Items tagged with Blu-ray Disc
It's coming, Star Wars fans. The question is: are you ready? For the first time ever, the Star Wars saga in its entirety will be available on Blu-ray, the highest resolution home film format yet. It's an announcement that fans have been waiting for, but the painful part is waiting from now until this time next year. That's right, this amazing set won't actually be ready for sale until Fall 2011, so you won't be placing it on the holiday wish list for 2010. The Star Wars Blu-ray Box Set will include all six films, featuring the "highest possible picture and audio presentation, along with extensive special features – including documentaries, vintage behind-the-scenes moments, interviews,...
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When it comes to downloading software applications, music, video, and other entertainment content from mobile devices other than home computers, iPhone and iPod Touch users lead the pack. According to the NPD Group’s "Entertainment Trends in America" update, 75 percent of iPhone and iPod Touch users are connecting to the Web to download entertainment content and apps. By comparison, only 19 percent of game console users and 17 percent of Blu-ray Disc (BD) set-top product users are downloading content. “It’s not surprising that Apple users are ahead of others when it comes to downloading Web-based content, given the breadth of the company’s app catalog and the head start...
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Despite the poor economy, one product did particularly well this holiday season: the Blu-ray Disc. Recent figures indicate a tripling of sales from the previous year. It’s been quite the year for Blu-ray. If you’ll recall, Warner Brothers withdrew its support for Blu-ray’s competitor, HD-DVD, just before CES last year. Just a few months after that, Toshiba (the creator of HD-DVD) threw in the towel and said it would stop making players for the discs. Given that Blu-ray is the winner of the high-definition disc race, consumers are beginning to jump onboard. In the fourth quarter of last year, consumers bought 28.6 million Blu-ray discs, up from 9.5 million in the previous year. The top seller...
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Netflix and Samsung Partner to Instantly Stream Movies on Next Generation Blu-ray Disc Players Samsung BD-P2500 and BD-P2550 Blu-ray Players Transformed into Gateways that Give Consumers Access to More Than 12,000 Choices of Movies and TV Episodes from Netflix Partnership will Include Streaming to a Range of Home Entertainment Products LOS GATOS, Calif. and RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J., Oct. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), the world's largest online movie rental service, and Samsung Electronics America, a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, today announced a broad partnership to offer consumers the ability to instantly stream movies and TV episodes...
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Sub-$400 Model Leaps Ahead in Recording Speed; Includes Blu-ray Disc Movie Title 'Men In Black' SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Electronics today announced its third generation internal Blu-ray Disc(TM) (BD) writer for the computer aftermarket, which at about $400 achieves a new level of affordability for BD enthusiasts.The new BWU-300S model burns single and dual layer BD-R media at up to 8X speed, recording a full 25GB disc in about 15 minutes and a full 50GB disc in about 30 minutes. The 8X recording speed is achieved using 6X compatible BD-R media. The drive also records DVDs at up to 16X, CDs up to 48X, and supports DVD-RAM recording, with an eye towards data backup, making...
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From a technical perspective, the biggest advantage Blu-ray discs (BD) offer is more storage space--up to 25GB (for single-layer discs) or 50GB (for dual-layer discs). From a more practical standpoint, the best thing BD brings to the table is higher-quality, high-definition (HD) movies. More storage space means less data needs need to be compressed to fit on the disc--which is how we're able to get 1080p BD movies. But what happens when Quad HDTV (3840x2160 resolution: 2160p) makes its debut in a few years? Or what if the proposed Ultra High Definition (7680x4320: 4320p) standard or something similar makes it to market? Does this mean we're back to the days of DVDs when movies had to be highly...
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What do you get when you tell Hitachi engineers that they need to come up with a ridiculously large amount of storage on a single Blu-Ray disc?If your answer was a four layer disc that can hold up to 100GB of data, then you might want to look into a future as a fortune teller or psychic.But what about the player? Do consumers need to have some sort of 'super' Blu-Ray disc player for these? Thankfully the answer is probably not:“While companies such as TDK and Panasonic have previously mooted 100GB discs, they have always needed a specially developed optical head in the player to read the disc.Hitachi, however, claims to have used a standard Blu-Ray drive optical head that's only slightly...
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Apparently, a new licensing agreement is being finalized that could make it legal for consumers who have already purchased a HD DVD or Blu-Ray disc to make a bakcup copy... "Under a licensing agreement in its final stages, consumers may get the right to make several legal copies of HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc movies they’ve purchased, a concession by the movie industry that may quell criticism that DRM (digital rights management) technologies are too restrictive. The agreement, if supported by movie studios and film companies, could allow a consumer to make a backup copy in case their original disc is damaged and another copy for their home media server, said Michael Ayers, a representative of...
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PLEXTOR ANNOUNCES BLU-RAY DISC DRIVE FOR NORTH AMERICAN MARKET Burner Records 25GB to 50GB Discs for Removable Data Storage, Computer Backup, and High-Definition Video FREMONT, Calif. - August 28, 2006 - Plextor Corp., a leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital media equipment, today announced the October 2006 release of the PX-B900A Blu-ray Disc drive, the first Plextor burner to support the next generation of optical data storage technology. The new multi-function drive, which carries an MSRP of $999.99 USD, comes bundled with a rewritable 25GB BD-RE media disc and a complete software package, including Ulead VideoStudio 10 and Intervideo WinDVD...
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It's no secret that Blu-Ray has gained major support in recent months, gaining momentum over HD-DVD. Furthering the growth, Pioneer is releasing their first Blu-Ray Disc Drive for the PC. The BDR-101A boast storage capacities of 25GB on a single disc. Look for shipments to start in the first quarter of 2006. The drive will burn at 2X while standard DVD-R/ Rs will record at 8x.This first generation product will be targeted primarily to professional users and serious enthusiasts, generally the first to adopt new technology. In particular, content creators will depend on Blu-ray Disc writers to test and evaluate high definition consumer Blu-ray Disc titles during the authoring...
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Well, as Designtechnica reports, Blue-ray seems to be gaining more acceptance and support. With backers like Sony and various movie studios, this format certainly isn't going away. The other contender in the HD department is HD DVD, which is backed by Microsoft."At Twentieth Century Fox Studios on November 29, the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) gave an update on their blue laser technology. BDA felt that it was time to highlight its progress in bringing "the new high definition format" to market. Andy Parson, Senior Vice President of Advanced Product Development for Pioneer Electronics, opened the meeting by giving an overview of the state of Blu-ray development." ...
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