The HD-format war stalemate seems to have been smashed to pieces. Thanks to the PlayStation3 shipping with a Blu-ray drive, several million gamers have a Blu-ray player already attached to their HDTV, and are not bothered to buy an HD-DVD player. Now that several million gamers have a Blu-ray player, they're buying Blu-ray movies to watch. Of 1,369,863 HD movies sold last month, a relatively paltry 369,863 of them were HD-DVD. What's more, if Blu-ray sales figures included actual Blu-ray games sold, then there would have been more than 21 million Blu-ray disks sold. The main movie that attributed to such successful Blu-ray sales was the extremely awesome movie "300", which was a very graphic portrayal of the battle of Thermopylae.

Apparently the "why can't we all get along" mentality does not apply to the current HD format war. While Blu-ray admits a stalemate and HD-DVD players get cheap, Warner Brothers was hoping to promote a "Total HD" format, which would play on both players until either Blu-ray or HD-DVD was chosen. However, without many other studios supporting this format, Warner Brothers felt like this project did not have much merit. And so, they have at this point abandoned it, and plan to simply release their movies in both formats, a move most other studios refuse to do. Jim Noonan, Senior Vice President of Warner Brothers Entertainment Group, explains the economics of this move in Layman's terms.

For the moment, the [Total HD] is on hold. We're the only studio producing content in both formats. If we were to put out Total HD with just our titles, it wouldn't really provide the solution to our retail partners that it was intended to provide. If anything, at this point, it would further complicate their life, because there would be another product looking for shelf space. Our job is not to further complicate the lives of our retailers

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Good news for American Blu-ray fans. Philips & Lite-On Digital Solutions (PLDS) USA has announced that the DH-4O1S Blu-ray BD-ROM SATA drive will be available through retail outlets in the U.S. in late November at a suggested list price of $199.99. The new Lite-On DH-4O1S is the perfect all-in-one disc reading device for most popular media formats including Blu-ray Disc, DVD and CD discs. It reads BD-R/RE/ROM, Single-layer or Double-layer media at 4X maximum. Single Layer DVD ±R or DVD-ROM can be read at 12X max, while Double Layer DVD±R and Single Layer DVD±RW can be read at 8X max. CD-R/RW/ROM has a maximum read speed of 32X. The DH-4O1S BD-ROM retail pack comes with an extra silver bezel to match some computers, and a SATA cable for easy connection. Also included in the package is the latest Cyberlink Power DVD software for playback of Blu-ray disc media, DVD, or CD multi-media content.

While the proponents of both the Blu-ray and HD-DVD format would love for you to think that either format is ahead, current data shows that neither side has any major lead on the other. Toshiba has $200 HD-DVD players, which is half the cost of the cheapest Blu-ray player. Paramount also recently decided to "change sides", and is now a proponent for HD-DVD. However, the Blu-ray camp has several million Playstation 3 consoles already sold and in homes around the world. Sony CEO Howard Stringer was quoted as saying that he wished Sony could go back in time, and make sure that instead of this HD-DVD vs Blu-ray mess, there was one universal format.

Transformers director Michael Bay is "feeling Blu". The main reason is because he feels that his decision to release Transformers exclusively on HD-DVD was "short-sighted and it has delayed consumers' moving to HD. As a director, my critical eye is that Blu-ray is where my money is. Consumers are smart, and they are going to wait it out."

Regardless of where Michael Bay's money is, Paramount already announced incredible sales of the Transformers movie, on both HD-DVD and DVD.

Panasonic shared its plans to release an internal Blu-Ray writer. The new disc burner nicknamed LF-PB271JD will be able to burn 50GB on a dual-layer Blu-Ray disc, thanks to a SATA interface and an 8MB buffer. Panasonic's writer will come bundled with CyberLink's BD Solution 1.0 and will be able to write BD-R at 4x, BD-RE at 2x, DVD-RAM at 5x, DVD-R/+R at 16x, DVD-R/+R DL at 8x, DVD-RW/+RW at 6x, CD-R at 40x and CD-RW at 24x. The Panasonic LF-PB271JD will be released on November 10th and will cost a little over $460.

Sony is gearing up with the release of a new generation internal Blu-ray Disc (BD) burners for the computer aftermarket, which boasts 4X BD-R and 16X DVD+R recording speeds. The BWU-200S drive can write BD-R and BD-RE 50GB Blu-ray discs as well as standard single layer 4.7GB DVD+R/+RW/RAM discs, 8.5GB DVD+R double/dual layer discs, and conventional CDs. The internal drive features a Serial ATA (SATA) interface and standard 5.25-inch form-factor for easy installation inside a desktop PC with Microsoft Windows XP or Windows Vista OS. The BWU-200S drive will be available directly from Sony at sonystyle.com next month for about $600. Pre-orders are now being accepted.

Spec Sheet

In another move against pirates worldwide, Sony unveiled and attempted to adopt "BD+", a type of virtual-machine encryption that allows a Blu-ray disk to determine if the player is hacked. Unfortunately, the earliest adoptions of BD+ show abysmal results. Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer and The Day After Tomorrow are the first two movies to feature BD+ encryption, and neither of them will play on Samsung's BDP-1200 and LG's BH100. While both companies promise to release firmware upgrades within the coming weeks, there is a bigger problem: disks with BD+ loaded on them take up to two minutes longer to load than their encryption-free brethren. And even when the disk does play, there's a good chance that it will either crash or stutter during playback.

Electronics company Hitachi has developed a new Blu-ray disk capable of holding 100GB of data by storing it on four layers - as well as maintaining compatibility with current Blu-ray hardware (providing that the firmware is updated). Whilst a 51GB three layer version of HD DVD was recently approved, Hitachi engineers have managed to almost double that figure, and the company is even working on an eight layer version of the Blu-ray disk which could potentially hold 200GB. At present Hitachi is focusing on improving the signal quality of the new disks so that they are ready for the market, but provided the manufacturing costs aren't significantly higher than those of the two layer disks it is likely film companies may opt to use these four layer disks in future so that they can fit even more high definition video on a single disk.

At CEDIA 2007, Sony tried to get more investors in on Blu-ray technology by presenting them with current sales figures. While it is true that Blu-ray is getting quite a lot of support, with exclusive deals from retail giants Target and Blockbuster, Blu-ray is nowhere near as popular as Sony wants you to believe. In the graphs that Sony does publish, they claim "more than twice the sales of HD DVD" and a much higher market share. However, if you look closely, the Blu-ray market is very unstable, and a current recession might even put HD DVD ahead of Blu-ray. A closer look at the market share graph shows that for several months, HD DVD had a much larger market share.

ASUSTek Computer (ASUS) has unveiled a new internal blu-ray drive, the BC-1205PT. The BC-1205PT is a BD-ROM/DVD±R/RW/CD-RW drive that is capable of reading data from and writing data at 12X DVD+/- R, 6x DVD+/- RW, 4X DVD+/-R (DL) and 5X DVD-RAM speeds. The drive utilizes SATA interface, 4MB data buffer and is capable of reading both single and dual layer Blu-Ray media. In addition, the new drive comes with Asus' patented DDSS II (Double Dynamic Suspension System II) technology that helps minimize the vibration caused by the spindle motor, and LCT (Liquid Crystal Tilt) technology that provides enhanced pick up head accuracy.

LG has announced that its hybrid Blu-ray and HD DVD player LG GGC-H20N is now available in stores, in Japan. The new player can read BD-ROM at 6x, BD-ROM/R DL at 4.8x, BD-RE (DL) 2x, HD DVD-ROM (DL) 3x. It also sports DVD/CD reading capabilities; DVD-RAM 5x, DVD±R DL 4x, DVD±R 16x, DVD-RW 6x, DVD+RW 8x, CD-R 40x and CD-RW 24x. The player costs about 40,000 YEN, which is about $345 USD. This particular player is also available in an external shape from Buffalo (same model name), but with an estimated price of 51,000 YEN ($440).

Acer has become a member of the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), giving Blu-ray a lead among the world's largest PC manufacturers.

We're delighted to welcome Acer to the Blu-ray Disc Association,

The addition of Acer provides one more sign of the growing momentum behind Blu-ray Disc and, more importantly, is a significant advantage for consumers, as it further expands the already broad options available to consumers in the personal computer space.

said Victor Matsuda, chairman of the BDA's Global Promotions Committee, in a prepared statement. The company also makes laptops equipped with HD DVD drives. Acer Inc. is currently one of the top five PC brands in the world, and the number one notebook brand in Europe.

Alienware has decided to equip its desktops with fast Blu-Ray burners so that you can write a 50GB Blu-ray disc two times faster. Currently their desktop line up includes 2X BR writer. Now buyers of Area-51 7500, Aurora 7500, Area-51 ALX, and Aurora ALX will have option of choosing BR drive at an additional cost of $600.

The epic tale of Leonidas and his 300 Spartans who bravely defended Greece from the Persian Empire is now an epic and successful film. In this day and age, it's not surprising to see that 300 was put on both HD-DVD and Blu-ray. Warner Brothers soon proclaimed that 300 was the fastest selling HD-DVD movie ever. However, the Hollywood Reporter has recently (figuratively) burst Warner Brothers' bubble by reporting that twice as many copies of 300 were sold on Blu-ray than on HD-DVD.

Lite-On To Drop Blu-Ray Recorder's Price By 15%

Lite-On a leading manufacturer of optical drives is about to drop the price of the LH-2B1S by 15% in a attempt to improve sales along with support of BlueRay in Europe. In Europe the LH-2B1S retails for €649 ($895/£437), Lite-On said. But it expects that to fall €100 to €539 ($757/£370), "in the near future". The increasing supply of blue-laser diodes used in Blu-ray Disc read/write heads which have been rather rare over the last 12 months is the main reason for this price drop. Lite-On released the LH-2B1S in June 2006 and it can write BD-R and BD-RE media at 2x along with CD and DVD optical media.

Samsung a world leader in Audio , Video devices announced earlier this week in a conference held in Germany the projected release of its Duo HD (high-definition) BD-UP5000 Player.
The BD-UP 5000 supports both HD DVD and BD and comes second to the LG Electronics BH100 only when it comes to the release time.
The device will be initially introduced in the European market at a price of about 400 euro (US$545) in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Or, to be specific, the EC is investigating why movie studios chose to back either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. This investigation is to ensure that there are no monopolies or any other shenanigans going on with either format.

HD-DVD is mainly being promoted by Toshiba, with help from movie studios Universal, Warner and Paramount. The last two also support Blu-Ray. Sony and 20th Century Fox only release HD content via Blu-Ray, and several other studios support Blu-Ray. There is no clear winner in the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray war at this point.

A small group of Blu-ray Disc owners have discovered a manufacturing defect in the disc that renders the media virtually unplayable. As noted by members of the AVS Forum, the movie most commonly affected by the defect is The Prestige, from Buena Vista Home Entertainment (BVHE).The defect is immediately visible to the naked eye and appears as a pattern of dots on the reflective surface of the disc. Users are reporting that the surface of the unplayable discs is still smooth to the touch, indicating that the defect is occurring beneath the top coating.

Other forum participants reported that their copies of Stranger Than Fiction, The Departed and Gone in 60 Seconds also suffer from the same defect.

WESTBURY, NY - June 19th - VidaBox, a manufacturer of premium media center systems, is announcing the release of a new media center system called the MAGNUM , which will feature a full color, 12.1" motorized touch panel with support for Blu-ray, HD DVD, and CableCARD.

Sony took a look at it's Blu-ray player, and decided that $599 USD was a little rich for a simple optical drive. And so, they have lowered the price of the BDP-S300 to $499 USD. Sony dedicates this price drop to increased demand for the product, as well as lower production costs.

The Inquirer points out that another possible cause of this price drop is the price of a Toshiba HD DVD player: less than $300 USD.

Just want to clear up a few things surrounding several erroneous stories regarding alleged comments from Peter Moore about Xbox 360 supporting Blu-ray. Simply put...These reports are completely incorrect.

Some online media outlets have picked up this story and are citing Internet speculation of an alleged Associated Press story that does not exist, along with comments taken out of context from a story in ITmedia that appeared back in January. This information is being reported as news and as a result of a recent interview, neither of which are true.

said Microsoft VP Peter Moore. The software giant remains "fully committed" to HD DVD and current reports indicating that Microsoft has a back-up plan which includes Blu-ray support are incorrect.

Pioneer today announced the BDC-2202, a Blu-ray Disc computer drive, which will be available in the U.S. next month for a suggested price of $299. The Pioneer Blu-ray Disc combination drive allows users to playback new high definition Blu-ray Disc film titles as well as read and write to conventional DVD and CD, fulfilling their storage and entertainment needs. The drive can read BD-ROM/BD-R/BD-RE at up to 5X and can read BD-ROM (DL) and BD-R/-RE (DL) at up to 2X speed. It comes bundled with media software for compatibility with commercially released Blu-ray Disc movies. The software also offers a Direct-to-Disc feature allowing aspiring filmmakers to capture movies directly from the camcorder to DVD without the need of using hard drive space.

The Dell XPS M2010 laptop is definitely not going to sound like a laptop. Sporting a rather large 500GB RAID 0 array, a 20.1" widescreen monitor, high-definition sound/video stuff, and a gazillion (very professional term for a lot) other un-announced features, the M2010 is going to be one of the most feature-laden DTR (DeskTop Replacement) laptops to ever hit the market. But now, word on the street is that the M2010 is going to have another pioneer feature: a slot-loading Blu-ray drive. This would make the M2010 the first laptop to come with a slot-loading Blu-ray drive, assuming there are no surprise releases to beat Dell to the market.

Seoul, Korea - April 13, 2007 - Samsung Electronics Co., LTD., a leader in consumer electronics and digital media technologies, and the first company to introduce a Blu-ray disc player will introduce a dual format High-Definition (HD) optical disc player in time for the holidays.

Samsung's Duo HD player (BD-UP5000) will fully support both HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats and their interactive technologies, HDi and BD-Java. With the Duo HD consumers can enjoy additional studio content such as trailers, director's comments, more elaborate interactive menus and behind the scene footage. The new Duo HD joins Samsung's next generation DVD line-up which includes Samsung's second generation Blu-ray player available at retail this month. Together, these two models offer the consumer a strong line of High-Definition players to match Samsung's award winning, and best selling, line of HDTVs.