HD DVD & Blu-ray News

* Battle of the formats in high-definition DVDs - Every so often, technology comes to a crossroads, and nobody knows which direction will win out. - Apr 30, 2006

* High-def DVD player: Don't expect to be dazzled just yet - As it rolls out the first high-definition DVD player, Toshiba Corp. is boasting: Image is everything. - Apr 29, 2006

* Warner Bros. Aims to Be First With Next-Generation DVDs - Those who tried to adopt video-on-demand over the Web initially found it frustrating, giving DVD makers hope that the high-definition format will give them an extended window of time to dominate the at-home movie market, said Gartner analyst Laura Behrens. - Apr 28, 2006

* Amazon Picks No Favorites in Blu-ray, HD DVD Format Wars - This is a retail - not a standard format - issue, Yankee Group analyst Mike Goodman told TechNewsWorld. - Apr 26, 2006

* Panasonic to Ship Blu-ray Player in June - Panasonic said the drive will come with a wide selection of software to make backing up and archiving data easy, as well as video and audio editing tools that will let users drag and drop data for DVD and CD burning. - Apr 24, 2006

* HD-DVD players and discs land at retailers - The high-definition DVD era began last week with the official launch in the United States of movie players and discs. - Apr 24, 2006

* Playing now: High-definition DVD movies - The high-definition DVD era begins today with the U.S. launch of HD-DVD movie players and discs. - Apr 22, 2006

* Sonic forms new high-def group - Software maker Sonic Solutions, a leading provider of DVD authoring tools, has formed a new alliance with hardware makers to ensure that discs created using the advanced interactive features of Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD will work smoothly with the new generation of players. - Apr 22, 2006

* HD-DVD and Blu-Ray: Dead Formats Walking - The new high-def DVD formats now coming on the market are in big trouble, but you won't hear that from Hollywood or by way of the technology makers. - Apr 22, 2006

* DVD wars begin - If the Super Bowl, the NCAA Final Four or The Sopranos has you hooked on high-definition television, you might be wondering what the new generation of high-definition movies on DVD will look like. - Apr 22, 2006

* Next-Gen DVD Fight Is On - Both look to improve image quality with high-definition video and broaden the capacity of DVDs for the next generation of movie and video game discs. - Apr 22, 2006

* The Disc Format Wars - A point was made to me the other day regarding the rollout of HD titles using HD-DVD and Blu-ray formats. - Apr 22, 2006

* HD DVD set to launch quietly - If all goes as planned, HD DVD is set for a low-key launch Tuesday with five movies out from Warner Home Video and Universal Studios Home Entertainment and players from Toshiba coming the same day or shortly after. - Apr 22, 2006

* Toshiba, Sony, launching rival HD standards - If the controversy over new DVD technology were being made into a film, the trailer might go something like this ... - Apr 22, 2006

* Consumer rights advocates decry HD-DVD system - Campaigners say a digital rights system for next-generation DVDs has taken too much control away from tech consumers. - Apr 20, 2006

* Sony reveals more details of Blu-ray Disc PC - Sony Corp. has released a few details about what is expected to be its first desktop PC to include a Blu-ray Disc drive. - Apr 20, 2006

* TDK Begins Shipping Blu-Ray Media - Experts are split over whether HD DVD or Blu-Ray will lead the market because each has an advantage over the other. - Apr 20, 2006

* Toshiba Begins Selling First HD DVD Players - In a race to set industry standards, Toshiba Corp. on Friday began shipping the HD DVD HD-XA1 player into the Japan market. - Apr 20, 2006

* Fujitsu to launch Blu-ray, HD DVD equipped PCs in June - Fujitsu Ltd. hasn't taken sides in the next-generation DVD format battle, and as such it plans to launch in late June a desktop PC with a Blu-ray Disc drive and a laptop PC with an HD-DVD drive, the company said yesterday. - Apr 20, 2006

* Film Studios Begin Shipping Next-Gen DVDs - Two Hollywood studios on Tuesday started shipping DVDs in the high definition format, ushering in a new era of home viewing and a multi-billion dollar DVD standards war that has left Hollywood and the electronics industry divided. - Apr 20, 2006

* April's coolest gadgets - For many months there's been talk about next-generation DVD players for high-definition movies and there's been nothing but prototypes, and then suddenly two products have come along at once! - Apr 20, 2006

* TDK Begins Shipping Its Highly Anticipated Blu-ray Disc - TDK, a world leader in digital recording solutions, today announced that it has begun shipping 25GB recordable and rewritable Blu-ray Disc media to retailers nationwide. - Apr 20, 2006

* Matsushita: Blu-Ray, HD-DVD Will Never Merge - The companies backing competing formats for next-generation DVD technology will never again talk about forming a unified standard, an executive at Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said on Friday, leaving it to the consumer to choose the winning side. - Apr 22, 2006