Blu-Con 1.0 Announced and Dated
You might be wondering, what the hell is Blu-Con!?!?! Blu-Con is a day long event held by the BDA to talk about, and promote Blu-ray.
6x BD-Rs Go On Sale In America
Imation is bringing 6x BD-R’s to America Read more
First Blu-ray Test Center Opens in China
Engadget reports that the first Blu-ray disc testing facility has just opened up in China, Read more
Sony Planning 47 Million Blu-ray Discs per Month Capacity Worldwide
There are a few interesting tidbits in this article over at the Inside Indiana Business website.
Sony is planning to expand its Blu-ray Disc manufacturing operations in Indiana, investing over $100M and creating 85 new jobs there.
What’s The Deal, Paramount/DreamWorks And Universal?
With Universal’s final HD DVD releases now behind us, this marks the end for exclusive HD DVD content on the ill-fated format, but we have yet to hear anything official regarding the future release slate for Paramount/Dreamworks, and Universal.
With less than three weeks before the Oscar winner, "There Will Be Blood" drops on SD DVD — April 8th — and a little over a month until the innovative suspense-fest, "Cloverfield" hits stores — April 22nd — we can’t help but wonder when these execs. will finally wise up and grace us with the official press release detailing their upcoming release slate for Blu-ray.
It is unlikely that we will see the high-def releases drop day-and-date with their SD counterparts as it has been previously stated — at least from Paramount — that we won’t see Blu-ray releases until "Summer 2008." However, for many that is far too vague an answer, and we’ve yet to hear definitively when Universal plans to release it’s first BD title.
So what gives? Why contribute to further uncertainty in the high-def market? Why wait? We all know it’s coming. Let the cat out of the bag already so we can mark our calendars — and re-appropriate our food/gas/beer money — in order to purchase all of your glorious film content, in all of its HD-goodness.
Sony to Invest Over $100M into Blu-ray Plant
Sony Corporation is planning to invest nearly $110 million in new equipment and property improvements to upgrade its Terre Haute plant.
Shelley Klingerman, spokeswoman for Sony, said the company is still evaluating its employment needs but said it has determined a minimum of 65 new workers will be needed for its Blu-ray operations. Of the estimated 65 new employees, 50 will be hourly permanent positions and 15 salaried permanent positions, according to Sony’s filings with the City Council.
Sony wants to invest more than $101 million in new equipment and more than $7.4 million in property improvements, for a total of $108.5 million in new investments.
Via Blu-ray Stats
Star Trek Season 2 Cancelled Not Delayed
We are going to give the real information on Star Trek Season 2’s delay cancellation. An inside source at Technicolor has informed us that a few weeks ago Toshiba cancelled the work they were doing on Star Trek Season 2. Toshiba had been the one paying for the re-mastering/encoding of Star Trek: TOS, which was part of their exclusive deal with Paramount. Also part of the exclusive deal is that Paramount must use AVC in the encoding of the Star Trek Series, more specifically they must use Toshiba’s AVC encoder.
We think this was a way Toshiba could try to push their AVC encoder, which they had invested lots of money in.Toshiba has had a hard time getting studios to purchase their AVC encoder, since VC-1 is so popular with studios on both sides of the format war. A good example of this is Warner, who mandates VC-1 on all it’s discs.
WB HD DVD: “Isolated Instances” Clarified?
It would seem as though yesterday’s article at DVDTown has gotten many in a tizzy over Warner’s future release policy, with HD DVD owners seeing a glimmer of hope, and Blu-ray fans disowning the statement due to poor word choice.
Well, the folks at DVDTown have once again contacted Ronnee dearest, and she goes on to further "clarify" what that sentence means.
DVDTown: "Does this mean that it is possible Warner will release HD DVD titles after May 31st in isolated instances?"
Ronnee Sass: "It is not forseen, but not impossible."
There you have it folks. Straight from the Sass. Unfortunately for all of us, further clarification only seems to add further confusion and more fire to an already volatile subject.
So naturally, what do you make of all of this?
Warner HD DVD: Available after May 31st?
Will all current/upcoming Warner HD DVD releases be available after Warner Bros. officially goes Blu-ray?
Well, in response to DVDTown’s inquiry, the answer appears to be yes… with a few strings attached. At the risk of mincing words, here is what Ronnee Sass (VP Publicity & Promotion) had to say:
"If there is product available in HD DVD and there is a request from a retailer, we will provide. There may be isolated instances that an HD DVD title will be created, but as a general rule our titles will be out in SD and BD only after May 31."
Planet Earth HD DVD Out Of Print Now?
It looks like the HD DVD version of Planet Earth may now be "Out Of Print." Retailer Amazon.com has no stock of the Planet Earth HD DVD, which might be a sign of the first Warner title that has ran out of existing stock.
The studio has said it will sell remaining copies of its HD DVD releases, but will not replicate additional HD DVDs to replenish inventory.
We would like to know, is the Planet Earth HD DVD still available at your local retailers?
UPDATE: I looks like Amazon has indeed received more stock of the HD DVD version.
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