Blu-ray Disc developers complete specification
The Blu-ray Disc specification has been completed, the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) announced last night, just three days after dotting the i's and crossing the t's on the format.
Given the announcements of BD players and content made at the Consumer Electronics Show here in Las Vegas this week, we'd certainly hope it had been completed, to allow hardware companies to finalise designs in time to take them to retail from April.
That, at least, is when Samsung has promised to ship. Sony announced a more cautious "early summer", Philips an even more pragmatic "second half of 2006". To these three we can add player unveilings made by Pioneer (its BDP-HD1 will be available in "June" for $1800), Panasonic ("summer 2006") and LG (its BD199 will ship in "the second quarter").
The only question now, is when Sony's other BD thrust, PlayStation 3, will launch. This is crucial: as the head of Sony Computer Entertainment America, Kaz Hirai, said last night, "PS3 will significantly contribute to the consumer acceptance of BD".
Further parties may make announcements going forward now that the BD spec. is done. According to the BDA, it's now ready to license BD-ROM, BD-R and BD-RE to interested parties. The spec. includes single-layer (25GB) and dual-layer (50GB) forms. As anticipated, the spec. includes support for managed copying, allowing, for example, copies of content to be made to allow it to be streamed to other display systems in the home.
HP was present at CES' HD DVD bash, but in name only at the BD do. However, the company has been showing behind closed doors computers equipped with HD DVD drives and machines with BD drives, so like Redwald of East Anglia, a Dark Age English king, HP is playing safe by building shrines to both the Christian god and the Pagan pantheon. Just in case, you understand...
TDK shows off 100GB Blu-ray drives
BLU-RAY is the standard that can accommodate more data than a HD DVD but it requires blue laser and it's more expensive to build. It still manages to push some limits.
At Pepcom, a pre-CES show, we found out that TDK has recording media prototypes that can store as much as 100GB on a single disc.
Its Blu-ray discs can sport four layers, each able to store 25GB pre layer. That gets you to whopping 100GB.
At this point HD DVD is limited to 30GB or 15GB per layer on its two layers. In Dual sided discs may up total capacity to 60GB.
25GB BD-R discs are a long way from shipping and it will probably be a couple of years before you will be able to buy 100GB Blu-Ray media.
Panasonic to ship Blu-Ray drives in March
PANASONIC AIMS to be shipping Blu-Ray optical computer drives by the end of March.
The drives are going to be mass produced in late January and should be available shortly after, we learned. There is no estimated street price and set top players are not scheduled for release until later, around June.
The Blu-Ray disks are expected to be released in capacities varying from 25GB for a single sided, single layer disk up to 100GB for a dual-layer, dual-sided disk.
There has been very little out of the HD-DVD camp and some manufacturers like LiteOn have not decided whether they will be manufacturing optical drives based on Blu-Ray or HD-DVD.
Samsung to ship Blu-ray 'first' with April player launch
Samsung today pledged to ship a Blu-ray Disc (BD) player ahead of rival manufacturers, getting its BD-P1000 machine to consumers in the "April timeframe", according to Jim Sandowski, head of Samsung USA's digital product marketing.
The player will pump out HD content at 720p or 1080i resolutions, Samsung said. Supported audio formats include 192KHz LPCM, Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus, MPEG 2, DTS, and MP3.
Like Sony, Samsung said its machine will also play users' existing DVD and CD libraries, along with content stored on DVD-RAM and DVD±R/RW discs.
The BD-P1000 also has a memory card reader capable of taking Compact Flash, XD, Micro Drive, SD, MMC and RS-MMC, and MemoryStick and Memory Stick Duo cards. Ports built into the device include CVBS Output, S-Video Output, component output, HDMI, and both digital and analog audio outputs.
The BD-P1000 is scheduled to ship to the US for around $1000 - twice the price of Toshiba's entry-level HD DVD player. Senior Samsung staff claimed that's the result of last-minute price discounting to help make HD DVD appear more attractive to consumers. Whatever the reason, it's going to set a precedent that BD player makers are going to have to follow.
For now, though, Samsung officials said BD would succeed in the market by offering consumers the "best features" and the "best HD performance". They also believe BD will win through thanks to its superior support from Hollywood studios and other content providers.
The company did not address claims made last year that it will play it safe by shipping a machine capable of playing both BD and HD DVD discs.
Sony Blu-ray Disc player coming 'this summer'
Sony will ship Blu-ray Disc players to the US retail market in "early summer", the consumer electronics giant said yesterday at the Consumer Electronics Show, held in Las Vegas.
Dutch giant Philips also got in on the act, pledging to ship a player of its own later this year.
Sony said it will ultimately offer Vaio systems equipped with BD drives, along with external and internal drives for existing PCs. All will come in addition to the BD-supporting PS3.
The company didn't say much about its BDP-S1 player beyond touting its support for 1080p (the highest HD TV resolution) and its summer shipping timeframe.
The external BD drive has an even less well-defined launch window. It will debut some time in 2006, supporting both single-layer, 25GB and double-layer, 50GB media, in both BD-R and BD-RE forms, with recording at a 2x rate. It will also write to DVD±R/RW and CD-R/RW media, Sony said.
Separately, Philips said it will ship a BD player in H2, but the electronics giant has yet to reveal how much it plans to charge for the product.
First Blu-ray Movies
Though video enthusiasts are already salivating at the thought of purchasing a Blu-ray player alongside their HDTV, the device is useless without a slate of movies. At this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, though, Fox, Paramount, Liongate and Sony have announced their first wave of Blu-ray movies, and Coming Soon has the scoop.
When the technology pushes into consumer hands this spring, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will deliver The Fifth Element, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Desperado, For a Few Dollars More, The Guns of Navarone, Hitch, House of Flying Daggers, A Knight's Tale, Kung Fu Hustle, The Last Waltz, Legends of the Fall, Resident Evil Apocalypse (ooh!), RoboCop, Sense and Sensibility, Stealth, Species, SWAT and XXX. Both Black Hawk Down and The Bridge on the River Kwai will be released on on 50 GB, dual-layer discs in the summer.
Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment brings Four Brothers, Sahara, Aeon Flux, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, The Italian Job, Tomb Raider, U2: Rattle and Hum, Sleepy Hollow, We Were Soldiers and The Manchurian Candidate to the table, though these titles will also appear on the competing HD-DVD format. Paramount will also release the upcoming Mission: Impossible III and the original two movies on the formats.
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment's movies include Fantastic Four, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Behind Enemy Lines, Kiss of the Dragon and Ice Age, but will announce more soon, totaling 20 films.
Liongate's slate includes Lord of War, The Punisher, The Devil's Rejects, Saw, T2: Judgment Day, Reservoir Dogs, Total Recall, Dune, Rambo: First Blood and the upcoming See No Evil.
More films (and news on Blu-ray, and potentially news on PlayStation 3) will be announced at CES.
50GB Rewritable Blank Blu-Ray Disk to Cost $60
Panasonic will ship four types of Blu-ray discs to the U.S. this year: recordable 25GB single-layer and 50GB dual-layer discs for $17.99 and $42.99 respectively as well as rewritable 25GB and 50GB discs for $24.99 and $59.99 respectively. The blank media can be used with Blu-ray disc burners at the speed of up to 2x and then read by consumer electronics or personal computer equipment capable of Blu-ray discs playback.
Panasonic said its Blu-ray discs employ a number of exclusive technologies developed by the company, which, in addition to time and money required for research and development, also involved usage of production equipment not utilised previously, which are one of the main reasons why the discs cost significantly more compared to typical DVDs and HD DVDs. Still, such price premium is unlikely to be effective for long – Sony, the main driving force behind the Blu-ray – said that in case of mass production the significant price differences between the Blu-ray and other types of media would erode quickly.
Sony
Samsung BD-P1000
LG
Tdk
Boxes for blu-ray disks
___________________
Images courtesy : Theinquirer, 1up.com, Theregister
The Blu-ray Disc specification has been completed, the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) announced last night, just three days after dotting the i's and crossing the t's on the format.
Given the announcements of BD players and content made at the Consumer Electronics Show here in Las Vegas this week, we'd certainly hope it had been completed, to allow hardware companies to finalise designs in time to take them to retail from April.
That, at least, is when Samsung has promised to ship. Sony announced a more cautious "early summer", Philips an even more pragmatic "second half of 2006". To these three we can add player unveilings made by Pioneer (its BDP-HD1 will be available in "June" for $1800), Panasonic ("summer 2006") and LG (its BD199 will ship in "the second quarter").
The only question now, is when Sony's other BD thrust, PlayStation 3, will launch. This is crucial: as the head of Sony Computer Entertainment America, Kaz Hirai, said last night, "PS3 will significantly contribute to the consumer acceptance of BD".
Further parties may make announcements going forward now that the BD spec. is done. According to the BDA, it's now ready to license BD-ROM, BD-R and BD-RE to interested parties. The spec. includes single-layer (25GB) and dual-layer (50GB) forms. As anticipated, the spec. includes support for managed copying, allowing, for example, copies of content to be made to allow it to be streamed to other display systems in the home.
HP was present at CES' HD DVD bash, but in name only at the BD do. However, the company has been showing behind closed doors computers equipped with HD DVD drives and machines with BD drives, so like Redwald of East Anglia, a Dark Age English king, HP is playing safe by building shrines to both the Christian god and the Pagan pantheon. Just in case, you understand...
TDK shows off 100GB Blu-ray drives
BLU-RAY is the standard that can accommodate more data than a HD DVD but it requires blue laser and it's more expensive to build. It still manages to push some limits.
At Pepcom, a pre-CES show, we found out that TDK has recording media prototypes that can store as much as 100GB on a single disc.
Its Blu-ray discs can sport four layers, each able to store 25GB pre layer. That gets you to whopping 100GB.
At this point HD DVD is limited to 30GB or 15GB per layer on its two layers. In Dual sided discs may up total capacity to 60GB.
25GB BD-R discs are a long way from shipping and it will probably be a couple of years before you will be able to buy 100GB Blu-Ray media.
Panasonic to ship Blu-Ray drives in March
PANASONIC AIMS to be shipping Blu-Ray optical computer drives by the end of March.
The drives are going to be mass produced in late January and should be available shortly after, we learned. There is no estimated street price and set top players are not scheduled for release until later, around June.
The Blu-Ray disks are expected to be released in capacities varying from 25GB for a single sided, single layer disk up to 100GB for a dual-layer, dual-sided disk.
There has been very little out of the HD-DVD camp and some manufacturers like LiteOn have not decided whether they will be manufacturing optical drives based on Blu-Ray or HD-DVD.
Samsung to ship Blu-ray 'first' with April player launch
Samsung today pledged to ship a Blu-ray Disc (BD) player ahead of rival manufacturers, getting its BD-P1000 machine to consumers in the "April timeframe", according to Jim Sandowski, head of Samsung USA's digital product marketing.
The player will pump out HD content at 720p or 1080i resolutions, Samsung said. Supported audio formats include 192KHz LPCM, Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus, MPEG 2, DTS, and MP3.
Like Sony, Samsung said its machine will also play users' existing DVD and CD libraries, along with content stored on DVD-RAM and DVD±R/RW discs.
The BD-P1000 also has a memory card reader capable of taking Compact Flash, XD, Micro Drive, SD, MMC and RS-MMC, and MemoryStick and Memory Stick Duo cards. Ports built into the device include CVBS Output, S-Video Output, component output, HDMI, and both digital and analog audio outputs.
The BD-P1000 is scheduled to ship to the US for around $1000 - twice the price of Toshiba's entry-level HD DVD player. Senior Samsung staff claimed that's the result of last-minute price discounting to help make HD DVD appear more attractive to consumers. Whatever the reason, it's going to set a precedent that BD player makers are going to have to follow.
For now, though, Samsung officials said BD would succeed in the market by offering consumers the "best features" and the "best HD performance". They also believe BD will win through thanks to its superior support from Hollywood studios and other content providers.
The company did not address claims made last year that it will play it safe by shipping a machine capable of playing both BD and HD DVD discs.
Sony Blu-ray Disc player coming 'this summer'
Sony will ship Blu-ray Disc players to the US retail market in "early summer", the consumer electronics giant said yesterday at the Consumer Electronics Show, held in Las Vegas.
Dutch giant Philips also got in on the act, pledging to ship a player of its own later this year.
Sony said it will ultimately offer Vaio systems equipped with BD drives, along with external and internal drives for existing PCs. All will come in addition to the BD-supporting PS3.
The company didn't say much about its BDP-S1 player beyond touting its support for 1080p (the highest HD TV resolution) and its summer shipping timeframe.
The external BD drive has an even less well-defined launch window. It will debut some time in 2006, supporting both single-layer, 25GB and double-layer, 50GB media, in both BD-R and BD-RE forms, with recording at a 2x rate. It will also write to DVD±R/RW and CD-R/RW media, Sony said.
Separately, Philips said it will ship a BD player in H2, but the electronics giant has yet to reveal how much it plans to charge for the product.
First Blu-ray Movies
Though video enthusiasts are already salivating at the thought of purchasing a Blu-ray player alongside their HDTV, the device is useless without a slate of movies. At this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, though, Fox, Paramount, Liongate and Sony have announced their first wave of Blu-ray movies, and Coming Soon has the scoop.
When the technology pushes into consumer hands this spring, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will deliver The Fifth Element, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Desperado, For a Few Dollars More, The Guns of Navarone, Hitch, House of Flying Daggers, A Knight's Tale, Kung Fu Hustle, The Last Waltz, Legends of the Fall, Resident Evil Apocalypse (ooh!), RoboCop, Sense and Sensibility, Stealth, Species, SWAT and XXX. Both Black Hawk Down and The Bridge on the River Kwai will be released on on 50 GB, dual-layer discs in the summer.
Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment brings Four Brothers, Sahara, Aeon Flux, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, The Italian Job, Tomb Raider, U2: Rattle and Hum, Sleepy Hollow, We Were Soldiers and The Manchurian Candidate to the table, though these titles will also appear on the competing HD-DVD format. Paramount will also release the upcoming Mission: Impossible III and the original two movies on the formats.
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment's movies include Fantastic Four, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Behind Enemy Lines, Kiss of the Dragon and Ice Age, but will announce more soon, totaling 20 films.
Liongate's slate includes Lord of War, The Punisher, The Devil's Rejects, Saw, T2: Judgment Day, Reservoir Dogs, Total Recall, Dune, Rambo: First Blood and the upcoming See No Evil.
More films (and news on Blu-ray, and potentially news on PlayStation 3) will be announced at CES.
50GB Rewritable Blank Blu-Ray Disk to Cost $60
Panasonic will ship four types of Blu-ray discs to the U.S. this year: recordable 25GB single-layer and 50GB dual-layer discs for $17.99 and $42.99 respectively as well as rewritable 25GB and 50GB discs for $24.99 and $59.99 respectively. The blank media can be used with Blu-ray disc burners at the speed of up to 2x and then read by consumer electronics or personal computer equipment capable of Blu-ray discs playback.
Panasonic said its Blu-ray discs employ a number of exclusive technologies developed by the company, which, in addition to time and money required for research and development, also involved usage of production equipment not utilised previously, which are one of the main reasons why the discs cost significantly more compared to typical DVDs and HD DVDs. Still, such price premium is unlikely to be effective for long – Sony, the main driving force behind the Blu-ray – said that in case of mass production the significant price differences between the Blu-ray and other types of media would erode quickly.
Sony
Samsung BD-P1000
LG
Tdk
Boxes for blu-ray disks
___________________
Images courtesy : Theinquirer, 1up.com, Theregister
