NEC is banking on the world’s first chip that combines signal processors with memory that controls graphics, audio and other functions to double its sales of Blu-ray hardware in the next two years.
The company expects the EMMA3PF chip to raise its revenue from Blu-ray products to US$378 million in the year ending March 2011.
NEC plans to increase its share of Blu-ray products by offering deep price cuts, which other companies have started and are necessary for the market to grow.
High Definition TV News
Sony has signed up the major studios, including Fox, Disney and Warner, to offer HD movies on its US download service.
The downloads can be transferred from the console to the Play Station Portable handheld device.
This latest development follows Microsoft’s announcement that it will add a NetFlix movie streaming service to its XBox 360 video game console.
The continuing rivalry between the console makers is good news for consumers.
Sony’s Play Station 3, with its integrated Blu-ray disc (BD) player, has given many millions of consumers their first taste of the high definition format.
But hopes that the makers of the video game console would give Blu-ray a further boost have been dashed by Sony Chairman Howard Stringer.
The Sony chief claims Microsoft’s decision to cut the price of its Xbox 360 by US$50 is evidence that it’s falling behind the PS3 in overall sales.
Warner Home Video is to launch aggressive pricing initiatives for the fourth quarter of 2008, including its most comprehensive Blu-ray Disc promotion yet.
From September and continuing into the first-quarter of 2009, Warner will offer a Blu-ray point-of-sale rebate programme in which retailers will be able to order participating catalogue titles for around US$11.
The strategy could result in Blu-ray discs at retail being on a par with current DVD prices.
Eurosport could be returning to UK screens after a three year gap if negotiations currently being held with Sky are succesful.
The sports network is expected to add its HD channel to the Sky HD platform within the next few days.
It is understood to be currently testing at 28 degrees East alongside Eurosport News.
A Eurosport spokesman said: “We’ve been negotiating with Sky and are very keen to launch our service in the UK.”
New York-based cable operator Cablevision is to add mainstream HD channels including Discovery, Viacom Inc’s Nickelodeon, FX, FOX News, AMC and The Weather Channel to its line-up in an increasingly competitive market.
The addition of 15 more channels brings its HD offering up to 60 channels.
Cablevision says that more than 1.1 million of its digital cable subscribers have at least one high-definition TV and HD-enabled set-top box.
The digital revolution is sweeping the UK but viewers appear unwilling to pay for the limited range of HD channels on offer.
UK households with digital televisions as their main set now account for 87.2 per cent of the total, according to a study by Ofcom.
The survey by the independent communications industry regulator reveals how the digital TV market is divided up between the three main forms – digital terrestrial television (DTT), satellite and cable television.
Emmerdale has become the British network ITV’s first soap production to be recorded in high def.
It joins Channel 4’s Hollyoaks and the BBC’s Doctors, while the long-running Coronation Street is expected to make the change from SD shortly.
The show’s stars were reportedly concerned about the transition, worried that the new HD video would draw attention to facial wrinkles.
Belkin have announced a wireless HD transmitter that gives 1080p resolution to any HDTV in the home.
The Flywire HDMI hub wirelessly connects devices such as Blu-ray players, receivers, video-game consoles, and set-top boxes to HDTVs and projectors, transmitting a high-definition 1080p True Cinema picture resolution.
BY 2015 nobody will refer to “high definition” TV because HD will be the standard form of free television everywhere.
But the HD broadcast offering in Europe will largely remain patchy during the intervening transition period, according to a report by Screen Digest.
The study says HDTV will mainly develop as a pay TV product in Europe over the next five years – and mostly as a satellite product.