Panasonic has announced DMP-BD50 , a new Blu-ray Player.

Philips & Lite-On Digital Solutions, have unveiled DX4O1S , the world's first USB-connected external BD-ROM drive. The Lite-On DX-4O1S can read BD media at 4x, single layer DVD at 12x, dual-layer at 8x and CD at 32x maximum.

The DX4O1S allows users to play back Blu-ray discs on any PC via a USB 2.0 cable.

Sony has announced BDP-S550 and BDP-S350 , their new blu-ray players.

Goldmund has launched the Eidos 20 BD, a sleek blu-ray player. Eidos 20 features a custom power supply circuit and "mechanical grounding," a design that eliminates vibrations that could affect the video signal or the disc.

Sony has updated their TP home theater PC to include a Blu-ray reader that can play HD movies at a full 1080p when attached to an HDMI-equipped HDTV or computer display.

The TP home theater PC uses Intel's 45nm Core 2 Duo and runs a 2.1GHz processor. On the premium model, a dual-CableCARD tuner allows it to watch and record cable HD at the same time.

Philips has announced BDP7200, their first Full Profile 1 compliant BD player. Philips' BDP7200 features Dolby® TrueHD and DTS® HD High Resolution Audio, multi-channel audio decoding and digital audio optical outputs, supports 1080p at native 24 frames per second (fps)2 cinematic resolution input via HDMI.

Warner Bros. Entertainment will release its high-definition DVD titles exclusively in the Blu-ray disc format beginning later this year.

"Warner Bros.' move to exclusively release in the Blu-ray disc format is a strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give consumers what they want," said Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros.. "The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers."

Panasonic's DMP-BD30

Panasonic's DMP-BD30 is a next generation High Definition 1080p Blu-ray Disc player priced at just $500.

Engadget reports the upcoming PS3 firmware update will boost Blu-ray functionality.

Don Eklund, executive VP of advanced technologies for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, says Sony :

"is expected to soon offer a firmware upgrade to boost its Blu-ray interactivity functionality,"

SONY 4x Blu-Ray disc burner

Sony Electronics has announced its second generation internal Blu-ray Disc (BD) writer drive for the computer aftermarket, which boasts 4X BD-R and 16X DVD+R recording speeds..

Hitachi 100GB and 200GB Blu-Ray discs

At Ceatec 2007 JAPAN, Hitachi presented an experimental 4 layered Blu-Ray discs which can hold 100GB of data.

Hitachi is also researching 8 layer Blu-Ray media which can hold up to 200GB of data.

Panasonic new Blu-ray recorders

At CEATEC Japan 2007, Panasonic unveiled six new Blu-ray recorders.

A key feature is the full HD playback at 24 fps for theater quality images

Mitsubishi and Pioneer have developed of a new, cheaper BluRay disc.

LTH (Low to High) BD-R r utilizes an "organic dye recording layer," and is said to be a recognized format within the Blu-ray Disc Recordable Format v1.2 standard, Engadget reports .

Target Corp.,plans to start selling a Sony Blu-ray high-definition DVD player during the critical holiday shopping period and feature the player along with Blu-ray discs in store displays.

The move, which the companies will formally announce Thursday, is another step in resolving a format war that has kept confused consumers from rushing to buy new DVD players until they can determine which format will dominate the market.

Denon DVD-3800BDCI Blu-ray Player

Denon has announced the DVD-3800BDCI , a new $2000 Blu-ray Player

Hitachi Blu-ray camcorders

Later this year, Hitachi will launch the worlds first Blu-ray camcorders

Hitachi's camcorders with 8cm BD/DVD drive features a 5.3 megapixel CMOS sensor capable of recording at full 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, records up to 7GB of MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 video on 8cm BD-RE/R media.

Samsung's Blu-ray BD-P1400 and BD-2400

Samsung has announced the BD-P1400 and BD-2400, two new third-generation Blu-ray Disc players.

Samsung has revealed plans for hybrid Blu-ray/HD DVD player.

The Samsung BDP-UP5000 will support all the interactive features of HD DVD including internet extras and interactive menus.The player will be able to play movies at 1080p. Pricing for the Samsung BDP-UP5000 is said to be around $544, higher than a conventional single-format Blu-ray player.

Blockbuster Inc. has slapped HD-DVD in the face by going with the Blu-ray format in 1,450 stores .

Blockbuster has been renting both Blu-ray and HD DVD titles in 250 stores since late last year and found that consumers were choosing Blu-ray titles more than 70 percent of the time.

"The consumers are sending us a message. I can't ignore what I'm seeing," Matthew Smith, senior vice president of merchandising at Blockbuster, told The Associated Press.

Sony Cuts $100 Off BDP-S300 Blu-Ray Player

Sony has cutt $100 off of its original pricing for the BDP-S300 Blu-ray player, to a list price of $499 reports Gizmodo.com

Blu-ray beating HD DVD Format

Blu-ray took the lead in February, and its percentage of total sales accelerated to the point where it accounted for nearly three out of every four high-definition discs sold in March reports Reuters.

Consumers are going with Blu-ray. Warner Home Video released "The Departed" the same day, February 13, in both formats. Between then and March 31, consumers bought 53,640 copies of the film on Blu-ray Disc and 31,590 on HD DVD.

From January 1-March 31, consumers bought almost 1.2 million high-definition discs -- 832,530 Blu-ray units and 359,300 HD DVDs -- according to Home Media Magazine. In March, consumers bought 335,980 Blu-ray Discs and 119,570 HD DVDs.

Macnn is reporting that customers hoping to get Blu-ray with iMacs will have to wait until 2008.

According to a report put out by China’s HKEPC this past weekend, Intel won’t be officially supporting Blu-ray until the second quarter of 2008. That’s when Intel will introduce Eaglelake, replacing their current Bearlake chipset. Intel’s Eaglelake slide which HKEPC presented, displays Eaglelake’s noted upcoming features.

LG has announced that its BH100 - HD-DVD and Blu-ray player will be priced at $1,199. The player will launch in May in the UK. The BH100 will be the first universal HD player to hit the market.

LG BH100 Review

BenQ Corp., unveiled an optical disk writer which can handle the new Blu-ray high volume DVD storage format selling for 799 euros ($1,022) from August 2006.

A late August launch means that BenQ is one of the first electronics companies to sell a Blu-ray burner, simultaneously or even ahead of the main Blu-ray inventors and promoters Sony Corp, Pioneer and Philips.

The new BDP-S1 Blu-ray Disc home player from Sony offers a host of new high-definition entertainment possibilities. The BDP-S1 features 1920 x 1080p output, the highest HD signal output currently available through a HDMI connection.

If your HD-capable television does not have an HDMI connection, you can still get the Blu-ray experience - the 1080i analog output allows for HD-capable televisions without HDMI to enjoy Blu-ray Disc features. The BDP-S1 is also compatible with standard DVDs with the added feature of 1080p upscaling through HDMI, which gives new life to existing DVDs libraries3. BD-Java interactivity will further enhance the BD entertainment experience, allowing for development of advanced interactive features. Its sophisticated design, with blue glass front, will compliment any decor. Bring your home entertainment experience to a new level with the BDP-S1 Blu-ray Disc home player.

Despite numerous reports, Samsung's upcoming Blu-ray drive, the BD-P1000 will not be delayed. The BD-P1000 players are already in the U.S., Jim Sanduski, senior vice president of marketing for the Digital Video& Audio group at Samsung says .

Thousands of units are on their way to retailers in the U.S. for floor demonstrations right now. The player will be on sale on June 25 for about $1,000.

Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray Player: NOT Delayed

Sony's European King Bee, David Reeves says Sony is Not Concerned With Market Share.

The name of the game is not market share, it's how fast we can grow the industry—our ambition is to grow 15 per cent a year on hardware and software if we can. We want to try and double digital entertainment in the next five to six years. Whether we have 40, 50, or 60 per cent market share is not that important

.

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Sony has unveiled the specifications for the Vaio RC204. The new VAIO RC204 desktop features an Intel 3.2GHz dual-core Pentium D processor 940, NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT graphics card fully loaded with 256MB of high-speed dedicated video memory (good for HD video editing & extreme 3D gaming), 600GB of storage , pre-installed HD-capable applications to give you complete control over your HD content.

Sony Vaio RC204 - First VAIO Blu-ray Disc PC

Logitec's has announced the LBD-A2FU2/WM , a new Blu-ray Disc drive for Mac systems. The external unit can connected by either USB or Firewire and bundled with Roxio Toast 7 Titanium.

Seen at Engadget

Sony on Tuesday unveiled the first VAIO notebook to include a Blu-ray capable disc drive. The VAIO AR with 17-inch widescreen display with Blu-ray will retail for around $3,500 USD.

The Sony VAIO AR sports a 1920x1200 pixel screen that can display movies in full 1080p HD resolution, includes HDMI connection for outputting the Blu-ray content directly to a high-definition television, Intel Centrino Duo chipset, built-in TV tuner, NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800 graphics card with 256MB of video ram, and integrated camera.

Sony has announced that The VAIO® RC desktop PC will be Sony’s first Blu-Ray™ enabled desktop.

This multimedia powerhouse is capable of playing back Blu-Ray™ movies in stunning clarity. Blu-Ray™ technology gives you the power to play and burn both DVDs and Blu-ray Discs™, as well as store a massive amount of data on a single disc (25GB to 50GB). Also capable of burning HD Camcorder content in its original 1080 high-definition resolution, the VAIO® RC300 series opens new doors in the ever-growing world of high definition.

Panasonic has revealed the official photos for the DMP-BD10 Blu-ray Disc player , that was announced two weeks ago.

The photo shows the BD10 standing on the Panasonic AV Receiver SA-XR700. The SA-XR700 has HDMI inputs with HDAVI EZ-Sync Control, making it the ideal center for a HD Home theater. The Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player will ship this fall in the United States for a reported $1,500.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said on Tuesday it has delayed the U.S. launch of its next-generation DVD player for a month, to late June, in order to complete testing.

Japan's Toshiba Corp. last week started rolling out its HD DVD format players in Japan, becoming the first company to offer next-generation optical disc players worldwide.

Samsung is rescheduling the launch of its Blu-ray standard disc player in the United States to June 25 from May 23, the company said in a statement distributed by a public relations agency.

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Samsung is showing off their first Blu-ray burners, which are expected to hit retail shelves in April reports Engadget.Samsung will offer the SH-B022A, an internal drive that supports both 25GB single-layer Blue-ray discs and 50GB double-layer discs with 2x write-speeds. The drive also supports DVD burning at 12x and CD burning at 40x.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) is targeting May 23 to deliver the first wave of Blu-ray Disc (BD) titles at retail. Delivery will coincide with the launch that day of the first commercially available BD player from Samsung Electronics, which will be followed shortly by BD players from Pioneer and Sony along with a BD compatible VAIO PC from Sony.

SPHE and MGM Home Entertainment will first release eight BD titles, with another eight following shortly June 13. Benjamin S. Feingold, president, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, made the announcement.

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Microsoft may not offer an external Blu-ray Disc drive for the Xbox 360 after all reports theregister, The software giant this week said it remains "fully committed" to HD DVD and has "absolutely no plans to support other optical formats".

The company issued the official statement made this week in response to comments earlier this month by Peter Moore, head of Microsoft's entertainment division. Moore indicated that if Microsoft could add an external HD DVD drive to the console, it could just as easily offer an external Blu-ray box.

In an interview with Japanese site ITmedia , Xbox VP of marketing Peter Moore said that if HD-DVD loses the next-generation DVD war, Microsoft could still develop a Blu-ray Disc drive for the Xbox 360.

"Since we're using external drives [for next-gen media], we can change as the market changes," said Moore, according to remarks translated by Gamasutra from the Japanese original. "Sony can't do that. If Blu-Ray wins, that's a big chance for Sony. But if Blu-Ray fails, it will be a considerable blow for them."

Moore did not address the possibility that Sony, like Microsoft, would also consider add-on drives for the PlayStation 3 in the event of a shift in popularity to HD-DVD, which currently has fewer Hollywood supporters than Blu-Ray.

Samsung ' LN-S8281D' 82” LCD TV

The Samsung 82-inch 1080p LCD TV has a built-in ATSC tuner, Cable Card slot, 2 HDMI connections and DACS speakers.

CES 2006, Samsung showed off the BD-1000, a new Blu-Ray player. The $1,000 player features a HDMI output and backwards compatibility with most of today's standard DVD formats (DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD-R, DVD RW, and DVD R). The BD-1000 is set for launch in spring 2006.

via. Source i4u

Pioneer Electronics Inc. on Tuesday unveiled a high-definition Blu-ray DVD disc drive for personal computers

The new Blu-ray disc drive was aimed primarily at professional users like content creators or studios, who can use it to test and evaluate Blu-ray disc titles during the authoring process before replication reports Reuters

People with a TV tuner on their PCs could use the drive to record high definition TV shows and use it to view movie titles on Blu-ray discs as well as standard DVD media.

Computer manufacturer Hewlett-Packard, which has previously backed Blu-Ray exclusively in the war of the next-gen DVD formats, has announced that it will now also support HD-DVD reports GB.

HP had requested that the Blu-Ray Disc Association commit to including two features already locked down for HD-DVD - Mandatory Managed Copy, which allows consumers to legally copy video content, and iHD, said to offer greater interactivity and ensure "a more compelling user experience when recording HDTV programs." Although the Blu-Ray camp agreed to adopt MMC, iHD has not been approved

"By joining the HD-DVD Promotions Group and continuing work with the Blu-Ray Disc Association, HP will be in a better position to assess true development costs and, ultimately, provide the best and most affordable solution for consumers," the company said in a statement.

The Blu-ray DVD group said on Tuesday it still planned to roll out a high-definition disc format in spring 2006, though members of the consortium led by Sony Corp. said they would unveil specific launch plans at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January reports Reuters

"We're sticking with the spring time frame," said Andy Parsons, a spokesman for Blu-ray, at a demonstration of the new high-capacity DVD format.

The announcement came as Blu-ray DVD group member companies start gearing up to make their own product plans known at next month's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

CES is similarly expected to play host to product announcements from supporters of Blu-ray Disc rival HD DVD. The Toshiba-led format was originally planned to launch in the US in Q4 2005, but a Q1 2006 debut is now more likely, and its backers will be looking to make a big impression at CES reports the Register

Sony Pictures Home
Entertainment has announced that
authoring has been completed on the first Blu-ray Disc (BD) to contain a
full-length, high-definition feature film.

Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
was compressed and authored in MPEG 2 full high-definition (1920 x 1080) by
Sony Pictures' Digital Authoring Center (DAC) and is now being shipped to BD
hardware companies for player testing.

The Charlie's Angels:
Full Throttle disc features dynamic menus with full resolution graphics and
animation, superior audio and unparalleled picture quality.

"We are confident
this achievement will help everyone understand that Blu-ray is real and poised
to enter the marketplace," said Mr. Feingold.

Seen at Engadget

Warner Bros. Entertainment and its home entertainment division - Warner Home Video, have joined the board of directors of the Blu-ray Disc Association and will now release their films on Sony's Blu-ray format.

Warner Bros., a long-standing backer of Toshiba's HD-DVD, is the second major studio to split its loyalty writes Red Herring. Earlier this month, Paramount Studios, an initial supporter of HD-DVD, said it would release its movies in both Blu-ray and HD-DVD

The Blu-ray Disc is a Gen-Next optical disc format developed for high capacity software applications and high-definition video. While a single layer Blu-ray Disc can store up to 25 GB of data, a dual layer Blu-ray Disc can hold around 50 GB of data.

According to Technology group Forrester Research, Blu-Ray, the DVD format backed by electronics makers led by Sony Corp is superior to the HD-DVD format Led by Toshiba.

"Two groups are competing for control of high-definition DVD formats to be launched in the spring of 2006. After a long and tedious run up to launch, it is now clear to Forrester that the Sony-led Blu-Ray format will win," said Forrester Research analyst Ted Schadler in a report.

Read Why at Yahoo News

Hewlett-Packard AKA HP, yesterday urged the Blu-ray Disc Association to adopt software that allows consumers to legally copy DVD's onto their PC's, transfer movies to other devices and watch video in a greater variety of ways reports Reuters.

In a pointed ultimatum, Hewlett said that if the additional technology was not added to the Blu-ray format, it would consider switching allegiances and backing the rival standard, Toshiba's HD-DVD. (HD-DVD supports software)

Microsoft's new Vista operating system is expected to work easily with this software. As a result, Hewlett and other computer makers could install Vista in their PC's and avoid having to spend the time and money to install and test the alternative software called BD Java.

"At the end of the day, HP will support the optical formats that support this technology, so we would have to look at alternatives" if the Blu-ray group rejects its request, said Maureen Weber, the general manager of personal storage at Hewlett and the chair of the promotions committee for the Blu-ray Disc Association.

On one end you have the movie studios who love Blu-ray for the restrictions on content, on the other end you have companies like Microsoft who are hawking systems with tons of media functions. Giving users more control over content works in their favor.

Hewlett hopes that the Blu-ray group votes on its request in the month or two.

"We need to start to making our high-definition plans," Ms. Weber said.

Taiwanese firm AOpen has plans to introduce its first line of internal and external PC-based Blu-ray optical drives to the Middle East by the end of November.

"When they are first launched, Blu-ray drives will be sold at a premium," confirmed Mike Chiang, senior director, AOpen. "This is no different from when dual-layer DVD writers and DVD/CD-RW combo drives first made their way on to the market. Those drives too were sold at premiums when they were first launched. Now however, we sell more dual-layer DVD writers than standard combo drives, which was our previous big seller."

via

Panasonic recently announced that the company will introduce Blu-ray Disc (BD) drives for notebook and desktop computers by spring 2006 .

With a height of 12.7mm high, the BD drive can record and playback the three generations of optical discs. It supports single-layer 25GB and single-sided, dual-layer 50GB BDs.

Prior to the introduction of the notebook-use disc drive, Panasonic will ship samples of the desktop version this month and start volume production by January 2006. The desktop-use disc drive also serves as a BD, Super-Multi DVD and CD drive. The device can write BDs at 2x speed.

HD-DVD lover Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., plans to release its movies in the rival Blu-ray Disc format as well reports the daily Asahi Shimbun.

Four U.S studios-The Walt Disney Co., Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. and Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.-back the Blu-ray Disc.

The format is advocated by Sony Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.

Paramount Home Entertainment said Sunday it will join a growing list of media and technology companies endorsing Sony's Blu-ray Disc format. "We have been intrigued by the broad support of Blu-ray, especially the key advantage of including Blu-ray in PlayStation 3," said Thomas Lesinski, president of Paramount Pictures, Worldwide Home Entertainment.

Toshiba and Sony, leading rival camps, have waged a battle to have their different standards adopted for the next-generation of DVDs, which promise much greater capacity for high-definition movies reports Reuters.

Toshiba, along with NEC Corp. and Sanyo Electric Co., has been promoting HD DVD, while Sony and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., the maker of Panasonic brand products, have been developing a technology known as Blu-ray.

Paramount will still market all its DVD movies in the HD DVD format so consumers can have a choice, company officials said.

Paramount will begin releasing its content in the Blu-ray format in North America, Japan and Europe when the hardware is available to support it.

Universal Music Group has joined the Blu-ray Disc Association as a contributing member. Universal's inclusion in the Blu-ray Disc Association joins them with over 140 hardware, software, consumer electronics and information technology companies in the group reports IGN. Sony's Blu-ray Disc is a next generation optical disc format developed for high-definition video and high-capacity software applications. A single-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 25 gigabytes of data and a dual-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 50 gigabytes of data.

This greater storage capacity enables the Blu-ray Disc to store up to five times the amount of content than is possible with current DVDs, and is particularly well-suited for high definition feature films with extended levels of additional bonus and interactive material.

"The delivery of both high-definition video and multi-channel audio technologies is becoming increasingly important," stated Larry Kenswil, President of eLabs, UMG's new media and technologies division. "We recognize that Blu-ray Disc has the capacity, functionality and interactivity both artists and music fans demand. We intend to work closely with the BDA in order to represent the unique requirements of the music industry in the format creation process."