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Blu-ray rental availability lagging in Japan

by Richard Lawler posted Aug 24th 2009 at 3:32PM

A Reuters blog posting from Japan reports that even with strong Blu-ray DVR sales, discs are still tough to find on rental shelves and suggests that Japanese makers have been reluctant to commit to the format so far. We're Redboxing and Netflixing it up on this side of the Pacific so the (likely lonely) inside of a video rental store even in the U.S. is foreign to us, but perhaps some of our overseas living or traveling readers can tell us how the HD battle is going from their perspective?

IFA 2006: Flat panel prices dropping in 2007

by Richard Lawler posted Sep 5th 2006 at 1:55PM

No surprise there, but the question is how much? LG was quoted a few days ago as saying they expect LCD prices to plunge as by 30% or more next year, mimicking their behavior in 2006, while today Hitachi says they expect plasmas to drop around 20%. Both have big plans for next year, with LG rolling out their first 47-inch 1080p LCD this year, along with 1080p 65- and 70-inch PDPs, followed by smaller versions of both the LCDs and plasmas next year. Hitachi has a few tricks up their sleeve as well, with their own 50-inch 1080p plasma slated for next year and a high-powered advertising campaign. Still, with so many competitors, both know that increasing production and cutting prices will be the key to keeping/increasing their marketshare. Now the hard part for consumers is knowing when to jump in, that prices have and will continue to drop is nothing new, but even when what is now a brand-new TV is 20% off, you'll have to choose between old technology, a shiny new LED-based set, SED or even something else.


Read - LG Elec sees LCD TV prices down 30% plus in 2007
Read - Hitachi sees smaller fall in plasma TV prices

Disney announces Blu-ray launch titles & exclusive "Blu-scape" content

by Richard Lawler posted Jul 17th 2006 at 10:59AM

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney's Buena Vista Home Entertainment is going to announce nine Blu-ray releases today. Four of them are slated for release September 19, with five more to follow October 17th. Several of the movies will feature short films exclusive to the Blu-ray releases called Blu-scape, filmed by cinematographer Louie Schwartzberg. They also indicate all the movies will feature advanced menu and navigational features accessible while the movie is playing, and that most will carry an MSRP of $34.99. This could be kind of cool, or it could be a cheap gimmick to garner attention for the Blu-ray editions of the movies, we may have to wait until they are released to find out.

September 19:
  • Dinosaur*
  • Eight Below*
  • Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
  • The Great Raid

October 17:
  • Glory Road*
  • Haunted Mansion*
  • Gone in 60 Seconds*
  • Dark Water
  • The Brothers Grimm
* indicates movie featuring Blu-scape short

Solid state TDEL flat panel HDTVs -- still -- coming soon

by Richard Lawler posted May 17th 2006 at 2:46PM

Cheaper than LCDs and plasmas plus better picture quality in a 1-inch thick flat panel HDTV? That's what iFire has been promising for a while now and it may be one step closer to reality. Their parent company Westaim hopes to bring the thick-film dielectric electroluminescent technology (TDEL) screens to market in 2007 at a price point of less than $1000 for a 34-inch model. It involves no gases, liquids or vacuums and requires no backlighting. Instead the materials are layered directly onto the glass which they say provides better PQ and a wider viewing angle, with half the production cost of LCDs. Much like the fabled SEDs which we still haven't seen, we've been looking out for these since Engadget first mentioned them in 2004. If/when either technology debuts, it will be very interesting to see how it affects the existing high definition flat screen market.

"Tepid" response to high definition DVDs?

by Richard Lawler posted May 4th 2006 at 3:46PM

That's what Peerflix is saying. The DVD trading service surveyed some of their most active DVD-buying users and found 1 in 5 plan to buy either HD DVD or Blu-ray in 2006.

Really who didn't see this coming? Between high priced players, limited releases and battling incompatible formats this is pretty much to be expected. We are only at the very beginning of these formats and it will take a while for support to build for either one. Most people, even high definition and movie buffs, will wait for at least one of the three main conflicts to be resolved before coming off the sidelines. Let's revisit this topic in six months when players and movies have been on shelves, LG's combo player may be out and we can better anticipate future price movement.

[Thanks for the tip Jason!]

HD-DVD titles on the way from Magnolia

by Richard Lawler posted Apr 28th 2006 at 7:44PM

Now on HD-DVDMagnolia Home Entertainment, the distribution side of our good friend Mark Cuban's 2929 Entertainment, has announced they will be releasing five HD-DVDs in May. Bubble, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, The War Within and the TV series Bikini Destinations and HDNet World Report Special: Shuttle Discovery’s Historic Mission.

Reuters pegs the prices for the three movies at $29.98 and the two TV sets at $26.98. No specific release dates yet although it is good to see more content announced. If my math is correct, that should give us 25 movies on the shelves by the end of May, hopefully enough to keep early adopters busy as the Blu-ray launch approaches.

HD-DVD reviews: They like, not like, LOVE it

by Richard Lawler posted Apr 27th 2006 at 10:45AM

That's what Reuters is saying and if the poll Ken pointed out in AVS Forums is any indication, they are correct. Toshiba's HD-XA1 has, despite limited content, poor demos, massive size and little public awareness, found acceptance with initial buyers and reviewers. I know many of our readers will be shocked to hear this, but apparently there is a considerable audience waiting for high definition content free from nasty compression artifacts and limited television broadcast schedules.

More interesting to note is that some buyers are expressing hesitance towards Blu-ray, with its players starting at $1000 and going up from there. Did they just interview some HD-DVD fanboys (Odds are high they did, with only 10,000 units in stores.), or is there a possibility even the early adopting home theater community won't spend that much on movies?

Whatever the case may be, we know two things for sure. HD-DVD is currently the absolute best format with <7 titles available on the planet; and Blu-ray, the clock is ticking, better get in the game.

[Updated (working) link]

Toshiba delays HD-DVD rollout

by Richard Lawler posted Mar 23rd 2006 at 2:12PM

HD-DVDThe biggest surprise here, is that the "no sh** Sherlock" reaction to the delay of Sony's Playstation 3 has already been trumped twice in two days. We can't decide if this is more obvious than Microsoft's so-predictable Windows Vista delay (yep, they're still Microsoft), but Toshiba has decided to wait to ship their HD-DVD player until there are actually HD-DVD movies to play on them. Now this is where you show how surprised you are, don't worry, we'll wait.

Ready? Ok, although Toshiba has not announced a new date, Warner expects to have titles on store shelves April 18th, so through the power of the cosmos, telekinesis and Google, we predict we'll see players.....April 18th. Sometimes we surprise ourselves with our abilities.

LG sheds more light on their combo Blu-ray/HD-DVD player

by Richard Lawler posted Mar 17th 2006 at 6:52PM

No mention of "Ultra-Multi", but LG has confirmed their plans to build a combination HD-DVD/Blu-ray player, and make it available this fall. What this will do for the next generation DVD market however, is unclear. The analyst quoted in the article sounds thrilled, but how many early adopters will get burned if the format battle drags on endlessly? Theres also the question of how much such a player will cost, after including both technologies plus licensing fees.

The more I think about it, the more pessimistic I get; a "holy grail" device that comes to market late, heavy on price and short on features is the usual outcome. Maybe we're just reading into the possibility of high profile technology busts  too much, anyone care to provide a glass half full perspective?

Love your Sony Bravia so much you can't turn it off? Good, you might not be able to

by Richard Lawler posted Feb 14th 2006 at 12:15PM

Sony BraviaThat's what Sony informed Reuters today. About 400,000 of the flat panel displays and rear-projection TVs in the Bravia or Grand Wega line have faulty software that could leave users unable to turn them off (kinda bad) or bring them out of standby mode (really bad). Affected owners can simply unplug the sets to reset them and/or visit Sony's website Update My TV . Depending on model, you can either update the firmware yourself or you may need a technician to do it for you. Hopefully this problem is not more widespread than they think, the Bravia line has been very popular for Sony.

[via Engadget]

CES: You think you're sick of next generation DVD's? So are retailers

by Richard Lawler posted Jan 8th 2006 at 6:23PM


Blu-ray vs. HD-DVDThe CEO's of Best Buy and Circuit City took time during panel discussions at CES to tell them exactly how unhappy it makes them that sometime this year, they will try to sell you a $1000 next generation DVD player knowing full well you may have to come back a few years later and buy another one.

That I don't believe at all, which is why I wondered if retailers may be the only ones benefiting from this conflict, but one thing I definitely agree with, is that the prospect of conflicting formats will negatively affect sales as customer wait for a winner. Confused and frightened customers who stay out of stores on Black Friday 2006 is what keeps both of these men awake at night, and I'm sure they'd love to do without figuring out how much shelf and advertising space, not to mention employee training they will have to devote to both formats.




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