After Blu-ray beat our HD-DVD for the title of HD format earlier this year, demand is predicted to substantially grow over the next 12 months. Estimates are around 48 million, the problem is Sony (the largest Blu-ray manufacturer) only has capacity to manufacture around 38 million per year.

The solution – either Sony needs to build / buy further production facilities and step up production, or other manufacturers need to come on board and help meet demand.

I believe the manufacturing process for creating Blu-ray discs is more difficult than HD-DVD was. Hopefully this doesn’t impact the consumer to the point where the opinion of Blu-ray becomes, “looks great, if you could get movies”.

More @ CrunchGear

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A lot of tech sites are calling the next generation DVD format war between Blu-ray and HD-DVD over.

Why now ? Well, we all knew the HD-DVD camp were on their last legs, with companies jumping ship, left, right and centre. The main driving force behind the format, Toshiba, has reportedly confirmed they will drop their support for HD-DVD.

Now I’m yet to see an official announcement from Toshiba on this, so I wouldn’t take this as golden. What is for sure though, if Toshiba does indeed drop support, the HD-DVD experiment sure was a costly one. Estimations are in the hundreds of millions.

Those left in the HD-DVD group still include some big names, Canon, Fujitsu, HP, Intel, Kenwood, Lenovo, Microsoft, NEC, Sanyo, Teac, Ulead. So although it sounds bad for the future of HD-DVD, the HD-DVD group would have to meet and officially withdraw.

Those left with HD-DVD drives and discs should still expect support for the life of the product.

More  @ CrunchGear

In a surprising move by Warner Bros, the movie studio have decided to move to exclusively Blu-Ray after previously supporting bloth Blu-ray and HD-DVD. This is in contrast to Paramount’s decision last year to move to support only HD-DVD. Had Warner decided to do the same, it would have almost sealed the deal and seen HD-DVD be the predominant format. Since they haven’t we’re once again in the situation where there’s enough support on both sides that the winner will most likely be both formats.

My recommendation to those consumers who don’t already own a xbox 360 or PS3, is to simply wait until the combo drives that play both formats, like the LG BH200 gets down to a more affordable price bracket. Stay tuned on this one, with CES starting in 2 days time, I’d be very surprised if we don’t see a new model arrive.

For those with a Xbox 360 +HD-DVD add on drive (like myself), or a PS3 (Blu-ray on board), this is simply frustrating, I guess that’s a bi-product of being an early adopter.

More @ Ars Technica

If you own one of the following Blu-ray player models – Sony BDP-S300, Sony BDP-S500, Sony BDP-S1E, Samsung BDP-1000, Samsung BDP-1400, Sharp BDHP20X, Panasonic DMP-BD10, Panasonic DMP-BD10A, Pioneer BDP-LX70, Pioneer BDP-LX70A, then you can get yourself 5 free Blu-ray movies.

Unfortunately you can only select one from each category below, but there are some good titles available.

Category 1: Casino Royale, Open Season, Ghost Rider, Black Hawk Down, Hitch
Category 2: The Wild, Dinosaur, Sky High
Category 3: Entrapment, Fantastic 4, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, Kingdom Of Heaven
Category 4: Rock, Rocky Balboa, Hart’s War
Category 5: Corpse Bride, Blazing Saddles, Superman The Movie

Offer ends 31/01/2008.

This definitely adds another reason for people to opt for Blu-ray over HD-DVD, but perhaps cheaper players would be a better alternative. Both camps still have a long way in expanding their list of available titles.

Check out the promo PDF @ Blurayaustralia.com.au

Check out the Press Release from Toshiba.

More @ CrunchGear

Acer, the worlds 4th biggest PC vendor,  has now joined the HD-DVD camp and will begin to include HD-DVD drives in their systems. 

They join the likes of Microsoft, Intel, HP, Universal, Toshiba, Warner Brothers and many more in supporting HD-DVD.

Official Press Release (PDF)

Currently HD-DVD can hold 25Gb, if the rumors are correct, HD-DVD will be upgraded to 51Gb. The good news is that players may simply need a firmware update to support the update.

Once this is confirmed, we’ll finally be able to end the size argument between HD-DVD and Blu-ray formats.

More @ Engadget

In the battle for the next generation DVD format, things are really heating up with Paramount who also owns Dreamworks deciding to move exclusively to HD-DVD after initially supporting both formats.

“I believe HD DVD is not only the affordable high-quality choice for consumers, but also the smart choice for Paramount” said Brad Grey, CEO of Paramount.

The CEO of DreamWorks Animation, Jeffrey Katzenberg said “It’s a game-changer, what they’re doing, and it’s why we decided to throw in with them.”

This announcement means hit movies like “Shrek the Third” and “Transformers” along with movies distributed by Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies and MTV Films will now all be exclusive to HD-DVD.

More @ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070820/ap_on_hi_te/dueling_dvd_formats