Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending December 16th, 2007

Better late then never right? It better be, because Home Media Magazine took last week off, so this week's edition includes the Nielsen VideoScan numbers from the week ending December 16th 2007. Not sure if they plan to catch up somehow -- eventually skip a week -- but either way we'll bring 'em to you when they're published. As previously reported by a AVS member -- Blu-ray outsold HD DVD by 61:39 (1.56:1) despite the fact that the HD DVD exclusive The Bourne Ultimatum outsold Blu-ray's best title by almost 2:1. Part of the reason for blu's success this week was some old favorites like 300 and Spider-Man 3, but judging by the new legs on Casino Royale, we'd say a BOGO sale contributed to the success as well. Looking forward to next week last week, the same trusty source has beat HMM to the punch and let us know that once again the ratio was 61:39, and although Amazon is included in these numbers, the HD DVD BOGO sale wasn't in progress yet. But as successful as the sale appears to be, we really doubt it'll be enough to give red it's first winning week of the year.

Amazon Reports Strong Holiday Sales For HD DVD, Blu-ray Players

Singling out strong sales for next-gen disc players, Amazon.com says the 2007 holiday shopping season was its best yet.

According to a company press release, Amazon customers ordered more than 5.4 million items during the retailer's busiest day (December 10th) -- that's more than 62 items per second.

The company went on to say that it had sold enough high-disc players during November and December to cover seven football fields.

The residual effects of such strong next-gen hardware sales appeared to be in full force late Wednesday, as HD DVD and Blu-ray discs dominated Amazon's real-time list of top-selling DVDs (fueled, no doubt, by a pair of post-Christmas sales for both formats -- see related stories below).

"We are very grateful to our customers," said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. "On behalf of Amazon.com employees around the globe, we wish everyone happy holidays and best wishes for 2008."

HD DVD and Blu-ray releases on January 1st and 2nd, 2007

Blu-ray rings in the new year with a couple of Profile 1.1 titles, it's just too bad that only PS3 and Panasonic BD30 owners can actually enjoy it. Although a few firmware updates are imminent that will allow others to enjoy them. In the meantime, everyone can enjoy the five new titles for Blu-ray this week, while HD DVD fans are left looking in the window to next week. Blu-ray wasn't able to hit 400 titles by our count before the end of 2007, but they did get in before CES -- which starts in less than one week. Resident Evil: Extinction is the biggest title, with Shoot 'Em Up coming in a close second, which at the same time is another example of why region coding can be a good thing for Blu-ray. Looking forward to next week, nothing really sticks out at us, but since we'll all be at CES covering all the press events for you in real time, it's not like we'll have time to watch anything anyways.

HD DVD 370 vs Blu-ray 403*

Blu-ray

• Shoot 'Em Up (New Line)
• War (Lionsgate)
• Resident Evil (Sony)
• Resident Evil Trilogy (Sony)
• Resident Evil: Extinction (Sony)

HD DVD

• Nada

* Blu-ray total does not reflect 32 Paramount titles that were previously available.

from Engadget HD

Zune 2.3 Firmware Includes Great Podcast Support

The Zune 2.3 firmware upgrade brought some very cool Podcasting features that, simply, aren't getting enough attention.

As mentioned in Zune-Online, subscribe and unsubscribe options are now made available with all Podcast files.

How does this work? It's fabulous.

If someone shares a Podcast with you and you like what you hear, you can subscribe to the Podcast right within the Zune device. The next time you sync up your device with the player, you will be subscribed to that content.

And the converse is true as well. If you don't like what you've got, you can unsubscribe from the device too.

Great job Zune team. This device continues to get better and impress us more and more.

HD DVD and Blu-ray releases on December 23rd and 26th, 2007

The holidays always get us out of whack, not only are movies released on two different days, but the post is in the middle of the week. Either way, there aren't that many titles, but all those with a new HD DVD player for Christmas yesterday will be happy to enjoy the biggest title this week; The Kingdom. Meanwhile, new Blu-ray fans can laugh in HD at the latest installment of Rush Hour -- while red has to wait to see it, presumably due to the lack of region coding on HD DVD. This competes the list for HD DVD going into CES, but blu has a few more next week, as they push the first profile 1.1 title to just before the big show.

HD DVD 370 vs Blu-ray 398*

Blu-ray

• Rush Hour 3 (New Line)
• Pan's Labyrinth (New Line)

HD DVD

• Cat People (1982) (Universal)
• Eastern Promises (Universal)
• The Kingdom (2007) (Universal)
• Timecop (Universal)
• The Heartbreak Kid (DreamWorks)
• Pan's Labyrinth (New Line)

* Blu-ray total does not reflect 32 Paramount titles that were previously available.

from Engadget HD

Panasonic, Hitachi and Canon make billion-dollar LCD deal official

No longer a rumor, Hitachi, Matsushita (Panasonic) and Canon are joining forces to shake up the LCD biz. Panasonic and Canon have each agreed to take 24.9% ownership of Hitachi Displays, which will use the investment to continue its advancement in LCD technology. Canon gets access to Hitachi's small- to medium-sized LCDs and, OLEDs for its cameras and other products, while Panasonic looks to "enhance the competitive edge in-step with PDP models" of its Viera line of HDTVs with Hitachi's IPS (In-Plane Switching) technology and future OLED production. Don't think Panasonic and Hitachi are giving up on the Plasma Coalition, but they aren't afraid to hedge their bets in reaction to the market's demand for cheap LCDs and similar partnerships among competitors.

from Engadget

Del Toro Gets Chatty About Halo [Halo Movie]

Looks like director Guillermo Del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth, Blade II) likes him some Halo, and likes the inevitable prospect of a Halo movie:

It would have been beautiful and I must tell that's a... of anything in my life that I look back and wish it could have happened is that project, because it is such a powerful experience. People talk about it and say "it's ALIENS or it's a retread of this or that," I don't think so. I think there are angle to that game that are far more epic and far more complex as a cosmology than that. It's not just about grunts in space. It's much more than that. It's a whole epic.

He's right, and you know he's right because he knows better than anyone how to faithfully adapt a franchise for the big-screen. Look at Hellboy! So faithful. Especially the love-story. And we all know Halo isn't about guns, space and aliens. It's about love, politics and...a complex cosmology.
Quint and Guillermo Del Toro talk ORPHANAGE, HELLBOY II, AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS and HALO!!! [AICN] [Image]

Toshiba's HD-A30 hits new low: third-generation HD DVD player for $200

How convenient. We whip up our HD-A30 review for you to take a peek at today, and P.C. Richard & Son goes and drops the price of this very unit to an oh-so-tempting $199.97. We'll go on and assume you know good and well what's expected of this third-generation player by now, but just in case you still aren't moved by the price, it should be noted that both 300 and The Bourne Identity come right in the box, and five other titles are included for free after mail-in rebate. Best of all, shipping is thrown in gratis, but it looks as if the unit has slipped out of stock for online purchase. 'Course, there's always the in-store pickup option if you're located near a B&M location, but if you're more the armchair shopper type, just keep refreshing (and checking other sites for similar slashings) and hope for the best.

from Engadget HD

Digital Video Essentials: HD Basics set for March release

We know, the waiting isn't easy (nor enjoyable), but here's to hoping that the latest street date for Joe Kane's Digital Video Essentials: HD Basics actually sticks. After being announced and subsequently delayed in October, the highly-anticipated calibration disc is now on track for a March 25, 2008 release, which is certainly a wait we're not looking forward to enduring. Nevertheless, the specs and features for both the Blu-ray and HD DVD version remain the same as before, and each still boasts an MSRP of $34.95.

from Engadget HD

Firmware Update 2.3

Zune will be issuing a firmware. There are no new features in this update, but it does address some issues we’re reading about in the forums. Specifically the battery issue affecting a small percentage of Zune 30/80 GB users - this update provides some performance improvements:

• Improved device recognition
• Improved stability and reliability on sync (both wirelessly and while connected to a PC).

from Zune Insider