John’s Tech News

A Blu-ray win over HD-DVD in the bloody format war hasn’t translated into a sales victory for the next generation DVD technology.
A recent study by the NPD Group has shown that Blu-ray sales only increased by 2 percent from February to March and that Blu-ray sales dropped 40 percent from January to February.
That’s a big [...]

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Dell (Dell) this week introduced a notebook with a Blu-ray disc player for less than $1,000, and has dropped the price of some of its high-end XPS models by $699.Dell is offering its Blu-ray Inspiron 1525 for $879 at a time when consumers are expected to embrace high-definition DVDs, now that Sony-backed Blu-ray has won [...]

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Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and Sony officials are in talks that could lead to a version of the Xbox video game console equipped with a Blu-ray high-definition DVD player.
Sony Electronics U.S. president Stan Glasgow revealed the discussions at a media dinner Thursday in San Francisco, according to an account of the event published by London’s Financial [...]

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Reuters has just confirmed that Circuit City will take back your HD DVD player if it was purchased within 90 days in exchange for a Blu-ray Player. Just remember that most Blu-ray players will be more expensive than the HD DVD player you bought, so plan on spending more than you originally anticipated for a [...]

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Sony announced two new BD-Live (Profile v2.0) ready Blu-ray players, priced at $400 and $500. The BDP-S350, which will ship sometime in the summer for $400, will feature 1080p24/60 output via HDMI, one Ethernet port and decoding of 7.1 Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD.
The high-end BDP-S550, which will ship this fall, will cost $500 [...]

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“The war is over, and Blu-Ray won,” says Netflix vice president Steve Swasey, in response to Toshiba’s recent decision to discontinue the production of HD-DVD hardware.
Netflix didn’t drive the nail into the format’s coffin, but its decision to drop support shortly after Warner’s abandonment certainly didn’t help matters. The fact that the world’s largest online [...]

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Blu-ray won’t enjoy the same decade-long dominance DVD did after it succeeded VHS. But that’s not because there will be other challenger physical disc formats. Rather, instead of buying discs from Amazon, Best Buy or Wal-Mart, people will begin getting their entertainment in the form of digital downloads in larger volumes.

The studios backing Blu-ray already [...]

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Toshiba has halted production of HD DVD players and recorders and is close to making a decision on whether to throw in the towel on the high-definition movie disc format, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported Saturday evening.
The decision, which NHK said will likely cost the company several tens of billions of dollars, is being made [...]

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Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) says it will begin in early March recommending Blu-ray disc players and other products that support the Sony-backed high-definition video format, dealing another big blow to the competing HD DVD format backed by Toshiba.
The consumer electronics retailer said it would prominently showcase Blu-ray hardware, DVD titles, and software products in its [...]

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In yet another coup for the burgeoning high-definition DVD format, online DVD rental service Netflix Monday said it will stock high-def movies exclusively in Blu-ray.
For Netflix, that means no more discs in HD DVD, the format spearheaded by Toshiba. Netflix has been stocking high-def movies in both formats since early 2006, but said in a [...]

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