Toshiba announced plans to join the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) and introduce products to the market that support Blu-ray, finally putting an end to the format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray.

Back in 2002, Toshiba together with Microsoft and NEC proposed a replacement for DVD for high definition movies in the form of HD DVDs. Meanwhile, Sony and a group of other companies announced their intentions to unite with a Blu-ray disc. Over several years Sony, Toshiba and other industry heavy weights went head to head against each other which unleashed increasingly heated debates on both of these formats taking place.

The battle was affectively over last year when Warner Brothers joined other major movie studios in deciding to abandon releasing films in the HD DVD format, shortly afterwards several North American rental services and retailers announced their exclusive support for Blu-ray products. The release of the Sony PlayStation 3 with a Blu-ray player built in also helped considerably too.

In a statement released by Toshiba they said, “In light of recent growth in digital devices supporting the Blu-ray format, combined with market demand from consumers and retailers alike, Toshiba has decided to join the BDA."

The 3D momentum is certainly picking up speed, and Panasonic are ensuring they stay ahead of the 3D game with plans to release a 3D Blu-ray player by next year.

Having recently overcome some technical challenges, Panasonic are now working directly with Hollywood studios 3D development teams.

The extra storage needed to accommodate the demands of a 3D image have been combated by a new compression codec being fitted, plus the 3D Blu-ray player looks set to have massive processing power – enabling GUI (graphical user interface) and 3D disc menus.

Panasonic are not just stopping with a 3D Blu-ray player either, they also intend to develop a Plasma 3D Full HD Home Cinema System, a 3D-ready digital cinema projector and a 3D-ready MPEG-4 high profile encoder!

It all sounds very interesting as well as being a 3D fans dream come true.

Are you a fan of 3D?

There is no avoiding the hype regarding 3D TV these days -  manufacturers are already incorporating the technology into forthcoming LCD TVs and the general public seem willing, ready and very eager to embrace 3D TV available for home viewing.

Recently members of the Home Media Tastemakers forum (a small private group of technology experts, bloggers and academics) were asked to choose three blu-ray 3D movies as a wish list and the sci-fi classic Star Wars was the stand out favourite followed by The Matrix, Tron, Titanic, Harry Potter, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Dirty Harry, Saving Private Ryan, Spider-Man and the Lord Of The Rings trilogy.

Interestingly, older films tended not to create as much enthusiasm as a 3D blu-ray release, although Dial M for Murder and the original House of Wax were both considered to trendsetting 3D movies back in their day.

One panellist was prepared to stick his neck at and buck the 3D trend and chose not to pick a film for selection. He said instead “I really don’t want to see any movies in 3D, if a filmmaker cannot make a watchable movie in 2D, 3D isn’t going to make it better. 3D reminds me of Quadrophonic sound from the early 1970s. It was all the rage until everyone woke up and figured out it was an audio gimmick, just the way 3D is a visual gimmick!”

What do you think? Is 3D just a gimmick or the way of the future?

Despite DVDs still remaining UK consumers preferred way of watching movies at home -Blu-ray disc sales are on the up and despite the recession, have reached sales of over 3.1 million.

Interestingly, even after being released 6 months ago, The Dark Knight is still one of the most best selling blu-ray discs today.

The BVA (British Video Association) used data from the Official Charts Company and calculated a 231% year-on-year growth, however although the growing surge of blu-ray sales resulted in a drop of DVD sales (down by 9.5%), 100 million DVDs were still sold – which means blu-ray has a long way to go to catch up.

Blu-ray Top Titles to Date (Since January 09)

• Quantum of Solace
• The Dark Knight
• Planet Earth
• Taken
• The Day The Earth Stood Still
• Twilight
• Hancock
• Casino Royale
• Tropic Thunder
• Wall-E

Which way do you like to watch your favourite movies, DVD or Blu-ray?

Source: Techradar

The long awaited Blu-ray releases of Gladiator and Braveheart in September followed by Forrest Gump in November, mark the introduction of a new Sapphire Blu-ray disc series by Paramount Pictures in honour of their most celebrated movies.

The Sapphire series capitalises on the high definition picture and sound quality available with blu-ray and each Sapphire release will consist of two discs with extensive never-seen-before special features to appease the most demanding of movie fans.

The Sapphire release of Gladiator will be packed to the brim with special features including a cinematic and directors cut with commentary for both versions, the option to ‘tag’ moments of interest throughout the film creating a shopping list of topics to learn about on the second disc, a 200 minute documentary entitled Strength and Honor, a documentary on Gladiator games and much more – and all in glorious high definition!

Rob Moore, Vice Chairman of Paramount Pictures said “It’s absolutely fitting that we’re presenting the best films in the Paramount library on the finest home entertainment format available. Because of Blu-ray’s phenomenal capabilities, the Sapphire Series will deliver the best pictures in the best picture.”

Giant Buyer have an extensive range of Blu-ray players available for you to start enjoying your favourite movies in high definition.

In an attempt to show the versatility of Blu-ray, Sony Picture Home Entertainment announced last week a new application called MovieIQ which is part of their BD Live feature.

This handy feature has been described as “wikipedia for movies” and is a database that provides on demand information regarding anything in the movie being watched from actors to background music. This is guaranteed to appeal to all movie lovers.

In order to access this information, an internet connection and a BD Live enabled blu-ray disc are required to enjoy continuously updated information such as trivia and more. Upcoming blu-ray disc titles released in September including Angels & Demons, Easy Rider, The Quick and the Dead will feature the MovieIQ technology.

Lexine Wong, Senior Executive Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Sony Pictures Home Entertainment said "….We know many people interrupt their movie-watching experience to look up the filmography of an actor or to find out more about a song playing in the background. Now through MovieIQ, movie lovers can dive into constantly-updated information about the movie they are watching without leaving their sofa, further enhancing the experience of watching movies in this always-connected age."

Source & Picture: Engadget

Each year the government compiles a theoretical shopping basket of goods which best reflect the current UK consumers spending habits and for the very first time Blu-ray discs make an appearance.

The Office for National Statistics announced on Monday the outcome of its annual review to reflect changes in lifestyle and the ‘shopping basket’ is split into five categories.  In the technology section the following are included; Freeview Box, MP4 Player, Blu-ray disc, TV rentals and DVD rental internet subscription.

Interestingly, the items removed from the technology section were; MP3 players, DVD film rental, TV, video and DVD rentals!

Samsung have decided to up its game by redefining the traditional bulky blu-ray player to an extremely sleek, slender and speedy slot loading blu-ray player instead.

It is loaded with features including Profile 2.0/BD-Live, Netflix and Pandora streaming, 1GB onboard memory, built-in Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding, "Touch of Color" style accents and 802.11n Wi-Fi via an included USB dongle.

Its one of the flattest blu-ray players on the market at only 38mm thick which makes it ideal for bolting in place beneath a wall mounted television, but is also supplied with a stand for those who prefer their blu-ray players to be placed on a hard surface.

The Samsung BD-P4600 blu-ray player is due to be available in the UK from April 2009.

Certain movies simply are THE perfect showcase to highlight the truly outstanding sound and picture quality achievable  only on a blu-ray disc, and the stunning Warner Bros film The Dark Knight proves this yet again by receiving another accolade to add to its already growing collection!

The Digital Entertainment Group (DEG) Japan have given top honours to The Dark Knight as the number one blu-ray disc in 2008, having previously been awarded by the DEG North America as ‘Best Picture’ in January.

The film which also picked up Best in Picture Quality (Live Action), was commended by the judges (comprising of hardware manufacturers and home entertainment journalists) as having "Outstanding image quality that justifies its acclaim as the 2008 Blu-ray title of the year."

Other winners included The Nightmare Before Christmas for best animated picture quality, Ghost in the Shell for best sound, and Biohazard Degeneration for best Blu-ray interactivity.

Back in December 2008, we reported that LG is planning in launching a 3D TV sometime this year, now Dolby one the top end companies in audio technology wants to bring its digital 3-D cinema technology to the home.

Dolby’s introduced its technology to cinemas in 2007 and it is now used in more than 400 big screens in 24 countries.

Negotiations with content providers have already begun, Dolby wants content providers to encode its digital 3-D technology into Blu-ray movies, by doing this costumers will have no need to buy additional hardware, apart from the need of a 3-D enabled TV.

To watch 3-D entertainment we need to make use of special glasses, there are many types available from simple polarized lenses to fast-moving shutters, Dolby’s technology will support whichever glasses the TV manufacturer specifies.

The digital home 3-D entertainment era is upon us but its progress has been slowed by the lack of standardise technology; many associations are working on ways to help standardise 3-D home entertainment and avoid a 3-D format war like the one we experienced between Blu-ray and HD-DVD.

Dolby presented its technology to the Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers (SMPTE) in September and received positive feedback, Dolby’s approach to 3-D is completely compatible and will not interfere with current standards been used.