Blu-ray Disc (BD) News

Blu-ray Patent Licensing Program Announced by Four Companies
Mar 7, 2010 – The BD4C Licensing Group has announced that it has commenced a licensing program beginning on March 1, 2010 for Blu-ray (BD) and DVD patents essential for BD Products including BD Products that incorporate DVD functionality.
News categories: Blu-ray, Digital TV, DVD, Licensing, Optical Disc Recorder, Patent

Walmart Announces Acquisition of Digital Entertainment Provider, VUDU
Feb 22, 2010 – Walmart (NYSE: WMT) has announced a definitive agreement to acquire VUDU, a leading provider of digital technologies and services that enable the delivery of entertainment content directly to broadband high-definition TVs and Blu-ray players.
News categories: VUDU, Walmart, Blu-ray, MandA, Smart TV, Streaming, USA

ETSI Formally Adopts New Release Of GEM/MHP Interactive Standards
Feb 15, 2010 – DVB has announced that ETSI has adopted as standards the new release versions of the MHP 1.2.2 and GEM 1.2.2 specifications. GEM now takes over the role of DVB's primary middleware specification, and MHP becomes a derived specification based on GEM.
News categories: DVB Project, Blu-ray, Cable TV, Digital TV, DVB-MHP, IPTV, Middleware, Satellite, Set Top Box, Smart TV, Terrestrial

Blu-ray Chips Overtake Standard DVD Chips in 2009
Feb 10, 2010 – The transition from DVD to Blu-ray is creating a substantial opportunity for Blu-ray semiconductor companies, reports In-Stat. Blu-ray player semiconductor content overtook DVD player semi content for the first time in 2009.
News categories: In-Stat, Blu-ray, Digital TV, DVD, Market Research, Optical Disc Recorder, Semiconductor

Samsung and Nagravision Bring Web Services and Video Content to Televisions
Feb 4, 2010 – Nagravision (SIX:KUD.VX) is partnering with Samsung Electronics America to provide TV applications that bring more interactive web services and video content to consumers on Samsung Apps, the world's first HDTV-based application store.
News categories: Nagravision, Samsung, Blu-ray, Content Distribution, Smart TV, Streaming

3D Portion of HDMI Specification Version 1.4 Available for Public Download
Feb 3, 2010 – HDMI Licensing, the agent responsible for licensing the High-Definition Multimedia Interface® (HDMI®) specification, has announced that it has made the 3D portion of the HDMI Specification Version 1.4 available for public download on the HDMI Web site.
News categories: HDMI Licensing, Blu-ray, Digital TV, Gaming, Metaverse, Set Top Box, Smart Home, Smart TV

Ultra-HD Video and 3D Video on the Horizon
Feb 3, 2010 – Pay TV operators are in the early stages of deploying 3D TV capability. Early 3D TVs and 3D Blu-Ray players will ship in 2010. In-Stat projects worldwide 3D TV shipments will reach 41 million in 2014.
News categories: In-Stat, Blu-ray, Digital TV, Market Research, Metaverse, Smart TV

Panasonic Opens Blu-ray 3D Authoring Facility
Feb 1, 2010 – Panasonic (NYSE:PC; Tokyo:6752) has unveiled its Blu-ray 3D™ Advanced Authoring Center at the Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory. The Center offers services which are capable of making Blu-ray 3D™ Discs commercially available as early as Spring 2010.
News categories: Panasonic, Blu-ray, Content Distribution, Metaverse, USA

NEC Electronics Reports Results for the Third Quarter Ended December 31, 2009
Jan 27, 2010 – NEC Electronics (TSE: 6723) has announced results for the quarter ended December 31, 2009. Sales of semiconductors for game consoles and of the company's 'EMMA' series image-processing LSI chips for digital consumer declined year on year.
News categories: NEC Electronics, Blu-ray, Gaming, Results, Semiconductor, Set Top Box