Panasonic will Launch a Blu-ray Disc Recorders with BD discs Playback

Panasonic announced a Blu-ray Disc (BD) recorders capable of playing back BD discs. The Blu-ray DIGA DMR-BW200 and DMR-BR100 can record high-definition imagery on BD-RE rewritable discs and dub from the built-in hard-disk drive (HDD) to BD discs at 4x speed without compromising video or audio quality.

The new models support single and dual-layer discs (BD-RE and BD-R). The Blu-ray recorders comes with a built-in 500 GB or 200 Gb HDD.

The new Blu-ray recorder should be available November 15. The units will retail at $2,045 and $2,556.

Top 5 Reasons Why Movie Downloading could kill Blu-ray, HD DVD and even the DVD

Are we assisting to the birth of the real battle for the next generation of movies for our home theaters? With the announcement by Apple of the availability of movies from their itune library and the release this fall of the Zune from Microsoft, we have the right to believe so. Other big players, like Amazon, are already going after the movie downloading market which seems to be a very strong social trend. Blu-ray and HD DVD is not a social trend. It is something built from scratch by audio-video manufacturers. Those formats are also for big technology fans with a lot of money in their pockets.

Here are the top 5 reasons why we think movie downloading could be the big winner in this battle:

1. Budget
Consumer’s budget is very limited. Movie downloading is a lot cheaper and consumers are already used to it with music. To be able to watch your first Blu-ray or HD DVD movie, you must buy a high definition TV and spend $2000, a Blu-ray or HD DVD player ($500-$1000), and eventually a HDMI cable ($50). Only after that, you can buy your first Blu-ray or HD DVD movie at $20 or $35, if they are available.

On the other end, movie downloading is done directly on the computer for less than $15. And to be able to easily watch it on your standard or high definition TV, you will buy an itv from Apple or an equivalent for a few hundred dollars.

2. Consumer’s real interest is in user-friendliness and social acceptance
Consumers do not have a strong interest in high definition movies. In fact, most of us just can’t see the difference between DVD resolution and Blu-ray or HD DVD resolution. The ease of use of the downloading method combined with a strong social acceptance opens the path for movie downloading. Teenagers are in the driving seat and they said that music downloading is cool. They will probably say the same thing for movies. We must not forget that movie downloading has been there for a long time. We are just getting a legal option and a better quality.

HD DVD, Blu-ray and DVD on the same disc!

According to the Newscientisttech, Warner engineers, Alan Bell and Lewis Ostrover, have been working on a triple technology disc. This seems to be possible because Blu-ray uses a 405-nanometre wavelength laser to read data from tracks 0.1-millimetres-deep on the top surface of a disc. HD-DVD, on the other hand, uses the same wavelength to read recordings at a depth of 0.6 mm.

This disc should work like a two-way mirror. It should reflect just enough blue light for a Blu-ray player to read it okay. But it should also let enough light through for HD-DVD players to ignore the Blu-ray recording and find a second HD-DVD layer beneath. A DVD recording could be put on the other side, so that conventional DVD players can read the disc as well.

We don't know when a technology like this one could be available or if it is going to be one day at all. But if we can't have a triple technology disc soon, maybe a double format disc could be good idea. If Blu-ray or HD DVD studios uses the idea to have the DVD on back of a HD disc, it would be a great way to sell Blu-ray or HD DVD discs to people that don't have a Blu-ray or HD DVD player but are planning to eventually buy one. Read

Samsung Blu-ray(Blue-ray) player : Better image and Java-compatible

Samsung announced that they will upgrade their Blu-ray Disc in response of the poor picture quality. The upgrade will also make the player Java-compatible.
The production line improvements on the BD-P1000 Blu-ray (Blue-ray) players should be done in the last week of October.
The upgrade should include a modified setting for the noise filter reduction circuit, to make a sharper picture. Java-enabled bonus features expected on releases during the holiday season are going to be functional with that upgrade.

Owners of the Blu-ray players can contact Samsung to get the upgrade.

Sony to release a Blu-ray Recorder

Sony said on Wednesday it will launch a Blu-ray (Blue-ray) DVD recorder by the end of the year in Japan.

Sony did not give details such as a launch date, price or overseas release datesof the RDZ-D900A.

The company already offers a Blu-ray drive in its Vaio computers and will be selling Blu-ray players in the United States in October if there is no other delay.

As annouced last week, they also plans the release of the PlayStation 3 game console, which is equipped with a Blu-ray player, in November in Japan and North America.

We don't have any specifications for the unit at this point.

Source : Reuters

Another Step towards Java Integration into Blu-ray Players

ARM today announced that Samsung has licensed ARM Jazelle software technology for deployment in the Samsung BD-P1000 device.  ARM Jazelle Java acceleration technology to deliver advanced interactive features for an exceptional multimedia experience.
The ARM Jazelle Java technology (JTEK) software licensed by Samsung is a high-performance technology originally developed for the mobile handset market. With the release of the Samsung Blu-ray player, ARM is bringing the proven success of JTEK software running on an ARM processor to the newest generation of consumer devices in the home. Using ARM Jazelle technology, Samsung Blu-ray players will unleash the power of Blu-Ray (Blue-ray) discs that support the Java BD standard, utilizing advanced features not available on conventional DVD players, such as interactive, easy-to-use menus that can run quickly and seamlessly – without repeatedly accessing the disc.
ARM Jazelle JTEK software technology enables execution of Java byte code in hardware, offering the capability to run these new and demanding applications much faster, without compromising efficiency or cost. Unlike software-only techniques, acceleration of Java technology as part of the core architecture is highly memory efficient and gives fast start-time and smooth application performance.
“With the Samsung Blu-ray disc player, ARM is working to take the same efficient, high-performance Jazelle technology used in so many of the Samsung mobile handsets into ARM Powered® home devices,” said Mike Inglis, executive vice president, ARM. “HDTV owners and home theater enthusiasts can now enjoy high-quality interactive multimedia content through the use of ARM Jazelle technology.”

No PlayStation 3 before March 2007

Sony said it would delay the European launch of its PS3 video game console to March 2007 and cut its target for shipments this year by half for Japan and the US.

Sony had planned to launch the new version of its blockbuster PlayStation console in November, setting the stage for a three-way showdown with Microsoft and Nintendo during the key holiday shopping season.

Ken Kutaragi, the head of Sony's game unit, told reporters Sony would ship 2 million PS3 units this year, half a previously forecast 4 million, but would make up the lost ground to hit a target of 6 million consoles shipped by March.

Sony said it still planned to launch the PS3 on Nov. 11 in Japan and on Nov. 17 in the US.

The game console is the widely awaited successor to the PlayStation 2, of which 100 million units have been sold since its launch in 2000.

No Hybrid Drive from Pioneer

According to a post on cdfreaks, Pioneer as no intention of manufacturing a Hybrid drive. A Pioneer representative said that they will monitor the market, but have no intention of doing so.

We were all very excited by this news but we will have to wait a little bit longer before we can plan buying our hybrid drive. Manufacturers knows very well that if they annouce to much in advance the future release of an hybrid drive, it is going to slow down the sales. Who wants a outdated technology before the buying date?

A Hybrid Drive from Pioneer in 2007

The new dual format drive (BDR-103) would put an end at the war has we know it at the moment. All the experts agree that if we have a good and affordable dual format technology, it will basically end the war for movies. On the other end, with the announcement yesterday that TDK could come out with a 200GB disc, Blu-ray end HD DVD could have a different future on data storage. Blu-ray would become a professional solution and HD DVD would be a mass market solution for data storage.

Pioneer is not the only company working on a dual format technology, Samsung and Ricoh both said they will come out with the technology in the near future.

Sony's Blu-ray Player: Batteries are Included!

If you're a bit tired of reading serious news on Blu-ray or Sony, take a look at this post from pointfiveblog.com. According to them, burning laptop batteries are going to be included in the Sony Blu-ray player. It may be why Sony pushed back the release date of their player so many times!