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First Blu-ray Disc / DVD hybrid announced in Japan
It sure took long enough to happen, but one of HD DVD's biggest benefits has finally made it over to the Blu-ray side. Yep, we're talking about a Blu-ray / DVD hybrid disc, with a single-layer of Blu on one side and a standard DVD on the very same side (as in, not a "flipper" disc). Not surprisingly, the action's going down first in Japan, with Code Blue emergency helicopter doctor Blu-ray BOX (yes, seriously) as the first hybrid title. There's no word on when (or if) this technology will make it to US soil, but the sooner the better -- nothing like a little inbuilt backwards compatibility to ease the mind.[Via CDRInfo]
Blockbuster aims to boost rental prices, not fret over expanding digital delivery
It's not tough to say what ails Blockbuster, but it's incredibly hard to see what will turn it around. As the world at large decided to pass up renting from brick-and-mortar locations in favor of by-mail renting or digital downloads, Blockbuster remains stuck in 1983. We already had a clue that it may be jacking rates up further to help with near-term financials, and now those increases are all but set in stone. CFO Thomas Casey noted at a conference in Santa Monica that it would be focusing on "boosting rental prices over broadening its digital delivery service," which is quite amazing given that the outfit just pumped out its own movie set-top-box not two months ago. Oh sure, digital delivery is a much smaller market than the DVD rental sector, but how exactly does Blockbuster plan on raking in revenue with higher prices? It's not like it's about to undercut Netflix.[Image courtesy of Wired]
Economy, HD adoption to blame for higher stay-at-home entertainment numbers
We've already waded through a number of research reports that found individuals more likely to stay at home and get their entertainment during rough economic times, but an insightful piece from Parks Associates takes a more deliberate approach to analyzing what's really going on. When looking at just how many people are viewing video-on-demand content now versus two years ago (it's way up, by the way), it's easy to attribute that -- along with the downturn at the box office -- to a flagging economy. However, the report also notes that HD adoption in general has boomed over the past two years, giving citizens access to more high-quality at-home entertainment than ever before. As Kurt Scherf, principal analyst at Parks, so satisfactorily put it: "As we're seeing high-definition TV penetration reach 50% of households and home theater penetration well over 20%, we're seeing consumers want to enjoy those investments as much as possible." Nice thinking outside of the box there, Kurt.[Via VideoBusiness]
Netflix snatches 9 millionth subscriber, says Watch Instantly still not profitable
While snagging 500,000 Blu-ray subscribers is admirable, the big picture helps to explain Netflix's dominance even more. Sometime during the third quarter of 2008, the rental giant managed to secure its nine millionth customer. Needless to say, the DVD rental portion of the business is doing just fine, but CFO Barry McCarthy confessed that its Watch Instantly digital delivery aspect was still "a tax on the P&L." Essentially, he reiterated that it was an investment in the future, noting that if it didn't start it, someone else would have. He also proclaimed that more content could easily be added to its library of online-accessible titles, but that it wouldn't come free. At present time, we suspect Watch Instantly isn't really hurting for users, which means you could very well be hurting for a new wave of content for some time to come.
Sky says 2012 London Olympics could be in 3D
Europe still isn't the place to be for limitless HD content, but London in particular could be a 3D extravaganza come 2012. The host city for the next Summer Olympics may be coming to your living room like never before, as Brian Lenz, head of product design and innovation at Sky, proclaimed that "there is a very good chance you'll see the London Olympics in 3D." The satcaster has already confessed to filming events in 3D, and given that the wide distribution of the 2008 Beijing Olympics in HD was all the rage, we suppose the third-dimension is the next logical step forward. Mirroring our own hopes and dreams, Lenz stated that what it really wanted was "glasses free technology." Here's hoping we inch closer to that at CES 2009.[Thanks, Ben]
Analog Devices HDMI transmitter integrates CEC controller
This may not seem like much, but from an industry prospective, it has the potential to be huge. Analog Devices has just whipped up the industry's first Deep Color HDMI transmitter "to integrate a CEC (consumer electronic control) controller and buffer for high-definition audio / video devices." The Advantiv ADV7510 keeps all of the essentials on a single chip, removing the need for a separate CEC controller. The end result? A certification process that's much shorter, enabling manufacturers to get Blu-ray players, DVD players, receivers, etc. out to market faster. The best part is that said chip is available as we speak in production quantities, so we fully expect deck makers to hop on this and erase one more excuse from their delay board.
XStreamHD satellite delivery system successfully tested, next stop CES
XStreamHD didn't quite make its planned October 2008 launch, but movies, music and games beamed down via satellite in high bitrate 1080p with lossless audio is a bit more real, now that the company has actually tested its vaunted delivery system. Other than confirming its FSS (Fixed Satellite Service) capability from the AMC-16 satellite, there aren't many details available other than where to go for a demo at CES 2009, we just hope they can keep things running long enough for us to get a look (announcing a content partner or two probably wouldn't hurt either.)
3D BCS broadcast announced for 80 theaters
With the teams finally set (sorry Texas) Fox Sports' 3D broadcast is being beamed live not only to CES, but also to theaters in 35 states. Courtesy of the same Cinedigm satellite network playing host to the 3D NBA All-Star Game in February, 80 RealD-outfitted theaters are airing the game while In Las Vegas, Paris Hotel and Casino will be set up with Sony 4K SXRD projectors showing 3ality Digital's 3D production in all its glory. Even with DeMarco Murray pulling out due to injury, a national championship game featuring the last two Heisman Trophy winning QBs seems worth catching in the best quality available -- outside of actually heading down to Dolphin Stadium and staring at the big screen. Check out the Cinedigm website for a list of theaters, tickets are expected to be between $18 - $22.
Wireless HDTV products backed with cash, still barely available
ABI Research definitely put its thinking cap on for this one, as it recently found that wireless HDTV vendors are still pouring cash into products, yet few are available for consumption in North America. It's a trend we've watched develop, and we cringe to think that it's not getting better. Chances are we'll see a new wave of cord-free HD products at CES 2009, all while we wait patiently for cord-free wares from CES 2008 to make it out of the testing phase. Sadly, the report doesn't actually mention anything we didn't already know -- companies are still out there trying to prove their format is superior, all while actual manufacturers dillydally around and miss one opportunity after another. And really, with prices like $1,499 for the Belkin FlyWire, we wonder if there's any mass market appeal even if the shipments do begin to flow.
Bizarre survey finds digital copy preferable to downloading
Maybe we're just off our rocker, but we can't figure out what NPD Group hoped to actually discover from this here survey to save our lives. Apparently these folks asked around 1,500 movie buyers (read: clearly not movie thieves) if they preferred purchasing a video that included digital copy or simply downloading it from the internet. Shocker: 79% said they favored the digital copy, while only 21% confessed that they'd rather get a low quality rip from a shady website that could potentially infect their computer with some rare strain of virus. Seriously, what's the point? If you're buying a film in the first place, why wouldn't you want the studio to do the hard work for you and include a portable copy? At any rate, this groundbreaking poll also revealed that 38% of those interested in digital copy "appreciated having a physical disc as a backup," while 27% admitted that they would be "more inclined to buy a portable device in order to take advantage of the digital copy feature." Moral of the story? Let us know, will you?
ITU ratifies G.hn as new global standard for HDTV home networking
CopperGate knew this day was coming when it snapped up HomePlug AV's powerline business, and now the ink has finally dried on a new global standard for HDTV home networking. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has ratified a standard that will be published under the G.hn banner and will serve to deliver "high quality multimedia over power, coaxial, phone and other home network wiring." Reportedly, the protocol will also bring "up to 20 times the throughout of existing wireless technologies and three times that of existing wired technologies." Moving forward, it's expected that the specifications will be used by chip manufacturers to "build transceivers that can be incorporated into set-top boxes, residential gateways, home computers, home audio systems, DVD players, TVs or any other device that may be connected to the network." Sounds good -- now let's get some gear to take advantage. CES, maybe? It's a date.
The Dark Knight director hungry for more IMAX
IMAX has been around for years, while 3D is just now starting to really infiltrate the theater scene. Curiously, it looks as if 3D will have more of the alternate cinema market share than IMAX in no time flat, despite IMAX's tremendous advantage in launch time. Thanks to The Dark Knight, however, IMAX could receive that much-needed breath of life it has been waiting for. Director Christopher Nolan has reportedly stated that he'd like to shoot an entire film for IMAX, even though it would undoubtedly be down-converted for playback on traditional screens. He did admit that the noisiness of the camera could cause issues, but that's nothing a hard-working set pusher couldn't overcome. For those who viewed the latest installment of Batman in theaters, many were most captivated by the expansive IMAX sequences -- in fact, we'd be hard pressed to find someone who wouldn't want an entire film to look like that.[Via FirstShowing]
ProVision exec calls WiFi "the only" suitable wireless HDTV medium
The wireless HD world is as mangled as ever, with a variety of formats vying for supremacy and the general populace turning a deaf ear to the whole concept (by and large, anyway). According to ProVision co-founder Andrew Nix, 802.11n is the "only standard capable of cost-effectively transmitting interactive wireless HD video across all rooms within a home." Oddly enough, his company will be supporting Pulse~LINK, SiBEAM and AMIMON, backing the HDMI, Wireless HD and WHDI standards respectively, so we're curious if it will be trying to push its WiFi-favoring ways onto these guys. Or, of course, it could bust out its own WiFi-based solution at CES while sticking tight to the others for mere business reasons. We'll agree that a one-format solution would likely aid adoption, but haven't we already seen that WiFi isn't exactly the most stable protocol to handle continuously streaming high-def material?
SlySoft moving to subscription-based upgrade model
It was nice to purchase SlySoft's AnyDVD HD once and let the gurus in Antigua continually re-break whatever DRM Hollywood chose to throw out, wasn't it? After this year, you can kiss that luxury goodbye -- that is, if you continue to sit on the sidelines. SlySoft has just announced that starting on January 1, 2009, it will "change its update policy from free lifetime updates to an annual subscription fee." The good news? Anyone who buys a SlySoft product before that day will not be affected by the change. In other words, you've still got a few weeks to decide whether or not you want to join the Blu-ray backup crowd, and to make your decision easier, the outfit is offering a 20% discount on all software products (save for upgrades) through December 31st.
Oppo coughs up BDP-83 universal Blu-ray player details
Lookie, lookie -- we just might have a winner on our hands here. While Denon just announced the world's first universal Blu-ray player at $3,800, the highly respected Oppo is looking to trump said offering with a low-cost version of its own. The heretofore elusive BDP-83 has finally been detailed, as consumers who signed up to know more have received an email (posted in full after the break) with oodles of delicious information. For starters, the player will indeed be fully universal -- a Profile 2.0 BD deck with SACD, DVD and DVD-Audio support -- and for SACD playback, it will support DSD over HDMI and DSD-to-analog without any PCM conversion. As of now, the unit is currently undergoing "an extensive and thorough beta test program," and Oppo is considering opening up an "Early Adoption Program" later this month to give a limited number to mere mortals for feedback. Obviously, there's no finalized date for release, but the anticipated price will hover between $499 and $599.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Lionsgate exec speaks on day-and-date DVD / VOD releases
Day-and-date VOD / DVD releases -- occasions where a film is released on disc and via video-on-demand channels simultaneously -- have been happening on a small scale for awhile now, and according to a bigwig at Lionsgate, it'll remain that way for some time to come. While speaking at the annual Global Media and Communications Conference, Michael Burns told the crowd that "retail relationships were still too important for studios" when asked about the subject, noting that "we don't want to piss off retailers." Not a surprising stance for a studio vice chairman to take, we guess, but an unfortunate one regardless; holding up progress on the digital delivery front for fear of retailer rebuttal? Puhlease.
Samsung developing WiFi variant for TVs, testing elusive 3D rendering chip
There's no telling what kind of off-the-wall gear Samsung is apt to unleash at CES, and we'll be honest -- we're pretty jazzed about the possibilities. At a recent tech forum, Samsung confessed that it was working with both 60GHz wireless technology (read: WirelessHD) and "its own variant of WiFi" in relation to cord-free TVs. This news is particularly bad in two respects: first, it doesn't signal very much confidence in WirelessHD, and moreover, the last thing we need is yet another proprietary wireless HD / HDMI standard to slow down the already glacial pace at which it's being adopted in the industry. Moving on, we're also told that the outfit is "internally testing a stereoscopic 3D rendering chip for its TVs that could be released as early as the second half of 2009," which would "help translate 2D video to 3D and interpret 2D content with embedded depth information." Something tells us we best get used to wearing oddly tinted glasses.[Image courtesy of MyDigitalLife]
Analyst finds DVD sales down, Blu-ray trends "encouraging"
As the year 2008 draws to a close, we're seeing report after report talking about Blu-ray sales and / or adoption. The latest to focus on the former comes from Pali Research analyst Rich Greenfield, who has reportedly stated that new DVD release sales are down "almost double digits," even despite respectable performance in the first half of the year. Said figure may help explain why the rental business is doing so well, but we digress. Greenfield also notes that DVDs are slowly but surely losing floor space to BDs, and given that not nearly as many folks are buying the high-def format just yet, it's not exactly helping the DVD cause. Beyond all that, he notes that Blu-ray trends are "encouraging," with titles that appeal to gamers (and thus, PS3 owners) doing particularly well. Then again, it's easy to look good during the holidays, but how will things look when everyone's third home equity loan is dried up in March?[Image courtesy of BusinessWeek]
Ask Engadget HD: A second Blu-ray deck, or an upscaling DVD player?
We've always heard that treating your guests well pays off in the end, but giving them their own Blu-ray player? Hmm... "I've got a PlayStation 3 in the living room, but I'm on the fence with what kind of player to get for our guest room. Should I spring for a second Blu-ray player of some kind, or should I just get an upscaling DVD deck? With prices of the entry-level BD machines just barely more than a decent upconverting DVD player, I'm leaning Blu. But, if I opt for another BD deck, which low-end one is the best choice?" We wouldn't hesitate to offer our recommendations of investing in a second BD deck -- after all, you never know when you'll need one for travel or loan -- but there's a whole heap to choose from in the entry-level sector. Any advice for our pal Gregory?Got a burning question that you'd love to toss out for Engadget HD (or its readers) to take a look at? Tired of Google's blank stares when you ask for real-world experiences? Hit us up at ask at engadgethd dawt com and keep an eye on this space -- your inquiry could be next.
Credit crisis hindering 3D expansion in theaters?
We're as tired of the doom and gloom economy talk as you are, but we just couldn't pass this one up. A new report from Bloomberg News has it that the current credit crunch (how's that for a buzzword?) is putting a damper on 3D cinema expansion. Which is quite funny, given the small flood of expansion reports that we've seen of late. Citing Cinedigm Digital Cinema in particular, it notes that plans to convert some 1,500 cinemas to 3D-capable venues have been replaced with plans that include 100 to 200. The lack of available 3D theater options could seriously hinder studios' ability to cash in and make back their own 3D investment; after all, who's really going to drive an hour of their way for a 3D version of a film showing just down the street? In reality, we don't expect this situation to be the rule going forward, but it'll certainly be interesting to see how studios feel about their 3D investments around this time next year.[Image courtesy of U2]
