DVDs HD - DVD in High Definition

SlySoft has just released updated their AnyDVD software which now alows anyone to copy Blu-ray DVDs using the AnyDVD Ripper. In the release information it is confirmed that they removed the ‘BD+ not supported’ warning. This is because all available BD+ titles can be copied with AnyDVD ripper, or can be watched on HTPC without HDCP using PowerDVD 3104 and AnyDVD. Reports also indicate, that burned BD+ titles work on PS3 and standalone players as well.

Some info: BD+ is a seperate component of the Blu-ray Disc Digital Rights Management system. It has been developed by Cryptography Research Inc. and is based on their SPDC concept. BD+ is basicaly a small virtual machine embedded in authorised players and allows content providers to include executable programs on Blu-ray discs.

Spider-Man III sales are just in and show that 130,000 copies of the film were sold in the Blu-ray format in the first six days. This makes it the biggest selling Blu-ray title to date, but falls short of the record held by the Transformers movie in the HD DVD format which sold 190,000 discs. in the same amount of time

Toshiba reportedly sold approximately 90,000 HD-A2 players last weekend, fueled by the drop in price to under $100.00. This shows that there is a thriving market for the High Definition formats and the only thing holding consumers back is the high cost involved with the TVs and players.

Personally I cant wait for the cuts seen in the US markets to be replicated here in the UK, the market is there, it just needs to be made available to the average person.

Speculation arose last week that Warner Home Video would be choosing sides in the Dual Format war, however, this has today been dismissed by Jim Noonan, SVP of Strategic Promotion and Communication. He said that they are still on board with both formats, and will continue in 2008 with a strong line-up of new releases and catalog titles in both HD DVD and Blu-ray formats.

The statement made last week were probably not what Warner would have wanted to be released and speculated about, no matter what the truth is regarding the future for Blu-ray and HD DVD with Warner.

Toshiba’s entry-level HD-A2 HD DVD was the first to be under the $200.00 mark in the US, but ‘Best Buy’ & Wal-Mart have just announced that they will now be selling the unit for under $100.00. Unfortunately there is not yet any sign of consumers in the UK being able to pick up players at these prices, but its a good sign that prices are dropping making HD technology more available to the paying public.

Warner Home Video is considering the change from being one of the leading dual format studios to featuring Blu-ray exclusively. VP Dan Silverberg at the Blu-ray Festival press event in Los Angeles was quoted as saying:

“One thing that may be changing is our strategy, when both formats launched and hardware prices were high, we made a decision to support both formats and let the consumer decide. But now that hardware pricing is affordable for both Blu-ray and HD DVD, it appears consumers no longer want to decide — so the notion of staying in two formats for the duration is something we are re-evaluating now that we are in the fourth quarter.”

The decision to favour Blu-ray rather than HD DVD is down to sales and it was noted by Silverberg that the firms Blu-ray sales of ‘300′ was its top seller.

There is a cut price PS3 due to be released in the UK and Europe bringing the game station and Blu-ray technology to a wider group of consumers. In the UK the console will be offered with a smaller 40GB hard drive than the normal 60GB unit.

In a statement made by Ray Maguire, head of PlayStation UK, he confirmed:

“the release of the 40GB PS3 was a “strategic decision” and not the result of lower-than-expected sales of the PlayStation 3. We have done market research, looked at fans’ forums and the feedback from consumers is that they are anxious to get into PlayStation 3 but it is too expensive”

The new low cost units should be available by early November 2007.

Research just released by Home Media Research shows that Blu-ray has out sold HD DVD up to the 3rd quarter of the year. The research was carried out in the US only but shows that approximately 2.6 million Blu-ray discs were sold against just 1.4 million HD DVD discs during this period.

Analysts believe the HD DVD format will make a comeback in the last quarter of the year, especially after movie releases such as ‘Transformers’ which sold over 100,000 HD-DVDs on its first day of release (16th October).

Japanese motorists will soon have the option of playing high definition DVDs in their car. A new vehicle at the 2007 Toyko Motor Show includes a Panasonic Blu-Ray player.

The player has support for all the Blu-ray features and include BD-Java playback and has a LCD screen. The player looks remarkably similar to the Panasonic BD-10 Blu-ray player.