VIDEO

by Al Griffin

High-Def on Disc

In last year's CES wrap-up, we reported that the HD DVD and Blu-ray high-definition disc formats would arrive by the end of 2005. But neither launch came to pass, delayed by things like unresolved copy-protection issues and persistent requests from HP that Blu-ray incorporate Microsoft's iHD interactive layer. Undeterred by the initial stumbles, both the HD DVD Promotion Group and the Blu-ray Disc Association used this year's show to announce the launch of the formats all over again.

HD DVD The first high-def disc players scheduled to hit the street will be Toshiba's $799 HD-XA1 HD DVD player and its $499 little brother, the HD-A1. Both were expected to be available through Amazon.com, Sears, Crutchfield, Tweeter, Best Buy, and others as early as March. RCA and Sanyo plan to release similarly priced HD DVD models by the end of this year. Meanwhile, Microsoft announced that an external HD DVD drive for its Xbox 360 console will appear sometime in '06, and Toshiba previewed a Qosmio notebook PC (shown above) with a built-in HD DVD drive. No price yet, but the company expects the PC to ship in March.

The HD DVD Promotion Group announced that nearly 50 movie titles will be released to coincide with the format's March hardware launch, and up to 200 are expected by the end of 2006 - but these numbers might be optimistic. Titles slated for this spring from Warner, Paramount/Dreamworks, Universal, HBO, and New Line include Batman Begins, Million Dollar Baby, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The Matrix, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Goodfellas, and The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

Blu-Ray Disc News about Blu-ray Disc players was surprisingly slim at CES, with companies like Sony, Panasonic, Philips, LG, and Sharp showing nameless units scheduled to appear by this summer. But a couple of companies were more specific about their plans. Samsung said its BD-P1000 ($1,000, shown below) would ship in April, while Pioneer promised its Elite BDP-HD1 ($1,800) for May. Unfortunately, Sony made no concrete announcements about PlayStation 3. With built-in Blu-ray playback capability, the next-generation game console is expected to be a low-cost alternative to pricey standalone players.

HD DVD might be getting a head start, but there's no denying the power of the studios supporting Blu-ray - a large group that includes Buena Vista (Disney, Miramax, Touchstone, Hollywood, Dimension), Sony (Columbia TriStar, MGM, UA), Lions Gate, and 20th Century Fox. (Warner and Paramount/Dreamworks are supporting both formats.) It's not clear how many releases will be available when the first Blu-ray players arrive, but the studios expect to issue 100 titles by the end of this year. Included in that batch are Kill Bill: Vol. 1, T2: Judgment Day, House of Flying Daggers, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Fantastic Four.