In a recent article by Forbes, details are given on the moves that Sony took to ensure they’d win the format war. Among the things that triggered ’sheer and utter panic’ for Sony, was the announcement last August that Paramount was choosing HD-DVD over Blu-ray. The $150 million deal that Toshiba struck along with $99 HD-DVD players they began to offer motivated all division of Sony to begin working together. Looking to push sales Sony offered to help pay for Best Buy ads in Sunday newspapers nationwide as well as pay for Blu-ray store displays. Among the things Sony did, that we know about, was drop the price of the PS3 and offer free Blu-ray movies with the PS3.
Looks like Toshiba really had Sony scrambling to stay ahead. Interestingly, it seems like Toshiba’s deal with Paramount is what caused Sony to react and do enough to eventually win the format war.
Read the full article by following the link below.
[Forbes] via [EngadgetHD]
According to DigiTimes, Shanghai United Optical Disc has set up its first production line for CBHD (China Blue High-definition Disc). CBHD, formerly known as CH DVD, is China’s self-developed high-definition optical disc format and will start production in the fourth quarter of 2008. Initially the format will only serve the Chinese market, but will expand worldwide if it proves to be successful. Part of the push behind CBHD is that a production line for DVDs can reportedly be re-fitted to produce CBHD discs for only $800,000, compared to $3 million needed for a Blu-ray production line. Licensing fees to produce CBHD players at $8.10 would be much lower compared to BD licensing rates as well.
Not surprisingly, Taiwan-based drive makers believe CBHD faces a tough time against Blu-ray according to industry sources.
Looks like Blu-ray is not doing all that bad thanks to the end of the format war. According to to data compiled by the Redhill Group for Home Media Magazine, more than 11 million Blu-ray movies have been sold so far.
Preliminary sale figures through the month of May this year show that Blu-ray sales have already surpassed sales for all of 2007, more than quadrupling last years total. The numbers don’t stop there. Blu-ray disc sales through the first four months of this year also triple the number of sales of Blu-ray and HD-DVD combined during the same span last year. This indicates that consumers are taking the high-def dive now that there’s a clear cut winner.
It’s nice to see some positive news amidst reports that Blu-ray adoption will be slow. Of course we’re looking at how well Blu-ray sales are doing within itself and not compared to DVD, but it is a dramatic increase nonetheless.
Looks like Toshiba is rising from the grave and trying to give Blu-ray yet another fight. Toshiba is planning on releasing a DVD player that can produce high-resolution images from a standard DVD, company sources said Thursday. This super HD-DVD player 2.0 (or whatever they’re going to call it) includes Toshiba’s new technology that’s made possible by a large integrated circuit that can instantly convert images produced in DVD format into high-resolution images. The plan is to sell DVD players with this new LSI and give Blu-ray another run for their money.
Ahem, ahem, we’ll see how this rematch goes for Toshiba. Looks like they have a much smaller fighter this time and Blu-ray has only gotten stronger.
TVshowsonDVD.com is reporting they’ve gotten the inside word that Transfomers will be coming to Blu-ray September 2nd. It will be similar to last year’s HD-DVD and will also come in a 2-disc Special edition. Hopefully it’ll be have internet connectivity and BD-Live features packaged in a BD-50 disc. Looks like this will be a hot seller seeing as how well it did on HD-DVD. Mark your calenders!
Here’s an interesting video from Silent Bob wanna be Blunty3000 in which he rants on about HD-DVD having lost the format war. He admits he made the commitment a little bit too early. Seeing as how it’s worthless, he decides to set it on fire! Don’t worry, the Blu-ray community embraces you.
