hd dvd

[mbajner]

Jan 04, 2006 23:30

HD DVD Hardware and Content ``Now Playing'' at the Consumer Electronics Show; Leading Consumer Electronics and PC Companies Unveil New HD DVD Hardware; Hollywood Studios Showcase Availability of HD DVD Content Starting March 2006

LAS VEGAS --(Business Wire)-- Jan. 4, 2006 The HD DVD Promotion Group, a multinational organization comprised of more than 120 top consumer electronics, IT, disc replication and entertainment companies, today announced at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that next-generation, HD DVD players and leading film content will be widely available in the U.S. market beginning March 2006.

At a press conference featuring top executives from each industry, Toshiba demonstrated the unparalleled sights and sounds created by the company's first two production HD DVD player models. The players will be available in the U.S. in March 2006, with prices starting at $499.99 -- ushering in a new era of high-definition home entertainment. Today online retailers, including Amazon.com, Best Buy.com, Crutchfield.com and Tweeter.com, have started accepting pre-orders.

Microsoft also announced it will offer a new Xbox 360 external HD DVD drive in 2006. The new drive will offer millions of Xbox 360 owners the ability to easily enjoy HD DVD movies, adding more high definition choices to the popular gaming and entertainment system.

Warner Home Video, Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Pictures, HBO Video and New Line Home Entertainment were also on stage to announce that nearly 50 HD DVD titles, including "Aeon Flux," "Batman Begins," "The Bourne Supremacy," "Jarhead," "The Matrix "and "U2: Rattle & Hum," will be available this Spring to coincide with the launch of the players. The studios also outlined plans to release additional titles throughout the year. More than 150 titles are expected to be available in time for the 2006 holiday season.

"We're proud that HD DVD will be appearing in a living room near you in a matter of weeks, with affordable players and the hottest film titles," said Yoshihide Fujii, corporate senior vice president and president and CEO of Digital Media Network Company, Toshiba Corporation. "With the support of leading studios, consumer electronics manufacturers and PC industry titans, I can confidently say that HD DVD will have the time to market advantage and the breadth of content to show consumers that this is the next-generation HD format."

"We have reached a point where consumer interest in high-definition programming far outweighs availability," said Warren Lieberfarb, chairman of Lieberfarb & Associates and an American Film Institute board member. "As the first widely available high definition format to market, HD DVD will help satisfy the ever-growing consumer appetite for great movies with mind-blowing extras. Between Warner Home Video, Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment and Universal Pictures, they are responsible for more than half of the major feature films and television programs ever developed and their movies make up more than fifty percent of the American Film Institute's top 100 films of all time."

Retail Support

Retail outlets, including Best Buy, Crutchfield, Sears and Tweeter, plan to carry HD DVD players and movies beginning in March.

"High definition televisions have been extremely popular on Amazon.com, so we know our customers are eager to start enjoying more high definition programming," said Greg Hart, director of North American Music, DVD, and Computer and Video Games for Amazon.com. "With attractively priced players, numerous top-selling DVDs soon to be available in high definition and widespread industry support, we expect our customers to take advantage of the opportunity to start building their HD DVD libraries today."

Additionally, CustomFlix, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amazon.com, plans to provide an opportunity for small studios and filmmakers to utilize disc-on-demand technology to offer packaged high definition content much earlier, faster and more efficiently than may otherwise be possible with traditional replication methods.

Texas Instruments, which is leading the industry in maximum-HD 1080p resolution DLP HDTV technology as the number one selling 1080p television at retail, also announced strong support for HD DVD as well.

Accelerating Digital Convergence

As the first high-definition format to reach the mass market, HD DVD will provide consumers with stunning picture and sound quality, taking full advantage of high-definition televisions and home theater systems. The entertainment experience extends well beyond today's DVDs, allowing new and innovative ways to view movies and access bonus content. The format will also give consumers the opportunity to securely transfer high definition content for storage on their PC's hard disk drive, stream over a home network or even synchronize to a portable media player.

Enthusiasm for HD DVD was echoed at the press conference by prominent leaders in the IT industry. Microsoft reaffirmed that it will build the infrastructure to support HD DVD into the upcoming Windows Vista operating system coming later this year and HP was welcomed as the newest member of the HD DVD Promotion Group. Toshiba also demonstrated its AV notebook PCs, featuring slim-type HD DVD ROM drives, while NEC, a leading Japanese PC manufacturer, offered a strong commitment to enhancing the momentum for next-generation PCs with HD DVD drives.

About HD DVD

The DVD Forum develops and defines DVD formats. Its 240-strong membership brings together leaders in movies and entertainment, computing, consumer electronics and software. In November 2003, the DVD Forum adopted the HD DVD format as the next-generation, post-DVD standard for high capacity, high definition optical discs.

HD DVD discs are based on the same physical disc structure as current DVDs, which enables manufacture of highly reliable hardware and discs at a reasonable cost. The format is supported by cutting-edge blue laser technology. It uses newly developed data processing techniques and takes advantage of leading-edge advanced video compression standards such as MPEG4-AVC and VC-1, as well as MPEG-2.

The HD DVD Promotion Group was created to help bring HD DVD products and content into the marketplace and share its promotional activity among members to encourage the broad acceptance of the platform on a worldwide basis. Its 124-member list includes Toshiba Corporation, Microsoft, Intel, HP, SANYO, NEC, Memory-Tech, Warner Home Video, Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment and Universal Pictures.

For more information and a complete listing of HD DVD launch titles please visit http://www.hddvdprg.com/press.

[Born2RockU]

I already own a HD DVD player, the NeuNeo 2085 Hi-Def DVD Player.

I wonder why they say that there are none on the market today?

*****EDIT, my player IS NOT HD-DVD compatable,

....it is ONLY a Hi-Def upscaler, and it works incredibly well.

...thanx SCOOTER for clearing this up for me.****

[Zen Traveler]

I already own a HD DVD player, the NeuNeo 2085 Hi-Def DVD Player.

I wonder why they say that there are none on the market today?

Which format does yours play, HD or Blue Ray? I thought the NeuNeo's only upconverted 480p DVD's.[:^)]

[SCOOTERDOG]

The NeuNeo is not an HD DVD player, sorry. However it does upscale from 720, 1080i and they say 1080p but I don't buy it. The unit has had some decent reviews for what it does but if someone sold you this unit telling you it was Hi Def then you been had. HD DVD & Blue Ray is not even on the shelf yet let alone the correct software (movies). If you are happy with the performance then don't worry, but when you see what your player does compared to the REAL HD DVD's you will be blown away. I have a seperate video scaler that takes std def (dvd, sat, ota ) and upscales the source up to 1080i. On some material it really makes a difference and on others it's minor, but it can not make non Hd...HD, just like your player. I went with a scaler because all sources I have are 480i except when I watch HD TV because I wanted to be able to upscale everything not just DVD.

Hope that clears up any confusion the market has done to you or anyone else.

scooter

[Born2RockU]

Thanx Scooter for clearing this up for me.

I WAS told it will play HD movie.

My player already has the upgrade to1080p.

I got it for $220 shipped to my front door. (not bad)

If it doesn't play HD's ...no biggie...I plan on getting whatever player plays both Blu-Ray and HD.

***Please keep me informed on any player that will do BOTH formats, in the future.***

[efzauner]

I see lots of dvd players that say HD on them. What a scam. The sad part is that many people that have purchased widescreen tvs over the past years with component inputs will not be able to use the new HD-DVD or Blue rays because they will only have HDMI outputs for HD. Furthermore, those buying the latest 1080P displays will mostlikely also not be able to plug em into the upcomming HD players because most of the 1080P displays out there do not work with HDMI! This is a sad story for the early adopters. I dont even have a HD set yet, and I have been holding off buying DVDs of my favorite movies. Will probably spring for a HD DVD player in 2007 when they come down in price. I promised my 8 year old that the first movie we see in HD in the yet to be built HT room will be Harry Potter Goblet of fire. By the time she is 13, the HT room should be built! Ha !