Home Media Magazine - January 27, 2008 - (Page 12) HIGH-DEF www.homemediamagazine.com BluFocus Report: Few Companies, Game Systems Dominate HD Market To Test Blu-rays By Chris Tribbey s Blu-ray Disc specifications are playing catchup, a new company has launched with the sole purpose of making sure Blu-ray Discs work before heading to retailers. Based in Los Angeles, BluFocus said it’s working with several studios and a BD-Live technology developer to test network-enabled features on several discs. “We believe that the testing methodologies currently in place — while appropriate for DVD titles — are not sufficient for Blu-ray Discs,” said Paulette E. Pantoja, founder and CEO of BluFocus. “We address the needs of all of the Blu-ray constituents: studios, authoring facilities, player manufacturers and the emerging developers of Blu-ray Disc tools.” For more information, call 310869-2552, e-mail info@blufocus. com or visit blufocus.com. BRIEFS I DISH HAS HD-ONLY OPTION Beginning Feb. 1, Dish Network will offer an HD-only option. The service includes all the HD channels offered in the DishHD Essential and Ultimate packages, minus premium movie channels and sports packages other than NHL HD and NBA HD. The package goes for $29.99 a month and has more than 70 national channels, with options to add local channels in HD where available. – Chris Tribbey A By Chris Tribbey RESEARCH A new report from research firm DisplaySearch shows North America is home to 80% of the high-definition hardware in the world. But the high-def world is still in its early stages, as it is still dependent on video game consoles that support Blu-ray Disc or HD DVD. The report, “Quarterly Global Next Generation DVD and Game Platform Hardware Shipment and Forecast,” shows that gaming consoles account for a worldwide 85% share of high-def machines, despite aggressive set-top pricing by Toshiba for HD DVD, and lowered set-top prices for Blu-ray. “The market for Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD continues to grow, but our research continues to indicate that this market will face challenges not only in capturing mainstream sales, but also in expanding beyond a hardware ecosystem dominated by primarily only three companies,” said Paul Erickson, director of DVD and high-def market research for DisplaySearch, referring to Sony, Toshiba and Microsoft. “Due to consumer price sensitivity and satisfaction with regular DVD in North America, the substantial growth needed for next-generation DVD to grow beyond a niche market dominated by consoles will require time, persistence and aggressive pricing.” Toshiba held the overall lead in standalone devices worldwide, accounting for 64% more standalone units than all Blu-ray brands combined, during the first three quarters of 2007. Sony, during the same time period, had a 97% overall market share on all Blu-ray players, thanks to the PlayStation 3. I STUDY: PLASMA REBOUNDS Shipments of plasma displays increased 15% to 3 million units in Q3 2007 following successive quarterly declines. The increased shipments of plasma displays come as shipments of plasma HDTVs fell 16.6% and 4.5%, respectively, in Q1 and Q2 2007, according to iSuppli Corp. The company cited increased popularity of LCDs in larger-size screens for the declines. iSuppli analyst Riddhi Patel said plasma manufacturers will continue to focus on developing lower energy units and single-scan technology to reduce costs and stay competitive with LCD. Global plasma display revenue is projected to remain flat at $7.64 billion, compared to $7.63 billion last year. Unit shipments are expected to double to 20.1 million units by 2011, compared to 10 million units in 2006. The average retail price will fall to $380 by 2011, compared to $761 last year. – Erik Gruenwedel Study: Blu-ray Dominates HD DVD in Japan By Erik Gruenwedel hile U.S. consumer electronics retailers remain on the fence about whether to declare a winner in the format war, Japanese consumers appear to have voted Blu-ray champion, according to a new report. A study of 2,300 CE stores conducted by Business Computer News, a Japanese think tank, found that percentage sales of standalone high-definition DVD players increased 20% in November and December, up from 6.1% in October. W The study did not include sales of Sony’s PlayStation 3 video game system, which includes a Blu-ray drive. Of the high-def players sold, Blu-ray represented 90% of sales, followed by HD DVD (Toshiba Corp.) at 4%. Sony BD players represented 60% of sales, followed by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (Panasonic) with 27% and Sharp Corp. with nearly 10%. TOP 10 HIGH-DEF SELLERS H IG H -D EF SELLER S Week ended January 20, 2008 FORMAT LABEL INDEX TOP 10 HIGH-DEF SELLERS HI GH- DE F S E L L E RS Aggregate by Title Week ended January 20, 2008 FORMAT LABEL INDEX TITLE TITLE Daddy Day Camp H I G H -D E F CO M I NG U P STREETING Daddy Day Camp Blu-ray Sony Pictures Street Date: 1/29 The Invasion Blu-ray Warner Street Date: 1/29 King of California BD & HD DVD First Look Street Date: 1/29 Monty Python’s Life … Blu-ray Sony Pictures Street Date: 1/29 Across the Universe Blu-ray Sony Pictures Street Date: 2/5 The Brave One BD & HD DVD Warner Street Date: 2/5 PREBOOKING Bee Movie HD DVD Para./DreamWorks Pre: 1/29, Street: 3/11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Good Luck Chuck 3:10 to Yuma Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End Planet Earth: The Complete Series 300 Ratatouille Superbad Resident Evil: Extinction Blade Runner: Collector’s Edition Mr. Woodcock Blu-ray Blu-ray Blu-ray Blu-ray Blu-ray Blu-ray Blu-ray Blu-ray Blu-ray Blu-ray Lionsgate Lionsgate Disney BBC Video Warner Disney Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Warner Warner 100.00 98.80 64.33 43.35 42.04 41.60 36.42 33.86 33.84 33.48 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Good Luck Chuck 3:10 to Yuma Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End Blade Runner: Collector’s Edition 300 Planet Earth: The Complete Series Ratatouille Superbad Resident Evil: Extinction Mr. Woodcock Blu-ray Lionsgate Blu-ray Lionsgate Blu-ray Disney BD; HD DVD Warner BD; HD DVD/DVD Warner BD; HD DVD BBC Video Blu-ray Disney Blu-ray Sony Pictures Blu-ray Sony Pictures Blu-ray Warner 100.00 98.80 64.33 49.65 49.14 43.35 41.60 36.42 33.86 33.48 Source: Nielsen VideoScan First Alert data Source: Nielsen VideoScan First Alert data TOP 5 HIGH-DEF BLU-R AY D ISC Week ended January 20, 2008 LABEL INDEX TOP 5 HIGH-DEF HD DVD Week ended January 20, 2008 LABEL INDEX TITLE TITLE 1 2 3 4 5 Good Luck Chuck 3:10 to Yuma Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End Planet Earth: The Complete Series 300 Lionsgate Lionsgate Disney BBC Video Warner 100.00 98.80 64.33 43.35 42.04 1 2 3 4 5 The Kingdom The Bourne Ultimatum Transformers Blade Runner: Collector’s Edition Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Universal 100.00 Universal 98.33 Para./DreamWorks 80.92 Warner 63.37 Warner 47.87 Source: Nielsen VideoScan First Alert data Source: Nielsen VideoScan First Alert data 12 Home Media Magazine January 27–February 2, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://blufocus.com
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