Month: February 2008 (Page 3 of 3)

Universal Studios Home Entertainment President Craig Kornblau has confirmed that Universal will now support Blu-Ray:

“The path for widespread adoption of the next-generation platform has finally become clear. Universal will continue its aggressive efforts to broaden awareness for hi-def’s unparalleled offerings in interactivity and connectivity, at an increasingly affordable price. The emergence of a single, high-definition format is cause for consumers, as well as the entire entertainment industry, to celebrate. While Universal values the close partnership we have shared with Toshiba, it is time to turn our focus to releasing new and catalog titles on Blu-ray.”

Fox has announced that the surprise blockbuster hit Juno will arrive on Blu-Ray on April 15, 2008. Made for a mere $7.5 million, Juno has grossed over $155 million worldwide and is on hundreds of top 10 lists. Not only a financial success, Juno has also been nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Screenplay.

Extras featured on the disc include audio commentary by director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody, four making-of featurettes, eleven deleted scenes, three outtake reels, screen tests and two Fox Movie Channel specials. And if you can’t get enought Juno, the disc will include a Digital Copy of the film that you can sync to your iPod, iPhone, etc.

The film will ship on a BD-50 dual-layer disc with 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 video, English DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 5.1 Surround and French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround audio and English, French and Spanish subtitle options.

Onkyo in the next company in line to drop the defeated HD DVD format. Effective immediately, Onkyo will discontinue the development and production of HD DVD players and will  shift focus to the newly crowned Blu-Ray format.

Onkyo has distributed and sold approximately 2000 units of the HD DVD players in the selected markets. Onkyo manufactures HD DVD players with core parts supplied by Toshiba, which would make it difficult for Onkyo to continue its development and production of HD DVD players. Despite this, Onkyo will continue to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Onkyo HD DVD players.