No Samsung BD-UP5000 Under Your Xmas Tree

It looks like Samsung has dropped the ball again when it comes to its BD-UP5000 Blu-ray/HD DVD Combo player. They have once again delayed their holy grail of HD playback, this time until after Santa has come and gone. We are really disappointed, in that we cant wait to ditch our stack of HD DVD/Blu-ray [...]

The Venturer SHD7000 Has Landed

The guys over at HDDVD.com are reporting that the famed Venturer player has officially been released to consumers. Last we heard the player was expected to retail for around $200, but the old (and current) listing on Target’s site led us to believe otherwise, instead choosing to list it at $249. Thanks to the higher-than-expected [...]

Live Free or Die Hard Sells Almost 100,000 Copies

The Hollywood Reporter article on increased media sales for Black Friday includes some interesting nuggets on HD Media sales.
The first is that Live Free or Die Hard exceeded expectations by 20%, including almost 100,000 for the Blu-ray Disc edition.
The article also notes strong sales for Disney title Santa Clause 3 and New Line title Hairspray [...]

Onkyo Dumps DV-HD805 , Blames Toshiba Price Cuts?

According to a Google translation of the Italian site AVMagazine.it, Onkyo is stopping production of its DV-HD805 HD DVD player. In the article they cite Toshiba’s aggressive price cuts as the main factor in Onkyo’s problem in positioning its player in the market. Rumors are swirling that Onkyo is prepping a HD DVD/Blu-ray combo player [...]

750K HD DVD Players In The Wild Says HD DVD Group

The HD DVD Promotion Group is claiming they now have 750K players in consumer hands. This figure does include the XBOX HD DVD add-on drive, as well as all HD DVD stand alone players. We estimate that the standalone players account for 500k, while the XBOX drive accounts for the other 250K. No word on [...]

HD DVD/Blu-ray Sunday Ad Wars Pt. XIII

In this edition of “Sunday Ad Wars“, we have a newcomer Fred Meyer offering the Sony BDP-S300 for $399. Fred Meyer also has a “buy 2 get 1 free” deal on selected Sony Blu-ray movies. Circuit City has the Toshiba HD-A30 for $399 w/ 10 free HD DVDs (2 in box, 3 instantly, 5 by [...]

Deals: Buy 2, Get 1 Free HD DVD/Blu-ray

For those of you that are upset about there being few, if any, high def disc promotions this Black Friday, Amazon is looking to fill the gap.
This promotion is the latest in string of Blu-ray promotions, and we think it’s nice to see that HD DVD is finally getting an invite to the promo party.
What’s [...]

Tai Seng Annouces ‘Initial D’ for Blu-ray Disc

High Def Digest is reporting that Tai Seng has announced its first Blu-ray title. 
The title, ‘Initial D’, is a movie about ‘drifting’ and considered the inspiration for ‘Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift’. Details are thin on specs but 1080p video at least is expected.
The title is targeted for January 22nd and will retail at [...]

Lionsgate To Release Full Featured 3:10 to Yuma

High Def Digest is reporting that Lionsgate’s January 8 release of 3:10 to Yuma will be the second from the studio to feature a secondary video stream. The title will feature ‘Inside Yuma’. a behind the scenes documentary.
Making good use of the available bandwidth, 3:10 from Yuma will also feature 7.1 channels of 24 bit [...]

Is Onkyo’s DV-HD805 HD DVD Player Just A Rebadged Toshiba?

The dudes over at AreaDVD.de got their hands on the new Onkyo DV- HD805 HD DVD player. They really dig deep into the player including a tear down that confirms our report that the player is just a rebadged HD-XE1 (EU version of the HD-XA2). We wonder who would waste their money on the Onkyo [...]