News Blog

(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 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.

Last one out, turn off the lights.

That was essentially the tone of the note that the HD DVD Promotional Group sent to its members Friday. The obituary for the format was short and to the point:

(Credit: Crave UK)

HD DVD Managing Members

March 28, 2008

The HD DVD Promotion Group was dissolved as of March 28, 2008, and the website was closed accordingly.

Please access to DVD Forum for HD DVD formats, and DVD Format/Logo Licensing Corporation for format books and its license. Regarding the HD DVD products, please contact each selling agency directly.

It was also a bit late. The battle between HD DVD and its nemesis format, Blu-ray, ended as soon as HD DVD's biggest backer, Toshiba, announced it would stop making HD DVD players. That was almost six weeks ago.

So, again, we bid adieu to a failed format. If you're finding it hard to let go, hit up your local Best Buy for some HD DVD titles. We hear they're desperate to get rid of them.

Though already expecting losses from the failed HD DVD business, Toshiba's shareholders were told Wednesday to expect more bad news.

The Japanese electronics giant said the market for NAND flash memory (the kind of chips used in portable gadgets) was weak and expected to get worse, the Wall Street Journal reports.

"We now see prices falling 50 percent this fiscal year, after predicting 40 percent in October," said Executive Vice President Fumio Muraoka.

As a result, Toshiba lowered its expected profit for fiscal year 2007, which ends March 31, to 125 billion yen ($1.26 billion), from the 180 billion yen it said it expected in October.

It shut down its HD DVD business last month, which Toshiba says will result in an operating loss of 65 billion yen, or $658 million, in addition to 45 billion yen, or $455 million, to shut down the operation.

Feel like a sucker for buying an HD DVD player? Well, if you happen to have bought it at Best Buy, you're in line to get a $50 gift card from the retail giant as part of its pity program for HD DVD owners. OK, I'm kidding about the pity program, but the $50 gift certificate is real, and you don't have to give up your HD DVD player to get one.

According the official release, Best Buy is giving $50 gift cards to "Customers who purchased an HD DVD player or HD DVD attachment from its U.S. stores before February 23, 2008." And owners of multiple HD DVD players can receive a gift card for each player or HD DVD attachment they purchased. Best Buy says it plans to distribute more than $10 million in gift cards.

The release goes on to say that, "Best Buy will proactively mail cards to all customers that the company can identify as having purchased an HD DVD player. Members of the Best Buy Reward Zone program, customers who purchased Performance Service Plans (PSPs), or who made their purchase on BestBuy.com should look for their gift cards in the mail by May 1. Other customers who may not be easily identified can call (888) BEST-BUY to receive their gift cards with proof of purchase through a credit card or their Best Buy receipt."

There's another little tidbit in the release that's also worth mentioning. If you just want to get rid of your HD DVD player, Best Buy is opening its Online Trade-In Center on March 21 to HD DVD owners (this deal is open to any HD DVD owner regardless of where you bought your player). "Visitors to the site will receive instant estimates of the value of their HD DVD players and movies," the release says. "Those who agree with the estimates can then ship their goods to the Trade-In Center free of charge by downloading a prepaid shipping label and will receive an additional gift card as payment for their trade-in."

Best Buy isn't the first store to offer relief to HD DVD buyers. Circuit City has apparently been allowing customers who bought players within 90 days of HD DVD officially going belly up to return them for store credit.

As for for those $50 gift cards, you can buy whatever you want with them, but if you're cynical, you're probably thinking what I'm thinking: Perhaps Best Buy is hoping to entice current HD DVD owners to buy up its remaining stock of HD DVD movies, which are already being significantly discounted.

Any HD DVD owners care to comment on what they plan on doing with their $50 gift card?

Corel's WinDVD 9 software handles Blu-ray, HD DVD, and standard DVD discs.

(Credit: Corel)

The HD format war may be over, but don't tell Corel. The company's WinDVD 9 software plays both Blu-ray and the now-defunct HD DVD format--perfect for those few Windows PCs with HD combo drives, such as the HP Pavilion Slimline S3330f. The software supports the full range of features for both formats, including their next-gen audio soundtracks (Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD), Blu-ray Profile 1.1 (picture-in-picture commentaries), and--while it lasts--Web-enabled "In Movie Experience" features on HD DVDs.

WinDVD 9 is available Tuesday in three versions. The entry-level version ($50) handles standard DVD movies, along with QuickTime and DivX files. WinDVD 9 Plus ($80) adds better surround audio support and Corel's "All2HD" upscaling, which aims to sharpen detail on low-resolution video. It also includes the ability to play back AVCHD files--ideal for anybody with an HD camcorder. The $100 version of the software is the one you want for playing Blu-ray or HD DVD movies. Owners of WinDVD 6, 7, or 8 can upgrade to that flagship version of the software for just $60.

The Xbox maker seems to have gotten over HD DVD rather quickly.

Just a few weeks after the Blu-ray Disc Association unequivocally won the high-definition video format war, and Microsoft canceled production of its HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360, Microsoft says it's already trying to figure out the best way to align itself with Blu-ray.

"We've already been working on, for example, in Windows, device driver support for Blu-ray drives and the like, and I think the world moves on," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at the Mix '08 conference in Las Vegas, according to GamesIndustry.biz.

"Toshiba has moved on. We've moved on, and we'll support Blu-ray in ways that make sense," he said.

Ballmer's comment squares with remarks Sony Electronics President made Wednesday night to a gathering of reporters in San Francisco, when he said that Sony is holding discussions with a number of partners, including Microsoft, about incorporating Blu-ray into their products. Glasgow said an Xbox 360 console with Blu-ray was certainly "a possibility."

Though Glasgow didn't specify whether that meant an internal drive or a detachable one like the HD DVD version, the Financial Times cited an unnamed senior executive Thursday saying that Microsoft is considering an internal Blu-ray drive for the 360.