Sony plans cheaper Blu-ray Disc player
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Sony is planning to launch a Blu-ray Disc player in the middle of this year that's significantly cheaper than many current models on the market.
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Company also says upcoming PlayStation 3 will support Blu-ray discs.
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Sony today said it will emphasize a single and more cost effect 40GB model, which excludes backward compatibility.
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Japan's Sony Corp, reeling from a string of production problems, has kicked off its bid for industry dominance in high-definition DVDs with a planned December launch of its new Blu-ray machine.
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Microsoft Corp. said on Wednesday it   would launch an HD DVD player for its Xbox 360 game console on   November 22 in Japan for 20,790 yen ($177), matching rival Sony   Corp.'s PlayStation 3 in high-definition DVD functions.
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Sony Corp  said on Wednesday it  will launch four models of new Blu-ray high-definition optical  disc recorders in November in Japan, as its format battle with  the HD DVD camp heats up.
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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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TOKYO - Proponents of the Blu-ray disc standard for next-generation DVD players plan to release camcorders that will record on smaller versions of the discs as early as 2005, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported Thursday.
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Sony and blue-laser diode maker Nichia have developed a component that they say is vital to realizing support for Blu-ray Disc and DVD discs in portable devices, they announced this week.
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Influx of low-power diodes should help bring down cost of next-gen optical disc players.
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The new models, capable of storing up to 16 hours of high-definition programmes on a dual-layer, 50GB Blu-ray disc, will go on sale on November 8.
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Sony confirms that the $500 version of its PlayStation 3 won't be able to play Blu-ray movies at their full resolution. From the Game|Life blog.
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NEW YORK -- With dominance of the market for high-definition movie discs still up in the air, Sony Corp. said today that it is including a small surprise with the new Blu-ray disc player it is shipping this week: a price tag $100 lower than previously announced.
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Sony will no longer use the standard DVD format in its video recorders, instead moving to Blu-ray Disc for all future models in Japan.
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A new version of the BH200 'Super Blu Player' still costs twice that of stand-alone Blu-ray or HD DVD players.
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Consumer electronics maker Toshiba  Corp  said on Monday it is slashing prices of its HD  DVD format players by between 40 to 50 percent as major  Hollywood studios move to embrace Sony Corp's  Blu-ray  format high definition DVDs.
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Funai coming out with Blu-ray player next year, should increase low-end competition.