With Toshiba's public withdrawal of HD DVD having virtually sealed the fate of the format, rival Sony has made some haste in announcing spanking new Blu-ray Disc Player models; namely, the BDP-S350 and the BDP-S500.
Announcing the Blu-ray Disc players at Sony's product showcase in Las Vegas, Chris Fawcett, vice president (Marketing) of Sony Electronics Home Product Division, said "the new devices bring home movie experience beyond cinema".
Both players support 'Bonus View' for viewing picture-in-picture content, and have external ports for users to add optional storage devices.
Meanwhile, the BDP-S350 is BD-Live capable, and has an Ethernet port for firmware upgrade and access to Internet-based interactive content.
The other player, the BDP-S500 does not require any firmware upgrade to enable interactivity features, and will ship with 1GB of storage.
The S350 and S500 can handle 7.1-channel Dolby TrueHD decoding and bitstream output, as well as DTS-HD Master Audio bistream output. Whereas the S550 adds DTS-HD Master Audio decoding to 7.1 channel analog audio output.
Both players feature 1080/60p and 24p True Cinema output, and are compatible with a wide array of video formats, including BD-R/RE (BDMV and BDAV modes), DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW, CD, CD-R/RW (CD-DA format), and JPEG on DVD/CD recordable media.
Sony said the BDP-S350 will ship this Summer for about $400, while the BDP-S550 will be available this Autumn for around $500.
In a separate announcement, DreamWorks Animation SKG said that it is locked in an exclusive deal to distribute DVDs on Toshiba's HD DVD format, even though the latter plans to quit HD DVD technology.
Explaining further, DreamWorks Chief Executive, Jeffrey Katzenberg, said, "We have a partnership with Toshiba, and have an obligation to see this through. As you know, we have been well-compensated for our support. It really is in their court at this point to really declare what the next step will be. We're poised either way to jump into the marketplace when the conditions are right to do so."
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Sony gives Toshiba something in return for its troubles
Sony gives Toshiba something in return for its troubles -- Japanese Cell chip plants for $835M
A new twist has emerged with the death of HD DVD. After Warner, Best Buy, Walmart and Netflix jumped on the Blu bandwagon, the fate of HD DVD was already sealed.
Despite the grim news, the principal HD DVD developer, Toshiba Corporation, refused to initially comment on its plans for its HD DVD. However, as many analysts predicted, Toshiba came out last week and officially surrendered to Blu-ray.
Many saw Toshiba's willingness to give up on HD DVD as a logical business decision and perhaps an admission of Blu-ray's superiority. However, there might be a little more to the story. Reuters reports that on Wednesday Toshiba and Sony Corporation, one of Blu-ray's principal developers, agreed to a major business deal, reached just after Toshiba made its final HD DVD decision.
Sony agreed to sell it microchip processing facilities in western Japan for approximately $835M USD. These facilities currently produce Cell processors and RSX graphic chips. Toshiba will enter the joint venture with Sony on April 1, 2008.
Toshiba, IBM and Sony were the principal developers of the Cell microprocessor, but Toshiba previously showed little interest in using the chip for any of its own projects. Sony touts the Cell broadband engine in its Playstation 3 consoles; IBM uses the Cell processor in high performance computing clusters. Toshiba has vowed to now use the Cell in its upcoming products.
While Toshiba and Sony entered into talks back in October 2007 and reached a tentative agreement to sell the cell facilities, the two companies continued to haggle about the price. Sony's concession of what is considered a favorable price for Toshiba will likely strike many following Toshiba's drop as HD DVD as more than a coincidence, and perhaps a sign of an informal agreement.
The other interesting aspect of the move is that it indicates a clear shift by Toshiba to back the PS3. The PS3, which last month outsold Microsoft's Xbox 360, previously had few ties to the company; while Microsoft's number one ally in hardware manufacturing has always been Toshiba. Toshiba manufacturers several components for the Xbox 360, including the HD DVD add-on, and the Microsoft Zune MP3 players.
Toshiba's flip-flop may have been in the cards for a while. Microsoft showed little remose as HD DVD took second place to Blu-ray; a move Toshiba must have recognized from its American ally. Now the solidified PS3 venture between Sony and Toshiba indicates that Toshiba now has switched to backing the PS3 almost exclusively, another victory for Sony.
A new twist has emerged with the death of HD DVD. After Warner, Best Buy, Walmart and Netflix jumped on the Blu bandwagon, the fate of HD DVD was already sealed.
Despite the grim news, the principal HD DVD developer, Toshiba Corporation, refused to initially comment on its plans for its HD DVD. However, as many analysts predicted, Toshiba came out last week and officially surrendered to Blu-ray.
Many saw Toshiba's willingness to give up on HD DVD as a logical business decision and perhaps an admission of Blu-ray's superiority. However, there might be a little more to the story. Reuters reports that on Wednesday Toshiba and Sony Corporation, one of Blu-ray's principal developers, agreed to a major business deal, reached just after Toshiba made its final HD DVD decision.
Sony agreed to sell it microchip processing facilities in western Japan for approximately $835M USD. These facilities currently produce Cell processors and RSX graphic chips. Toshiba will enter the joint venture with Sony on April 1, 2008.
Toshiba, IBM and Sony were the principal developers of the Cell microprocessor, but Toshiba previously showed little interest in using the chip for any of its own projects. Sony touts the Cell broadband engine in its Playstation 3 consoles; IBM uses the Cell processor in high performance computing clusters. Toshiba has vowed to now use the Cell in its upcoming products.
While Toshiba and Sony entered into talks back in October 2007 and reached a tentative agreement to sell the cell facilities, the two companies continued to haggle about the price. Sony's concession of what is considered a favorable price for Toshiba will likely strike many following Toshiba's drop as HD DVD as more than a coincidence, and perhaps a sign of an informal agreement.
The other interesting aspect of the move is that it indicates a clear shift by Toshiba to back the PS3. The PS3, which last month outsold Microsoft's Xbox 360, previously had few ties to the company; while Microsoft's number one ally in hardware manufacturing has always been Toshiba. Toshiba manufacturers several components for the Xbox 360, including the HD DVD add-on, and the Microsoft Zune MP3 players.
Toshiba's flip-flop may have been in the cards for a while. Microsoft showed little remose as HD DVD took second place to Blu-ray; a move Toshiba must have recognized from its American ally. Now the solidified PS3 venture between Sony and Toshiba indicates that Toshiba now has switched to backing the PS3 almost exclusively, another victory for Sony.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Did Blu-ray win because of unrelated business deals?
Did Blu-ray win because of unrelated business deals?
Did Sony and Toshiba conspire to kill HD DVD?
Timing may suggest impropriety where there is none, but...
J. Mark Lytle
25 Feb 2008 08:00 GMT
Although we promise not to bore you with too many stories about the demise of HD DVD this week, there's an intriguing conspiracy theory about the Blu-ray victory that's worth a quick look.
It concerns the suggestion that a recent deal done in Japan between Toshiba and Sony was somehow connected to the former's decision to stop making HD DVD hardware.
Chips with everything
In the immediate aftermath of HD DVD's demise, Sony announced the value of a deal that gave Toshiba its chip-making plants in west Japan for over £400 million. The new Toshiba plants will supply Cell processors and graphics chips for the PS3 as well as parts to various Toshiba items.
Although the sale was negotiated last October, the price was not revealed until after Toshiba agreed to give up on its high-definition format.
Conspiracy or coincidence - you decide.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Sony's new Blu-ray players don't beat PS3 Strictly for home cinema enthusiasts
Sony has announced the imminent launch of two new Blu-ray players that will be able to support the latest Profile 2.0 features, including BonusView
(picture-in-picture) and BD-Live.
(picture-in-picture) and BD-Live.
The first of the two new models is the $400 (£200) BD-S350, which is expected to reach the shelves by the summer. Although this model will reportedly ship as a Profile 1.1 player, BD-Live support can be added through a simple firmware update.
The S350 will be followed later in the year by the $500 (£250) BD-S550, which will be both BD-Live and BonusView ready straight from the box.
Both models will come with USB ports for local storage, and the BD-S550 will be supplied with a 1GB HDD. In addition, both players are able to support 1080p and can decode Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus.
The more expensive BD-S550 can also decode DTS-HD High Resolution Audio and Master Audio, and has 7.1-channel analogue outputs. Standard DVD upscaling to 1080p is standard on both players.
Designed for enthusiasts
There's little doubt that both players are designed to appeal primarily to home cinema enthusiasts who might feel ill at ease using a PS3 alongside a heavyweight home cinema system.
However, viewed purely from a value-for-money perspective there is little to recommend either player over a PS3. Especially given the fact that by the time the machines become available the PS3 could cost even less.
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