The Blu-ray group have announced that they still plan to launch its format next spring as well as unveil plans at January's CES show. Members of the Blu-ray camp plan on showing off Blu-ray's interactive features at the CES show such as Internet connectivity, games, subtitles and so on. So far, most of the major movie studios already back Blu-ray even though it will initially be more costly than HD DVD in the beginning due to requiring new expensive equipment and more costly materials to produce Blu-ray discs.
Besides high definition content, the Blu-ray format will also contain other features such as potentially offer the ability top order films or purchase content using the discs. Another possible feature includes the ability to lock content such that consumers cannot view certain content until the studios later enable it. For example the studios could release movies still in the theatre on Blu-ray, but prevent consumers from watching them until they officially hit the home viewing market. This feature could also be used to offer 'pay-per-view' type shows and movies on Blu-ray. Thanks to both Hypnosis4U2NV and jef195 for letting us know about the following news:
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"We're sticking with the spring timeframe," Andy Parsons, a spokesman for the Sony-led consortium, said at a demonstration Tuesday of the new high-capacity DVD format. Blu-Ray is vying with a competing format known as HD DVD, championed by a group led by Toshiba. "At CES, you're likely to hear some announcements from a number of companies as to when you'll see our products on the market," Parsons told a group of analysts, industry members and reporters gathered at the product demonstration at News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox lot. CES takes place in Las Vegas. Sony's Blu-ray disc technology appears to be the front-runner in the multibillion-dollar race to develop next-generation DVDs, which movie studios and consumer electronics manufacturers hope will ignite sales for the home video sector, which has shown signs of a slowdown recently. |
It will be interesting to see the consumer's reaction to how the Blu-ray format will potentially offer the ability to have certain discs controlled by the studios. This reminds me of the extinct DIVX format which had this capability and failed to catch on. If this is put to use with rentals, while this eliminates the issue of damaged discs as well as late return fees, this will likely upset consumers who are conscious about the environment, since chances are that most consumers will simply throw the discs out after watching them, just like some may do with the self-destructing Flexplay DVDs.
Feel free to discuss about the Blu-ray format on our Satellite, HD-TV, Blu-ray and HD-DVD Forum. jef195 wrote: Locking up Movies:= Fun 🙂
Source: c|net News - Media 2.0
