Blu-Ray Technology

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

Blu-Ray and HD-DVD Recorder News

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• PS3 Boosts European Blu-ray Sales

  
  Prior to the release of the PS3 in Europe, HD DVD was comfortably outselling Blu-ray discs on a weekly basis. But now, less than two months since PS3's release, Blu-ray has gained a 64% share on the year, and consistently outsells HD DVD weekly. Specifically, last week's data shows Blu-ray having a weekly sales ratio 3-to-1 over HD DVD, a ratio Blu-ray in the US has only managed once (when Casino Royale was released).
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  Tuesday, May 22, 2007

• Funai to produce inexpensive Blu-ray players

  Low cost electronics manufacturer Funai (who make components for such low costs brands as Sylvania, Emerson, and Magnavox), has revealed in their latest financial report that they plan to launch a Blu-ray player. With 52% of the DVD player/recorder market in the US, it is very likely that a low cost Blu-ray player would be widely adopted, similar to the success Funai continues to have in the DVD market.
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• 80 GB PlayStation 3 Could Land in South Korea

  Rumors are swirling again about an 80 GB version of the PlayStation 3, reportedly to be sold only in South Korea. Sony offered no comment. What would cause the console maker to offer up a super-sized video game system only to South Korea? The answer to that could be per-capita broadband use and accessibility, where South Korea ranks near the top.
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• Primera Disc Publishers Burn on 50GB Blu-ray Discs

  
  Primera Technology has integrated Panasonic SW-5582 Blu-ray Recordable Drives in its Bravo SE Blu and Bravo XR-Blu Disc Publishers.
  
  Both Bravo SE Blu and Bravo XR-Blu Disc Publishers are currently available with the Panasonic SW-5582 Blu-ray Recordable Drives, offering a native capacity of up to 2.5TB.
  
  The Panasonic SW-5582 drives record onto CD-R, DVD+/-R (single and dual layer) and BD-R (single and dual layer).
  
  Instead of manually burning and printing CDs, DVDs and BDs one at a time, the Bravo SE Blu and Bravo XR-Blu automate the entire process. A robotic mechanism is used to transport discs into the built-in Panasonic recorder. After recording, each disc is individually printed in full-color at up to 4800 dpi resolution.
  
  Emerging markets for Blu-ray Disc media include broadcast, video and film production, backup and archival, gaming and more.
  
  The Bravo SE Blu sells for US$2995 (MSRP) and Bravo XR-Blu sells for US$5295 (MSRP). Both units are available immediately through Primera's resellers and distributors.
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  Monday, May 21, 2007

• Marantz releases VP-11S1H 1080p projector with HDMI 1.3, also offers upgrade

  
  Marantz has released a new version of its VP-11S1H 1080p DLP projector, one which adds some HDMI 1.3 goodness with 12-bit Deep Color -- and the best part is that the price point is even the same as the older model. At this point, all the people who bought the previous 1,890,000 Yen ($15,700 US) device should be weeping at the thought of having their high-end projector become last year's has-been, but Marantz has done the right thing and offered an upgrade!
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• Environmentalists in the UK want to tax plasmas for wasting electricity

  Plasmas don't get any love these days, if people aren't complaining about the theoretical possibility of burn-in or the fading of colors, it's something else. Now some environmentalists in the UK are proposing an additional tax on plasmas TVs to reflect their "greater climate change burden".
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• Hitachi to produce 200GB Blu-ray disc in 2009

  
  As there will still be a need for big optical discs to store those movies, Hitachi plans to offer an 8-layer Blu-ray disc capable of storing 200GB of data. While this seems like a lot today, by the time it hits the market in 2009 it might not seem like much at the rate hard discs capacity is increasing...
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• Panasonic Announces DMP-BD10A

  
  
  Riding the wave of huge success generated by their first Blu-ray player, the DMP-BD10, Panasonic has announced the availability of an updated version: the DMP-BD10A.
  
  Technically, the player is exactly the same as the BD10, featuring an HDMI connection, 7.1 analog outs, and decoding for DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD. The big difference comes with the price tag; the SRP has been set at $600US...
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  Tuesday, May 15, 2007

• Toshiba HD-A20

  
  
  With the first year of the format war under our belt, the second generation hardware is starting to hit the streets and Engadgethd.com had a chance to spend some quality time with the new Toshiba HD-A20. The A20 fits nicely in the Toshiba HD DVD player lineup, offering 1080p60 output, the Silicon Optix Reon chip and HDMI 1.3 without the price of the HD-XA2.
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  Monday, May 14, 2007

• Mitsubishi launches eight 1080p LCD HDTVs

  
  
  Mitsubishi is rolling out a load of HDTVs today, starting with no less than eight thin-frame (i.e. low-profile bezel) 1080p LCD HDTVs.
  
  133 series 1080p sets include the 40-inch LT-40133 ($2699), 46-inch LT-46133 ($3399), and 52-inch LT-52133 ($4499), and feature x.v.Color, PerfectColor, Easy Connect, and three rear HDMI 1.3 Inputs. (The 40-inch 134 series LT-40134 ($2899) also features PerfecTint, and adds NetCommand and a side HDMI 1.3 port.)
  
  144 series sets include the 46-inch LT-46144 ($3899) and 52-inch LT-52144 ($5099), and also feature PerfectColor, a component side input, and Smooth120Hz for 120Hz refresh rates.
  
  244 series sets include the Diamond LT-46244 ($4499) and Diamond LT-52244 ($5699), and feature Smooth120Hz, PerfecTint, CableCARD slot, TV Guide Daily, NetCommand, and a side HDMI input.
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• RFID / RFA anti-piracy technology could hit optical media

  
  
  Utilizing RFID technology to defuse the threat of theft isn't a fresh idea, but NXP Semiconductors and Kestrel Wireless are looking to make good on the premise by cranking out an anti-theft solution that just might appear on the next DVD you buy. By combining NXP's RFID technology with Kestral's RFA (radio frequency activation), manufacturers could install a minuscule chip on the optical media at the beginning of the supply chain which would render it unplayable, but having it scanned at a checkout counter would enable a series of authentication checks to occur and eventually unlock the media for playback.
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• Sony unwraps Blu-Ray laptop

  
  
  Sony has unveiled the latest addition to its range of VAIO laptops. The FZ-Series is a compact notebook with the ability to spin Blu-ray discs and connect to an HD ready telly or projector via HDMI. So you can either watch films on a big screen or on the FZ’s own 15.4-inch X-black LCD.
  
  As well as playing Hi-Def movies, the Blu-ray drive can also record, so you can chuck up to 50GB of content onto a disc whenever you want...
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  Friday, May 11, 2007

• Pionner announces a Blu-ray reader, the BDC-2202

  More and more people are getting interested by the High Definition technology but Blu-ray burners are still too expensive for some customers.
  
  That's why Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. will release its BDC-2202 in North America in June. Pioneer not only offers just a Blu-ray reader for those who don't want to store massively but also a Dvd and Cd burning solution at a retail price of $299.
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• Hitachi Announces 1000Gb Blu-ray Recorder

  Hitachi revealed their plans to release a 1000GB Blu-ray recorder on the market in 2008. The device will most likely be a set-top box with a Blu-ray burner drive and one of Hitachi's Deskstar 1TB hard drives, making it perfect for recording HDTV programs and recording them on a disc transportability...
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• LG to sell first Blu-ray/HD DVD player

  The details surrounding LG's promised combination high-definition DVD player came into focus on Sunday.
  
  The Korean electronics maker unveiled the Super Multi Blue, the first player that can play discs from the competing Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD formats, at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
  
  "Customers are not really sure which format player they want to buy and naturally seem reluctant to buy the player or DVD contents," said LG North America president and chief executive Michael Ahn. He also cited the lagging sales of both disc formats and the respective players as motivation to engineer a dual-format player, saying the next-generation video disc industry growth "is slower than it could be"...
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  Thursday, May 10, 2007

• Blu-ray growth boosts FireWire usage

  The growth of Blu-ray optical storage technology is set to offer a major boost for FireWire according to the 1394 Trade Association in this PC Pro article. This is the result of several large consumer electronics companies including Samsung, Sharp and LaCie already offering set-top HD Blu-ray disc recorders that feature 1394 connectivity, such as for linking up with a FireWire enabled HDTV set or to a PC.
  
  According to James Snider, the executive director of the 1394 Trade Association, as Blu-ray increases its importance, so is Firewire due to its high bandwidth, Quality of Service and reliability. A few advantages over USB2 include higher sustained transfer rates despite USB2's higher link speed and no CPU usage. On the other hand, USB2 is not left either from external Blu-ray drives, with a few manufacturers such as LaCie offering Blu-ray drives that include USB2 connectivity.
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• Pioneer announces 8th-gen plasmas with 20,000:1 contrast

  
  
  Pioneer has announced its 8th generation of plasmas in Europe, with six 720p sets available in June in 42- and 50-inch sizes, and four 1080p sets in 50- and 60-inch flavors coming in September. All models have integrated DVB-T tuners and detachable speakers, with the 720p sets sporting a 16,000:1 contrast ratio, and the 1080p sets stepping it up to a whopping 20,000:1...
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• Pioneer BDP-LX70, one more Blu-Ray player

  It has almost been a year since the first generation Blu-ray players hit the market, and we're already starting to see second generation players; well the Pioneer BDP-LX70 is most certainly a new model, but we're not sure if it's second gen or not. The BDP-LX70 is currently only listed on Pioneer's Eurpean site and although HD DVD originally annouced their second generation players in Europe, they looked completly different from the first gen. Not only does the LX70 looks alot like the HD1, but the features are also very similar; in fact other than having a Dolby TrueHD decoder built in, it doesn't seem to have any other new features. The latest must have feature -- HDMI 1.3 -- isn't specifically mentioned, but what is mentioned, is the fact that an "HD audio bitstream output player" is already set to replace this model. Second gen or not, Blu-ray fans in Europe are about to get a new option in June when this new player hits the street, but no word on a price.
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• Blue Laser Costs Coming Down; Could PS3 Price Cut Be Far Behind?

  Sony is ramping up blue laser diode capacity for its Blu-ray players much faster than we anticipated, and the costs are coming down. A price drop on the PS3 this year is starting to seem more and more likely. Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter tells GameDaily BIZ that PS3 could cost 100 dollars less by mid-year.
  
  The Blu-ray drive in the PlayStation 3 has been a source of much contention among industry observers. The inclusion of Blu-ray in the PS3 is one of the main reasons the console is being sold for $600. But as with any product, economies of scale should help to eventually bring costs down.
  
  With Blu-ray, however, it could be coming faster than we think. Sony's Sony Shiroishi Semiconductor Inc. subsidiary recently announced that as of April they established an industry-leading monthly production capacity of 1.7 million blue-violet laser diodes. Moreover, Shiroishi "has already made preparations to further reinforce production capacity based on future demand." Sony would probably claim that they're easily winning the next-gen movie format war, with Blu-ray outselling HD DVD more than 2 to 1, and the company believes that demand for Blu-ray will only increase, whether through PS3 adoption or standalone Blu-ray players...
  
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  Tuesday, May 01, 2007

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