Home Media Magazine - July 6-12, 2008 - (Page 6)

HIGH-DEF www.homemediamagazine.com Onkyo Joins Blu Camp By Chris Tribbey ormer HD DVD player manufacturer Onkyo is getting on board with Blu-ray Disc, with plans for a player later this year. Specifically tailored to the company’s second-generation high-definition receivers, the company aims to do better with its Blu-ray player than it did with its HD DVD player, which reportedly only sold a few thousand units. Onkyo did not release any further details. “It’s just an announcement that it’s coming,” a company spokesman said. “We didn’t release an SRP, model number or photo.” BRIEFS F Trilogy to Go Blu It hits Blu-ray twice as fast as it took to come out on DVD By Thomas K. Arnold ll three “Godfather” movies are coming to Blu-ray Disc Sept. 23, just two years after the format launched. That’s twice as fast as it took Paramount Home Entertainment to release the acclaimed trilogy on DVD. Both The Godfather and The Godfather, Part II underwent extensive frame-byframe digital restoration that took more than a year to complete and was personally overseen by director Francis Ford Coppola. In addition to those two films, The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration Collection includes a newly remastered version of The Godfather, Part III. The four-disc Blu-ray collection includes an array of new special features, from five documentaries (also presented in high-definition) to a “Godfather” family tree, crime organization chart and four short films on the trilogy. The new extras will be on the fourth disc, along with all the special features included on the trilogy’s initial 2001 DVD release. ‘Godfather’ I PS3 SOFTWARE UPDATE ENHANCES INTERACTIVITY Sony Computer Entertainment America last week disclosed details of its free 2.40 ﬁrmware upgrade — available July 2 — for the PlayStation 3 console that allow users easier interaction with each other, among other features. The ﬁrmware showcases the so-called XMB access in-game feature that allows gamers to communicate with their online friends via messaging, view proﬁles, access the PlayStation network and manage store downloads, including music for personalized background tunes while playing. Users can earn virtual (gold, silver and bronze) trophies and showcase them on their proﬁles. Game titles that offer Trophy support include Buzz! Quiz TV; Little Big Planet; MotorStorm; NBA 2009; Pain; PixelJunk; Resistance; SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation; and Warhawk. Sony Corp. CEO Howard Stringer last week announced plans to bring electronic delivery to Sony’s Bravia TVs and the PS3, The Associated Press reported. Speaking in Tokyo, Stringer said Sony will begin a U.S. service that uses the Internet to deliver feature ﬁlms and TV shows directly to Bravias this fall. Stringer told The AP the ﬁrst ﬁlm on the service will be Hancock, starring Will Smith, and it will be available before it is released on DVD. A similar download service also will be available for the PlayStation 3 in the United States this summer, Kazuo Hirai, head of Sony’s video game unit, told The AP. – Erik Gruenwedel A SAMSUNG LAUNCHES BLU-RAY DISC INFO SITE By Chris Tribbey S amsung has launched a new Blu-ray Disc resource site, with FAQs, comparisons of Blu-ray to upconverting DVD players, new product information, a live chat feature with Samsung Blu-ray specialists and firmware information. Launched in late June, the site also offers a weekly topic on Blu-ray, for both current and prospective owners. “Now that Blu-ray is the future of HD, Samsung recognized the need to develop a single online location where current Bluray owners and those seeking out more information can go to address their Blu-ray needs,” the company said. The site can be found at pages.samsung. com/us/bluraysupport. The “Godfather” films also will be available on standard DVD as The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration DVD Collection, with five discs — including one with the old special features and another with the new. The five documentaries include “Emulsional Rescue — Revealing the Godfather,” which explores the complexities of the restoration process, supervised by the Film Preserve’s Robert Harris (whose credits include Lawrence of Arabia, Spartacus and Vertigo). “The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn’t” takes viewers back to when the first film was in the planning stages, with an unknown director and an unwanted cast, through interviews with most of the living players and many of the film’s admirers. “Godfather World” and “…when the shooting stopped” take a look at the trilogy’s influence on popular culture, while “The Godfather on the Red Carpet” recounts the films’ Oscar moments (the original Godfather won three Academy Awards, including best picture, and was nominated for eight more). I EUROPE NEEDS HD CONTENT High-def content is hard to ﬁnd, but there are plenty of displays ready and waiting in European homes, according to a June 25 report from Screen Digest. The company said that while nearly 20% of European households have highdef displays, only a small portion have HD content coming into it. – Chris Tribbey B LU-R AY D I S C C O M I NG U P STREETING Batman Begins Warner Street Date: 7/8 Batman: Gotham Knight Warner Street Date: 7/8 Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire Image Street Date: 7/8 The Moody Blues: Lovely to Image Street Date: 7/8 The Ruins Paramount Street Date: 7/8 Sleepwalking Anchor Bay Street Date: 7/8 PREBOOKING CJ7 Sony Pictures Toshiba Looking to Upscale DVD Players, Evade Blu-ray By Chris Tribbey oshiba is still on the sidelines while other consumer electronics companies are announcing new Blu-ray Disc players, and that may not change any time soon. In late May, Japanese media outlets reported that the creator of HD DVD was working on a new upscaling DVD player, for release later this year, “capable of producing high-resolution images from regular DVDs.” The player would reportedly upscale DVD images I MITSUBISHI, NVIDIA, ASPEN TO MAKE 3-D HDTVS Mitsubishi Digital Electronics has partnered with Nvidia Corp. and Aspen Media Products to produce 3-D-ready HDTVs. “Mitsubishi, a leader in large-screen HDTV, Nvidia, a major force in the entertainment graphics market, and Aspen Media Products, an innovator in media server technology, have each developed unique technologies that take us to the next level in realizing the dream of 3-D home entertainment,” said David Naranjo, director of product development, Mitsubishi Digital Electronics. – Chris Tribbey T Pre: 7/10, Street: 8/12 to 1080p. Alan Thompson, Toshiba’s European CEO, confirmed the tactic in June, telling media outlets, “At this present time we are not using Blu-ray. Blu-ray is just one of many ways that you can get HD content and is not required for accessing HD content.” Also in June at its Steering Committee meeting, the DVD Forum, which is chaired by Toshiba and oversees the standards for the DVD format, approved a new logo, which has “Download DL” under the standard DVD logo. That’s spurring speculation by technology Web sites that Toshiba is looking at Internet-connected DVD players. Also at the Steering Committee meeting, the Forum approved updated specifications for the Chinese HD DVD format, which would be exclusive to that country. 6 Home Media Magazine July 6–12, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com

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Home Media Magazine - July 6-12, 2008

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