A lot of announcements have been coming out at the CeBit expo in Hanover, as with any large consumer electronics show. The latest releases regarding the next generation dvd format are internal and external drives for your PC, laptop, game console, what have you.

First we start with Samsung’s external Blu-ray burner, which I have to say (and I’m not the only one) looks a bit like someone has PS3 envy. The SE-B046 is a 2nd generation disc drive of the SE-B026A, which also looked like a PS3 but with out the high gloss finish.

The latest external Blu-ray disc drive/ burner writes BD-R discs at 4x and BD-RE at 2x and uses a second laser for DVD and CD burning. It will also sport a dual USB 2.0/Firewire interface and you will be able to connect it to the PS3. I guess that is why it got the shiny makeover. The SE-B046 will be available sometime in 2008, and Samsung has not announced a possible price point yet.

As for the HD DVD side, Toshiba showed off their internal desktop and notebook drives which included the SD-H903A. This drive is an internal desktop drive capable of writing HD DVD at 1x speed and can also write DVD/CD with a single objective lens.

Earlier this month, Toshiba released their external HD DVD drive that can only read HD DVD but it still can read and write DVD/CD and it is not as invasive as Samsung’s PS3 twin. The PA35 will connect to your PC via USB 2.0 and will read HD DVD at 1x speed. Let’s hope they come out with a 2nd gen of this little guy. You can get one now though for only $370.

R.Hollis

As previously mentioned, The Blu-ray Disc Association has been claiming victory in the format war stating their sales are 3:1 compared to HD DVD. At the consumer electronics show CeBit this week, Toshiba Europe has categorized these claims as propaganda.

Olivier Van Wynendaele, Deputy General Manager of HD DVD for Toshiba stated that the Blu-ray sales figures included the redeemed vouchers given to new PS3 owners to receive a free movie and is not a true representation of actual sales. According to Van Wynendaele, Toshiba has sold 200,000 players versus 30,000 “true” Blu-ray players, and the 2 million PS3 sold should not be included in the sales figures of hardware. He also stated “that neither format could claim victory when high def player sales accounted for less than 1% of regular DVD player sales.”

These are all valid points. One could argue though that the reason there are more PS3 sales than stand alone Blu-ray players is because of price and duality. But if there are 2 million PS3 owners that are using the game console to watch Blu-ray movies, they must be watching the same movie over and over again. Blu-ray movie sales are nowhere near the amount they would need to be in order to make the claim that all PS3 owners buy Blu-ray movies.

An interesting side note to Sony’s “victory” is Samsung’s voiced willingness to work with the competitor. According to Stephen Mitchell, marketing manager with Samsung Electronics “We think Blu-ray is the stronger of the two; however we aren’t ruling HD DVD out yet.”

Now isn’t that an intriguing statement coming from one of Sony’s original supporters in the Blu-ray format. I guess Samsung didn’t get the memo that Sony has already won.

Mitchell went on to say, “We could launch a hybrid player or a Blu-ray recorder tomorrow, but until we see what other manufacturers are doing we are not going to be announcing anything.”

As with every twist and turn in this format saga, it becomes increasingly obvious that the public relations departments of the respective formats are working harder than the potential buyers, tune in next time for as-the-formats-turn.

R.Hollis

Yes, there is truth in that statement. So this means that the format war is over, right? Well, not exactly. While Blu-ray sales have passed that of HD DVD this month, “the life-to-date title sales ratios”, according to Ken Graffeo of Universal, are at about 1:1. Graffeo who is the executive in charge of the HD DVD effort for Universal also questioned that “Blu-ray has a 5:1 ratio right now on the hardware side due to PS3, why aren’t’ Blu-ray software sales out-pacing HD DVD by a similar ratio?”

That is a good question. If the market is saturated with Blu-ray players 5:1 over HD DVD players, then the discs should be at or over that same ratio, that is if we’re to believe the 80% plus PS3 owners who according to Sony; indicated interest in Blu-ray movies from PS3 owners. Another point to bring up is the total amount of titles released by both camps so far. The quantity of Blu-ray titles that have been released up to January 2007 is 157, for HD DVD the number is 138. Also Blu-ray has released almost double that of HD DVD this month in titles, 35 to 19.

Since Blu-ray has more titles released and more hardware in the market compared to HD DVD, it seems like Sony should be dominating this format war. Well, according to Sony there is no more war because they have already won it. When the sales numbers barely reflect a win, 100 units of Blu-ray to every 98.71 units of HD DVD, the Toshiba camp isn’t going away anytime soon, apparently rumors of their demise were greatly exaggerated. Steve Nickerson who is senior vice president of market management for Warner stated, “We’re not in this for winning or losing. Both formats are selling well on software.”

R.Hollis

As reported this week, the DCA (Doug Carson & Associates) have announced they have successfully mastered the first 3X DVD ROM for HD DVD commercial use. What does that mean for the avid HD DVD fan? Well it basically means that there is a lower cost alternative to the HD DVD disc already in production, which is a win for the consumer.

The 3X DVD is simply written with the standard DVD red laser technology but combined with the same data structure and guidelines of an HD DVD, which allows for HD content using the AVC, VC1, and MPEG-2 codec’s along with AACS copy protection. The disc will only playback in an HD DVD player and the video quality may not be the same as HD DVD or have the same features available on current HD discs, but it is good alternative for manufacturers.

A couple of examples of where this low cost 3X HD DVD could really shine is with content originally shot in 720p or 1080i and or with 40-50 minutes worth of 1080p extras/supplemental materials i.e. trailers, cast interviews and behind the scenes featurettes. The supplemental 3X disc could be packaged along with the main feature disc allowing for longer play times and or lossless audio on the main disc with longer titles.

R.Hollis

Toshiba has announced two HD DVD players for the European market, The HD-E1: Available in November for 599 euros supports 480p, 720p and 1080i as well as Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD

The HD-XE1 goes for 899 euros and will be available in December. The HD-XE1 supports 480p, 720p, 1080i and 1080p and again audio support for Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD. The XE1 includes HDMI 1.3 output.

More from Reuters.

R.Hollis

Taiwan Headlines is reporting that HP will roll out HD DVD Player/Media Centers in September. The device is described as a “Player” but I have to assume they mean Media Center, perhaps similar to the one below demonstrated at last years Consumer Electronics Show.

“Hewlett-Packard (HP) plans to roll out HD DVD players in September and has chosen Toshiba to make the machines for it. Toshiba will likely delegate the orders to Lite-On to pare down production costs.”

As always we’ll report back with more details as they become available. Source

R.Hollis

Just a quick update this morning on HD DVD firmware update 2.0, as of early this morning 08/25/2006 2.0 is live and ready for ethernet updates.

No word on the official contents of the update but considering that a disc image of the update has been floating around the internet for several days, we can make at least a few educated guesses as to what’s included.

?Dolby TrueHD support
?Improved 720p Performance
?Miscellaneous ethernet connectivity improvements

I’ll update once the official release notes are updated.

–Update– Official release notes updated:

“This firmware update adds support for certain anticipated network delivered content in future HD DVD discs, improves certain video and audio processing capabilities, as well as addresses certain disc playback and HDMI/DVI related problems identified by Toshiba.”

–Second Update–

I’ve verified Dolby TrueHD audio support is working.
720p does indeed appear to have been improved. (although I still prefer the image at 1080i)
There are new Ethernet options in the setup menu. (connection speed, cookie handling etc.)

R.Hollis

Innocuous, semi-questionable title aside, the North American HD DVD Promotional Group’s website got a bit of a makeover today. Some of the notable improvements to ‘The Look and Sound of Perfect‘ include a full color HD background, virtual comparisons of DVD versus HD DVD and a list of dates and locations for the revamped HD DVD Experience Tour, which is scheduled to begin this September.

Also updated is the list of HD DVD’s in the “Coming Soon” section. The list now includes titles like:

A Clockwork Orange, King Kong (2005), The Black Dahlia, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Miami Vice (2006), Hulk, The Maltese Falcon, The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Twister, The Mummy, Blade Runner, Braveheart, The Deer Hunter, Dune (1985), Field of Dreams, Forrest Gump, The Ultimate Star Trek Collection, Grease, The Green Mile, Mission: Impossible, Mission: Impossible 2, Mission: Impossible 3, Mutiny on the Bounty, North by Northwest, Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s Twelve , Se7en, The Shining (1980)

Just to name a few?

R.Hollis

I ran across an internal Intel employee communication on HD DVD, over at avsforum. It sheds some light on why Intel chose to back HD DVD in the first place and drives home some of my biggest reasons for going with HD DVD.

“We are not supporting HD DVD just for the sake of picking a format. Having the next generation of DVD technology out there is in our best interests, and we think HD DVD has the best chance of being successful.

It is the standard most compatible with previous formats, relies on established materials and manufacturing processes, and provides the most features for consumers.

Traditional CDs and DVDs are manufactured of aluminum and plastic with a spin coat on top. This process has a high yield in manufacturing. HD DVD uses this same manufacturing process.

To counter potential reliability problems with data stored only 0.1 mm below the surface of the substrate, Blu-ray uses a film technique similar to that used in silicon manufacture, adding a hard coat on top of a film similar to cellophane (but of higher quality).

The different materials mean that producing a Blu-ray disk with reliability comparable to an HD DVD disk can add up to 35 percent to the cost of the disk.”

Read the rest of this entry »

According to SkeekingAlpha by way of Yahoo Finance news Japan…

“Hitachi will be introducing a 2-3 terabyte hard disk drive HD-DVD recorder in 2007″

If this pans out, it would mark the second confirmed manufacturer of HD DVD player/recorders.

Now in all likelihood even if this story is true, the Hitachi player/recorder is very likely for Japanese consumption only but it would open the door for U.S. HD DVD player/recorders manufactured by Hitachi.

Source: SeekingAlpha Japan:

–update– looks like this one was a goof, the author added “Thanks for your comment pointing out the error in my posting about Hitachi’s forthcoming 2-3 terabyte HDD DVD component (not HDD HD-DVD).”

R.Hollis

“Lite-On IT plans to work with Toshiba to launch HD-DVD players at prices less than US$1,000 in the beginning of August while aiming to ship 50,000 Blu-ray players per month before year-end, according to the Chinese-language Apple Daily.”

That short, cryptic entry from DigiTimes Systems may very well be the first word of a HD DVD player other than the already released Toshiba HD-A1 and HD-XA1.

One obvious question would be, does ?work with Toshiba to launch HD-DVD players - in the beginning of August? mean the players will be released in August or production will start in August?

Or does this simply mean that Lite-on provides the HD DVD drives found in Toshiba?s players? and if so why the use of the word ‘launch’. Enquiring minds want to know!

R.Hollis

–Update– Confirmed here.

Hitachi and Mitsubishi have announced single layer HD-DVD-R blank media. Re-Writable and Dual-Layer HD-DVD blanks are expected sometime later this year.

This move would obviously signal the launch of HD-DVD recorders sometime later this year, although no specifics are known about the stand-alone recorders at this time.

With HD-DVD laptops popping up everywhere, it should only be a matter of time before HD-DVD player/recorders are launched.

R.Hollis