China is a very important market to any product trying to get established in the world because of its humongous size. However, will the largest potential consumer market give in to the Blu-ray technology? The Blu-ray Disc Association is investing a lot of time negociating with Chinese hardware manufactures to start producing cheaper Blu-ray player and content. China has been known for its government strong influence, many times preventing companies and services from doing business in the country.

Frank Simonis, head of the Blu-ray Disc Promotion Group for Europe, told CDRinfo.com that entering the growing Chinese market is regarded as key by the Blu-ray Disc Association. Offering the Blu-ray technology in China would be a prestigious move, while it would further help the establishment of the Blu-ray format.

Besides the government, the Blu-ray format faces a Chinese HD format known as CH-DVD (China High Definition DVD) based on the dead HD-DVD technology but with Chinese intellectual property (IP). Despite Toshiba’s war loss, the Chinese format is still being developed and supported in the country. The good news is: the Chinese government has expressed interest on Blu-ray and the Blu-ray Disc Association is currently evaluating Chinese codecs for the format. Riding on this wave is Sony, that apparently is taking the lead and allegedly started producing Blu-ray titles exclusively for the Chinese market.

China would be a great step towards a worldwide acceptance of the Blu-ray format but in my opinion the Standard Definition DVD is still the biggest Blu-ray opponent and unfortunately from what we’ve been seeing, it will be for a while until Blu-ray gets a more accessible price and more product availability.

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Being one the official sponsors of the Beijing Olympics, taking place in August, Panasonic will start a nation wide tour entitled “Get Your Family Ready for the First HD Olympics” to promote its Blu-ray players and Viera HDTV line. The tour will have a fleet of trucks that will visit several retailers across the U.S. They will be giving out limited edition Panasonic Olympic Games pins, having small competitions with Panasonic prizes, bringing Olympic medalists to sign autographs to consumers, and of course showing off their products . They have more information on their website about the tour including tour dates and cities, promotion, sweepstakes, etc. .

It looks like it will be a fun thing to go to with the family and to top it off win some prizes! I could definitely use a new blu-ray player in my room! Panasonic seems to be excited as well:“The world’s athletes are getting ready to come together and compete at the Olympic Games this summer, and Panasonic is helping families get ready to come together and watch them,” said Christine Amirian, VP of consumer marketing group at Panasonic Consumer Electronics. “We are proud to be helping deliver the first ever Olympic Games to be shot and broadcast entirely in [high-def] to consumers in the United States and around the world.”

This will be the first Olympics entirely broadcasted in HD but Panasonic’s eighth time sponsoring the Games.

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