all HD movies, Blu Ray or HD DVD) and first in HD DVD format (third place overall for the HD DVD version).

    According to HMM, from January 1 to March 31, consumers bought almost 1.2 million high-definition discs- 832,530 Blu-ray units and 359,300 HD DVDs. In March, consumers bought 335,980 Blu-ray Discs and 119,570 HD DVDs.

    Nielsen VideoScan had previously declared that during the first two weeks of January, Blu-ray discs outsold HD DVD by more than a 2:1 margin. It should be noted that the two weeks in question saw only two new high-def disc releases- both from Blu-ray (“The Covenant” on Jan 2, and “Crank” on Jan 9).

    The leading position of Blu Ray is also confirmed by the number of discs sold since the two formats were officially introduced: from a total of more than 2.14 million high-definition discs sold worldwide, HMM says at least 1.2 million were Blu-ray and 937,500 were HD DVDs. Blu Ray’s leading edge becomes obvious when we consider the fact that HD DVD officially debuted in April 2006 while Blu Ray was introduced two months later.

    Sony’s Blu Ray format is benefiting from the support of 6 major Hollywood studios, while Toshiba’s HD DVD is only backed by three. Blu Ray exclusive support is provided by 20th Century Fox, Buena Vista Home Entertainment and of course Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, while Lionsgate, Paramount Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video prefer to offer titles in both formats. The only studio providing exclusive support for the HD DVD is Universal.

    All three HD DVD studios wielded weak release slates in the first quarter of the year; behind The Departed, the next-biggest-selling HD DVD was Batman Begins, which had been released in October 2006. Batman Begins sold 16,980 HD DVDs in the first quarter of this year, but factoring in its initial sales, the title stands at 44,590 units, not far behind Casino Royale.

    “All this data points to the irrefutable facts that the consumers are voting with their dollars and adopting the revolutionary technology of the Blu-ray Disc,” said Bob Chapek, president of Buena Vista Home Entertainment. “With such beloved titles as Pirates of the Caribbean on the horizon, these numbers will only do one thing: grow.”

    “Breaking the 1 million-unit mark is a significant milestone for Blu-ray because it represents rapidly growing consumer acceptance for this revolutionary platform,” added David Bishop, president of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. “I am confident that the numbers will increase, and more critical benchmarks will be reached to ensure Blu-ray’s position as the leading high-definition format.”

    “Practically, Blu-ray launched this past November, and in just over one business quarter has rocketed to a significant lead,” noted Mike Dunn, president of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. “Consumers are clearly choosing Blu-ray as their high-def format of choice, and telling us so at retail cash registers.”

    Andy Parsons, chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association’s U.S. Promotion Committee, said that “It’s exactly what we’ve said all along would happen — the strong support for Blu-ray among movie studios and equipment manufacturers means that consumers have more choices when it comes to players and titles. And they’re choosing Blu-ray by an ever-increasing margin.”
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  • Rumors of a Samsung BD-UP5000 combo player swirl again
    It's been quite some time since the gloves were thrown out in the HD DVD / Blu-ray war, and after much smack talk from both sides, we still aren't seeing a clear cut victor. The biggest winner thus far seems to be the almighty mediator, which of course, LG holds an exclusive claim to at the moment. Sure, Samsung has denied and rekindled rumors of a combo player in the past, but according to an article at Stor-Age, the BD-UP5000 might not be such a pipe dream after all. If allegations prove correct, a "Duo HD Player" could hit the market as soon as July 2007, and aside from playing nice with both formats, the player would be cosmetically similar to the BD-P1200, support both BD-Java and Advanced Navigation, handle HDMI 1.3 and the latest audio formats, and will sport DCDi processing. There's no word on pricing just yet, nor any way to tell if Sammy is really ramping up for a hybrid release or not, but we'd sure love a little summertime competition in the two-faced-player arena nonetheless.
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    Tuesday, April 10, 2007

  • Sony Report Reveals First Look at Absolute Blu-ray and HD DVD Disc Sales Figures
    Thanks to a new research report from Sony, industry watchers are getting their best look yet at hard high-def disc sales numbers from Nielsen VideoScan, including per-title sales figures for high-def discs released on both next-gen formats.

    Focusing on sales data for the week ending March 18 (the same week that Sony's 'Casino Royale' smashed high-def records by shipping 100,000 units to retail), it should come as no surprise that the VideoScan numbers released by Sony are favorable to the studio, with five of its releases ranking among the top-selling next-gen discs that week.

    The numbers that week were equally as impressive for Blu-ray, which outsold HD DVD by a ratio of 9:2, and dominated the list of top-selling next-gen discs -- the HD DVD edition of 'The Departed' was the only HD DVD disc to appear among the top ten best selling high-def discs.

    But while abstract ratios and percentages like these have been bandied about for several months now, the Sony report goes one step further, providing the first public release of hard sales figures for HD DVD and Blu-ray discs from Nielsen VideoScan, the home entertainment industry's leading source for competitive sales data.

    Among the numbers revealed: as of March 18, VideoScan put the cumulative number of Blu-ray titles sold since the format's inception at 844,000 units, versus HD DVD at 708,600.

    But perhaps most interesting are the per-title sales numbers for the top ten selling discs across both formats, which are provided both in the form of a weekly tally (again for the week ending March 18), and as year-to-date totals.
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  • It's Official: Toshiba Cuts HD DVD Pricing
    Toshiba made official its long-rumored HD DVD player price cuts, dropping the expected retail price by $100 for the entry HD-A2 (to $399) and the step-up HD-A20 (to $499). The top-of-the-line HD-XA2 ($799) received a $200 price cut earlier.

    Jodi Sally, Toshiba A/V products marketing VP, confirmed the prices to TWICE.

    New York City retailer Datavision is adding to the new prices a $50 instant rebate. In addition, purchasers of any of the players qualify for five free HD DVD titles offered through a separate offer.

    Sally denied speculation that Toshiba had made the price step because Sony had recently announced plans to sell a $599 Blu-ray Disc player later this year, and Samsung's Blu-ray model has been aggressively price promoted on the Internet.

    "Price moves like this are planned pretty far in advance," she said. "It has always been our strategy to really plan strategic pricing and promotions long-term with this category."

    The instant rebates advertised by Datavision are offered by the retailer and not backed by Toshiba, she said.

    Sales of HD DVD players have been doing well this year, Sally said.

    "As of last week, Amazon.com was showing the HD-A2 and the HD-XA2 players in the No. 5 and No. 6 spots of all DVD players," she said.

    Shortly thereafter, the DVD Promotional Group announced more than 70 new HD DVD title releases planned for spring and summer deliveries from Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Warner Home Video, Paramount Home Entertainment, The Weinstein Company, Genius Products and Eagle Rock Entertainment.

    Among the key titles will be "Smokin' Aces," "The Complete Matrix Trilogy" and "Dreamgirls." In addition, a number of discs will be released in the combo HD DVD/DVD flipper format, and some will have day-and-date release windows with the DVD versions.

    Meanwhile, the HD DVD Promotions Group said the attach rate of software to players continues to exceed the rival Blu-ray Disc format.
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  • European studios lean toward HD DVD
    While Blu-ray seems to have the upper hand right now in the United States, European studios appear to favor the HD DVD format for high-definition video content for now. The main reason for picking the HD DVD format is saving money. "An HD DVD replication line costs about €800,000 and you can make 40,000 discs a day on it. A Blu-Ray replication line costs €1.7m or €1.8m and you can make 10,000 to 15,000 discs a day." French replication company Qol CEO Laurent Villaume told the Financial Times.

    The launch of the PlayStation 3 (PS3) console in the U.S. led to a surge in Blu-ray movie sales which has continued ever since. Of all Blu-ray playing equipment sold in the U.S., Adams Media Research reports that 94% are players "built into consoles". Sony's four month delay for the European launch of the PS3 also played a big part in HD DVD's early support in the territory.

    European studios are not solely committed to either format however, as it is far too early to tell which format will "win". "All the work we are doing on high definition will be useful for making Blu-Ray discs if the Blu-Ray standard wins. It will be easy to change position," Studio Canal's Rodolphe Buet said. The figures also mean very little for now, as the vast majority of the general public is in no hurry to settle for either format - many aren't even really aware of them.
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  • Indie studios give HD-DVD a boost in Europe
    Finally, some good news for HD-DVD! The Financial Times reports that HD-DVD appears to be winning the HDTV DVD format war overseas, thanks in large part to independent films.
    Several European independent film studios and production companies (Studio Canal, Pathe, Filmax, Imagion, Nixbu) are supporting Toshiba’s HD-DVD over Sony’s Blu-ray, so to watch their favorite indie and big-title films in HDTV, European high-def lovers need HD-DVD players.

    The Financial Times reports that 35 European films have been released in HD-DVD, compared to less than 10 Blu-ray titles.
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  • FastMac offers Blu-Ray drive upgrade for some Macs
    While Apple continues to lag on including even the option to install a Blu-Ray (or HD-DVD) drive on any Mac, FastMac (a third party vendor) has stepped in and is offering the drive for some Apple computers going all the way back to a PowerBook G3.

    It doesn’t come cheap though, the $800 upgrade is available for the following Macs, PowerBook G3, iBook/PowerBook G4, MacBook Pro 17”, iMac G5, iMac Intel and even the Mac Mini. It is not available for either the MacBook Pro 15” or MacBook.

    The $800 price tag means this is probably aimed at those who created high-definition video content because I really can’t think of anyone else who would plop down $800 for an optical drive upgrade. $800 on a video card maybe, $800 on a monitor, possibly but not an optical drive.

    This $800 upgrade package includes all the software and hardware you need to get the drive up and running. Blu-Ray is not a format natively supported by OSX so they have gone to the extra step of including Toast 8 Titanium, for the price you are paying, they had better.

    In addition to the Blu-Ray RW (BD-RW) format it also supports DVD+R/RW +DL (Dual Layer), DVD-RAM, CD-R and CD-RW formats. Though, I would consider DVD-RAM to be a dead format, it’s still a nice bonus.

    The drive is a drop-in upgrade for your existing optical drive and I’m sure that they will include instructions of some sort. Be advised you have to perform the upgrade yourself and doing so may void your warranty if your Mac is still under warranty. If you have doubts about doing this yourself, take it to the nearest Apple Store where I’m sure they’d be more than happy to charge you an arm and a leg for installing the drive and remember, that’s in addition to the $800 you have already spent (that does not include tax or shipping).

    It remains to be seen when Apple will begin offering Blu-Ray (or HD-DVD) drives on their Macs.
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  • Fastmac announces first Blu-ray optical drive upgrade for laptops
    Fastmac today announced the first Blu-ray optical drive upgrade for Apple's PowerBook, iBook & MacBook Pro computers. The new slimline, slot loading drive uses one of the fastest & most compatible Blu-ray mechanisms to provide up to 50 Gb of storage on 1 disk, without sacrificing compatibility with standard DVD & CD recordable media.

    Fastmac's new Blu-ray slot loading drive gives photographers, videographers & musicians the ability to save anything, anywhere in the field, on location, in the studio, at work or at home. System administrators and database administrators can archive and retrieve large amounts of data on 1 convenient disk. And consumers can now watch today's latest HD content in true high definition with surround sound anytime & anywhere they happen to be.

    "This new optical drive gives me the freedom to save anything, anywhere I happen to be with my new MacBook Pro," said Edward Savio, President of Fastmac Performance Upgrades, Inc. "With this much storage capability, I was able to sort and backup my work on a per project basis." Fastmac's Blu-ray optical drive upgrade is scheduled to ship within 10 days and is available for pre-order from www.fastmac.com for a special introductory price of $799.95. Each drive carries a 1 year warranty and a 30 day money back guarantee.
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  • Certain Blu-Ray, HD DVD Discs Sell Poorly
    Recent high-def disc releases (like Blu-ray editions of 'Casino Royale') have indicated solid sales. Now, however, a new Sony research report sees some alarmingly low sales figures for other titles issued on next-gen formats (thanks Slashdot).

    While these charts confirm the previously reported strong showings for such A-list titles as 'The Departed' 'Batman Begins' and 'Superman Returns' (with each clocking per-format sales totals since-inception of at least 28,000 units sold), they also demonstrate a very steep drop-off for titles outside of that top rung, with even discs among the top-ten best sellers that week moving fewer than 1000 units apiece...

    ...While we should note that the VideoScan numbers are not all-inclusive (for example, they don't include discs sold at Wal-Mart or some online merchants), the lower sales numbers at the bottom end of weekly list and on display elsewhere in the report (where some titles are listed as selling fewer than 200 units since inception) are certainly still a sobering reminder that both formats still have a long way to go in their shared quest to supplant standard-def DVD.
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  • FastMac Now Offering Blu-Ray Optical Drives for Apple Laptops
    On Friday, FastMac announced that the company has released its Blu-ray optical drives for the following slot-loading Macintosh computers:
    -iBook G4
    -iMac G5
    -iMac Intel
    -MacBook Pro (17")
    -Mac mini
    -PowerBook G3 Pismo
    -PowerBook G4 Titanium (667 Mhz or higher)
    -PowerBook G4 Aluminum

    The Blu-ray format allows up to 50 gigabytes to be stored on a single disk while also remaining compatible with standard CD and DVD media. The drive is available at an introductory price of US$799.95 and arrives with a bundled copy of Roxio's Toast 8 Titanium, a complimentary 25 gigabyte Blu-ray rewritable disc, a 30 day money back guarantee and a year's warranty.

    The drive requires Mac OS X 10.2.8 or later to function according to Macworld News

    The company also mentioned that native support for Blu-ray burning within iLife and iTunes could be expected in the future, but cannot be guaranteed at this time.
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  • Blu-ray Format Spec Changes
    Here's bad news for Blu-ray early adopters: Your first-generation player may not handle interactive features on future discs.

    Why? The Blu-ray Disc Association has decreed that all players sold after October 31 support BD Java for commentary tracks and interactive features. The change won't stop any Blu-ray player from running movies (so put down that machete).

    Owners of players with upgradable firmware may be able to update them to support BD Java. HD DVD has the advantage here, with already-standardized HDi interactivity based on Microsoft XML, and Ethernet ports mandated as standard equipment.

    Another new requirement for Blu-ray, also starting October 31, is onboard memory: a minimum of 256MB, and 1GB for players with network connections.
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  • HD-DVD Beating Blu-ray In Europe
    Blu-ray sales may be outpacing rival HD-DVD in North America, but don't tell that to high-def owners in Europe.

    According to the Financial Times, HD-DVD appears to be winning the high-def DVD format war overseas. The reason: Several European independent film studios and production companies are supporting Toshiba's HD-DVD over Sony's Blu-ray.

    Consequently, high-def owners must buy HD-DVD players if they want to watch their favorite indie and big-title films in HDTV.

    The Financial Times reports that 35 European films have been released in HD-DVD compared to less than 10 Blu-ray titles. European studios backing HD-DVD include Studio Canal, Pathe, Filmax, Imagion and Nixbu.

    In the United States, the leading studios are supporting Blu-ray, which has given the format a large advantage over HD-DVD. Nielsen reports that Blu-ray disc sales have outsold HD-DVD by a 2-1 margin this year.

    The newspaper reports that Toshiba and HD-DVD backer Microsoft have funded a marketing campaign to persuade the European studios to use HD-DVD.

    "I have met much more commitment from partners involved with HD-DVD than Blu-Ray. I met Sony in mid-2006 but the support was far below what was offered by the HD-DVD partners," says Rodolphe Buet, Studio Canal's chief marketing officer.

    But Buet acknowledges that the format war could take a turn when the Blu-ray industry increases its focus in Europe later this year.

    "I am totally agnostic," says Buet. "All the work we are doing on High Definition will be useful for making Blu-Ray discs if the Blu-Ray standard wins. It will be easy to change position."
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  • Missed street dates for HD DVD and Blu-ray discs reports retailers
    According to some retailers and video rental stores, shipments of Blu-ray and HD-DVD movies are coming in delayed and forcing the companies to pay for addded overnight costs just to be able to have the movies in stock for the street release date.

    Sometimes, the movies are recieved as late as a week after the street release date.

    Problems that are causing the delays seem to be stemming from the replication process. There are slim capacities already and added production problems like those for "Children of Men" are furthering the issues.

    Lyne Fisher, spokeswoman at disc authoring company Cinram replied to the issues by saying "standard-definition has been around since 1997, so we have a lot of practice and the process is seamless... it's only natural that when there is a new process, it can take more time."

    The company promises increased production by the end of the year and we hope all other authoring companies continue to improve as well.
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  • Sony BMG to bring Chris Botti and Bruce Springsteen to Blu-ray
    With Sony collaborating between divisions, you'd expect some half-decent music concerts and features to start appearing exclusively on the Blu-ray platform.

    SonyBMG has announced that the summer will bring live sets from performers including Chris Botti and Bruce Springsteen.

    "Chris Botti Live with Orchestra and Guests" comes out on 29th May, with "Bruce Springsteen with the Seeger Band: Live in Dublin" coming on 5th June.

    Though specifications aren't available at present, you'd expect them to include decent audio options.
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  • HD-DVD v Blu-Ray sales update
    Because of a new research report from Sony, sales for next generation DVDs are finally becoming more public.

    According to the report, Sony's new release "Casino Royale" smashed all previous records by shipping 100,000 units to retail and also in the report Sony has 5 of the top 10 releases for the month of March.

    Also in the report, Blu-ray outsold HD-DVD an impressive 9:2 while dominating the top sellers list. The only HD-DVD movie to even make an appearence on the list was "The Departed".

    The report is also the first to provide hard sales stats for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray from Nielson VideoScan, the industry leader in competitive sales data.

    According to the numbers from VideoScan, since its inception there have been 844,000 Blu-ray units sold, while there have been 708,600 units sold for HD-DVD.

    However, there are some notes for the numbers. The VideoScan numbers do not include Wal-mart sales and most online merchants. There are also many more Blu-Ray players in use due to the amount of PlayStation 3's that have been sold. In all we can see that next gen DVDs have a long way to go before they can share the market with current gen DVDs.
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  • Blu-ray Disc Association clear up October 31st deadline / BD-J confusion
    The Blu-ray Disc Association has set out minimum requirements for Blu-ray players sold after October 31st this year, but has made it clear that this doesn't make existing players obsolete.

    Melissa Perenson at PC World spoke to Andy Parsons, from the Association, to clarify the situation.

    He claims that all existing Blu-ray players (and let's face it, there aren't many) already fully implement the BD-Java platform - the October deadline is merely the end of the grace period.

    The issue is that new code is required to implement picture-in-picture and secondary audio mixing.

    "What's caused the confusion is that BD-Java will be utilized to implement these
    new capabilities. It's not that this is a new version of Java, it's just the code
    that will be used to run these features," Parsons says.

    So, whilst the hardware aspects may not be in place on older players (between 256MB and 1GB of memory storage), any software issues could be sorted out with firmware upgrades.

    Current players may struggle with on-demand PiP commentary, and interactive Internet functions, though Parsons believes that these are not make-or-break functions.

    So, early Blu-ray adopters will be able to enjoy future film releases on their players, but could miss out on new features unless they're able to upgrade their player.
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  • Sonic Streamlines HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc Menu Creation with Designer PS 2.0 Plug-in for Photoshop
    Sonic Solutions® (NASDAQ: SNIC), the leader in digital media software, today introduced Scenarist® Designer PS 2.0, a major advance in menu-design workflow for high-definition formats. Scenarist Designer PS 2.0 automates the conversion of Adobe Photoshop graphics into standardized interactive menu components suitable for authoring for both Blu-ray Disc (BD) and HD DVD format in Sonic Scenarist. Extending the efficiency and precision of automated menu generation to designers on all Photoshop-supported platforms, Scenarist Designer PS 2.0 handles the advanced content modes of both high-definition formats and is now available for both Macintosh and Windows platforms.

    Designing menus for HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc titles is very different from DVD-Video. Scenarist Designer PS 2.0 is unique in that it returns the control of menu component creation to the professional graphic designer who can create menus for high-definition titles using the industry-standard Adobe Photoshop. By basing the menu-design process on familiar concepts such as using layer sets to group button elements, Scenarist Designer PS 2.0 lets designers stay focused on the visual aspects of their work without worrying about the details of conversion for various output formats. Once a menu’s background and button-state graphics are defined, the export from Photoshop of a compatible menu for one or more target formats is handled automatically via the Scenarist Designer PS 2.0 plug-in, saving hours of authoring work for each project. Offering flexible control and customization of dithering options for HDMV’s RGBA palettes, Scenarist Designer PS 2.0 ensures that menu graphics are of the highest-image quality.

    “Scenarist Designer PS 2.0 is a huge step forward for us, as it seamlessly bridges the workflow gap between the environment preferred by our graphic designers and the authoring tools that we depend on to create compelling titles for both BD and HD DVD,” said Ole Lütjens, Creative Director, of MX Production Services in San Francisco, California. “Once we’ve achieved just the right look for our menus, it’s now a quick, painless task to bring them into Scenarist with all the elements appearing exactly where they’re supposed to be. And, the menus never look different after they’ve been multiplexed, which is a problem we have seen with many other systems. This simplifies our work tremendously, especially for projects that are to be released in more than one high-definition format.”

    Depending on the selected output formats, Scenarist Designer PS will output all components required to automatically reconstruct a menu in either Scenarist BD or Scenarist HD DVD authoring workstations, including button positioning information and graphics for each button state (dithered to associated RGBA palettes if needed for HDMV menus in BD projects). The menus are then completely ready for assignment of navigation commands by authoring specialists, either directly in the Scenarist environment (for Blu-ray’s HDMV and BD-J modes) or in a simple text editor (for HD DVD’s HDi mode).
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  • LG bringing Super Multi Blue HD DVD Blu-ray player to UK
    LG has confirmed that it will be launching its Super Multi Blue HD DVD and Blu-ray drive in the UK.



    Although specific launch dates have yet to be confirmed, the company is holding a launch party on the 17 April in London to launch "the world's first multi-format Blu-ray and HD DVD player and storage devices".

    The drive gained massive coverage and condemnation from other manufacturers when it was announced at CES at the beginning of the year.

    Consumer electronics manufacturer Philips told Pocket-lint at the time "it would only confuse consumers."

    The player features two optical drive compartments allowing users to play both HD DVD and Blu-ray discs even though they are competing formats from Sony and Toshiba.

    "Having a single format would be so much easier," an industry insider told us. "Perhaps LG will be able to help achieve this with this player."
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  • AACS revokes released HD-DVD and Blu-ray keys
    In December 2006, a member of the Doom9’s forum (named Muslix64) released code that would allow a person to copy HD-DVD and later Blu-ray movies. Many claimed Muslix64 did not truly break AACS at that time, because the ‘hack’ only went after the player. On the same forum, in February, a user named Arnezami posted the details and research, but more importantly, the processing key that allowed free copies to be made of any HD-DVD and Blu-ray disk. AACS DRM protection was broken completely.

    Shortly after Arnezami’s discovery and the news surrounding it, the AACS-LA, the ones responsible for the DRM used on HD-DVD and Blu-ray released a statement about the reports of the encryption being busted wide open.

    “Regarding the reported attacks on 2/13/2007, AACS has confirmed that an additional key (called a “processing key”) has been published on public websites without authorization. This is a variation of the previously reported attack (a compromise of a specific implementation) on one or more players sold by AACS licensees. Although a different key was extracted, this represents no adverse impact on the ability of the AACS ecosystem to address the attack. All technical and legal measures applicable to the previously reported attack will be applicable against this attack as well.” –AACS statement

    It would appear that now the action taken was to revoke the published keys, which invalidates the methods used to break the encryption. “In response to attacks against certain PC-based applications for playing HD DVD and Blu-ray movie discs, Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administrator, LLC (“AACS LA”) announces that it has taken action, in cooperation with relevant manufacturers, to expire the encryption keys associated with the specific implementations of AACS-enabled software,” said the AACS LA over the weekend.
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  • Toshiba defends HD DVD: Major price cut ahoy
    Let's start with some wallet-pleasing news. Toshiba's entry-level HD DVD player, the HD-E1, is dropping in price from £450 to £350. This leaves room for the new HD-EP10 to jump in at the £450 price point. The top-of-the-range HD-XE1 remains unchanged at £650, with no drop in price planned.



    The reduction on the E1 comes at an interesting time. Until now, in the UK there has been easier access to HD DVD hardware at a sensible price than there has Blu-ray gear. That's all changed with the launch of the PlayStation 3, which at £425 would have been cheaper than the E1 prior to this price snip. Clearly, without a significant discount the E1 would look very poor value in comparison to the PS3.
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    Tuesday, April 03, 2007

  • The DVD Writer: Pax Optical
    "I came not to bring peace, but the sword." Matt. 10:34
    Some suggest the conflict between Blu-ray Disc (BD) and HD DVD can be resolved by simply offering devices compatible with both formats. I'm not so sure. It's easy to paint a rosy picture of peaceful coexistence, but compromise comes at a price.

    Schemes for various HD DVD/BD hybrids have been afoot since it first became apparent that both formats were headed to market. One such kludge, of course, is Warner Home Video's upcoming Total Hi Def (THD) that combines HD DVD and BD content on opposite sides of the same disc. Hopefully my last column (see The Truth About Total Hi Def Disc) debunks the myth that THD solves anything. It is, in fact, just a counterproductive gimmick. Others endorse a hardware approach in which the player, drive, or recorder accommodates HD DVD and BD discs. An idea championed by a few software developers, component manufacturers and industry analysts, the first co-ed player from LG Electronics is just hitting the streets with a soon-to-follow computer recorder that reads and writes BD as well as reads HD DVD. But are such hybrids realistic?
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  • HD-DVD Interuptus
    "Casino Royale" has been the watershed release for Sony's Blu-ray next-gen DVD format,Xbox_hd_dvd_big while near-future calamityfest "Children of Men" has been one of the biggies for Toshiba's rival HD-DVD.

    Don't get too excited if you plan to watch it on an Xbox 360, however, as reports are proliferating of discs that just won't play on the game console's add-on HD-DVD drive.

    Frutsrated cinemaphiles say they've tried several copies of "Children of Men" on their Xbox 360 drives, and the disc simply spins in the tray, with the Xbox refusing to recognizing it as a big ol' chunk of high-definition content. (Not to mention the best picture of 2006, in my book. Watch it as least twice, paying primary attention to the background visuals the second time. For extra credit, compare and contrast with "The Handmaid's Tale.")

    Neither Microsoft nor releasing studio Universal have offered an explanation yet.
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  • Blu-Ray & HD DVD Prices Set To Crash
    The price of Blu Ray and HD DVD players are set to crash to sub $799 in Australia as major manufacturers like Samsung and Toshiba slash prices overseas.

    As tipped by SHN, HD players are set to plummet in price. This week Samsung Electronics in the USA lowered the retail price for its Blu-ray Disc (BD) player BP-1000 by about 48% to US$469.99. This is expected to be passed on to Australia soon.

    In response, Toshiba immediately reduced the US retail price for its entry-level HD DVD player HD-A2 to US$399. The price competition will result in price cuts that could see both Blu-ray and HD DVD players slashed to sub $799 soon in Australia.
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