Europe's premier online source of news, data & analysis for professionals involved in DVD, Blu-ray and new delivery technologies
Burbank, California-based BluFocus, an advanced testing and certification facility specializing in the QA of media products and solutions, is launching their 3D-Focus Laboratory which will provide services... Read more...
Czech optical digital media service company Brickbox Digital Media has acquired leading Hungarian authoring service provider Media Vision Kft... Read more...
Following on the announcement of a range of Full HD 3D TV products, including a prosumer Full HD 3D camcorder, at CES Las Vegas, Panasonic is now unveiling its fully operational Blu-ray 3D Advanced Authoring... Read more...
Singapore-based technology company Sunny Ocean Studios is currently developing the world’s first 3D cinema in which the audience will no longer require any special glasses. At CeBIT the company is presenting... Read more...
Warner Home Video notified Toronto-based replicator Cinram it will terminate a six-year service agreement with the company in July, taking its business to Paris-based Technicolor. With the news, shares... Read more...
Shorewood.blueprint, the global packaging and production company, has announced a number of structural changes in response to the group’s rapid expansion during 2009 and aggressive growth plans for the... Read more...
Jim Wuthrich, President, International, Home Video and Digital for Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, will deliver the Digital Keynote at this year’s PEVE Digital Entertainment 2010, the annual conference... Read more...
The National Film Board of Canada is introducing high-definition films online and adding a bonus feature of recent experiments in online 3-D. A year ago the NFB gave Canadians free access to 70 years ... Read more...
Screen Digest's media analysts have prepared their predictions for the coming year and beyond. As we leave 2009 behind - one of the hardest for the media sector in recent years, what can we expect from... Read more...
Sony Pictures has commissioned British comedian, author and columnist Danny Wallace to front its latest online Blu-ray Disc promotion in the UK. The video, embedded below, continues the themes of the ... Read more...
Leading Hong Kong-based full-service video production house Best & Original Production Limited has authored the first BD-J title in Asia, 'The City of Life and Death,' using sofatronic's Kaleidoscope ... Read more...
Czech authoring house Brickbox Digital Media has restored Dario Argento’s acclaimed 1977 classic horror film Suspiria on Blu-ray and DVD. Released on 18 January, Suspiria is Nouveaux Pictures’ first Blu... Read more...
Are we going 'green' or is it 'business as usual'?
Here we go again! It’s 2010 and little is being done for this planet on which we live! But before spelling out his thoughts, TIMMY TREU wants to reassure the reader that he is neither connected nor does own stock in any of the companies mentioned thereafter.
Remember the ‘green’ revolution that started before the crisis? It surely looks as if little, or indeed nothing has really been done in the DVD business. Well, that’s not quite true! A lot has been done by companies who invent new technologies and products, like EcoDisc Technology’s carbon lite DVD or the advent of FSC paper. But little has actually been done to implement those technologies on a grand scale.
We are still using Amaray-like and other plastic boxes for DVDs although there are many options for using less PVC-intensive materials. Take for example Jake-Box’s 100% recyclable packaging, or Pozzoli’s Ekoline. Yes, they cost a little more! But can cost be the only reason why the DVD industry is snubbing the environment? It may think it has got a lot to lose.
ACCORDING to The Wall Street Journal, Sony loses 6 cents on "every dollar of PS3 hardware sales." Considering the PlayStation 3 current retails for $300, the company thus loses about $18 per unit. Not only has the loss been going on since launch, but when the console was released, iSuppli estimated that it cost Sony $805 to build the PS3.
TAIWAN-based blank optical disc maker CMC Magnetics expects shipments of its Blu-ray discs to account for 10% of its revenues in the second quarter and 20% in the fourth quarter of 2010. Because only seven companies are producing such discs around the world, gross margins for the segment are high at 30-40%. According to estimation by industry sources in Taiwan, CMC may ship more than 15 million BD discs in 2010.
SONY Pictures Entertainment has announced another round of job cuts, this time equal to about 6.5% of its work force. In a statement released by Michael Lynton, Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman, the company will be laying off around 450 employees because of declining DVD sales. "The business is going through a rough period of trial and transition," said Lynton. "We have an obligation to take the steps necessary to get through it."
THOMSON shareholders have approved the restructuring plan made public by Thomson on 9 December 2009, including the change of name of the Thomson group to Technicolor. Also, the roles of Chairman and CEO will be separated under a new governance structure. The position had been combined in 2009 in light of the crisis facing the company.
SONY Pictures Entertainment has announced another round of job cuts, this time equal to about 6.5% of its work force. In a statement released by Michael Lynton, Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman, the company will be laying off around 450 employees because of declining DVD sales. "The business is going through a rough period of trial and transition," said Lynton. "We have an obligation to take the steps necessary to get through it."
MPEG LA has announced that Shinco Electronics Group Co Ltd entered into MPEG LA's MPEG-2 Patent Portfolio License during 2009. This signing also concludes actions brought by MPEG LA against Mintek Digital as well as Mintek's parent Jiangsu Digital Technology Co Ltd (Shinco Digital) and Shinco Digital's parent, Shinco Electronics, both located in China.
SUPERMARKET giant Tesco is making its movie debut with a joint venture to make films of books by best-selling authors. The group has joined forces with new media firm Amber Productions to create direct-to-DVD feature films, distributed online and through Tesco Direct. Paris Connections - based on a thriller by Jackie Collins - is currently being shot on location in France and will be available in Tesco stores in May.
THE HOLLYWOOD Reporter is reporting that US sales of Blu-ray Discs increased by 35% in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared to the same period in 2008. Statistics from the Digital Entertainment Group show that 38.6 million Blu-ray Discs were shipped, with revenue from sales increasing by 70% and revenue from rentals rising by 48%. Over the year as a whole, DEG found that total spending on Blu-ray Discs (sales and rentals) reached $1.5 billion.
BREAKING new grounds, Icon Home Entertainment said it will offer price parity on Blu-ray Disc and DVD new releases from April 1 including premium titles 'The Road', 'Nowhere Boy', 'Precious', 'A Single Man' and the forthcoming 'Edge of Darkness'.
