Posted by asj on 06/20/06 18:32

Notes on initial responses to Samsung blu-ray launch, people already
buying players before content, and Java BD-J authoring of Blu-ray discs

* Posted while eating late lunch on Nokia 9300 and Opera Mini Java
browser.


http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Sony/Samsung/Hardware/Blu-ray_Assault_to_Begin_Samsung_Proclaims_Incredible_Pre-Sales/111

Blu-ray Assault to Begin; Samsung Proclaims 'Incredible' Pre-Sales

After months of speculation, excitement and street date delays, the
Blu-ray
format is set to launch over the next week amid a flurry of marketing
hype
for the format's first player and discs.

Samsung began shipping its first stand-alone Blu-ray disc player, the
BD-P1000, to stores last week in anticipation for its on-sale street
date of
June 25. Sony will prime the pump for the player's debut by issuing
its
first seven Blu-ray disc titles tomorrow, June 20; Lionsgate will
launch its
support for Blu-ray with another six titles on June 27.

Samsung plans to have its player in over 2,000 storefronts nationwide,
including such major chains as Best Buy and Circuit City. In
conjunction
with Sony, the companies will also provide demo players and discs to
retailers to offer side-by-side comparisons with rival HD DVD in order
to
subjectively sell the format to potential consumers.

The electronics manufacturer also claims that interest in the BD-P1000
and
Blu-ray so far has been strong. "Pre-orders have been incredible,"
Samsung
spokesman Jose Cardona told Video Business.


---------------------------------------------

http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/06/20/sony_pictures_blu-ray_movies_today/

With Toshiba having launched its HD-A1 and HD-XA1 HD DVD videodisc
players
in April, Samsung is preparing to be the first brand to formally
launch a
competitive Blu-ray Disc player in North America, with its BD-P1000
set to
premiere on Sunday. Despite that firm date, customers nationwide are
already reporting having purchased BD-P1000s from Best Buy store
shelves -
just sitting there nonchalantly like any other DVD player, as if shelf
stockers didn't know the difference. But today, those early adopters
will
finally be able to play real BD media - not just upconverted SD media
- as
Sony Pictures releases the first batch of BD movies today.

Video outlets today should already have received, and will likely have
displays ready for, 50 First Dates (Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore),
Hitch
(Will Smith), House of Flying Daggers, the original Terminator, the
sci-fi
"new cult classic" The Fifth Element (Bruce Willis), Underworld
Evolution,
and XXX (the film, not the rating). One title, A Knight's Tale,
originally
scheduled for release today, is being pushed back to 25 July. The
high-energy motorcycle violence film Ultraviolet joins the line-up
next
Tuesday. Lion's Gate Home Entertainment is due to follow up next
Tuesday
with the BD releases of 2006 Best Picture Crash, Terminator 2:
Judgment Day,
the horror flick Saw, Lord of War (Nicholas Cage), and the Marvel
Comics
vigilante piece The Punisher.

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Java: Brave New Disc-Authoring World
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,126163,00.asp

Blu-ray Disc relies on BD-Java (BD-J) for its disc-authoring
environment;
HD DVD uses Microsoft's XML-based iHD, or Internet High Definition. "I
think
BD-J is better future-proofed," says Eklund. "But it is complex," and
implementing it properly will take more time, he says.

The switch to BD-J required adding programmers and engineers to the
disc-production mix.
BD-J has two different profiles. Sony's first content will be in what
Eklund
refers to as BD-MV, or "movie mode." "The menus will still be quite
different than what you're accustomed to with DVD," he promises.
"BD-MV is a
powerful format for creating interactive menus, and it will give a
better,
more seamless experience than what users are getting from DVD. You
don't
have to jump around between menu pages as you do with DVD. We use a
graphics
layer to present all of the text information, so you don't have to go
back
and access the disc in order to access the menus. We also have a tool
called
a pop-up menu that the user can use to access disc features during the
movie's playback, so, for example, you can get to a commentary track."

As powerful as BD-MV is, it has its limitations. "We are currently
still
investigating how we're going to author picture-in-picture content,"
says
Eklund. "But I'm sure we will be exploring that later on in the year."

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