Netflix to Drop HD DVD and Back Blu-ray Only February 11, 2008 10:52 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Blu-ray, HD DVD, Movies, News, Television.add a comment
Another blow for the HD DVD group. Netflix today announced that the company will be dropping HD DVD (by the end of the year), and back the Blu-ray Disc format exclusively. Details after the jump.
Warner Bros. Announces Exclusive Support of Blu-ray [Update: Toshiba Responds] January 4, 2008 4:15 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Blu-ray, HD DVD, Movies, News.add a comment
Warner Bros. today officially announced that they will be exclusively supporting Blu-ray over rival format HD DVD. The studio will support both formats through May 2008, at which point all future releases will be made on Blu-ray.
“Transformers” Becomes Year’s Top-Selling DVD and the HD DVD Breaks High Definition Records October 22, 2007 6:18 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Blu-ray, DVD, DVD Sales, HD DVD, High Definition Optical Disc, Movies, News, Transformers.2 comments
The release of DreamWorks/Paramount’s Box office hit Transformers became the years top-selling DVD, selling 4.5 million units in its first day of release, and 8.3 million in its first week.
The HD DVD version sold 100,000 units in its first day, and 190,000 through one week to become the best-selling day one high definition title on either format (Blu-ray or HD DVD).
Paramount and DreamWorks Animation Announce HD DVD Exclusive Support August 20, 2007 1:04 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Blu-ray High-Defintion, HD DVD, Movies, News, Television.add a comment
Paramount and DreamWorks Animation today announced that they will be dropping support of the Blu-ray format and will release all future titles on HD DVD.
“300” Fastest and Highest-Selling High-Definition Title August 7, 2007 6:12 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in 300, Blu-ray, DVD, HD DVD, High-Definition, Movies, News.1 comment so far
Warner Bros. has announced that 300 has become both the fastest and highest selling High-Definition title (Blu-ray and HD DVD), selling through more than 250,000 units in just a week of release.
“Blade Runner: The Final Cut” Coming to Theaters (And DVD, HD DVD & Blu-ray) July 28, 2007 9:54 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Blade Runner: The Final Cut, Blu-ray, DVD, HD DVD, News.1 comment so far
As part of the films upcoming 25th anniversary, the new edition of Blade Runner (The Final Cut) will not only be released on DVD, but will have a limited run in select theaters on October 5.
Comic Con 2007: “Star Trek Remastered” on HD DVD/DVD July 26, 2007 9:32 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Comic-Con 2007, HD DVD, News, Star Trek, Television, TV on DVD.add a comment
This holiday season, you’ll be able to get your hands on some high-definition Trek, if you can afford it that is…
Blockbuster Chooses Blu-ray over HD DVD June 18, 2007 12:30 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Blu-ray, HD DVD, Movies, News, Television.add a comment
Blockbuster has decided to favor Blu-ray over HD DVD when it comes to offering rentals of the high-definition discs at a majority of their B&M stores. HD DVD movies will still be rented at a select amont of stores and through their online service.
South Park to get the Hi-Def Treatment March 6, 2007 9:58 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Cartoons, Comedy Central, HD DVD, High-Definition, News, South Park, Television.add a comment
Comedy Central’s South Park will be made available in high-definition for the first time beginning this Thursday.
HD DVD and Blu-ray sales data January 8, 2007 3:47 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Blu-ray Disc, CES, Hardware Sales, HD DVD, High Definition Optical Disc, News.1 comment so far
In press releases during CES, both backers of HD DVD and Blu-ray have announced sales data for their respective formats. But there is no clear data on the Blu-ray side. (more…)
Toshiba announces 50GB HD DVD disc January 8, 2007 3:42 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in CES, HD DVD, High Definition Optical Disc, News.add a comment
Well, more like 51GB.
Toshiba, the main backer of the high-defintion HD DVD format, have announced that they have developed a new disc that is capable of holding 51GB of data. (more…)
Warner Brothers to announce single Blu-ray/HD DVD optical disc January 4, 2007 9:00 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Blu-ray Disc, DVD, HD DVD, Movies, News, Television.add a comment
Understanding that consumers are wary of buying into the new high-definition players, Warner Brothers plans to announce a new disc (Total HD disc) capable of playing film and television content in both formats.
Executives at Time Warner (parent of Warner Brothers) hope the disc will generate an increase of sales of the new High-Definition players. Barry M. Meyer, the chairman and chief executive of Warner Brothers, said in an interview that the company came up with the Total HD disc after concluding that neither Blu-ray or HD DVD was going to lose the format war anytime soon.
“The next best thing is to recognize that there will be two formats and to make that not a negative for the consumer,” Mr. Meyer said. “We felt that the most significant constituency for us to satisfy was the consumer first, and the retailer second. The retailer wants to sell hardware and doesn’t want to be forced into stocking two formats for everything. This is ideal for them.”
The disc will be debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next Tuesday.
Source: — [The NY Times] — New Disc May Sway DVD Wars
LG Electronics set to debut first dual-mode HD DVD/Blu-ray player January 4, 2007 8:45 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Blu-ray Disc, DVD, HD DVD, Movies, News.add a comment
South Korean electronics giant LG Electronics. Inc. announced Thursday their intention to develop the worlds first Optical Disc Player capable of supporting the two competing disc formats — Blu-ray and HD DVD.
LG will debut the player next week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The company had originally planned to release models for each format, but decided against that approach, fueling speculation that they were moving in this direction towards a dual player.
The new model will hit the U.S. market during the first quarter of this year, with LG adding that they will announce a timeframe and price point for the device during CES.
HD DVD/Blu-ray war heats up and system hardware sales for November December 15, 2006 12:16 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Blu-ray Disc, Hardware Sales, HD DVD, News, Nintendo Wii, Sony Playstation 3, Video Games, Xbox 360.add a comment
With November out of the way, sales data is starting to trickle in for the Playstation 3 and Microsoft Xbox HD DVD add-on, one front of the High-Definition format war.
For the month of November, Sony sold 197,000 Playstation 3’s in the U.S., while Microsoft sold an impressive (for an add-on) 42,000 HD DVD add-on’s for its Microsoft Xbox 360 player.
It should be noted that while Sony had more PS3’s sold, it’s impossibile to gauge how many of those owners of the system are using the console as a Blu-ray device. On the other hand, it can easily be assumed that all 42,000 owners of the HD DVD drive are using that device specifically for HD DVD movie playback, since the device isn’t used in any form for video game playback (the Xbox 360 is equiped with a regular PC DVD drive, hence the need for an add-on).
Elsewhere on the video game front, Nintendo sold 476,000 units of its new Nintendo Wii console, taking an early lead on the Playstation 3 by more than double the units.
Nintendo is said to be having no problems with their production of the unit while Sony is having issues but are still promising 2M PS3’s shipped by the end of the year (Sony originally were hoping to have 400,000 units for the U.S. launch, but were only able to supply half of that).
For the month, console sales were paced by the Playstation 2 at 664,000, the Microsoft Xbox 360, which has been out since last Christmas, at 510,000 and the Nintendo GameCube at 42,000.
On the portable front, Nintendo’s DS was the best seller with 918,000 sold, followed by the Nintendo Game Boy at 641,000 and the Sony Playstation Portable at 412,000 units sold.
Here are the installed base figures as of November, 2006 for all current video game systems in the U.S. (Console and Portable):
PS2: 35.8 million
GBA: 34.3 million
DS: 7.6 million
PSP: 5.7 million
Xbox 360: 3.4 million
Wii: 476 thousand
PS3: 197 thousand
Blockbuster will begin testing rentals and sales of High-Defintion DVDs November 5, 2006 1:06 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Blu-ray Disc, HD DVD, High Definition Optical Disc, Movies, News, Television.add a comment
Beginning this month Blockbuster, the nations largest rental outlet, will start testing high-definition dvd rentals and sales at about 250 of its stores, chosen by the basis of where early adopters are said to be.
The outlets will carry about 40 titles of each current high-def format; Blu-ray Disc and HD DVDs, with prices set at an equal setting.
“It’s a careful selection process,” Blockbuster spokesman Randy Hargrove said of store experiments. “We’re looking at DVD adoption rate and hardware penetration. We’ll continue to watch the market and monitor to see where additional expansion will be appropriate.”
High-definition rentals is not new to Blockbuster, as their Blockbuster Online brand has been offering both formats on their site for quite some time.
Free Blu-ray Movie to Be Bundled With PS3 October 20, 2006 10:06 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Blu-ray Disc, HD DVD, Microsoft, News, Sony, Video Games.add a comment
On launch day, The Playstation 3 will be bundled with a free Blu-ray movie, “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby”, the Nascar racing comedy starring Will Ferrell.
That addition was one of many announcements given at a Sony’s Gamers’ Day conference yesterday, including free online gameplay from launch.
The Sony Playstation 3 will go on sale November 17th in two flavors; a full-featured WiFi enabled version with a 60GB hard drive for $599.99 and a non WiFi enabled 20GB version for $499.99.
Microsoft is expected to release their HD DVD Add-On for $199.99 in mid November. That will enable Xbox 360 users to add HD DVD playback (the other high definition optical disc format). It will also be bundled with a free movie, the 2005 hit “King Kong”.
Warner Bros. Lowers High-Definition DVD Forecast October 9, 2006 8:00 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Blu-ray Disc, HD DVD, High Definition Optical Disc, Movies, News.add a comment
After a weaker than expected September in total sales for High-Definition hardware and software, Warner Bros. has halved their original sales estimate for the new medium.
Back in August of this year, they forecasted sales of $1.5-$1.9 billion in hardware and $500 million in software by years end. Because of the lower than expected September take (about $30 million, roughly half of what was expected) estimates have been revised downward to $750 million on hardware and $150 million for software.
Warner Halves High-Def Projections (Video Business)
Xbox 360 HD DVD Disc Drive – Price and Release Frame October 1, 2006 11:22 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in HD DVD, High Definition Optical Disc, Microsoft, Movies, Video Games, Xbox 360.3 comments
Microsoft has announced its price point ($199.99) and release frame (mid November) of its HD DVD Disc Drive for the Microsoft Xbox 360 Core or Premium Console.
The add-on device will be capable of outputting the formats full 1080p resolution, and will connect via USB 2.0.
At current prices, an Xbox 360, equipped with the required add-on to play the movies, will run anywhere from $499.99 to $599.99, the same price range as the formats competing Blu-ray technology from Sony.
This November, Sony will release the PS3 in two models, one for $499.99 and one for $599.99. Both models will be capable of playing back full 1080p Blu-ray movies.
Neither console will be capable of paying both formats.
Currently, Toshiba and RCA sell HD DVD units for $499.99 to $799.99, while Samsung has the only Blu-ray player out at $999.99.
More hardware manufactures are expected to release their own units come holiday season.
The Full Press Release is viewable below:
Your Entertainment Now 