Smooth Sailing for Blu-ray?

Katherine Stevenson — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:32:20 -0600

Starting with Warner Bros.’s dramatic defection to Blu-ray on the eve of this year’s CES, it's been a tumultuous couple of months for HD DVD, ending at last on Monday with Toshiba's announcement that it would cease developing, manufacturing, and marketing HD DVD players and media. And frankly, we have to give Toshiba props for accepting its defeat so readily and putting an end to a format war that had already lasted too long.

The question now is what the future holds for Blu-ray. Will its triumph over HD DVD prompt consumers to finally buy high-def disc players and movies en masse? Not according to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who recently made the claim that optical discs are an obsolete content distribution method. And indeed, while the two optical formats have been duking it out, the Hollywood studios have been forging online-distribution partnerships. The most high-profile of these involves the updated Apple TV, which now lets you stream both standard- and high-def material that you buy or rent from iTunes directly to your TV. A set-top box by Vudu (www.vudu.com) offers similar functionality, as does the Xbox 360 via Microsoft’s Live Marketplace (in fact, movie director Michael Bay made waves a while back by accusing Microsoft of supporting HD DVD just to fuel format confusion and drive frustrated consumers to its online store).

It all sounds very juicy, but communications analyst Michael Inouye of market research firm In-Stat isn’t convinced of the online threat: “Until we get much larger data pipes for downloading, HD will be a pipe dream. I would imagine that quite a few consumers will not accept video ‘hiccups’ should they occur as they download the video (in cases where they stream the content). And if the consumer wishes to upgrade to larger data-transfer rates, it will likely come at a price.”

In-Stat analyst Gerry Kaufhold offers up another factor: “Cable TV operators and the TelcoTV services provide you with your subscription TV service and your broadband Internet service, so they will continue to make sure their pay-TV services provide the highest convenience, the best image quality, and the most recent new titles so that they won’t lose too much of their user base to the Internet-delivered services.” That should come as little consolation to the Blu-ray camp, however.

We’ll render our own hands-on assessment of the major movie streaming/downloading services in the May issue of Maximum PC, so stay tuned.

Daily News Brief: Wal-Mart's One Day Blu-ray Bonanza!

One4yu2c — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 17:23:21 -0600

Wal-Mart Giving Away Blu-ray Movies

For those that passed up on the sub-$100 Toshiba HD-DVD player Wal-Mart recented offered as a one day sale, you'll have another chance to jump on the high-definition train, if you're willing to ride the Blu-ray express. This Saturday, Wal-Mart's giving away 10 free Blu-ray movies when you purchase an 80GB Playstation 3. Pile on the 5 additional movies Sony gives away via mail-in-rebate, and that brings the tally to 15 titles. Suddenly, $499 for a console doesn't seem all that nauseating.

Wii Shortage Continues

It's been a year since the Nintendo Wii debuted, and the console is still hard to come by in some regions. Some have speculated it's an intentional shortage to drive up demand, but Nintendo's now throwing 1.8 million units into the market place every month. Even still, Nintendo says to expect shortages this holiday shopping season, with the bulk of the consoles going to Japan and Europe.

Unlock Your DNA Online

Anne Wojcicki, who is married to Google's co-founder Sergey Brin, has co-founded a new site that promises to help surfers learn more about their genetic make-up. For $999, 23andMe.com will analyze a customer's DNA for some 600,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms, which scientists have linked to diseases and certain traits. But at least one researcher warns that "a lot of the genetic results are early, weak and preliminary," in addition to the obvious privacy concerns.

U.S. Entrenched in Costly Internet Gambling Dispute

The U.S. made international waves when it withdrew from a World Trade Organization accord recognizing internet gambling as a legal venture. Unhappy with the U.S.'s stance, Antigua's leading the charge in seeking sanctions that, combined with other countries, could total $100 billion or more. And in a twist, Antigua hinted they could become a harbor for pirated movies and music as a means of collecting their $3.4 billion portion of the sanction pie.

Seen an 80GB Zune?

If so, count yourself in the minority. While Microsoft's second generation 4GB and 8GB Zunes are easy to come by, the 80GB version is next to impossible to find in stock. Microsoft said they prioritized manufacturing the smaller versions first, and that 80GB models should start trickling back into the market within the next two weeks, well before Christmas shopping hits last-minute status.

Will Smith was Right!

Parents just don't understand, especially when it comes to video games. Weekly Reader Reasearch found that 60% of children surveyed expect to either receive a game they did not want, or one for the wrong gaming console. How totally bogus! Of course, this just begs for a counter -survey, in which parents would be asked if they expect good gifts from their kids this Christmas, or another tie to add to the collection.

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