First of all happy new year everybody. Hopefully your holidays were good.

Now in a move that surprised many, Warner Bros. Studios has decided to exclusively release its movies only on high definition Blu-Ray discs (as well as standard dvds) after the end of May 2008. Before this announcement Warner Bros. position on the hi-def formats had been one of neutrality opting to release its films in both the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs. …Continue reading … »

In the area of consumer electronics most new technologies start out as expensive when it first enters the market and then its price eventually comes down until its relatively inexpensive. This is what appears to be occurring with Blu-Ray drive technology. …Continue reading … »

At the IFA 2007 Sharp announced their new BD-HP205 Blu-Ray disc player.

The player’s most unique feature is its ability to support discs with BD-Java and therefore make use of their special features. …Continue reading … »

It is good to see another PC manufacturer creating a computer with a very compact form factor.

Sony announced that it will soon be bringing its Vaio HD LT PC/TV to the market. …Continue reading … »

Sony Pictures has announced that its blockbuster film Spider-man 3 will be released on DVD, Blu-Ray disc, and PSP formats on October 30.

The film will be available in several editions. There will be a single disc DVD version, a PSP version, a 2-disc DVD set and a 3-disc DVD set which includes Spider-man and Spider-man 2.

The film will be available on Blu-Ray disc as a 2-disc set or a 3-disc set which includes Spider-man, Spider-man 2 and Spider-man 2.1.
The single disc DVD includes among it features digitally mastered video, Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, bloopers, and directory and cast commentary.

The 2-disc DVD set contains all the features of the single disc DVD and additional features such as 11 featurettes and international tv spots. The 2-disc Blu-Ray set contain all the features of the 2-disc DVD set however has upgraded audio in the form of Dolby True HD 5.1 and PCM 5.1.

The 2-disc DVD set and the 2-disc Blu-Ray set both feature over 6 hours of bonus features.

The single disc DVD, 2-disc DVD set, and 3-disc DVD set are priced at $28.97, 36.95 and $38.96 respectively.

The 2-disc Blu-Ray set, 3-disc Blu-Ray set and the PSP version are priced at 49.95, $98.95 and $28.97 respectively.

[source:Prnewswire]
[images:TheDigitalBits]

Hitachi will soon be bringing to the market the first camcorders to use Blu-Ray disc technology to record video. The camcorders, the DZ-BD70 and the DZ-BD7H, can record video onto Blu-Ray discs because of their built-in Blu-Ray writers. Both camcorders can store up to 7.5 gigabytes of data on a 8cm Blu-Ray disc or one hour of video at a resolution of 1920 x 1080i or four hours at a resolution of 1440 x 1080i. …Continue reading … »

Today Warner Brothers Studios officially announced the release of the film Blade Runner: Final Cut directed by Sir Ridley Scott. This is a new definitive version of the classic science fiction film Blade Runner. This film will be released to DVD in 3 editions: a 2-disc edition, a 4-disc edition and a 5-disc Ultimate Collector’s edition.

The 2-disc set features a restored and remastered version of the Blade Runner film with added and extended scenes, a 5.1 Dolby Digital audio track, new and improved special effects, added lines, commentaries, and a documentary.

The 4-disc set has all the features of the 2-disc set and adds many others with the most significant being that this includes 3 additional versions of the film (the theatrical version, the international version and the 1992 director’s cut).

The 5-disc set, which comes in a special briefcase, has all the features of the 4-disc set and many additional features with the most notable being a rare workprint of the original film. The workprint is considered to be radically different then all other versions of the film.

The 2-disc, 4-disc, and 5-disc sets are priced at $20.97, $34.99, and $78.92 respectively. The sets will be available for purchase on December 18, 2007. Blu-Ray and HD-DVD versions of the 5-disc set will also be released simultaneously, prices for these versions will be announced later.

[source:The Digital Bits]

Hitachi has built the world’s first camcorder that records onto Blu-Ray disc. The camera has a 5.3 megapixel lenses and records video at a 1920X 1080 progressive resolution using the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 video compressionn. Built into the camcorder is a new mini Blu-Ray disc writer that can store a maximum of 7GB of data. The camcorder is still in prototype form, however, Hitachi says a production version may be available for consumers during the fall of 2007.

[source:Akihabaranews]

I’m not sure who is going to win the high definition DVD format war but Blu-Ray is the superior format. The Blu-Ray disc holds 25GB on a single sided disc and 50GB on a dual layered disc. In comparison the HD-DVD holds 15GB on a single sided disc and 30GB on a dual layered disc. More storage space means more data more software, mp3s, standard definition video, and documents. As well in terms of high definition video theoretically more storage space means better picture quality. …Continue reading … »