NAND flash revenue in two key applications – Solid State Drives (SSDs) and Video Capture from Digital Video Cameras (DVCs) – will see compound annual growth rates (CAGR) of over 100 per cent through 2012, according to In-Stat.
The analysts said this will overcome some of the weaknesses in other segments of the NAND flash market and drive overall growth to 30 per cent CAGR.
This year’s Home Media Expo has been cancelled after a 27-year run as a result of the current economic conditions.
With the financial situation worsening, the technology event is unlikely to be the only casualty among industry tradeshows.
US consumer spending on packaged home entertainment – rental and sales of DVD and high-def disc formats – fell by 5.5 per cent in 2008, to USD $22.4 billion, according to the Digital Entertainment Group.
Spending on DVD purchases fell more dramatically than the total, declining by 9 per cent, to about USD $14.5 billion, and the shipment of DVD units was down almost 15 per cent in 2008 to 1.4 Billion
LG Electronics has announced the first broadband-enabled HDTVs with Netflix streaming software embedded directly in the set.
The new LCD and plasma “broadband HDTVs” will be able to show Netflix’s library of movies, TV episodes and HD content directly on the set without needing an external device.
Japan-based Infinity Storage Media has launched the first Blu-ray / DVD hybrid disc.
The disc sports a single-layer of Blu-ray (25GB) on one side and a conventional dual-layer DVD (8.5GB) on the other.
The latest survey from SmithGeiger shows that HDTV owners would rather watch movies on Blu-ray Disc than stream content directly to their TV.
Well, hardly any surprise there. There’s never been any doubt about the phenomenal quality of Blu-ray images – but that still doesn’t seem to be translating into sales.
Even with price drops in the US of between USD $200 and $300, the HD players aren’t rushing off the shelves.
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The Photo Archival Company has launched a new archiving service that stores digital camcorder footage to Blu-ray Disc or DVD.
Charles Laughlin, president and founder of The Photo Archival Company, said it would unlock millions of hours of video.
Iron Man is quickly becoming the highest selling Blu-ray disc yet, with an estimated 20 per cent of all discs of the super-hero movie sold last week being on the high-def format.
With the release of the Dark Knight – including a BD-Live version – still to come, could the year end on a high note for Blu-ray?
Why upgrade to Blu-ray when the old DVD player still manages to churn out a pretty good picture?
That was one of the issues addressed by the Blu-ray Disc Association at the IFA 2008 electronics trade show in Berlin.