The Blu-Ray Thread

[Hot-Drake-Pixel]

Paramount to Resume Blu-ray Releases Soon

[Hot-Drake-Pixel]

Sony to Release 100 Blu-ray Titles In 2008

[Hot-Drake-Pixel]

Corel Releases WinDVD 9 Plus Blu-ray Software

 

Corel has announced the latest version of their popular PC movie playback software: WinDVD 9 Plus Blu-ray. This updated version features a new user interface, improved upscalling software (for DVD viewing), enhanced Blu-ray playback options, as well as support for high definition audio. Additionally, the software supports playback of the popular AVCHD codec used for home video authoring.

 

For those of you who watch Blu-ray movies on your laptops, the software includes clever management tools to increase battery life, change the playback speed to match travel time, or stretch video content to fill the screen.

 

 

For complete feature list HIT the link.

[MarketTantrik]

The real reason Microsoft won't bring Blu-ray to the Xbox: HDi

 

From The Standard

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Think HD DVD's loss means Microsoft is going Blu-ray for the Xbox 360?

 

Guess again.

 

Company executives may have already shot the notion down, but there's more to the story. With HD DVD, Microsoft had the opportunity to inject its own technology into the emerging high-definition video market. But now that the HD disc war is over, the company still has a viable group of HD video assets, including HDi and Xbox Live Marketplace.

 

If you take a close look at these assets, and consider their potential, it's clear why Microsoft is snubbing Blu-ray for the Xbox: The company is gearing up for another HD video assault.

 

First, a little backstory. Beneath the surface of the recent HD DVD/Blu-ray hardware war, a battle over programming platforms was waged. In this clash, the two camps were at odds over how to implement next-gen features like interactive menus, HD picture-in-picture, and Web-powered content such as online polls. The Blu-ray camp ultimately went with the Java-based BD-J platform, while HD DVD went with an XML dialect.

 

Microsoft stepped up to deliver iHD (later renamed HDi), which was a trademarked implementation of HD DVD's XML markup language. Toshiba liked it. They made HDi functionality a standard for HD DVD players, and eventually partnered with Microsoft to expand HDi's reach by founding the Advanced Interactivity Consortium. The primary goal of this group was forging industry relationships to further promote HDi in emerging outlets like downloadable and streaming media.

 

The deal gave HD DVD its competitive next-gen features, but here's the rub: Microsoft didn't need physical media to implement HDi. All of HDi's interactive bells and whistles could theoretically be applied to downloadable video content, as long as a runtime environment was available. Even as the disc format war raged on, elements of HDi's runtime environment showed up in Microsoft products like the Xbox 360 and Vista.

 

HDi-on-a-disc may now be dead, but the technology certainly isn't. A Microsoft developer told me that the company's HDi crew hasn't been disbanded. Microsoft was apparently quite pleased with HDi's performance, and is currently exploring applications on other platforms.

 

Meanwhile, Microsoft has been expanding the HD video capabilities of both Vista Media Center and Xbox Live Marketplace. The Marketplace's HD content library is modest today, but the software giant clearly has plans to change that.

 

So, let's put everything together. Microsoft has a popular gaming console and an operating system that are HDi compatible. It also has a group of developers working on HDi applications, and a 360-accessible HD video library that could feasibly be outfitted with next-gen interactivity features. All that's left is the dog and pony show needed to convince content providers that HDi-enhanced content and Microsoft's video outlets are key to making HD video downloads a viable revenue stream.

 

It would surely be an expensive gambit for Redmond, but the chance to rule the HD download market may be too juicy a proposition to pass up.

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[Hot-Drake-Pixel]

FUD: Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt

 

Long but very interesting article.

[Hot-Drake-Pixel]

FORBES:How To Get The Best (And Cheapest) Blu-ray Player

 

BURLINGAME, CALIF. - When Sony's Blu-ray defeated Toshiba's HD DVD player in the high-definition media format war, it seemed like life would get easier for consumers.

 

But figuring out what to hook up to an HD television is still far from a cakewalk as at least three different variations on the Blu-ray standard have emerged. Thankfully there is a simple answer, although it's not one that Sony (nyse: SNE - news - people ) likes to advertise: Buy a PlayStation 3. It's not only the most advanced technology, it's plain cheaper than getting a standalone Blu-ray player.

 

Blu-ray has always been one of Sony's bullet points when talking about the PS3; it's used the inclusion of the high-definition drive as justification for the $100 price difference between its game machine and the Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) Xbox 360.

 

Sony opted for Blu-ray because of its voluminous storage capacity, says Peter Dille, a senior vice president at Sony Computer Entertainment America. Blu-ray discs can hold up to 50 gigabytes versus the 9 gigabytes on DVDs, which allows developers to create larger, more graphically intense games.

 

But Blu-ray also made the PS3 a key weapon in Sony's battle with Toshiba (other-otc: TOSBF - news - people ) in the high-definition standards war. The first HD DVD player hit stores in April 2006. The first Blu-ray devices, manufactured by Samsung, didn't arrive until June. Sony's PS3 was released in November 17, 2006--a few days before the company's first standalone player. Back then, PS3 sales lagged behind the Xbox 360, which was released a year earlier. When Sony rolled out a $399 model this past holiday season, sales surged. And every one of those units packed a BD-Live-capable Blu-ray player.

 

By February, the battle was over--Toshiba dropped HD DVD. Sony has sold approximately 13 million PS3s worldwide, and according to the company, about 90% of the buyers use Blu-ray playback on a regular basis.

 

Consumers who hung back until the format war ended, however, are still finding that they have to make choices. For starters, there are Blu-ray "profile 1.0" players, available via many online retailers, selling for as little as $300. The problem with these thrifty solutions is that they lack Ethernet ports, leaving them functionally orphaned. With no way to connect to the Internet, these devices can't receive firmware updates, effectively rendering them obsolete.

 

Every player made since November is based on the Blu-ray 1.1 technology. Available from a host of manufacturers, these range in price from $400 to $1,000 and feature the ability to view a picture within a picture. But don't expect them all to play the bonus material on BD-Live discs, which link up to the Internet for exclusive downloads of bonus documentaries, games or movie trailers. Some may be upgradable via an Internet connection, but Ethernet ports aren't standard. They'll also be hampered by a diminutive storage capacity.

 

That's where Blu-ray Profile 2.0 steps in. Both Panasonic and Sony have announced they'll release Blu-ray 2.0 players later this year that will be ready to play BD-Live content. The first Live-enabled discs, The Sixth Day and Walk Hard, are slated to be released next week by Sony Pictures. These players are expected to retail for at least $500 apiece.

 

But gamers still have the best option. The PS3, which starts at $399, includes Blu-ray 2.0 technology (well, after a firmware update). The "razors and razor blades" business model associated with home consoles--under which console manufacturers sell hardware at a loss so they can bank royalties from software sales--allows Sony to sell a BD-Live player disguised as a game machine for less than the stand-alone player.

 

And just as PS3 helped Blu-ray win out over HD DVD, now Blu-ray is giving the Playstation an edge over its competitor, the Xbox 360. In January, the PS3 outsold the Xbox 360 for the first time.

 

"We had really been helping Blu-ray from launch through holiday 2007, we now have the favor returned," says Peter Dille, a senior vice president at Sony Computer Entertainment America.

 

Until Blu-ray players drop in price, the PS3 remains the cheapest way to bring home the latest high-definition player.

 

It might even get you playing games.

[AtheK]

BREAKING NEWS: HotPixel Will be Joining Sony Bandwagon on a 1yr contract to Promote PS3 in GI.

 

His perks include a Blu ray movie in the end of year.

 

Way to go HP Bhai

 

So all My fellow Gi'ans Join Hands with me to Congratulate this feat achieved by my very close friend.

 

We are proud of you HP.

 

:roflroll2: :roflroll2: :roflroll2: :roflroll2:

[Hot-Drake-Pixel]

hehehehe. Thanks but no thanks coz I buy blu-rays myself. and be ready with butter back.

[Hot-Drake-Pixel]

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1189

 

Ryoji Chubachi, Sony president and Electronics CEO, mentioned in a press conference, held in Taipei on April 3rd, that Sony would add Blu-ray recorders to their popular line of LCD HDTVs. This was seen as necessary to increase global share of Blu-ray products from 20% of the market (the other 80% belonging to DVD) to 50% by the end of this year.

 

Since the launch of the high definition format, Sony has relied on their PlayStation 3 to increase market share. Now that Blu-ray is taking off, Sony wants to rapidly increase the share, and their popular LCD HDTV line is seen as a ripe area to help achieve that goal.

 

No word on when or how much these HDTV/Blu-ray combo devices will be sold, but with the overall goal to increase Blu-ray market share by the end of this year, one would expect them to be on store shelves sooner than later.

[Hot-Drake-Pixel]

Universal Releases Blu-ray Plans

 

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has released their plans for shifting their high definition focus from the defunct HD DVD format to Blu-ray. Beginning in July, Universal plans to release all new home video releases on Blu-ray day-and-date with their DVD releases. The first title receiving such treatment will be the Neil Marshall film 'Doomsday'.

 

That title will be followed by a slew of upcoming films, including 'The Incredible Hulk', 'Wanted', 'Hellboy II: The Golden Army', 'Mamma Mia!', and 'The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor'. You will notice that these films have not yet been released theatrically, meaning dates for their home video release are still a ways off.

 

On the catalog front, the first three Universal titles will be 'The Mummy', 'The Mummy Returns', and 'The Scorpion King', all which have been given a release date of July 22nd. No specs have been announced for these titles, nor any indication if they would be direct ports from the HD DVD or receive new transfers.

 

Also on slate for 2008 will be 'American Gangster', 'Knocked Up', 'The 40 Year Old Virgin', 'Miami Vice', 'End of Days', 'U-571', and 'Land of the Dead'. More catalog releases are planned, but were not announced at this time.

 

I would like to personally thank Universal for this wonderful birthday gift. Paramount: you're on the clock.

[Hot-Drake-Pixel]

Heroes: Seasons One and Two Soaring to Blu-ray

 

Lost, Grey's Anatomy Head to Blu-ra

[Snake]

The Hollywood Reporter has gotten the exclusive scoop on Paramount's foray back into the Blu-ray Disc business which confirms our suspicions about *which* titles would be included, but crushes our estimates on *when* they would first arrive.

 

The first wave of Paramount Blu-ray Disc titles will arrive on May 20, a mere three weeks from now. Our best guesstimates placed Paramount's Blu-ray debut in June or July at the earliest.

 

Comprising the first wave will be Face/Off Collector's Edition and Next, both released last year on HD DVD, along with Dreamworks' Bee Movie, planned for HD DVD in March but scrapped when Toshiba pulled the plug on the format following Warner's decision to go Blu-ray exclusive.

 

Two additional planned but never released HD DVD titles, Cloverfield and There Will Be Blood, will roll onto Blu-ray June 3.

 

The first day-and-date with DVD release will be The Spiderwick Chronicles on Blu-ray, arriving June 24.

 

Titles:

Cloverfield

There Will Be Blood

Face/Off Collector's Edition

Next

Bee Movie

Spiderwick Chronicles

 

Now,WTF is Transformers!!!

[MarketTantrik]

^^ Must be held back as part of the timed exclusivity deal with Toshiba

[nithin]

Yippeee Cloverfield! though i dont have a hdtv so not gonna buy blu ray for the time being.

[Hot-Drake-Pixel]

Yippeee Cloverfield! though i dont have a hdtv so not gonna buy blu ray for the time being.

 

Without HD tv, blu-rays make no sense.

[MarketTantrik]

Another Manufacturer Says Xbox 360 Blu-ray Coming This Year

 

From: Kotaku

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A report from Taiwanese news source Economic Daily News says that Pegatron Technology—a recently formed subsidiary of Asus that shouldn't be confused with the Decepticon leader—has received an order from Microsoft to manufacture a Blu-ray equipped model of the Xbox 360. According to the report, Pegatron says that it plans to begin production on the HD version of the Xbox 360 soon, with plans to ship within the next six months, aiming for a pre-holiday release.

 

It won't be the first time we've heard talk about Microsoft gloming on to the format, as the DigiTimes recently pegged manufacturer Lite-On as a Xbox 360 Blu-ray drive maker and Sony executives hinted that its competitor was feeling Blu to the Financial Times. MS CEO Steve Ballmer recently went on record about the move away from HD-DVD, saying the company will "support Blu-ray in ways that make sense."

 

Microsoft PR, of course, continues to beat the digital distribution drum and deny the existence of a BRD playing 360. We would of course be shocked to learn that something slipped from the airtight walls of Microsoft early, so we're sticking with unconfirmed rumor at this point.

 

The EDN report also mentions that a price cut for the Core (Arcade) version of the 360 is planned, but doesn't provide further details on timing or adjustments.

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[MarketTantrik]

Blu-Ray sales tank for good reasons

DRM, Price and BD-J

By Charlie Demerjian: Monday, 05 May 2008, 9:16 AM

 

From: http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/new...les-tank-reason

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BLU-RAY PLAYER SALES are sucking wind as well they should. According to Cnet, sales of the DRM infected format players are dropping like rocks.

 

The not so bright people out there had expected sales to skyrocket once the format war was done, but it didn't. They thought was people would ignore the massive defects of Blu-ray and buy like the dumb sheep that they are, handcuffing themselves to the Sony bank account.

 

Surprise, it didn't happen. US consumers are still dumb sheep, but this time they are realizing what is being done to them and they aren't biting. Sony's hope of having 50% of disc sales this year be Blu-ray are more likely to happen because of falling DVD sales than rocketing Blu-ray.

 

The format has three problems, DRM infections, BD-J and greed. The greed part is obvious, Sony won the format war and are trying to charge people between 50 and 100% more for a product with marginally better quality. Sure, it looks better, and the 0.07% of people with 7.1 channel audio setups will be overjoyed, but for the rest, it is a small step at best over an upconverting DVD.

 

Are you going to buy the DVD version for $16.99 on new release sale or $29.99 for the BD? It doesn't take a genius to realize that the next iteration of Hollywood Formula #7 with Big Stars #3 and #8 isn't worth it. The movie studios have yet to convince me that The Water Horse is worth spending my money on at all, much less at twice the price for DRM'd HD versions.

 

That brings us to the next down side, there is no up, DRM. Every Blu-ray disc is DRM infected even if the producer doesn't want it to be, in order to get a company to manufacture it, it must be infected. Sony gets an infection kickback fee as well, so don't think it is purely for protection unless you mean it in the -racket sense.

 

Blu-ray DRM infections do not protect anything, Slysoft has cracked it with their excellent AnyDVD HD product, something I can't recommend enough. Basically, new DRM schemes are broken before you can buy discs with them on it, protecting nothing. It will however prevent legitimate users from using legally purchased media on legally purchased hardware. If you pirate though, no more compatibility issues, once again making Piracy the Better Choice ™©®.

 

Basically the new format has DRM baked in and in your face. It costs you money, hurts only legitimate users, and is laughably insecure. Until it is abolished, just say no to Blu-ray and spend your money elsewhere, try books for example. If you must stoop to the DRM infected media, crack it and run it from your HD, it will save you immense frustration.

 

The last thing that makes people want to run for the hills is the badly broken BD-J abomination. Basically, when Blu-ray was 'finished', it wasn't close to done. HD-DVD on the other hand was well thought out and thorough, HD had a robust virtual machine that did all the work it needed to, and BD had none. Sony rushed a hacked BD v1.1 out, followed by 2.0, and instantly obsoleted all the money spent by the early adopters. All except those who bought Sony players of course.

 

There are two problems with this, other than the fact that morons spent money on a Sony format, it works like crap and it phones home, both comprise the third negative. Working like crap is the obvious one, to test it, look at one of the flagship titles, Pirates of the Caribbean 3. Disney insists on BD-J, customer be damned, and it shows. If you click on any of the options from the title menu, it pauses, you hear the disc seek, you wait, it loads, you wait more, and it decrypts, you wait a little more, and then the menu animates. It is nothing short of a disaster that you can't skip. Unless you pirate the title, once a gain making piracy the better choice ™®©.

 

In any case, the BD-J support is so half-assed and broken that using it is nothing less than misery, but you also get the BD benefits as well. That is incompatibility and higher prices to soothe you while you wait and wait and wait. Whoever forced this on people should be shot.

 

The other down side is that to support the so called Profile 2.0, you must have internet capabilities and access. Anyone here trust Sony? Remember, these are the people who unashamedly rootkit paying customers and then tries as hard as they can to bury it, but never apologizes.

 

With the new BD Profile 2.0, they can run arbitrary code on your player, download and install whatever they want (You read the EULA didn't you?), and take any data they want. In return, you get the privilege of watching your legally purchased media on your legally purchased players. Fair trade, right? Once again, Piracy is the Better Choice®™©, it doesn't rat you out to unrepentant rootkitters even if they have a EULA behind them this time.

 

In the end, if you buy Blu-ray, you get a more expensive product that is likely incompatible with your hardware, DRM'd to the hilt, slow as dirt and it rats you out for good measure. All this for slightly better rez, be still my beating heart. Player sales are tanking when they should be soaring and Sony is probably wondering why. Caveat emptor.µ

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Heh Heh !! The Inquirer believes that the inferior format won. Same as what happened with Betamax and VHS.

 

--MT

[MarketTantrik]

Xbox 360 HD DVD drive for €9.99

Irish get HD bargain

 

From: http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/xbox-...for-999--357683

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Fancy an HD disc drive to show off your new telly? If you have an Xbox 360, live in Ireland and don’t mind a redundant format you could pick up an HD DVD drive for just €9.99.

 

The death knell for HD DVD was sounded earlier in the year, and although Blu-ray has yet to truly win over the customers, in terms of spinning media it’s numero uno in the HD world.

 

Media Centre Remote

 

But if you want a fairly limited library of HD DVD films, an upscaling DVD drive and even more impressively a media centre remote for your Xbox you could do a lot worse than picking up the drive for less than £10.

 

Apparently Xtra-vision stores on the Emerald Isle are selling the drive at this bargain basement price – and if you use your Xbox for media it might well be worth investing just for the remote.

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:cry5:

[Tyler]

^^ You have got to be f**king kidding me...

[cyclops]

There has long been a gap between the new disc formats ‘Blu-Ray’ and ‘HD-DVD’. Blu-Ray has often been quoted as having more storage space, but being slower in terms of access speeds. Today the people behind HD-DVD have announced a new triple layer disc format, which can hold mammoth amounts of data - up to 45GB.

 

This is good news for The Xbox 360, which supports (currently) HD-DVD over Blu-Ray which is the new format of choice for Sony and the PS3. Blu-Ray can hold up to 50GB of data on one disc, but now that HD-DVD has beefed up a bit this is not such a massive gap. The biggest advantage Blu-Ray has is its enormous size, so this means that advantage has been cut down by quite a margin. Which format will ultimately prove to be the most popular remains to be seen but Sony cannot be too happy with this latest development.

 

UPDATE: It seems Blu-Ray might still be in the lead, with a new announcement of a 4 layer 100GB disc. This is rather large, but it still remains to be seen if games developers will ever need more than 45GB on one disc in the near future. Word has it Sony intend to eventually release an 8 layer 200GB Blu-Ray disc but that would need to have far faster access times than the current discs to be viable with such large amounts of data and so many layers. Still, that’s flipping huge and most likely going to cost a lot of moolah.

 

 

 

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