Apologies for a lack of high definition news last week — I was somewhere in deepest Somerset and totally without Internet access.
Normal service is resumed this week. In the meantime, here's a roundup of the top HD stories from last week.
HD DVD versus Blu-ray: war of words continue
Rarely does a week pass without some more statistic-twisting from supporters of the Blu-ray or HD DVD formats.
Last Monday, the HD DVD Promotional Group claimed that European HD DVD owners have already bought an average of 3.8 movies each, compared to 0.6 movies sold per Blu-ray player owner.
They've taken GfK research figures which looked at the number of movies sold in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the Benelux countries.
Specifically, in the UK, HD DVD owners have apparently bought an average of 3.7 movies each, over four times the 0.8 movies bought by Blu-ray owners.
Unsurprisingly, the European Blu-ray Disc Association refuted these figures, claiming that the facts have been distorted.
They say that other GfK data shows that 73% of all high definition discs already sold this year are in the Blu-ray format.
They also say that the HD DVD Promotional Group refuses to acknowledge Sony's PS3 as a Blu-ray player, thus distorting the figures further.
“The facts are simple: whenever the consumer has a choice, they decide
overwhelmingly in favour of Blu-ray Disc,” commented Frank Simonis, Chairman of the BDA European Promotions Committee.
“The unique features available offered by HD DVD, such as picture in picture for video commentaries and in-movie bonuses, book-marking of favourite scenes and access to extra web-based content, continue to persuade consumers that this is the most engaging format available,” said Eddie Cunningham, Chairman HD DVD EMEA Promotional Group.
OK then.
PLDS DH-4O1S: their first BD-ROM drive
Philips Lite-On Digital Solutions (PLDS) has announced its first internal Blu-ray ROM drive, the DH-4O1S. It offers full playback of Blu-ray, standard DVD, and CD, connects via SATA interface, and will cost around £125, available from December.
Philips Prestigo SRU8015 universal remote control
Philips has unveiled the latest model in their Prestigo universal remote control range. The SRU8015 allows up to 15 home entertainment devices to be controlled from just the one handset.
It features a two inch, 176x220 full-colour LCD screen, rotary wheel, white key backlighting, on-screen set-up wizard, storage of favourite channels and settings, and the ability to learn the codes of new remote control units simply by pointing the handset and the the device or existing RCU at each other.
Available now priced £99.99.
Sony introduces new AV cable range
Sony has introduced a range of high performance audio video cables, specifically designed with high quality components.
The connectors are 24k gold plated, giving excellent signal transmission and protecting from corrosion within the home environment. The mesh outer jacket offers high durability from heat, bending and twisting, reduces interference and improving the quality of sound. The High Performance Shielding System further reduces interference, with a triple shielded core wire, aluminium tape, OFC braided and OFC spiral wiring for optimum screening. While the complete range is manufactured from 99.996% oxygen free copper (OFC) for high quality audio and video signal transmission to ensure that the cable maintains a constant electrical current.
The HDMI cables support full 1080p HD, the x.v.Colour standard, and Sony's BRAVIA Theatre Sync. They come in one, three, and five metre lengths, and are available now.
Also available are a range of Component Video, SCART, Optical Digital Audio, Coaxial Digital, and Stereo Audio cables.
Lionsgate's "War" on Blu-ray with PiP
Lionsgate has announced that "War" will be available on Blu-ray, boasting Profile 1.1-compliant picture-in-picture video commentary, plus BD-Java enhanced interactive game "Yakuza Fighter", a "Blu-Line Slider" interface giving enhanced scene access, custom bookmarking, and "dynamic resizing" menu navigation (no, I'm not sure either).
The disc offers full 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 video with uncompressed PCM 7.1 Surround track at 48kHz/24-bit, and subtitles in both
English and Spanish.
Coming on 1st January 2008.
Samsung opens first UK high-street store
Samsung may have quit the Japanese consumer market, but they're increasing their UK presence with the opening of a consumer electronics store on Tottenham Court Road in London.
Amusingly, it's slap bang next to Sony's Galleria.
(Via Tech Digest)
Warner finally ditches Total HD plans
In a move hardly unexpected, Warner Home Entertainment has told High-Def Digest that it won't be launching a "Total HD" hybrid Blu-ray/HD DVD at any time in the near future.
Effectively, that's killed off the format.
"We're the only studio producing content in both formats. If we were to put out Total HD with just our titles, it wouldn't really provide the solution to our retail partners that it was intended to provide. If anything, at this point, it would further complicate their life, because there would be another product looking for shelf space. Our job is not to further complicate the lives of our retailers," said Jim Noonan, SVP of Strategic Promotion and Communication for Warner Home Entertainment Group.
This seems like a good decision. If the solution to the high definition disc format war is anywhere, it's not to be found in other disc formats.
(Via High Def Digest)
If the rumours are true, the probable reasons why Warner won't be launching the Total HD disc is because there are problems with the Blu-ray interactivity.
I think that Blu-ray and their supporters should remember that actions speaks louder than hype.
Some of the reasons why I think that HD DVD is superior than Blu-ray at least until recently; Picture quality, HD Sound, and features etcetera.
Blu-ray's supporters boasting about storage capacity - should take into acount that, 'High Hit Rate' (best written software efficiency) and software's compression should be given higher priority than storage capacity.
If Blu-ray's superior storage capacity was any good, then why aren't they creating the best HD films and why are they too far behind HD DVD?
Like I said above action speaks louder than hype.