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(Credit: Amazon)

Tomorrow, the HD DVD version of the Irish flick Disco Pigs goes on sale along with the Japanese anime collection, Freedom: 6. According to Wikipedia's entry on HD DVD, these will be the last HD DVD titles to be released in the United States (though Bandai Visual says it wants to release the remaining episodes of the Freedom Project series on HD DVD). The final big studio releases, Warner's Twister and P.S. I Love You, hit stores in May.

Personally, I wish The Last American Virgin was the last American HD DVD. That film, a minor 80s classic, was marked by a brutal ending that showed that sometimes nice guys do indeed finish last. HD DVD, a good format to many, shared a similar fate.

So, anybody out there still buying HD DVDs? Any collectors plan on buying Disco Pigs?

A new report released Tuesday says that less than half of high-definition television owners in the U.S. know what Blu-ray Disc is.

While that's an improvement over a year ago, it still means that more than half of that group--the target audience for high-definition video vendors--still has no idea what Blu-ray is.

(Credit: Samsung)

According to The NPD Group, a market research company that tracks consumer awareness, while 45 percent of HDTV owners surveyed said they were "familiar" with the format, only 9 percent said they planned on buying a Blu-ray player in the next six months. That's only slightly higher than the general population, 6 percent of which said they planned a similar purchase.

HDTV owners familiar with Blu-ray stood at 35 percent as of June 2007. So what's more odd is that that group's awareness of the format has creeped up only 10 percent in the past year, in spite of the most intense battles between Blu-ray and now-defunct HD DVD taking place at the end of 2007, and early 2008.

The report suggests that Blu-ray is still facing the same problem of a year ago: prices are still too high compared with less expensive upscaling DVD players that are "good enough" for most consumers.

The Panasonic DMR-EH75V still costs $1,000 on Amazon.com.

Last fall, we noticed that old DVD recorders with hard drives were selling for $1,900 on the Internet, because manufacturers basically stopped making them (with some exceptions) and people still want them. The continued demand for DVD recorders with hard drives isn't surprising--many people want a simple DVR they can own, without a monthly free, that can easy burn their favorite shows to DVDs. It's a killer product, but unless you're willing to set up a home theater PC, you can't have it.

We have noticed, however, that some electronics retailers have been offering foreign DVD recorders with hard drives in the U.S., potentially to meet this hidden demand. ... Read more

The biggest knock against Blu-ray from the beginning has been price, but that hasn't stopped manufacturers from releasing new, expensive Blu-ray players. Although Denon's new Blu-ray player, the DVD-1800BD, is the least-expensive model in the company's line, its $750 price tag means only serious home theater enthusiasts will be giving it a look. The press release was light on details--there's not even a picture yet--but here's what we know so far:

Key features of the Denon DVD-1800BD:

• Blu-ray Profile 1.1 (Bonus View)
• Can output Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio in bit stream format
• Lacks onboard Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding
• Dedicated stereo analog output
• $750 list price, available in October

The $750 price tag might seem high, but it's in line with other upcoming premium Blu-ray players, such as the Panasonic DMP-BD50 ($700) and the Pioneer BDP-51FD ($600). That being said, the DVD-1800BD seems light on features comparatively. The DMP-BD50 will offer Blu-ray Profile 2.0 support and the ability to decode high-resolution soundtracks such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. The BDP-51FD will only be Profile 1.1 compliant, but will offer Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding after a firmware update. Plus, it will feature 7.1 analog outputs and cost $150 less.

Furthermore, the de facto question for all new Blu-ray players is, what does it offer over the PlayStation 3? From the initial press release, it looks like not much. We're assuming the DVD-1800BD has at least 5.1 analog outputs--although the press release only mentions a dedicated stereo output--but even this doesn't add much since the lack of onboard decoding limits analog audio output to standard Dolby Digital and DTS. The one advantage the DVD-1800BD may have over the PS3 is with DVD upconversion, but we figure most viewers will find the PS3's upconverting capabilities to be "good enough." With the PS3, you get full Blu-ray Profile 2.0 support, superfast load times, excellent image quality, media streaming capabilities, and high-def gaming--for $400. We haven't tested the DVD-1800BD, so we'll save our final judgement, but unless you have a good reason not to get a PS3, the DVD-1800BD doesn't seem to offer much for its price premium.

The current premium XBox 360 is black. Is blue next?

(Credit: Microsoft)

Following HD DVD's demise, there's been a lot speculation that Microsoft would add a Blu-ray option to the XBox 360. The latest rumor has a subsidiary of Asus, Pegatron Technology, making a premium Blu-ray-equipped version of the XBox 360 that will arrive in time for the holidays. This one follows on the heels of a report that Lite-On was going to be the one making the Blu-ray drives for Microsoft's game console.

If you speak Chinese, you can translate the Asus rumor from Economic Daily News, a publication that Gizmodo calls a "Taiwanese rag." While we may not have tremendous faith in the specifics of the rumor, Taiwanese companies aren't known to keep secrets all that well (that's a gross generalization based on a few comments I've heard from industry insiders, but I believe it). And it does seem logical that Microsoft will add a Blu-ray option to help eliminate any perceived advantage that Sony might have with the PS3.

All that said, don't expect Microsoft to put out any games on Blu-ray any time soon. With the current XBox 360 installed base having only a DVD drive to play with, Microsoft would be looking at movie playback, not gaming.

Of course, the rumors could be wrong and Microsoft could simply put out an external Blu-ray drive similar to its discontinued HD DVD drive offering. Or perhaps there will be a premium XBox 360 with Blu-ray, as well as a separate Blu-ray external drive for current owners. Sounds inevitable, right? Comments?

Source: Gizmodo via Kotaku via Economic Daily News.

Still reeling from the recently concluded format war?

Lucky for some early adopters, the number of retailers lining up to ease your pain is growing: first Best Buy, then Wal-Mart, and now Amazon. The online retail giant is currently offering a $50 credit for every HD DVD player purchased on its site. The offer is good until April 9, 2009, for HD DVD players bought before February 23, when Toshiba said it would stop making the devices.

Amazon gives $50 credit to early HD DVD adopters.

(Credit: Toshiba)

Gizmodo has posted the e-mail sent to some Amazon customers on Tuesday. I've excerpted the best parts:

"New technologies don't always work out as planned. We at Amazon.com value our customer relationships more than anything and would like to support customers who purchased these players by offering a credit good for $50 off any products sold by Amazon.com...In addition, we'd like to share some of our top offers on Blu-ray discs, HDTVs and other high-def technology..."

This is surely a smart way to build goodwill with your existing customers when a technology becomes obsolete. And what better way to lessen the sting of money lost than by offering the cool salve of the opportunity to spend more money?

Best Buy launched a similar program last month, rewarding $50 to customers who purchased the doomed devices. Wal-Mart said Tuesday it is extending its return policy from 90 days to 6 months on HD DVD players.

All of them, it should be noted, still sell HD DVD players and/or movie titles.

Maybe that price cut in Blu-ray players is coming sooner than we think because Digitimes is reporting that Sony has set some very ambitious goals for Blu-ray in 2008. And by ambitious I'm talking a 50-50 split with DVD.

The short article, which carries the headline, "Sony looks to 50% global market share for its Blu-ray products in 2008," says that "Sony will offer Blu-ray Disc (BD) devices in a wide range of product lines and prices and aims to increase the global market share of its BD products from 20 percent currently to 50 percent by the end of 2008."

It also summarizes some remarks that Sony president and electronics CEO Ryoji Chubachi made recently at a press conference in Taipei.

DVD and BD currently account for about 80 percent and 20 percent, respectively, of global demand for movie discs, Chubachi indicated. The new BD devices to be offered by Sony include models integrating an HD LCD TV with BD recording functionality, Chubachi pointed out.

The reporter then adds:

"Sony has relied mainly on the PlayStation 3 (PS3) to promote BD, and sales of the game console will increase along with the offering by top Hollywood studios of new BD movies, Chubachi noted. However, Sony will extend its BD promotion from the current focus on the PS3 and BD players/recorders to IT devices, Chubachi pointed out."

Perhaps something was lost in the translation, but 50 percent seems ridiculous at this point, especially with most Blu-ray players still costing north of $400. Even the 80-20 figure doesn't seem right, but maybe I'm too North American focused. What do you guys think? Am I incorrect, is Mr. Chubachi, or is the Digtimes reporter just not telling the story correctly?

The Panasonic SC-BT100 will cost just under $1,000.

(Credit: Panasonic)

Now that Blu-ray has secured its position as the one and only HD disc format, it's only natural to see it becoming more of a standard feature on desktop PCs, laptops, camcorders, and--now--home theater systems. Samsung's HT-BD2T has been available for months, while the Panasonic SC-BT100--which debuted at January's Consumer Electronics Show--is scheduled hit stores later this spring. Panasonic has yet to confirm pricing for its model, but the unit has already popped-up on J&R's Web site for $1,000 (give or take a nickel).

If the price sticks, it would appear to be a pretty good deal at first glance (plenty of high-style home theater systems can cost more than $1,000, despite being limited to playing back standard CDs and DVDs.) Indeed, the Panasonic model has a few advantages versus the Samsung model: it has a five-disc changer (versus the single-disc player on the Samsung), an SD card slot (for playing back digital media, including high-definition AVCHD video), and wireless rear speakers. It's also said to be Profile 1.1 compliant, meaning that it can play the BonusView (picture-in-picture video content) found on some newer Blu-ray discs.

Unfortunately, there's a pretty big list of caveats as well. The Samsung is a 7.1-channel system out of the box, whereas the Panasonic is merely 7.1-ready: you'll need to invest in an additional set of speakers (and another wireless transceiver unit) to get to seven speakers. While Profile 1.1 compatibility is better than many of the Blu-ray players currently on the market, it's already behind the curve compared with the state of the art Profile 2.0/BD-Live players already announced (Panasonic's own DMP-BD50) or available (the PlayStation 3). Furthermore, the SC-BT100 is likely to have the same limitations found on the DVD-only Panasonic home theater systems for the 2008 model year: iPod video playback is only available from the low-resolution composite output, and the skimpy connectivity (just one set of analog and one digital audio-only jack apiece). Those limitations are easy to shrug off on the $300 SC-PT660 and $400 SC-PT760, but become a lot harder to justify on a $1,000 unit.

You can have your cake (Blu-ray 2.0) and eat it too (7.1 home theater with plenty of inputs and outputs) for about $150 more than the SC-BT100's asking price by investing in a $400 PS3 plus a $750 Onkyo HT-S908 home theater system. Still, compared with the $1,500 price of the Samsung HT-BD2T, the $1,000 Panasonic model comes much closer to justifying itself versus purchasing such dedicated components. As those prices continue to drop--and feature sets continue to improve--look for the reaction to such Blu-ray home theater systems begin to move from "why bother" to "why not."

Related coverage
CNET TV hands-on video: Panasonic SC-BT100
CNET review: Panasonic SC-PT660
CNET review: Panasonic SC-PT760
CNET review: Samsung HT-BD2T
CNET @ CES 2008: Panasonic's new Blu-ray player goes Profile 2.0
Crave: PS3 firmware with BD-Live support now available