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1. IFA and 3D Wars: Blu-Ray is Once Again Obsolete

   (Hardware/Hardware Features)

   ... immediately jumped out at me was that Panasonic and Sony were effectively announcing both the obsolescence of existing Blu-Ray and HD TV products but a new format war this time for 3D.   The ...

2. TVs set to go 3D this year

   (Hardware/Hardware Features)

     Three-D televisions could be about to take off, following the announcement that the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) is to support the format. Meanwhile, Sony is expected to announce a range of ...

3. Toshiba may surrender to Blu-ray, finally

   (Consumer Electronics/Consumer Electronics Features)

   ... was clear that Toshiba is covering its bases just in case HD DVD would fail. By the way, Sony did the same through a joint venture with NEC, which guaranteed the company access to HD DVD manufacturing ...

4. Blu-ray gets simplified licensing

   (Games and Entertainment/Games and Entertainment Features)

   ... licensing will become much easier. Panasonic, Philips and Sony announced that they have agreed to create a "one-stop-shop" product license company for Blu-ray, which should positively impact the availability ...

5. UPDATED: Blu-ray sales quadrupled in 2008

   (Games and Entertainment/Games and Entertainment Features)

   ... players in the United States, including 6 million Sony PlayStation 3 units. In the same three-year timeframe after release, DVD players in the 1990s totaled only 5.4 million. If Sony PS3s are excluded, ...

6. Best Buy drops Blu-ray player price below $100, sorta

   (Consumer Electronics/Consumer Electronics Features)

   ... the prices on three other Blu-ray players this weekend. The Samsung BD-P2550 now sells for $399.99, the BD-P1500 for $299.99 and the Sony BDP-S350 for $299.99. All Blu-ray players are offered with additional ...

7. Blu-ray prices in free fall: Get a player for under $200

   (Trendwatch/Trendwatch Features)

   ... listing Blu-ray players such as Sony’s BDP-S300 for less than $200 and you may be able to live without BonusView in exchange for the lower price. Players with BonusView support typically start above $350. ...

8. Sanyo develops 12x, 100 GB Blu-ray technology

   (Trendwatch/Trendwatch Features)

   ... Blu-ray discs with up to four layers (instead of only two), raising the potential maximum capacity of Blu-ray discs from 50 GB to 100 GB. Sony previously indicated that Blu-ray may be scalable up to ...

9. Blu-ray player for $230, triple-core PC for $399

   (Hardware/Hardware Features)

   ... expensive, Samsung’s BD-P2550 is offered for $400; the BD-P1500 as well as Sony’s BDP-S350 sell for $300.     ...

10. Blu-ray on the cheap: Memorex has a $269 player

    (Consumer Electronics/Consumer Electronics Features)

    ... of $286 in U.S. retail, according to pricegrabber.com. Panasonic’s DMP-BD30K sells for an average of $299, Sony’s BDP-S300 for $281,  Sharp’s BD-HP20U for $282 and Sylvania’s NB-501SL9 for $280, according ...

11. CEDIA show wows attendees with 400-disc Blu-ray changers and 4K projectors

    (Consumer Electronics/Consumer Electronics Features)

    ... Blu-ray changer from Sony and a JVC 4K projector that pumps out 3500 lumens worth of video.  As usual, no prices were announced, but for these things if you have to ask, then you probably can’t ...

12. Blu-ray has only five years left – Samsung

    (Consumer Electronics/Consumer Electronics Features)

    ... HD-DVD) overtaking VHS tape sales back in the first half of 2007. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s Asia Pacific vice president Tim Meade recently predicted Blu-ray sales would pass DVD in 2011.  ...

13. Samsung, Sony roll out BD-Live Blu-ray players

    (Consumer Electronics/Consumer Electronics Features)

      Samsung and Sony are showcasing their latest Blu-ray player flagship models at the IFA 2008 tradeshow. Both players are priced outside the mainstream market and may not see especially high production ...

14. Blu-ray players stuck above $300

    (Trendwatch/Trendwatch Features)

    ... data to get an overview of the current market situation. The cheapest big-brand-name Blu-ray players you can buy today is Samsung’s BD-P1400 and Sony’s BDP-S300 model with average retail prices of $330 ...

15. Not everyone ready to buddy up to Blu-ray

    (Trendwatch/Trendwatch Features)

    ... is that the Blu-ray enabled PlayStation 3 from Sony has seen a strong following, meaning the installed base for this technology will continue to grow. How many extra sales of Blu-ray discs this means remains ...

16. Blu-ray players taking aim at $300

    (Trendwatch/Trendwatch Features)

    ... we spotted is Sony’s BDP-S300 for $359.99 (down $40 as part of a closeout) and Panasonic’s DMP-BD30K for $449.99 (down $50) at Circuit City. Best Buy is offering a house-brand Insignia player for $329.99, ...

17. Pioneer creates 16-layer disc with 400 GB capacity

    (Hardware/Hardware Features)

    ... optical disc, but the company believes that it can transfer the technology to recordable discs as well. Sony previously noted that Blu-ray could be scalable to up to eight to ten layers or 200 to 250 ...

18. Blu-ray player prices showing signs of downward trend

    (Trendwatch/Trendwatch Features)

    ... Sony’s and Sharp’s players to come down sharply as well. According to average retail prices provided by Pricegrabber.com, Blu-ray players saw a sharp climb in prices when Toshiba pulled out of the ...

19. Toshiba skips Blu-ray, enhances DVD instead

    (Consumer Electronics/Consumer Electronics Features)

      Toshiba may have lost the high-definition format war to Sony, but the company is not yet ready to build Blu-ray players, at least not officially. In a rather surprising turn of events, Toshiba ...

20. Microsoft: Blu-ray “not taking off”

    (Games and Entertainment/Games and Entertainment Features)

    ... that the “digital distribution business is one of the reasons Microsoft is so keenly focused on Sony, and not Nintendo” in this current state of the console battle. Kim noted that more than “380 million ...

21. Blu-ray player prices congregate at $400 while HD DVD hits rock bottom

    (Trendwatch/Trendwatch Features)

    ... different story for Samsung's BD-P1400.  That player reached a new record high price this week.  It has jumped a significant $40 in the past two weeks to an average of $397. Meanwhile, the Sony ...

22. Consumers largely willing to pay higher prices for Blu-ray

    (Trendwatch/Trendwatch Features)

    ... some retailers were aggressively trying to nullify that point by bringing down BD prices. Sony's BDP-S300, Sharp's BD-HP20U and Panasonic's DMP-BD30K are all at or around new price highs for 2008.  ...

23. Toshiba launches IBM Cell-based video processor for the Blu-ray world

    (Hardware/Hardware Features)

    ... of course, there is the Cell processor, which has been designed, developed and manufactured in collaboration with Sony. Tokyo (Japan) - There has been been a lot of speculation how Toshiba will change ...

24. Blu-ray reaches 60% awareness in two years

    (Consumer Electronics/Consumer Electronics Features)

    ... the declared winner of the HD format war. Among the lower half of that demographic, the so-called "early adopter" group of 18- to 34-year-olds, 76% were aware of the Sony-fronted high-def disc medium. ...

25. Blu-ray prices continue to climb

    (Trendwatch/Trendwatch Features)

    Pricewatch - Sony, Sharp and Panasonic Blu-ray players continue to climb an upward price slope as demand has increased and competition decreased in the high definition video market, TG Daily found.  ...

26. Analysts project 29 million Blu-ray homes by end of year

    (Consumer Electronics/Consumer Electronics Features)

    ... cannot receive firmware upgrades. The PS3, on the other hand, received a firmware update this week that now allows it to access enhanced Blu-ray Disc features, the first of which will be in select Sony ...

27. BD-Live coming to the PS3

    (Games and Entertainment/Games and Entertainment Features)

    The Playstation 3 is likely to retain its reputation as the most popular playback platform for Blu-ray content as Sony announced that owners of the console will “soon” be able to upgrade to firmware ...

28. Recent writer’s strike may force Blu-ray prices down

    (Games and Entertainment/Games and Entertainment Features)

    ... that the installed base of Blu-ray players in the U.S. is still low – less than 10 million players. Our sources at Paramount, Universal and Sony Pictures also told us that the typically distributed “shipped” ...

29. Surprise: No Blu-ray for the Xbox 360

    (Opinion/Opinion Features)

    ... in talks with Sony or the Blu-ray Association to integrate Blu-ray into the Xbox experience." In an interview with TG Daily last week, Greenberg also noted that HD DVD’s demise does not affect the console’s ...

30. Blu-ray player prices hit 2008 highs as competition dwindles

    (Trendwatch/Trendwatch Features)

    Pricewatch - Blu-ray Disc players from Samsung, Sony and Sharp are now the most expensive they have been all year, presumably because HD DVD's exit from the high-def disc arena has removed some of Blu-ray's ...

31. Microsoft and Sony reportedly in Blu-ray discussions

    (Trendwatch/Trendwatch Features)

    The power of Blu-ray is so intense that Microsoft has even begun talking to Sony about possibly incorporating the technology into the Xbox 360. The Financial Times reports that Sony Electronics president ...

32. Pricewatch: HD DVD in free fall, Blu-ray continues upward trend

    (Business and Law/Business and Law Features)

    ... no direct impact of the HD DVD shutdown, with prices remaining stable and trending lightly upward. Sharp’s BD-HP20U, Sony’s BDP-S300, Panasonic’s DMP-BD30K as well as Samsung’s BD-P1000, which is not listed ...

33. Did $400 million decide the format HD war?

    (Business and Law/Business and Law Brief)

    GlobeandMail.com is running a story that it may have cost Sony $400 million to convince Warner that Blu-ray is the better HD format. The website says analysts are throwing around this number, but no ...

34. HD DVD’s rise and fall: A timeline

    (Hardware/Hardware Features)

    ... since the beginning of the format war to provide an overview of the events that led up to Sony’s success and Toshiba’s loss. On the following pages, we are listing all important HD format war articles, ...

35. Sony, Sharp offer free Blu-ray players, sorta

    (Consumer Electronics/Consumer Electronics Features)

    The Blu-ray camp has responded to the rather dramatic HD DVD player price cut from last week this weekend: If you purchase certain LCD TV models, Sony and Sharp are throwing in a “free” Blu-ray ...

36. MacWorld is disappointing? Yeah right.

    (Opinion/Opinion Features)

    ... keyboard with little travel, it was painfully slow, and it was comparatively fragile.   However it also pulled an iPhone like crowd wherever it was shown.   About 5 years ago, Sony ...

37. CES: Blu-ray movies to be playable on PSP by year's end

    (Games and Entertainment/Games and Entertainment Features)

    ... Disney, Fox, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate, and of course, Warner Bros.  Kind of surprisingly, there were no guys from the hardware side, which led to the panel being unable to answer any Blu-ray hardware ...

38. Sony CEO considers HD format war to be in a “stalemate”

    (Consumer Electronics/Consumer Electronics Features)

    Sony chief executive Sir Howard Stringer gave surprising comments about the situation about the ongoing high-definition format war between Sony’s Blu-ray and Toshiba’s HD DVD technology. Sony ...

39. Spider-Man 3 sets record for Sony Blu-ray

    (Games and Entertainment/Games and Entertainment Features)

    Over 130,000 copies of Spider-Man 3 on Blu-ray Disc were sold in its first week, marking a new record for a Sony Pictures title. Hollywood (CA) - Over 130,000 copies of Spider-Man 3 on Blu-ray Disc were ...

40. Sony pitches two new Blu-ray players

    (Consumer Electronics/Consumer Electronics Features)

    Sony will be offering this fall two new Blu-ray players aiming at enthusiasts, for prices well north of the current sub-$500 trend in the HD player segment. Denver (CO) – Sony will be offering this ...

41. Japanese adult film companies boosted by Blu-ray

    (Games and Entertainment/Games and Entertainment Features)

    Adult film makers in Japan will be churning out more Blu-Ray movies, thanks to some technical support from Sony. Tokyo (Japan) – Adult film makers in Japan will be churning out more Blu-Ray movies, ...

42. Blu-ray format leads adoption of next-gen DVD players in the U.S. - analyst

    (Trendwatch/Trendwatch Features)

    Thursday turned out to be a big news day for Sony and its Blu-ray format: Following an announcement that Target would go with the Blu-ray format, a market research firm published a report, which indicates ...

43. Disney goes all out for Blu-ray tour

    (Games and Entertainment/Games and Entertainment Features)

    ... and upcoming Blu-ray movies.  It's a move that Disney hopes will educate non-enthusiast customers about the Sony-fronted format.  In addition to interactive demo stations, the kiosks will ...

44. Sub-$500 Blu-ray player to hit stores this month

    (Consumer Electronics/Consumer Electronics Features)

    ... way to stores this month as the first to carry a list price of under $500. The BDP-S300, first announced in February, was originally planned for an MSRP of around $600, but Sony confirmed today that it ...

45. Tech firm sues Sony over Blu-ray for patent infringement

    (Business and Law/Business and Law Features)

    Still reeling over its patent lawsuit with Immersion Corporation over the Playstation rumble technology, another tech firm has sued Sony because it claims Sony's Blu-ray Disc infringes on its patents. ...

46. Midway working on first Blu-ray movie/PS3 game combo disc

    (Games and Entertainment/Games and Entertainment Features)

    ... fill up an entire disc. This same idea appeared very briefly in Sony's proprietary PSP format, UMD (Universal Media Disc).  A couple movie studios partnered with game developers to offer playable ...

47. Blu-ray player breaks $500 barrier at Amazon

    (Consumer Electronics/Consumer Electronics Features)

    ... Disc (BD) players to less than the price of a PS3.  The Samsung BD-P1000 is now available on the online retailer for $499. Sony announced that a $600 BD player would be coming out this summer, but ...

48. CES 2007: HD DVD slams Blu-ray, talks innovation

    (Trendwatch/Trendwatch Features)

    Strategically scheduled right after the Sony press conference, which for all intents and purposes was the main Blu-ray event, the HD DVD conference wrapped up a long day of major press events. Talk about ...

49. Sony delays set-top Blu-ray player again

    (Hardware/Hardware Features)

    Sony has once again delayed their BDP-S1 standalone Blu-Ray disc player. The player is now expected to ship on December 4th, 2006 for $1000. Originally announced back in March for a July release, Sony ...

50. Sony to ship Blu-ray writer in August for $750

    (Hardware/Hardware Features)

    Sony confirmed that it will be shipping its first Blu-ray burner "on or around" 18 August. The model BWU-100A will sell as an internal drive for $750. New York (NY) - Sony confirmed that it will be ...