Archives
March 2006
Lots to Watch - Nothing to Watch It On
Toshiba has delayed by a month - until late April - the release of its
HD DVD players because no discs will be available until then. With Blu-ray
it's the reverse. Sony Home Entertainment plans to release its first
high-definition DVDs on May 23rd, according to
Home Media
Retailing, even though it seems increasingly likely that the first Blu-ray
DVD hardware - Samsung's BD-P1000 - won't make it to the stores until June.
March 31st, 2006
Panasonic's Player Due in September
Panasonic has announced its first high-definition DVD player - the Blu-ray
format DMP-BD10 - to be released in September, at a price of "less than"
$1,500. To stimulate sales, it will release at the same time a new series of
1080p plasma TVs.
CNET quoted a company spokesman as saying: "We're introducing
technologies that will all tie in together to propel Blu-ray. The flat-panel
or plasma TV is the engine pulling the train."
The first Blu-ray player is due around May or June, from Samsung, with Sony's
initial model expected in July or August.
March 30th, 2006
Shhh - Don't Tell Anyone We're Selling HD
DVDs
Three Warner HD DVD titles can be ordered at Amazon.com or BestBuy.com,
according to an interesting report in
Video Business Online. But you have to search hard for them:
As of Monday, consumers could pre-order April 18 HD DVD releases Million
Dollar Baby, The Last Samurai and Phantom of the Opera on both Amazon.com
and BestBuy.com.
But shoppers have to do some digging. The sites are not yet making it
readily apparent that they are carrying the titles. Store sources indicate
they are merchandising cautiously, because of delays of HD DVD products.
At BestBuy.com, individual title searches bring up the April 18 releases of
Million Dollar Baby and Phantom. Each carry Warner’s stated $28.99 pricing,
but titles are listed as DVDs, not HD DVDs, in the pre-order information.
Amazon.com does describe April 18 titles as HD DVD. But linking to the
site’s HD DVD store doesn’t provide an option to pre-order either Million
Dollar Baby, Last Samurai or Phantom. The HD DVD store is highlighting other
upcoming HD DVD releases but not for pre-ordering.
“Things keep getting pushed back, so I don’t think we want to play our cards
too early,” said one source. “Usually, we would be talking about [a major
new product] at this point, but we’re not. It’s a little odd.”
March 29th, 2006
This Makes Sense
Toshiba has reportedly told the media that it will delay the scheduled
late-March release of its HD-A1 and HD-XA1 high-definition DVD players until
movies are available for them. This implies a new release date of around
April 18th, when Warner will place the first HD DVD discs on the market.
March 21st, 2006
Sony Player on Sale
Amazon.com
has added a price of $999 to the Sony BDP-S1 high-definition DVD player, on
sale at its website. However, it is not yet available, and present
indications are that it won't be shipped until at least July.
March 18th, 2006
Nothing to Watch (Cont.)
Designtechnica News reports that Warner Home Video will ship its
first three HD DVD
titles on April 19th, three weeks after the release of the Toshiba HD-A1
high-definition DVD player.
March 18th, 2006
Nothing to Watch
Toshiba is due to release its HD DVD player at the end of the month.
Will there be any discs available to play on it? According to
Gizmodo, Warner Home Video might miss the scheduled March 28th release
of its first titles. Meanwhile, Paramount does not expect to release
anything before mid-April, and Universal has yet to set a date.
March 15th, 2006
Japanese High-Def Discs Will Allow Full HD
Resolution
DVD File quotes the authoritative Japanese journal Nikkei Electronics
Asia as affirming that high-definition DVD discs to be sold in Japan
will not contain the "image constraint" protection of the same US discs.
Thus, Japanese owners of older high-definition TV sets that lack HDMI inputs
will still be able to obtain full high-definition resolution, unlike their
US counterparts.
March 14th, 2006
Why Did Wal-Mart Stop HD DVD Disc Sales?
Video Business Online reports that Warner HD DVD titles have
abruptly been
pulled from Wal-Mart's online
store. Customers who had already ordered have reportedly received emails
cancelling the orders.
The unusual move by the retailer sparked speculation last week that
Warner might be having problems getting the first wave of titles prepared
and replicated in time to meet the March 28 street date and might have to
delay their introduction.
At least one software supplier in Japan has already indicated that the long
delay in reaching an interim licensing agreement for the AACS
copy-protection system for HD DVD had caused the label’s launch plans to
slip.
The label, Shochiku, announced last week that its planned March 28 release,
Shinobi, would be pushed back to April 28.
March 11th, 2006
HD Boycott
My local newspaper here in Melbourne, The Age, reports on moves to
boycott the new generation of high-definition DVD products.
The boycott is in protest against the latest DRM (digital rights
management) technologies built into the Blu-ray and HD-DVD standards which
technology watcher and former Apple executive, Mike Evangelist, believes
will greatly curtail consumer freedom when it comes to how they choose to
view high definition media content.
A new HD Boycott website
is intended to help spread the message.
March 10th, 2006
First Blu-Ray Player Due in May
Korea's leading newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, reports that
Samsung plans to release its BD-P1000 high-definition DVD player on May
23rd. It is expected to be the first Blu-ray player on the market, arriving
two months after the expected release of Toshiba's HD DVD units.
March 9th, 2006
Toshiba Lives up to Expectations
HD Beat attended the Toshiba roadshow for its new HD HVD players, and
came away
VERY
impressed:
To say the very least I was VERY impressed, it was a much more in depth
demo than I saw at CES. The HD trailers were flawless with no sign of
compression artifacts what so ever, the PQ certainly lives up to my
expectations of HD. Among the movie trailers there was a SD vs HD side by
side comparison that was one of the best demos used to compare the
technology that I have yet to see. At one point they had a boat traveling
across the screen, with the screen split down the center; the right side SD
the left side HD. If you get a chance, you have to see it for yourself.
The HD-XA1 was connected to a DLP rear projection via HDMI. The player was
outputting 1080i and the DLP was converting it to 1080p. The biggest
disappointment was that the iHD interactive layer was not implemented on the
demo unit. I had a chance to see this at CES and was looking forward to
spending some more time with it. This makes me wonder if they will have this
unit shipped anytime soon.
I resisted ordering one, but I will tell you it wasn't easy. There is a good
chance that I will end up owning both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray at this rate.
March 9th, 2006
Toshiba Gets Serious - HD DVD Laptop Due
Next Month
Toshiba
plans to launch a laptop computer equipped with an HD DVD drive next month,
according to IDG News Service. Users will also be able to watch HD DVD discs
on the computer.
March 8th, 2006
What's the Point of Buying a
First-Generation Player?
HD Beat and
Engadget are reporting that LG has abandoned its planned BD199
high-definition DVD player, due out this spring. Instead, it could become
the first company to market a dual Blu-ray/HD DVD player, possibly in
autumn.
HD Beat asks:
A device that plays both formats would seem to be the holy grail of high
def DVD's, but we seem to recall Samsung saying that due to licensing
restrictions of both camps that it would be impossible to produce one. Now
that AACS is somewhat settled, and Sony and NEC working together (although
Samsung already similarly partnered with Toshiba), has something changed?
The real question seems to be is there any point in HDTV owners buying a
first generation player if combination units are right around the corner.
March 4th, 2006
Blu-ray Drives Coming
Pioneer plans this month to ship a
Blu-ray drive enabling PC users to store 25 to 50GB on one disc. Samsung
will follow next month.
March 2nd, 2006
Toshiba's Aggressive HD DVD Plans
CNET reports from Japan that
Toshiba plans to release some HD DVD titles late in March - coinciding
with the release of its first players - followed by an HD DVD drive for PCs
in April and an HD DVD recorded in May. The company also plans a notebook
computer with an HD DVD drive.
Meanwhile, Sony and Lionsgate are to release the
first Blu-ray titles on May 23rd, to coincide - according to the media
reports - with the launch of Samsung's Blu-ray player. This suggests that
the forecast "early-spring" release of the Samsung will in fact become late
spring.
March 1st, 2006
Good for Sony?
The merger of Sony's optical team with that of rival NEC is generally
seen as positive for Sony and for Blu-ray. NEC is a member of Toshiba's HD
DVD faction. However, Sony will have a 55% majority stake in the new Sony
NEC Optiarc, leading
Geek News to comment:
NEC has yet to comment on whether it will be dropping support for HD-DVD,
a blow that would significantly weaken the Toshiba-backed HD-DVD format.
However, with Sony driving the bus, there is little doubt it will be pushing
Blu-ray as hard as possible.
TG Daily says:
While Sony maintains its support for Blu-ray and the company cannot be
expected to change its position in the foreseeable future, the company has
laid the foundation to have access to the competing HD-DVD format as well.
An optical disc drive joint-venture with NEC, one of the leading developers
of such drives, could become a safety net for Sony - just in case Blu-ray
fails.
March 1st, 2006
|
