CES Show 2006!

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The first new info is in on the CES 2006 show. It's about Blu-ray movies!

CES Show 2006

Though video enthusiasts are already salivating at the thought of purchasing a Blu-ray player alongside their HDTV, the device is useless without a slate of movies. At this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, though, Fox, Paramount, Liongate and Sony have announced their first wave of Blu-ray movies, and Coming Soon has the scoop.

When the technology pushes into consumer hands this spring, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will deliver The Fifth Element, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Desperado, For a Few Dollars More, The Guns of Navarone, Hitch, House of Flying Daggers, A Knight's Tale, Kung Fu Hustle, The Last Waltz, Legends of the Fall, Resident Evil Apocalypse (ooh!), RoboCop, Sense and Sensibility, Stealth, Species, SWAT and XXX. Both Black Hawk Down and The Bridge on the River Kwai will be released on on 50 GB, dual-layer discs in the summer.

Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment brings Four Brothers, Sahara, Aeon Flux, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, The Italian Job, Tomb Raider, U2: Rattle and Hum, Sleepy Hollow, We Were Soldiers and The Manchurian Candidate to the table, though these titles will also appear on the competing HD-DVD format. Paramount will also release the upcoming Mission: Impossible III and the original two movies on the formats.

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment's movies include Fantastic Four, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Behind Enemy Lines, Kiss of the Dragon and Ice Age, but will announce more soon, totaling 20 films.

Liongate's slate includes Lord of War, The Punisher, The Devil's Rejects, Saw, T2: Judgment Day, Reservoir Dogs, Total Recall, Dune, Rambo: First Blood and the upcoming See No Evil.
 
This must have something to do with those unified standars talks Sony and Toshiba were having *tears and laugher*

Good to see so many good movies though. I'm especially excited to see movies like black hawk down on Blu-Ray, it'll be a real treat.
 
tha_con
This must have something to do with those unified standars talks Sony and Toshiba were having *tears and laugher*

Good to see so many good movies though. I'm especially excited to see movies like black hawk down on Blu-Ray, it'll be a real treat.
I've got "The Italian Job" and "Underworld" in HD-DVD - You will not BELIEVE the amount of detail.. The picture quality compared to regular DVDs is like nigth and day. And these are only 1280x768..
 
oh boy, I now admit that this is going to be a devastating blow in the PS3 vs 360 battle (in favor of the PS3). Getting that format out there now is absolutely necessary for them and its a smart move rather than just an afterthought. I heard rumors of a external HD-DVD drive for the 360 becoming available at some point but looks like it may become obsolete almost immediately, especially if they dont implement it to play games.


:dunce: I re-read that, looks like they are making movies for both formats. Still if MS decides to go external with that HD-DVD drive, if it doesnt play games then whats the point?
 
Looking at some reports from the show it would seem Toshiba will be producing a HD-DVD player for under $500. Pioneer have a BD player for $1800 and Samsung a BD player for $1000.
It would seem the PS3 is to be the "cheap" BD option! How cheap? Have to wait and see!
But there has been demonstrations of the PS3's BD player abilities, apparantly. I came accross this link - http://internet.watch.impress.co.jp/cda/event/2006/01/05/10397.html which seems to show a demo in progress.

There's loads of info here too - http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=42
 
CES 2006: Sony's Sir Howard Stringer spotlights new Walkman, while skirting past DRM, PS3

Las Vegas (NV) - With the help of celebrities such as the Oscar-winning celebrities behind the upcoming film "The DaVinci Code," including director Ron Howard and star Tom Hanks, Sony chairman and CEO Sir Howard Stringer outlined this morning his vision for a refocused and re-energized corporation. But the attendees at CES 2006 were probably more interested in hearing the company's plans for Blu-ray high-definition players and content, the company's new Walkman phone, and a little thing called the PlayStation 3.

But there was no news announced today by Sir Howard, despite what had been anticipated by many in the gaming press. Instead, attendees who are interested in such things as pillars, or who collect pillars as a hobby or just for their own amusement, were delighted to learn that the PS3 is "a key pillar of Sony's 2006 growth strategy." He did show off a PS3, which appeared no different than previously seen prototypes, but this time showing previews of new PS3 versions of Gran Turismo 5 and F1 Grand Prix. Sir Howard confirmed the new system would indeed be able to play existing games for PS2 and PS1 models - though not PlayStation Portable - as well as existing audio CDs and DVDs.

Referring to his company's investment in what he called "a very long lifecycle" for PS3, Sir Howard noted that Sony had thus far spent billions (plural) in the Cell processor, the next generation of IBM's PowerPC CPU. He added up to 4,000 test systems had been shipped to PS3 game and software developers worldwide. But interestingly, he added that the PS3 would be "much more of an entertainment device than the Xbox 360," lending credence to reports that Sony will be using the PS3 console to premiere the Blu-ray platform.

Sir Howard added that PS3 users will have "access to tens of thousands of other pieces of content," presumably besides games.

To demonstrate his own company's continued support of Sony's Blu-ray, Dell Computer chairman Michael Dell appeared briefly on stage during the Stringer keynote. But this time, Mr. Dell refrained from his usual course of attacking the rival HD DVD platform, instead concentrating on the fact that Blu-ray will have "lots of exciting content available," making reference to Sony Pictures' announcement yesterday of 20 new movie titles to be published on Blu-ray Disc. Mr. Dell added his company will be announcing five new products which include Blu-ray, though declined to add specifics.

From what was said on-stage during the Stringer keynote about the mandatory part of "mandatory managed copy," it still isn't clear what part will be mandatory, or who will be doing the managing. Copies can apparently be made by consumers of selected Blu-ray content, though it isn't known through what process, or whether those copies will be of full quality. What makes the issue even more confusing is the fact that the first consumer-level Blu-ray consoles, from what we're seeing at CES thus far, may not have write, or burn, capability anyway. Orders for those first consoles, he said, will be taken beginning in March.

With the Sony name tied up in knots over the recent Sony BMG / First4Internet stealth driver fiasco, it's easy to see why Sir Howard avoided all mention of the subject of digital rights management, even when it pertains to Blu-ray. In perhaps one of his most cryptic, yet somehow telling, comments of the entire address, he said, "Sometimes we misunderstand each other, but that's a concept of marriage." He did not elaborate, though he may have been referring to the joint venture between Sony and Bertelsmann Music Group. Later, however, with regard to the topic of the bumpy road his company and others have traveled this past year on the road to a still uncertain standard, Sir Howard did remark, "We're learning."

Speaking about his existing game consoles, Sir Howard stated that about 10 million PlayStation Portable units have been shipped so far worldwide, and noted that PSP's holiday sales figures eclipsed those of Microsoft's Xbox 360. (The latter is not a portable console, but the figure still stands.) During the keynote, he demonstrated the company's already announced, potential SlingBox rival device called "Location Free" - a silver, set-top box that connects to your home TV, and enables your PSP to serve as a remote television via your wireless LAN connection.

Joining Sir Howard on stage, Sony Computer Entertainment division president Kaz Hirai announced that over 100 million PlayStation 2 consoles have been shipped worldwide to date, with shipments in 2005 having increased by 10.5% over figures for 2004.

In a development shrouded by other topics, but which may later command the spotlight on its own, Sir Howard showed off Sony Ericsson's new model W810 Walkman phone, in a move apparently intended to reinvigorate the recently dormant Walkman brand. The device will apparently allow users to download music from MP3 services directly into the phone, bypassing the PC, in a move obviously designed to one-up Motorola's ROKR phone with iTunes. Sir Howard did not go into specifics about the download service itself, though it's widely expected that Sony will provide one for the phone on its own. He also briefly pulled out his company's latest prototype for the Sony Reader device, about the size of a pocketbook, which will be available this spring. No word as to what users will be expected to read on this device.

Finally, in the all-important field of pillars, Sir Howard touted these last devices as comprising one of Sony's new four corporate pillars, its title being e-entertainment. (Scholars would remind the chairman that the prefix "e-" comes from the Greek meaning "to take away," as in "evaporate" and "emasculate.") He focused on the importance of this pillar symbolizing personalization and consumer choice, although perhaps the company's choice of prefixes, "i-", had already been claimed by a competitor.

The e-entertainment pillar joins the company's other three, which consist of digital cinema (thus the appearance by Ron Howard and Tom Hanks), the so-called high-er definition pillar (which, if misread, sounds like someone forgetting, er, what to say), and finally the euphemism-free PlayStation 3 pillar, which is apparently downwardly compatible with its predecessors.
 
Thanks for the info!

No real surprises. Have to wait until February for the final PS3 details.
Well I'm not sure at the moment which way the wind is blowing - HD DVD or Blu-Ray. HD DVD players look like hitting the high street sooner and have at least one sub $500 player. Also they seem to have a larger collection of movies coming too.
I just wish I could see some HD DVD/Blu-Ray material. My PC is well below spec for playing demos I've seen. I just hope the UK doesn't lag too far behind the US for the release of all this next-gen hardware!
 
slackbladder
Thanks for the info!

No real surprises. Have to wait until February for the final PS3 details.
Well I'm not sure at the moment which way the wind is blowing - HD DVD or Blu-Ray. HD DVD players look like hitting the high street sooner and have at least one sub $500 player. Also they seem to have a larger collection of movies coming too.
I just wish I could see some HD DVD/Blu-Ray material. My PC is well below spec for playing demos I've seen. I just hope the UK doesn't lag too far behind the US for the release of all this next-gen hardware!

From what I understand almost all films are to be released on both formats, with the possible exception being Sony Pictures not being released on Blu-Ray...but as of now, I don't think there are many going the way of one only...maybe Time Warner.
 
tha_con
From what I understand almost all films are to be released on both formats, with the possible exception being Sony Pictures not being released on Blu-Ray...but as of now, I don't think there are many going the way of one only...maybe Time Warner.
Yeah, that's what I think is the case.
However there does seem to be more HD DVD films available for its launch compared to Blu-Ray. I'm sure the list will swell for Blu-Ray but it's possible the HD DVD camp will have a slender lead, for a while.
 
I've read in another forum that Sony said the PS3 will cost 3 to 5 times cheaper than a BD player. That's good news! 👍
 
FatAssBR
I've read in another forum that Sony said the PS3 will cost 3 to 5 times cheaper than a BD player. That's good news! 👍
Well, considering Pioneer's BD player is $1800 that could mean the PS3 will cost $600. Chances are it'll be priced to compete with the cheapest HD-DVD player, that's $499! But then again, maybe not.
 

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