Blu-ray & HD DVD news round-up

A smattering of format war news from the past few days…

Most of the time retailers announce what products they will carry – so it is a little unusual that Wal*Mart has gone out of their way to say they will not be carrying the $199 Venturer SHD7000 HD DVD player. Picked up from Gizmodo.

CNet News.com has an article on the reported pay-off to Paramount and Dreamworks Animation to go HD DVD exclusive, in which Disney claims to have not received any payments to back Blu-ray.

Electronic News reports that the next Intel Centrino, codenamed Montevina, will have native support for both Blu-ray and HD DVD when it launches in 2Q08.

Screen Digest released a study that predicts that both Blu-ray and HD DVD will remain viable formats and will end up co-existing in the market.

Sharp and Pioneer are linking up to advance Blu-ray and other consumer technologies, according to TWICE magazine. Sharp is investing in Pioneer to the tune of $357.3 million to acquire 30 million shares on December 20th. That will give Sharp a 14.28% stake in Pioneer, making them the largest shareholder. In return, Sharp is selling .9% of its shares, 10 million, to Pioneer for $172.3 million. For Blu-ray, Sharp wll focus on the blue-violet laser diodes and Pioneer with focus on the drives. Picked up from Blu-ray.com

According to Forbes.com, representatives from both the Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD camps will go head to head on a panel at the 2007 HDTV Conference on October 10-11, 2007 in Los Angeles, California. Picked up from EngadgetHD.

About MegaZone

MegaZone is the Editor of Gizmo Lovers and the chief contributor. He's been online since 1989 and active in several generations of 'social media' - mailing lists, USENet groups, web forums, and since 2003, blogging.    MegaZone has a presence on several social platforms: Google+ / Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / LiveJournal / Web.    You can also follow Gizmo Lovers on other sites: Blog / Google+ / Facebook / Twitter.
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