Europe's premier online source of news, data & analysis for professionals involved in DVD, Blu-ray and new delivery technologies
Following a year of decline in 2009, the global entertainment and media market, as a whole, will grow by 5% compounded annually for the entire forecast period to 2014 reaching $1.7 trillion, up from $... Read more...
A selection of data on various sectors of the European market from leading research companies... Read more...
The new generation of Blu-ray players gives consumers more opportunity to enjoy the BD experience by uploading and downloading content through the Internet. Audiences are increasingly familiar with this... Read more...
UK-based technology company Blinkbox has partnered with the UK Film Council and the British Film Institute to offer a week-long free streaming service to popular Hollywood films in an effort to lure internet... Read more...
Sonic Solutions announced a strategic partnership with MOD Systems that intends to arm retailers with a complete, multi-platform system for digitally delivering premium entertainment. DVD kiosks have ... Read more...
Cisco announced the results of its annual Visual Networking Index Forecast, 2009-2014, which projects that global Internet traffic will increase more than fourfold to 767 exabytes (EB) – or 767 million... Read more...
Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) recently showed a 42-inch glasses-free 3D LCD TV, and the company can currently make them with screens as large as 65 inches, according to Stephen... Read more...
The European Commission unveiled its ambitious Digital Agenda for Europe action plan aimed at “spreading the benefits of the digital era to all sections of society... Read more...
Unchecked internet downloading and street vendors' pirate trade are taking their toll on legitimate home entertainment business and the domestic production industry. Unable to compete with counterfeit... Read more...
Sony said it will close its Blu-ray player factory in Hungary and move production to its plant in Malaysia to help improve profitability. The plant in Godollo, Hungary, established in 1996, will shut ... Read more...
Testronic Laboratories, the leader in quality assurance and testing services for home entertainment, gaming, websites, hardware and software, has announced the opening of their new Digital Entertainment... Read more...
A combination of a slower-than-expected fall in retail prices and the impact of the worst economic recession in living memory ensured that – unlike in the US – sales of Blu-ray hardware failed to live... 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.
APPLE unveiled its new Apple TV box – about 1/4 of the size of the previous model – that will let people stream films and TV shows from the internet or their computers to their TV. Apple TV has opted for a rental-only strategy. It would cost $4.99 for films on day of DVD release, and 99 cents to rent TV shows – which are available to watch almost instantly. The Apple TV box itself – available in four weeks – will cost $99, down from $299 for the previous model.
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.
