Blu-ray scores major new supporter
- Posted September 9th, 2007 at 07:43 EDT by
- 15 Comments
Today, Asus joined hands with Sony to support its Blu-ray format. Along with being a supporter, Asus announced a multi-format DVD writer that includes the ability to play BD media.
Asus’s Blu-ray disc drive, known as BC-1205PT, is an internal SATA drive for PCs. It will of course handle DVD-ROM writing duties, along with CD-R/RW. It will be able to burn DVD±R/RW media at a speed of 12x and dual-layered discs at 4x. Unfortunately, it will only read BD-ROMs (at 5x) and won’t be able to write to BD-R or BD-RE media. According to Asus the drive is good for "high-resolution movie playback". But, in order to watch movies, users will need compatible BD playback software. A release date on Asus's new drive has yet to be announced.
Dell's very own Tom Pratt, a Technology Strategist, believes that Blu-ray is needed for the expansion of the PC platform in a rising digital home. One of the positive outcomes of Blu-ray is that it can store huge data files that are becoming more common with games and movies.
"For instance, a feature film can be distributed on one Blu-ray Disc with plenty of room for additional content such as out-takes and interactive games. Play the disc in the PC Blu-ray Disc drive and view high-definition video, as well as expanded interactive features that take advantage of the PC's connection to the Internet. The Blu-ray Disc can present interactive content, including games, information about the movie, and downloadable subtitles, sounds, and just-released movie trailers that can be saved to the PC's hard drive." said Pratt.
Most major computer manufacturers are choosing Blu-ray as a primary disc drive, as opposed to HD-DVD.
According to Pratt, "there was no PC industry involvement in HD-DVD development to address data storage capabilities. Blu-ray Disc technology is superior because it meets all the requirements for next-generation removable storage. It has higher storage capacity, a richer feature set, can be used for data storage and high-definition content delivery, and allows for backward compatibility with CDs and DVDs. It also has broad industry support and well-defined formats, which will help to avoid the compatibility issues associated with previous removable storage transitions. With these strengths, Dell believes that Blu-ray Disc technology is likely to dominate for the next decade or more.”
We've listed some of the supporters in each camp below:
Blu-ray:
Warner Bros.
Disney (Buena Vista)
Fox
Lionsgate
MGM
Sony Pictures
New Line
Dell-PC
Asus-PC
HD-DVD:
Warner Bros.
Paramount
Universal Studios
The Weinstein Company
First Look
Dreamworks
Dimension
New Line
Currently, Blu-ray appears to be outperforming HD-DVD. Part of this success is attributed to the PlayStation 3, which can play Blu-ray movies, and also to the superior movie studio support the format has.
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Staticneuron |
Staticneuron- 11:48am BST - September 9th, 2007
- 4
New line a is subsidiary of Time Warner. And warner supports both formats.
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franckribery07
- 2:25pm BST - September 9th, 2007
- 6
good news. let´s hope that some companys that are with HD-DVD quikly understand that bluray is the dominating tecnology. by the way, a price cut of the bluray movies wouldn´t be bad at all ;)
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JD-82 |
JD-82- 11:07pm BST - September 9th, 2007
- 11
Price Cut on Blu-Ray movies? considering you can nip into Asda and buy, for example, Wild Hogs on Blu-Ray for about £18 or £19 and the DVD copy is only £14 or so it's not that big a leap...given time the Blu_Ray priced will drop the same way DVD prices did...anyone remeber the double sided copies of Face Off that were sold for about £25??? I have one upstairs...
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debamf
- 10:42am BST - September 13th, 2007
- 15
Believe it or not but many blu-ray movies are cheaper than HD-DVD movies on Amazon anyway. I suppose HD-DVD are more expensive because the lack of sales?
If you wad to really get the full list of backers for both formats you see that not only does the blu-ray show up HD-DVD but also has the better companies on board. Sony and Panasonic are the top 2 biggest electronic companies iin the world and they both support blu-ray exclusively. So if we talk about quality next-gen players, the best will be from these 2. I think Philips, sharp and many other top companies support blu-ray exclusively?
I haven't shopped or browsed for blu-ray or HD-DVD but I can imagine if you go in a store and the shelf for blu-ray players and HD-DVD players stand next to each other. On HD-DVD there are Toshiba models and on the blu-ray shelf you have Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, Philips, LG, Pioneer, oh you see a Samsung blu-ray/HD-dvd player. So much more of a selection which is also important for the consumer who favour a certain manufacturer, like my dad loves Sony and loves Philips, my mate loves LG.
What about all those ther manufactures bringing blu-ray players? Sharp, JVC, Denon, Hitachi, Acer to name a few.
I have seen a Samsung blu-ray player for just over £260 on one of those price comparing sites. I think there was a Sony one for £299 I think.
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