Universal Announces Blu-ray Audio Plans

 

universal For those worried that formerly HD DVD-exclusive studio Universal planned to limit their Blu-ray audio to the Dolby Digital+ found on many of the company's HD DVD offerings, have no fear.

Universal announced today that they intend to use DTS-HD MA on ALL Blu-ray releases, providing both lossless audio for those so set up and 1.5Mbps DTS tracks for those without the equipment.

Universal didn't specifically mention what video codec they would be using for their Blu-ray releases, or if the initial titles would be direct ports of their HD DVD releases, but the inclusion of lossless audio certainly bodes well for viewers.

Source

Paramount Back in the Blu!

 

Paramount For those shocked that Universal actually got onboard the Blu-ray train before Paramount returned, well there's some good news today... Paramount has not only announced their return, but will be streeting new titles even before Universal joins the Blu-ray ranks.

New titles announced by Paramount:

May 20:

  • Bee Movie
  • Face/Off
  • Next
  • Blades of Glory

June 3:

  • There Will Be Blood
  • Cloverfield

June 24:

  • The Spiderwick Chronicles

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Universal Announces Initial Blu-ray Line-up!

 

universal Well, the day everyone has been waiting for is here!  Universal Pictures has finally announced their initial slate of Blu-ray Disc releases, starting later this summer.

The first Universal titles to hit Blu-ray are currently scheduled to be The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, and The Scorpion King, all to be released on July 22.  The first day-and-date title announced is Doomsday.  The hit TV series Heroes is scheduled to make it's Blu-ray debut on August 26, with the simultaneous release of seasons 1 and 2.

Additional day-and-date titles announced for release this year include The Incredible Hulk, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Wanted, Mama Mia!, and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emporer.

Catalog titles promised for release this year include American Gangster, Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Miami Vice, U-571, and Land of the Dead.

Making today's announcement was none other than Universal Studios Home Entertainment President (and former HD DVD shill) Craig Kornblau... who undoubtedly is getting a stomache ache from having to eat so much crow.

PS3 DTS-HD HR and DTS-HD MA Decoding Arrives!

 

230 If there was any doubt that the PS3 is the most capable Blu-ray Disc player currently on the market, the latest System Software Update (version 2.30) has enabled DTS-HD HR and DTS-HD MA decoding within the the system.

This update allows for lossless decoding of titles (primarily Fox titles) that use the DTS-HD MA compression algorithm within the PS3.  The sound is converted to uncompressed PCM to be sent via HDMI connection to compatible receivers.

This update makes the PS3 far-and-away the most capable Blu-ray player on the market, allowing for the decoding of ALL advanced audio codecs while retaining BonusView (Profile 1.1) and BD-Live (Profile 2.0) capabilities already released in previous updates.

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Interview with SCE Engineers

 

ps3upright In case you weren't convinced that the PS3 was the Blu-ray disc player to get, AV Watch has a new interview with SCE engineers where they discuss the current system software release as well as features that will be upcoming in the major summer update due to hit around June of this year.

As for the current release, 2.20, support was added for LTH (low-to-high) BD-R discs, which should enable cheaper recordable discs to be released soon.  The update also added BD-Live (profile 2.0) functionality to the PS3's already excellent list of Blu-ray features.

For DVD upscaling, mosquito noise reduction was added to allow better scaling of noisy sources, and the other existing filters were improved to allow for better scaling of DVD discs.

The most exciting news, though, was of what is now expected to come.  The engineers confirmed that both DTS-HD MA decoding and 1080i deinterlacing would be coming in a future update.

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KU Wins!!!!

 

ku Although this has nothing to do with the topics I normally post about, as a Kansas City area resident, and a former KU student, I have a moral obligation to post this...

KU WINS MEN's NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT!!!!

God, it feels great to say that again!  If you missed the final game between Kansas and Memphis, you missed a hell of a game.  Though KU was ahead for much of the game, they were down by 9 with a little over 2 minutes left.  A changed call, no small amount of luck, and an amazing run later, and they tied the game with less than 2 seconds left on the clock.  In overtime, KU ran all over Memphis... and the rest, as they say, is history.  I can finally replace my 1988 Tournament Champions shirts with some that are a bit more up to date.

Please excuse the drunken stupor I will likely be in for any posts coming in the next few days.

Neilson Videoscan Blu-ray vs. DVD Results for Week Ending 3/30/2008

 

I stopped posting the Blu-ray vs. HD DVD Nielson VideoScan data as soon as HD DVD officially called it quits.  There really is no point in beating a dead horse, after all.  The real battle now for Blu-ray is to take on standard DVD, which is in nearly every home in U.S. and in the majority of homes worldwide.  This battle will certainly be far more difficult than beating HD DVD, but the sales data will actually be far more relevant as to how quickly Blu-ray is being adopted... and whether or not DVD sales are slowing as a result.

Comparing Blu-ray sales data to total DVD sales data is no easy task, however.  The sheer volume of DVDs available in the retail market makes it nearly impossible to hypothesize with any accuracy how many total DVD discs are sold in any given week.  Thus, Nielson VideoScan has chosen to compare only the Top 20 selling DVDs to the Top 20 Blu-ray Discs to track Blu-ray vs. DVD sales.  While this method results in interesting results for comparing the top selling discs on both formats, it is inherently biased towards Blu-ray as it is comparing an equal number of titles on both formats.  Whilst Blu-ray has nearly 500 titles released in the U.S., DVD has tens of thousands of released titles.

Still, here are the results:

nielson 3-30

Source: Nielson VideoScan via www.homemediamagazine.com

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