Europe's premier online source of news, data & analysis for professionals involved in DVD, Blu-ray and new delivery technologies
Last week, for the seventh year, the UK’s communication industry regulator Ofcom published its annual 380-page “State of the Nation” opus on all facets of the domestic communication market. The report... Read more...
Disney has released a BD/PS3 combo disc that allow users to watch the first Toy Story movie and play the Toy Story 3 movie-based game without swapping discs. The 'Toy Story 3 Hybrid Premium Edition... Read more...
Notwithstanding Blu-ray’s impressive gain – sales more than doubled in 2009 – it is not enough to compensate for declining consumer spending on DVD. HELEN DAVIS JAYALATH, Senior Analyst at Screen Digest... Read more...
In a world first at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore, autostereoscopic technology developer Sunny Ocean Studios will showcase a 84-inch video wall offering 3D entertainment without the need for glasses... Read more...
Sales of Blu-ray players in Europe are set to reach a new record high in 2010. Around 4.6 million units will be sold in EU member states, more than doubling the previous figure (+110%), according to the... Read more...
A confidential document prepared for HADOPI, the French government agency created to monitor copyright infringement activity using a so-called ‘three-strikes’ legislation against illegal file sharers, ... Read more...
At a time when the home video market appears to be doomed in many countries, specially in those where piracy and/or digital usage are spreading at a rapid pace, Germany’s home video industry continues... Read more...
Cinema and audiovisual quality certification standard-setter THX has partnered with US Blu-ray testing facility BluFocus to address the challenges posed by 3D post-production. One of the biggest reported... Read more...
To get a better sense for how the world is watching video Nielsen recently completed a survey of more than 27,000 online consumers in 55 countries, asking simple questions about how they watch video... Read more...
VDC Group, the UK’s largest independent optical disc manufacturer, is to install a Blu-ray replication line, making it the first company in the country with in-house BD mastering and replication facilities... Read more...
High-definition audio and video producer/distributor AIX Records has released its first 3D Music Album(tm) on the Blu-ray 3D format. The Goldberg Variations Acoustica by the AIX All ... Read more...
Far from a pointless exercise shunned by users, BD-Live features are being enjoyed by growing segments of consumers, if one goes by actual usage data collected and analysed by TODD COLLART, Senior VP ... Read more...
QOL at 10 keeps on innovating
QOL, Europe’s first independent manufacturer to take the plunge into Blu-ray, celebrates its 10th anniversary. In a candid conversation, its CEO LAURENT VILLAUME shares his memories, on-going concerns and how market realities are shaping his strategic vision and present new opportunities.
Is it the right time to introduce 3D when BD has yet to consolidate its foothold in the market, where a lot of education remains to be done and where consumers have just bought equipment that will become obsolete quickly?
I disagree. Blu-ray is an evolution on the DVD, an improvement noticeable depending on the TV set you have at home. It is absolutely not a revolution. Proof is that DVD is picking up in France once again, whereas, if BD had been a revolution it would have taken over much quicker. It is not a VHS-to-DVD transition.
What is missing to BD is 3D, which is truly a revolution, akin to the transition from black & white to colour in the 1970s. Perhaps 3D arrives a bit early, but we should be very satisfied to see it emerging. By offering new perspectives to CE manufacturers, studios and consumers, it is 3D that will make a success of Blu-ray.
MOSER Baer CEO said that about 20 million films are sold on legitimate DVDs in India per annum, while some 600 million copies are pirated versions. The latest film Peepli Live was released last Friday and was available in pirated DVDs by Saturday morning. India is likely to impose anti-dumping duty of up to $50 per 1,000 pieces on cheap imports of DVDs from Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam to protect the domestic industry.
GROWTH of Web-to-TV video is happening faster than most people expected. By 2014, there will be 57 million US broadband households viewing full-length online video on the TV, says In-Stat. Revenue associated with this web-to-TV video content will grow from $2 billion to over $17 billion over a five-year period.
CONSUMER transactions for prerecorded video content (DVDs, Blu-ray Discs, and digital delivery) grew 2.8% to 3.5 billion during 2009, the Entertainment Merchants Association stated in its latest report Discs & Digital – The Business of Home Entertainment Retailing. Combined DVD and Blu-ray Disc sales totaled $17.9 billion in 2009, nine times the revenue generated by digital distribution channels, and 80% to 90% of paid video game software acquisitions were on physical media.
THE number of Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) certified Blu-ray Disc players nearly doubled in the first half of 2010, according to the group. The group's 245 members, which include consumer electronics, computer and mobile device manufacturers alongside component and software developers, now produce 105 DLNA certified BD enabled devices. The DLNA seeks to promote interoperability between CE devices through establishing industry standards.
HONG KONG filmmakers claim to be shooting the world’s first 3D pornographic movie – 3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy – scheduled for release in May 2011 release. In addition to distribution throughout Asia, the Sunday Morning Post reports that the film crew has already received calls from Europe and the US. Japanese porn stars Yukiko Suo and Saori Hara are confirmed as the leads in the upcoming flick, apparently based on The Carnal Prayer Mat, a classic erotic Chinese tale.
SONIC Solutions reported a year-on-year reduction in its net loss from $1.8 million to $1.1 million for the first quarter despite increased operating costs. The company said that revenue was flat at $25.4 million in the term ending June 30 but operating expenses increased by $300,000 following the acquisition of digital media company DivX earlier this year. Sonic said its RoxioNow film download software contributed $5 million to the business, up from $3.1 million in 2009.
GERMAN DVD/BD replication line manufacturer Singulus recorded order intakes worth €67.4 million in the first half of this year – an increase of 65.2% compared with the first half of 2009. The company announced sales of BLULINE II machines to the UK's VDC Group, Australia's Regency Media and Japan's Memory-Tech – the country's largest independent replicator. Singulus claims to have a 90% share of the Blu-ray line market.
ONE in five renters of home entertainment in the US pirated content in the last half of 2009 and 25% said they burned at least one copy of Blu-ray Disc, according to a poll 2,000 consumers by the Diffusion Group. Most respondents reported they give up trying to pirate content within 30 minutes if it’s not efficient, and 84% said they would still buy or rent the content they were attempting to obtain illegally, Home Media Magazine said.
REDBOX has announced more than half of its daily movie rental kiosks will begin offering Blu-ray movies for just $1.50 per night starting immediately. The company announced 13,300 kiosks across the US will offer Blu-ray movies, and a full roll out for all 23,000 kiosks should begin sometime in the fall. Just two months ago, the company celebrated the creation of 25,000 Redbox kiosks with Flextronics, its manufacturing partner.
