Topic: News

The DVD business is down so far this year, but evolving high-definition formats will keep the industry from falling into the doldrums permanently, according to studio and analyst participants at the Home Entertainment Summit: DVD and Beyond here this week.

MTV has said that "Super Sweet 16: The Movie" -- an extension of the MTV series "My Super Sweet 16" -- will premiere on mobile television service Verizon V Cast TV, marking the first time an MTV feature-length film has debuted on the wireless service before running on air.

A senior Panasonic executive has said that the HD format war is over and Blu-ray has won the format battle. He also said that while Panasonic is a leader in the plasma market it has set to expand their LCD TV offerings. In Australia Panasonic has taken to air freighting plasma TVs following the success of their recent advertising campaign.

Following the recently launched internal PX-800A & PX-810SA DVD ReWriters, Plextor announced its new high end external drive - the PX-810UF.

YouTube users can now edit and improve their clips using an online tool from Adobe.

Sony has decided to give up on the music and video download business, choosing to focus on its struggling PlayStation group instead. The closing of Connect would also mean the loss of at least 20 jobs, as has been reported over the weekend.

In the high-definition DVD war between Blu-ray and HD DVD, Blu-ray is pulling ahead. On Monday, Blockbuster announced that its next batch of high definition DVDs will be exclusively offered in the Blu-ray format.

Music label EMI is letting more music stores have access to its catalog without using DRM. PassAlong Networks, which provides technology to power online stores like the one belonging to f.y.e., yesterday secured a license to EMI's music, as did the UK's 7digital. Both companies plan to sell the music at higher bit rates than the iTunes Store.

Toshiba has introduced two set-tops into the Japanese market that can record high-def programming and playback HD DVDs.

As a new feature we have decided to look at the DVD charts and give you a list of the top 10 every week. We are starting with the top selling DVDs in the US but will be expanding to the UK and HD DVD and Blu-ray charts as well. See the list at: Top 10 Selling DVDs (US).

YouTube will soon test a new video identification technology with two of the world's largest media companies, Time Warner and Walt Disney.

Pioneer is showcasing the BDP-LX70, its new Blu-ray Disc (BD) player with a resolution of 1,080p, at Computex Taipei 2007, with the product set for launch in the Taiwan market at a recommended retail price of NT$79,900 (US$2,421, £1,229) in the third quarter of this year. The company aims to sell 1,000 players this year.

A court decision reached last month but under seal until Friday could force Web sites to track visitors if the sites become defendants in a lawsuit.

Toshiba has announced plans to make HD DVD drives standard on all of its laptops from 2008.

How far is Steve Jobs willing to go to expand Apple's iTunes franchise from the home-office PC to the living room TV? So far he is eschewing Apple's customary high hardware margins with the new Apple TV in order to promote volume sales, according to a dissection of the product conducted by iSuppli's Teardown Analysis Service.

Following in the footsteps of rival CBS, NBC said Wednesday that it will allow users to post snippets of popular NBC news and sports programs to their personal Web sites. Programs to initially be offered include Meet the Press, NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, Dateline NBC and programming from NBC Sports, DotComedy.com, and iVillage.com.

DVD guru Flash has posted his latest review which asks the question whether 20x burning is all it's cracked up to be. Is the 4 Minute Burn just a myth? Find out by reading 20x Speed Burning! is it Really Faster?.

UK Members of Parliament (MPs) are claiming Ipods, plasma TV screens and other perks of the job on their expense accounts, The Sunday Times claimed.

Mozilla.org has updated Firefox to version 2.0.0.4, with the new version mainly featuring security fixes.

With dominance of the market for high-definition movie discs still up in the air, Sony is including a small surprise with the new Blu-ray disc player it is shipping this week: a price tag $100 lower than previously announced.