Posts with tag HDDVD
BDA launches new Blu-ray Disc promo site
The-not-so-special Jack Ryan Special Edition box set
Feel free to correct us if we're wrong, but special edition DVD/HD DVDs should have extra content and therefore worthy of the moniker, right? Well, apparently someone at Paramount didn't agree, as the new Jack Ryan collector set doesn't include any of the bonus features listed on the box. No audio commentary, no featurettes, nothing extra at all is included in the set besides the movies. In fact, viewers are reporting that when the discs are popped in, they just start playing without displaying a menu at all. No word from Paramount just yet, but apparently, when you buy this box set, the only thing owners are going to enjoy is the movies themselves.Theaters to offer sneak peak of Star Trek HD DVD
All right, trekkies, time to bust your best Star Trek costume out of the mothballs! Not for Halloween, you Talosian smacktard, but for the big screen showing of the two-part classic Star Trek episode, "The Menagerie." On November Universal finally launches HD DVD website
HP offers up HD DVD / Blu-ray drives on select Pavilion desktops
[Thanks, Ryan]
Toshiba showcases trio of HDD / HD DVD recorders
Considering that Panasonic was showing off its newest Blu-ray recorders at CEATEC, we're not too shocked to hear that Toshiba was touting a trio of its own for the HD DVD camp. All three units sport the ability to "transcode in real-time an off-the-air MPEG2 high-definition signal into the more efficient MPEG4 AVC compression system," and while we're not sure how capacious they'll be, it was noted that these devices would include an internal hard drive to compliment the HD DVD writer. The flagship RD-X7 features 1080p24 output, while the RD-A101 / RD-A201 "didn't appear to offer this output based on available information from Toshiba." Per usual, we're still playing the wait-and-see game when it comes to pricing and release dates.Rock making HD DVD standard on select laptops
[Via Stuff]
Read - Pegasus 670
Read - Xtreme 770
Horizon Semiconductor's HD DVD/Blu-ray decoder on a chip
If you're of the mind that a dual format HD DVD/Blu-ray player is the best way to hedge your bets in the format war, your choices are pretty few and far between. With any luck, Horizon Semiconductor's Hz7220 decoding system-on-a-chip will help bring more dual format players to the market. Sure, there's a lot more to engineering a dual-format HD player than just the decoding functions, but making all the decoding available in a single package makes the prospect a lot more attractive to potential ODMs and OEMs. The Hz7220 has a feature list that hits all the right marks, including: H.264; VC-1; MPEG-2; Thomson Film Grain Technology; DTS-HD; Dolby TrueHD; HDi; BD-J; DVI/HDMI+HDCP; and 1394+DTCP. To jump start the flood of dual format players we're hoping for, Horizon is also making a reference design kit available. No word on pricing, but we don't care -- just show us some dual format players!Samsung pulls plug on BDP-2400, delays BD-UP5000
Bad news from Samsung today: the high-end BDP-2400 Blu-ray deck has been cancelled, and the dual format BD-UP5000 has been delayed. The linked article speculates that the BDP-2400 has fallen victim to the transition to BD 1.1 spec, which occurs on October 31. Worst of all, mum's the word on when/whether Samsung plans on making a 1.1 spec player available. For those who didn't have their heart set on Blu-ray, the bad news is that Samsung has delayed their dual format BD-UP5000 player until December. The silver lining to this December delay could be twofold: the unit will be at least up to BD 1.1 spec conformance; and now this unit's arrival might coincide with your holiday wishlist.The Wall Street Journal talks format war
We've talked the HD DVD / Blu-ray format war to death, using everything from officious study group findings to our own The Format War is Blu-ray's to lose
Forester recently came to this conclusion in their latest analysis of the battle to be the next home movie format. They go on to say that Blu-ray hasn't delivered the "knock-out blow" that's needed to win, and in fact has recently lost ground to HD DVD thanks to Paramount going HD DVD exclusive and Blu-ray supported studios not releasing movies. Forester believes that if Blu-ray doesn't release a player around $250 in time for the holiday season, they could lose the whole thing. For the most part we agree, but we blame the studios more than anyone else. Blu-ray's strategy all along has been to motivate people with their exclusive content, and yet here we are over a year into this thing and HD DVD still has more movies than Blu-ray. Even when Blu-ray was releasing Paramount titles, they still weren't very far ahead when you consider the shear number of movies the supporting studios have at bay. The support from Fox is down right pitiful and Disney isn't too far behind.[Via HighDefDigest]
NPD Group reports on HD disc format adoption
The NPD Group released results from a HDTV owner survey that showed even though 52% of respondents were aware that HD disc players were available, only 11% planned on buying one in the next six months. It turns out that most people are happy with their standard DVD players and unhappy with the price of the HD units (62% waiting for prices to fall). Even though respondents were more aware of HD DVD than Blu-ray (29% vs. 20%), it's not a glowing outcome for fewer than 1-in-3 owners of HDTV's to not know about these formats by name. NPD offered a couple bits of advice to the industry that we can get behind -- tell people about the advantages of HD discs over DVD, and put more titles out in the marketplace. The respondents who have an HD player in their homes plan on replacing almost one quarter of their DVD library with the new HD format.A critical look at DVD / HD DVD combo discs
Riding on the coattails of the 51GB HD DVD announcement was the approval of the dual-layer DVD / HD DVD combo disc format. These combo discs have been a feature of a several releases, but the linked article provides a good analysis of serious challenges the format faces. The bottom line is this -- for almost everyone, one of those sides goes largely unused. If you have a HD DVD player, the DVD side will only see duty in secondary applications. And if you don't have a HD DVD player, that HD side isn't going to see any use at all. And with the format war, average consumers don't value future compatibility. This wouldn't be a significant issue if there were no additional cost associated with the combo disc. But there is, and that kills the deal. There's plenty more to the critique, so check out the link if you're inclined.EDIT: The 51GB HD DVD approval included the single sided combo format, not the dual-sided one currently used in several releases. - Thanks, Kevin!
HD DVD to start promoting HDi with logo
Blu-ray, HD DVD players to appear in panel discussion
It looks like the Blu-ray / HD DVD format war isn't about to end soon. Worse still, it's hard to separate real information from rhetoric on the state of the battle. We're hoping that some things come to light on October 10 though, at a panel discussion on HD media formats at the DisplaySearch HDTV Conference. The session, titled "The Format War Is Over! No Wait, This Just In...", is the conference opener, so you know they've lined up a good panel. There are heavyweights representing both formats, and promised topics of discussion include some pretty pointed questions: "Is consumer adoption where the industry expected, and what will it take to motivate more to buy?"; "Will the Paramount defection prolong the format war?"; and "When will the collective power of the 190 Blu-ray Disc companies actually begin to demonstrate its clout?" We're pulling for the moderator to keep the panel honest and on-point. Any predictions on what will come out of the session?
