Netflix says chooses Blu-ray format over HD DVD
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Online video rental company Netflix  Inc  said on Monday it would exclusively stock Blu-ray  high-definition DVDs after a decision by some the world's  biggest movie studios in favor of the Sony Corp   developed format.
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Warner Brothers, the only studio to back both high-definition video disk formats, now will only publish movies in Blu-ray. Some say this shift will quickly kill the competing HD DVD format.
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DVD rental company Netflix   on Wednesday said it was developing a set-top box with LG  Electronics  to let subscribers watch movies  streamed directly from the Web to their TVs.
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The retailer turns its download service, which accounts for roughly 40 percent of all DVD sales, over to Netflix after its software provider, Hewlett-Packard, discontinues its own merchant-store service.
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(InfoWorld) - Visitors to the IFA consumer electronics show, which opens Friday in Berlin, will have ringside seats to the war over high-definition disc formats raging between Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD. As the two formats duel for the title of successor to current DVD movie discs, many European consumers haven't decided which kind of player they will buy. "Everyone is waiting for IFA where many new products are expected to be announced," said Frank Simonis, chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association. Both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc have sold in lower quantities in Europe than in other regions and prices are still relatively high, between â¬599 (US$814 ) and â¬899, according to Simonis. Currently, five manufacturers have launched Blu-ray Disc players in Europe, including Sony Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic). Five additional vendors are expected to launch Blu-ray Disc players at IFA, while companies with players already in the market plan to introduce devices with new features, Simonis said. Many of the manufacturers are major suppliers of HDTV sets and hope to leverage that expertise to "accelerate the adoption of Blu-ray Disc," he said. The format has received a big boost from its use in Sony's PlayStation 3 games console, with sales of more than 1.4 million units in Europe, according to Simonis. The HD DVD camp is also bringing new wares to IFA, according to Frank Eschholz, business development manager of HD DVD products at Sony Deutschland GmbH. "There will be new devices and new features and more." Both types of players are designed with many of the same components inside and offer many of the same features, according to Simonis. But one of Blu-ray Disc's key benefits is its ability to store up to 50G bytes of data, he said. "Studios want to pack a bunch of extras onto discs in addition to the movies, and Blu-ray Disc allows them to do so," he said. The Blu-ray Disc camp, however, was jolted when Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation announced last week that they would align themselves exclusively with the HD DVD high-definition format. The decision comes at a time when market indicators have been pointing to competitor Blu-ray Disc as having the lead. In addition to next-generation movie-disc players, visitors to this year's IFA can expect to see plenty of HDTV sets, camcorders, digital cameras, MP3 players and notebook computers. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. will introduce new products in all those categories, according to a spokeswoman. The company may launch two handsets as well, she said. Sony has decided to return to IFA after its absence last year, with plans to exhibit new Blu-ray Disc players, new Walkman music players and HDTV sets, according to a spokeswoman. More information about IFA -- the letters stand for Internationale Funkausstellung, although the full name is rarely used these days -- is available at the show's Web site .
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LG Electronics and Netflix will work to develop a set-top box that can stream movies over the Internet directly onto a television screen, the companies announced Thursday.Netflix, best known for its mail-order DVD rental service, began offering a&#160;video-on-demand service&#160;for impatient movie buffs last year. That service, though, only plays movies on a PC, and with 6,000 titles available for download offers a more limited selection than the 90,000 Netflix offers by mail.The new streaming service will allow customers to watch on a high-definition television, using a networked set-top box that LG plans to ship later this year, the companies said.While Netflix seems keen to invest more in download services, other players are pulling out. U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart Stores closed down its video download service last month, less than a year after introducing it.Wal-Mart used Windows Media Player to wrap its video files in a DRM (digital rights management) layer so that they will only play on the PC to which they were downloaded, or on certain portable media players. Now that the service is closed, customers cannot move their videos to a new PC, according to the service&#39;s Web site.Macrovision, a software developer specializing in DRM systems, is also hoping to play a role in the market for downloads direct to the television screen. Movie download service CinemaNow will use Macrovision&#39;s DRM to prevent copying of its content downloaded directly to set-top boxes or digital television sets, the companies announced Thursday.
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SAN FRANCISCO -- Online DVD rental pioneer Netflix Inc. is lowering the price of its two most popular subscription plans by a $1 per month, relinquishing millions of dollars in revenue in an attempt to regain the upper hand in a cutthroat battle with Blockbuster Inc.
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BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The European Commission said Tuesday it has asked several Hollywood studios to explain why they have chosen either the Blue-ray disc or HD DVD format for movie discs to see if they are breaking EU rules that bar companies from shutting out rivals.
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While the Xbox currently supports Toshiba's HD DVD format, a Microsoft official today said the company would consider changing over to Blu-ray if consumers want it.
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Online DVD rental company Netflix  Inc  on Tuesday said it is considering a broad range of  options as part of its strategy to allow subscribers to  download movies from the Internet.
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TOKYO/NEW YORK  - U.S. video rental chain  Blockbuster Inc.  has come out in favor of the Blu-ray  DVD format disc, tipping the balance against the rival HD DVD  in the battle over next-generation discs.
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General Electric Co's   Universal Pictures, one of a few studios using the Toshiba  Corp-backed (6502.T) HD DVD format, said on Tuesday it will  switch to the rival Blu-ray format now that Toshiba has  officially pulled the plug on HD DVD.
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Warner Brothers is dumping HD DVD and going Blu-ray exclusively. Does this spell the end of the format war?
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The Blu-ray win means consumers seeking sharper movies on high-definition DVDs no longer have to choose between rival incompatible formats and run the risk of being stuck with a 21st century equivalent of Betamax.
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The European Commission said Tuesday it has asked several Hollywood studios to explain why they have chosen either the Blue-ray disc or HD DVD format for movie discs to see if they are breaking EU rules that bar companies from shutting out rivals.
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InfoWorld - Stating that the industry has already picked a winner in the battle of next-generation DVD superiority, Netflix announced Monday that it will stock only Blu-ray discs and drop the HD DVD format. Since the first high-definition DVDs came on the market in early 2006, Netflix has offered both formats.
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SAN FRANCISCO  Â DVD-by-mail service Netflix Inc. will begin delivering movies and other programming directly to televisions later this year through a set-top box that will pipe entertainment over a high-speed Internet connection.