Panasonic DMP-BD55K Blu-ray Disc Player

Panasonic's new slim, BD-Live compatible, feature-filled Blu-ray player offers cutting edge technologies focused on producing the ultimate movie-viewing experience.The BD55 features a HD Audio Decoder (Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus and DTSTM-HD Master Audio Essential), delivering 7.1-channel surround sound through a 7.1-channel receiver equipped with an HDMI terminal. The DMP-BD55 features high-end audio components and can also output analog signals for 7.1-channel sound, so even receivers that are not compatible with HDMI can produce the newest 7.1-channel surround sound.Both models are equipped with an SD Memory Card slot that makes it easy to transfer images from an HD camcorder or digital still camera that uses SD Memory Cards and are compatible with Panasonic’s VIERA Link function so they can be operated by the VIERA HDTV remote control. The combination of a Panasonic Blu-ray player, Home Theater audio system and a VIERA HDTV converts the home entertainment experience into a true-to-life cinematic experience. Consumers can now view and enjoy movies the way the film maker intended -- in stunning High Definition video and audio – right from the comfort of their own home. Get yours here today!

Hitachi DZ-BD7HA Blu-ray Disc Hybrid Camcorder

Hitachi's DZ-BD7HA Blu-ray Disc Hybrid Camcorder with a built-in 30GB Hard Disk Drive satisfies those who long for Blu-ray while providing for those in the HDD and DVD camps. The DZ-BD7HA can store up to four hours of footage when recording to the hard drive at 1920 x 1080 HD and up to eight hours when recording at 1440 x 1080. Hitachi also gave this hybrid in-camera one-touch dubbing for burning video from the HDD onto Blu-ray or DVD. The DZ-BD7HA also features 1-second quick start, photo capture from recorded video and LSI image enhancement. 8 cm BD-RE, BD-R, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW and DVD-R discs are all compatible with this camcorder. If you're looking for a true hybrid camcorder the DZ-BD7HA is your answer. For more information click here.

Corel Announce VideoStudio Pro X2

Corel have announce their family of video editing and authoring products aimed at video enthusiasts and consumers. VideoStudio Pro X2 allows the Capture, enhancement and sharing of video. Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 Ultimate includes their new version of VideoStudio Pro (X2) and gives users everything they need to take their HD editing to the next level. VideoStudio Pro X2 includes: Corel® VideoStudio® Pro X2 Ultimate – the complete digital media solution. Corel® WinDVD® 9 Plus Blu-ray – Which Plays AVCHD™ and Blu-ray discs with advanced menus and even supports the upscaling of standard DVDs to near HD quality Corel® DVD Copy™ 6 Plus – Facilitates the copying and conversion of discs and video. It even supports the direct conversion of video for the web, mobile devices like iPhone™, PSP® and iPod®, and other PMPs. Steinberg® WaveLab™ LE 6 – Which lets you edit and enhance audio quickly and easily. Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 Ultimate has an SRP of £79 (€129), whilst Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 will be available for £59 (€89).

Criterion Collection Coming To Blu-ray

As a big fan of quality video packages, I've long been upset over the absence of the type of quality content and material that was often the earmark of a Criterion Collection based media release. Criterion are finally coming to HD now that the format war is pretty much over. Quoted below is their announcement: We’ve got some exciting news for this fall, and we wanted you to hear it first. Our first Blu-ray discs are coming! We’ve picked a little over a dozen titles from the collection for Blu-ray treatment, and we’ll begin rolling them out in October. These new editions will feature glorious high-definition picture and sound, all the supplemental content of the DVD releases, and they will be priced to match our standard-def editions. Here’s what’s in the pipeline: The Third Man Bottle Rocket Chungking Express The Man Who Fell to Earth The Last Emperor El Norte The 400 Blows Gimme Shelter The Complete Monterey Pop Contempt Walkabout For All Mankind The Wages of Fear Alongside our DVD and Blu-ray box sets of The Last Emperor, we’ll also be putting out the theatrical version as a stand-alone release in both formats, priced at $39.95. Our Blu-ray release of Walkabout will be an all-new edition, featuring new supplements as well as a new transfer; we will also release an updated anamorphic DVD of Nicolas Roeg’s outback masterpiece at the same time. I'm hoping it wont be long before we see the Criterion editions of Seven Samurai and Kagemusha, amongst other Kurosawa classics. Thanks to DVDtimes.co.uk for this one. For more on their titles visit Criterion.com

Pioneer's 500GB Blu-ray disc

Pioneer launched a 400GB Blu-ray disc last month, but they have just unveiled a 500GB disc which uses 20 layers, each with a capacity of 25GB. The potential ‘crosstalk’ issues which were percieved to be problem between the separate layers on the disc seems to have been dealt with by Pioneer. This new disc is still at the prototype stage so Pioneer are working to get it included in the standard.

Pioneer Develops 400GB Blu-ray Disc

Pioneer has developed a 16-layer read-only Blu-ray disc capable of storing a phenomenal 400GB. At this moment only dual-layer 50GB discs are avaialble, however there were announcements about 100GB and 125 GB discs. Pioneer have indicated that the technology will also be applicable to recordable discs. There are issues however in that the industry will have to create commercial drives capable of reading from 16 layer discs. So not any time soon then...

Acers Gemstones - Blue Ray Dreams

Acer have announced their new media-centric Gemstone notebook computers. These high specification laptops sport Blu-ray drives, high resolution screens and up to two 320GB hard disk drives. The Aspire Gemstone 8920G and 6920G notebooks are the the first in their "Blue" line of notebook computers which have a blue & black color scheme with blue lighting effects. One of the coolest features is the cochleal touch sensitive Cinedash Media Console control which allows you to play your media and adjust the volume. The Blu-ray optical drives are complimented by screens that are capable of displaying true 1080p high-definition media. The Aspire 8920G features either an 18.4" LCD display offering full HD resolution (1,920 by 1,080 pixels), a 2x Blu-ray burner, one or two 320 GB hard drives, an Nvidia GeForce 9650M GS graphics controller with 512 MB of dedicated video memory, and an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. The notebook also sports an integrated TV tuner, Dolby home theater audio enhancement with five built-in speakers and an Acer Tuba Cinebass booster for enhanced bass response. The 8920G also features an integral Webcam, 802.11 a/b/g/draft-n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth wireless networking, gigabit Ethernet, ExpressCard/54 slot, four USB 2.0 ports, HDMI with HDCP output, VGA out, headphone and audio input jacks. The Aspire 6930G features a 16" display, which is available in a full HD (1,920 by 1,080) or 1,366 by 768 resolution, a 1x Blu-ray burner, and an Nvidia 9500M GS graphics controller with 512 MB of dedicated video memory. The 6920G also offers two built-in speakers with Acer's Tuba Cinebass low-end reinforcement, an integrated webcam, Bluetooth and 802.11 a/b/g/draft-n Wi-Fi wireless networking, gigabit Ethernet, and the same port and slot configuration as the 8920G. US prices are said to range between $900 and $1700. No idea yet on European prices or availability. For more information, visit the Acer website.

HD-DVD Retired

Toshiba finally pulled the plug on the future of HD-DVD. Toshiba stated that they "carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop," ... "While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality." Toshiba plan to slow down shipments of HD-DVD players with the intention of stopping them altogether by the end of March. So Blu-ray has won, but the battle may not be over yet. I for one would like to see Blu-ray succeed, even in light of increasing competition from digital downloads. For me the beauty of owning a disk is the additional content that comes along with it. Digital downloads need to offer that capability and the immediacy of playback without any kind of wait.

Death Of HD-DVD?

Many tech sites are reporting/speculating on the expected death of HD-DVD .. with recent developments such as many retailers opting for Blu-ray and content suppliers throwing their weight behind the format from Sony, it seems inevitable that Toshiba should throw in the towel. However I'm not so sure it will be an easy decision for them with millions invested in the format. I'm sure of one thing, before the dust settles, both camps are going to be sorry that they didn't listen to the lessons that could have been learned from past format wars.

CES 2008 . . . A Big Yawn

Aside from a few great new 42" 1080p LCD and plasma TVs, CES 2008 which closed today in Las Vegas, was largely a big yawn. The events preceding CES this year, such as the move Warner made over to the Blu-ray camp (leaving only two studios left in the HD-DVD camp) and Bill Gates' final keynote, were much more interesting. The movie industry appearing to be finally agreeing to support one main consumer high def disc format presages a big surge in high def movie releases to disc. That's good for consumers because the parallel surge in Blu-ray disc player manufacturing and sales will drive device prices down to affordable levels. We found the best CES coverage here and here.

Hitachi Announce 100GB Blu-Ray Disc

Hitachi has announced that it has created a 100GB blank Blu-ray disc. They have achieved this by creating a disk that has four layers. This doubles current Blu-ray capacities and takes back the HD storage crown from the triple-layer, 51GB HD-DVD blank disc. The new Blu-ray disc will apparently be compatible with existing Hitachi Blu-ray players and burners after a firmware upgrade. Hitachi is also working on an eight-layer, 200GB disc.

Sony Promise Blu-ray Update for PS3

Sony are promising a new firmware update for their PS3 which will update the units Blu-ray functionality. Although many sites are speculating on what the improvements will be, but I'm guessing that it won't improve the much need deregionalisation of the standard.

Sony Reduce UK Pricing Of PS3

Sony have announced a price frop for the existing 60GB PS3 to £349 and have also announced the introduction of a £299 40GB model which features no memory card readers and only two USB ports. The new model is "no longer backwards compatible with PlayStation 2 titles", which means no support at all ... how confusing is that going to be to parents looking to buy a PS3 for Christmas. When is a PS3 not a PS3 ... I smell lots of product returns after christmas.

Blade Runner Ultimate Collectors Edition DVD's

Some 25 years after it was first released Bladerunner will be released in time for Christmas in several variants. Ridley Scott, who directed this landmark and incredible movie has made a new version and edit which cast everything in a new light. There will a two-disc special edition, a four-disc collector’s edition, and my favourite; the five-disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition in the awesome “Deckard Briefcase” packaging. I'm going to ignore all versions except the Ultimate Collector's Edition. This will include the ultra-rare, near-legendary Workprint version of the film, newly remastered. A commentary by Paul M. Sammon, author of Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner will also be included, along with an All Our Variant Futures: From Workprint to Final Cut featurette. The Ultimate Collector’s Edition will be presented in a unique 5-disc digi-package with handle which is a stylish version of Rick Deckard's own briefcase, in addition each briefcase will be individually numbered and in limited supply. Included is a lenticular motion film clip from the original feature, miniature origami unicorn figurine, miniature replica spinner car, some collector's photographs as well as a signed personal letter from Sir Ridley Scott.

Second Generation of Hybrid HD Drives

LG announced the upcoming release of 2 second generation HD Drives. The Hybrid HD DVD/Blu-Ray players are the GGW-H2LI and the GGC-H2LI are priced at around $500 and $400 respectively. Unfortunately for us Europeans these drives are US only models ...

Samsung Prices Dual Format HD Disc Player

Samsungs BD-UP5000 'Duo HD' unit which will have Certified HD DVD and Blu-ray playback, and which will be fully 1080P compliant, has been tentatively priced at around the £800 mark. This Unit will support online extras for HD DVD and Blu-ray via an Ethernet port and can output movies at 1080p in a cinema native 24 frames per second and can scale all the way up to 60fps for faster videos. I don't need a crystal ball to guess that there will be a price war, possibly bringing the price down even more.

Cheap Pioneer Blu-ray Drive

Pioneer have announced the release of a $299 Blu-ray/DVD drive for PCs in the US. The BDC-2202 will ship in June, and allows the playback of Blu-ray movies and also the burning of DVDs and CDs. The drive can read BD-ROM/BD-R/BD-RE at up to 5x and can read BD-ROM (DL) and BD-R/-RE (DL) at up to 2X speed. No Blu-ray write, capability, but at that price, I didn't expect it would.

Blu-ray Sales Beat HD-DVD

Like that wasn't unforeseen ... as I mentioned in an earlier comment claims were made which stated that HD-DVD had sold more units that Blu-ray. What with Blu-ray being an integral part of the PS3 you could immediately discount those claims. and now with reports on sales of HD content, that turns out to be something which was right to to with many more titles being sold on Blu-ray than HD-DVD...

100,000 HD DVD Units Sold

According to Shiny Shiny, "HD-DVD is first to sell 100,000 units, leaving Blu-ray in its wake." With over 100,000 HD-DVD players sold since their launch, that seems like a pretty decent figure. However it is a figure which pales in relation to the actual sales of Blu-ray based players. Isn't the Playstation 3 a Blu-ray player as well as a games machine? We know that there have been many more than 100,000 PS3s sold. Sony actually peg its European sales alone at over 800,000 units to date, and the January figure for US PS3 sales was 244,000. Go figure.

Dell Offers Blu-ray Drive Option On XPS M2010

Dell have added a slot-loading Blu-ray drive as an option for their very cool XPS M2010 notebook unit. This luggable system is very unconventional, and whilst it is certainly something close to a laptop, I wouldn't want to rest one on my lap. Equipped with Core 2 Duo processors, an ATI Mobility Radeon X1800 graphics card, and support for up to 4 GB of RAM with up to 240 GB of storage on two hard drives. It'll give many desktops a real kicking.

Samsung Announces Dual Format HD Disc Player

Samsung announce the release of a Dual Format HD Disc Player. They follow LG in what I hope is something of a positive trend in offering a player which will play both Blu-ray and HD-DVD media. The BD-UP5000 will fully support both formats including, interactivity capabilities. For more infomation read the Official Press Release.

Dragon's Lair Becomes First Blu-ray Game

Talk about a trip down memory lane. Anyone who lived through the eighties and played arcade games will remember this one. The cartoony sword and sorcery video game that looked like a Disney feature is going to be coming to a Blu-ray player near you. In fact any Blu-ray player which supports Blu-ray Java or BD-J, should be able to play it. Digital Leisure who make Dragon's Lair also plan to release Don Bluth's follow up, Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp and Space Ace in Blu-ray format.

LG Announce Release Date For HD/Blu-ray Burner.

It's about Time ... We knew that combo drives were in existence, however LG just announced the release of a combon drive which handles both HD -DVD and Blu-ray discs. The new GGW-H10N "Super Multi Blue," is expected to retail for $1,200 when it is released in May. Hopefully the floodgates are about to open and these combo drives will get cheaper and cheaper.

Toshiba Announces 51GB HD DVD

HD DVD takes the lead in the format wars capacity battle. Toshiba have announced that they have successfully created a triple-layer disc with 17GB per layer ... which adds up to a total of 51GB of storage. Dual-layer Blu-ray discs can hold around 50 GB of data. We're looking at a possible Q4 2007 release. Roll on the new Beta and VHS.