Blu-ray Facts And News

Pioneer is presenting their BDP-LX70A player as the ultimate solution for high definition audio and video. The player plays movies as the filmmakers intented, at 24 frames per second, and 24 khz audio playback. It’s DNLA-compatible through an ethernet connection, allowing playback of files such as WAV and WMA movies. The player will be available to consumers in Europe this month. A price indication has not been released, though we expect this player to have a premium price tag due to it’s many features.

Pioneer has introduced a new Blu-ray disc player, the BDP-LX70A, which will supersede its BDP-LX70 model released earlier this year. The player will be commercially available throughout Europe in October.

The new player features bitstream output for both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio High definition audio codecs. A part of Pioneer’s LX Series of high-end products, the BDP-LX70A guarantees true High Def from start to finish, from source to screen.

Read the full article here.

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Sony announced the release of 4 new Blu-ray disc recorders. They will first be introduced in Japan, so us Europeans and Americans will need to wait a bit longer. Hopefully the price will drop soon as they come with the impressive price of about 1500 USD per recorder. The BDZ-X90 recorder will cost over 1700 USD but does come with a neat 500 GIG HD. On the other hand, 500 gigabytes sounds like a lot - but let’s not forget that high definition video and audio take up a huge amount of space. Sony has not revealed when the recorders will be available in Europe and the US. If you want to see some more pictures and are lucky enough to be able to read Japanese, then head over to Sony’s official press release by clicking here.

Sony announced four digital Blu-ray disc recorders with HDDs. The line-up includes the BDZ-X90, BDZ-T70, BDZ-T50 and BDZ-L70.

The all new Sony Blu-ray disc recorders are able to record HD on the Blu-ray disc, 24p true cinema, high-speed Hi-vision dubbing and AVCHD support.

The top of the line is the Sony BDZ-X90 (photo above), it featurs a 500GB hard-drive.

The Sony BDZ-T50 has a 250GB HDD and one digital Hi-Vision tuner. The BDZ-T70 has a larger 320GB hard-drive and offers two digital tuners for parallel recording.

The Sony BDZ-L70 is optimized for AVCHD video cameras offering one-touch dubbing. The BDZ-L70 has a 320GB HDD.

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An internet user posted the right question: “When will you guys make up your minds?”. The consumer is becoming more confused by the hour with different companies backing different HD formats, and then some companies changing their mind. Paramount has dropped it’s support for Blu-Ray and is now backing a different horse, HD DVD. Why? According to this site it’s cold hard cash. Consumers will most likely be forced to follow whatever format the big corporate world decides to go with. It’s time for some inexpensive hybrid-format players to appear on the market.

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 20 — Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) and DreamWorks Animation SKG (NYSE: DWA), each announced today that they will exclusively support the next-generation HD DVD format on a worldwide basis. The exclusive HD DVD commitment will include all movies distributed by Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies and MTV Films, as well as movies from DreamWorks Animation, which are distributed exclusively by Paramount Home Entertainment.

The companies each said that the decision to distribute exclusively in the HD DVD format resulted from an extensive evaluation of current market offerings, which confirmed the clear benefits of HD DVD, particularly its market-ready technology and lower manufacturing costs. Paramount Home Entertainment will launch its exclusive HD DVD program with the release of the blockbuster comedy hit “Blades of Glory” on August 28th and follow with two of the biggest grossing movies of the year “Transformers” and “Shrek the Third”. These three titles alone represent more than $1.5 billion in box office ticket sales worldwide.

Click here for the full press release.

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Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment will be releasing it’s first interactive Blu-ray releases next year. The movies will add advanced interactivity, such as Web-ready content and picture-in-picture bonus features. There is one issue though, and that is that none of the currently available Blu-ray players can actually PLAY the interactive parts - and only the Playstation 3 can make use of the Web-enabled content. Good news for the people who haven’t bought a Blu-ray player yet, or who want to upgrade, as after October 31 of this year new players will be required to play interactive content. Critics are wary of added features since quite a few features of the conventional DVD system have never been fully utilized. The movies Disney will be releasing in 2008 are: “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe in spring 2008, National Treasure in summer of 2008 and culminating with Disney/Pixar’s Finding Nemo and Sleeping Beauty in fall 2008.”

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment next year will bow its first Blu-ray Disc titles with advanced interactivity, including Web-enabled and picture-in-picture bonus features.

National Treasure will be configured as a BD-Live disc, the format’s term for software that features interactivity accessed through the Web.

Picture-in-picture, with which a separate video streams plays concurrently with the feature film, will be included on Finding Nemo and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

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It is being presented as the world’s first BluRay camcorder, the DZ-BD70 Hitachi camera. With high definition recording capabilities and it’s ability to record directly onto BluRay discs makes this an interesting piece of hardware to watch! It comes in two versions, and is set to be released world wide in October this year. The DZ-BD7H model includes a 30 gigabyte hard disk for even more BluRay storage space.

Some tasty technical specifications:

5.3 Megapixel CMOS Sensor
High Definition Lens
HDMI and USB Connectivity
2.7” Wide TTF
Full 1080 HD support

Hitachi’s BluRay cammy official
First BluRay camcorder set to reach these shores in October.

Hitachi’s world-first BluRay camcorder will be here in October. Get saving people.

Hitachi has already shown off the world’s first BluRay cammy, but now we’ve got a launch date and raft of new details on this hi-def superstar.

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Watching your own Blu-ray movies while traveling is becoming easier, and more affordable. Notebook manufacturers are not staying behind in integrating Blu-ray DVD playback options in their notebook systems. You can watch high definition movies on a nice 17 inch widescreen notebook screen, it’s not too small as long as you sit nearby. One thing that has always annoyed me is the crappy sound quality of most laptop speakers - so headphones are required. Makes you wonder why we can build tiny cameras with high quality video but not some decent laptop speakers.

Fujitsu has recently released their latest Lifebook notebook, the N6460. Besides the usual features it also includes a fancy new internal Blu-ray player. The Intel processor and ATI graphics card combined with the 17in WXGA +TFT will ensure your Blu-ray DVDs are played smoothly.

Blu-ray movies on the go

Fujitsu PC Asia Pacific recently introduced its latest Blu-ray capable notebook, the Lifebook N6460.

The Lifebook promises to deliver great performance with its Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 800MHz front side bus (FSB), Mobile 965PM chipset along with support for the 802.11n wireless standard.

Click here to read the news article.

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Comparing Blu-ray player specifications is definitely a good way to decide which one to buy. I always enjoy going through comparison lists to figure out what product fits my needs. As you know there aren’t that many Blu-ray players available yet. Quite a few electronic manufacturers are playing a bit of a waiting game - not knowing what format will eventually be embraced by a majority of consumers. I book marked an article from CNET a few months ago that I revisited that you might find useful on your quest for a good Blu-ray player. They are comparing 6 players on their technical specifications and retail prices.

Murphy’s Law seemed to be the theme for Blu-ray in 2006. In addition to firmware foul-ups and component shortages, a lackluster slate of early Blu-ray movies let underdog HD-DVD steal the show. But a new year means new opportunity: the number of available Blu-ray titles is soon expected to surpass that of HD-DVD, and there are actually some players you can buy.

Read the CNET article right here.

Speak to you later.

John

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Some people are saying Blu-ray won the battle to be THE next big format already. Looking at the figures in the article below would back up their conclusions. However, it would be wise to give it a bit more time and wait for the final battle. You could say Blu-ray won several important battles but hasn’t won the war just yet.

Microsoft’s new HD-DVD add-on for the XBOX 360 (which is outselling the PS3) could convert some people to the HD-DVD camp. And let’s not forget that most people still don’t have a Blu-ray and/or HD-DVD player in their homes, so a big piece of the pie remains untouched by either format. Price drops will play an important part as well. Who will be the first to discount their, still, expensive HD players? Disney has already announced it will offer it’s titles for 45% off the current suggested retail prices, though it will probably be a limited promotion.

Who says that this format war is still far from over? Nielsen VideoScan reports that tor the week ending July 22nd, Blu-Ray sales lead HD-DVD by an astonishing 74% to 26%. In other words, 3/4 of all high-definition movie sales were Blu-Ray discs. Amazing. Thus far, in 2007, Blu-Ray has widened the sales margin 67% to 33%.

Click here for the full article.

Price drops are good though for us consumers

John

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A lot has been written about the Playstation 3’s integrated Blu-ray player ever since it was announced by Sony. Being one of the first Blu-ray players, would it not be ready for the next generation? Is it slow? Does it playback regular old fashioned DVD discs? In short : lots of questions, very little answers. Now that the PS3 has been released and the system has been tested thoroughly by experts, I looked around the Internet to come up with the facts.

Sony considers the Playstation 3 an all-round entertaiment system suitable for family entertainment. You can play games, watch a movie, listen to music etc. Compared to other Blu-ray players currently on the market, the PS3 is cheap. You get a lot for your money (it’s actually costing Sony quite a bit in initial investments). They took the gamble and it will be a few years before they know whether it was worth it (currently Sony is still losing money on the PS3).

The test reports and reviews I found mostly agree that the Playstation 3 is a decent Blu-ray player that can compete with other players currently available. The main issue many reviewers have with the PS3 is the long loading time of Blu-ray discs and some control issues. Overall it’s worth considering getting a Playstation 3 if you are eager to get the latest DVD technology in your house and at the same time be able to play upcoming games like Grand Theft Auto IV.

The following sites will hopefully help you decide:

PC World PS3 Blu-ray experience overview.

Comparing the PS3 Blu-ray playback capabilities with Microsoft’s XBOX 360 upcoming HD-DVD add-on.

Small video review of the Playstation 3, the pros and cons.

Sincerely,

John

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Good to see you here!

Blu-ray Facts And News will be keeping you up-to-date on the hottest news from the world of Blu-ray. The ongoing battle between the Blu-ray format and HD DVD will be one of the subjects of this blog. But there are also going to be posts about the latest Blu-ray players and DVD movies. Blu-ray is an exciting new format that offers high quality video and audio playback. If you thought DVD was good looking, wait till you’ve tried Blu-ray! Currently there are only a few Blu-ray players on the market, and most of them costing quite a bit. If you want Blu-ray right now and are not willing to pay 800 - 1000 USD for the player you may want to look at the Playstation 3 which includes a player for just under 600 bucks. We will look at the various options on this blog. So book mark us and stay tuned.

Thanks for visiting!

John

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