PS3 Pad » Blu-Ray

End of HD-DVD could see PS3 sales soar

PS3Boy — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 19:35:44 +0000

Over the past few months a number of retailers have been announcing plans to remove HD-DVD’s from their shelves as they announced Sony’s Blu-Ray as the next-generation winner. One of the UK’s biggest annoucements in recent weeks was that of Woolworths but now US giants such as Wal-Mart have also decided to ditch HD-DVD.

Today, Toshiba announced that HD-DVD’s would cease manufacture

“We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called ‘next-generation format war’ and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop.

“While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality.”

The impact on Sony has been massive.

Experts believe that due to this next-gen format victory, the PS3 will shift an extra 1 million units in the next 9 months.

In the UK alone an estimated 5 million more homes are expected to have High Definition TV’s by the end of the year and retailers will be using Blu-Ray to push these sales. The cheapest Blu-Ray player on the market? That’s right – the PlayStation 3.

Microsoft’s XBox 360 and the Nintendo Wii are now both clearly games machines. The PS3 is the next generation entertainment system.

Despite their late entry in to this war – Sony looks set to have pulled off another masterstroke.

UK retailer confirms Blu-Ray as next-gen winner

PS3 John — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:07:44 +0000

One of the UK’s biggest retailer, Woolworths, has announced today that it will be the first major retailer to completely drop the HD-DVD format from all of its stores nationwide.

Announcements in recent weeks, including the switch to Blu-Ray of several leading film companies, have suggested that the HD DVD was losing the war but today’s announcement is the most serious blow yet in an increasingly one-sided market.

Woolworths stated that over the festive period they were selling 10 Blu-Ray films to every one HD-DVD. According to their figures, around 750,000 homes in the UK are capable of playing Blu-Ray films – the vast majority via their PS3. The number of HD-DVD users is a fraction of this.

The changes will be introduced in March this year in every one of Woolies 820 stores.

PlayStation owners will be smirking today, but history was always on our side. The PlayStation 2 was the single biggest driver of the introduction of the original DVD format and began the revolution which has led to us ditching the VHS video tape.

The next generation format for movies WILL be the Blu-Ray. You can continue building up your collection now here

PS3 System Update 2.10

PS3 John — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 21:55:56 +0000

The latest system software update for the PS3 has moved it one huge step closer to being the ultimate multimedia machine.

Included in the 2.10 version of the new PS3 software is support for DIVX and WMV (Windows Media Video) video files. Both files are abundant on the net and are a popular choice for storing high quality video on PC’s due to their low file size compared to DVD’s.

The change will help Windows PC owners who have Windows Media Player and can now stream many popular file formats to watch on their PS3 without the need for a third party program like Tversity.

Also included in this latest 2.10 update were a voice changing facility (enabling you to change the pitch of your voice for online chat) and improved Blu-Ray menu features.

The Terminator (Blu-Ray)

PS3 John — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 18:28:39 +0000

The Terminator (1984) put James Cameron on the map as a master of action and special effects, while at the same time making Arnold Swarzenegger into the all out action hero star of the the 80′s.Although the budget for the film was low by the standards in those days, Cameron still created a realistic future world for the terminators to fight in before the movie brings you back kicking and screaming to 1984. Scwarzenegger’s larger than life physical presence owes alot to the film, as do his catch phrases which have stood the test of time and are still used now and again in his more recent films. The classic “I’ll be back” was an overnight success and you were hard pressed to make it through an entire week, until someone somewhere would say it.

The Terminator became a sleeper hit, powering it’s cast and director to the forefront of Hollywood action movies. Now re-released on Blu-ray disk the film is sharper and clearer than ever, as it now supports 1080p.

Other features include:-

* 7 deleted scenes
* Creating the terminator: Visual effects and music
* Terminator: A retrospective
* DD 5.1 (cool for sound).

PS3PAD.COM RATING: *****

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