Now that HD-DVD has kissed goodbye to the market for a couple of months. The companies which supported the format are starting to put their heads down and announce their plans to release blu-rays. Today it was Universal’s turn to give more details on their migrating plan. Universal was one of HD DVD’s biggest supporter but when Toshiba pulled the plug on the format the studio was fast on raising the “white flag” and joining Sony’s Blu-ray.

Universal announced today that starting in July; we will be seeing their films coming out on the “Blu” format. The first batch will include: The Incredible Hulk, Wanted, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Mamma Mia!, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, “Heroes: Season Two” and many others.

“We’re thrilled that our preliminary slate of Blu-ray offerings comprises such a brilliant collection of high-def centric fare,” said Mr. Craig Kornblau, President, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Universal Pictures Digital Platforms. “As awareness for Blu-ray continues to grow, consumers will learn to rely on the superior quality picture, sound, interactivity and connectivity that only high-definition home entertainment delivers.”

It will be exciting to see all Universal’s successes in high definition and by Mr. Kornblau’s comment they will inundate the market with their films.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Samsung BD-UP5000 is a duo HD player, which means it plays both Blu-ray as well as HD-DVD discs. This is a great solution for those who made the mistake of buying the wrong format before the war was over and now are stuck with HD-DVD movies! Not many duo players were released and I am sure pretty soon they will be discontinued. So if you are one of those people stuck with HD-DVD, I would suggest to get moving and buying one (Only if you don’t plan on throwing your defunct discs as Frisbees out of the window of course!). Warning: Make sure you read all the specs thoroughly as this player won’t play BD-E or BD-RE. Also make sure to read more about the player because from my research it needs a firmware update to work properly.

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Compatibility

• Playback Media BD-ROM, HD DVD, DVD-ROM, DVD-R
• Playback Formats MPEG2, VC-1, H.264, HD JPEG decoding

Specs

• A/V Quality DVD Upconversion- Selectable DVD upconversion via HQV
• Dolby Dital Decoder
• Dolby Digital Plus Decoder
• DTS HD Decoder
• Dolby True HD Decoder
• HDMI CEC
• 1 Composite Video Output
• 1 Component Video Output
• 1 S-Video Outputs
• HDMI Output 1.3
• 1 Optical Digital Audio Output
• 1 Coaxial Digital Audio Outputs

Popularity: 13% [?]

If you still have the deceased HD-DVD format and thought of what to do with the discs, Plextor has an answer. Well, PLAY IT! Plextor announced today the release of the PX-B920SA internal drive which will allow you to play your new Blu-ray discs as well as HD-DVD’s. This may be a good alternative to those people who unfortunately chose the loser format and are now stuck with their discs. In addition to playing Blu-ray and HD-DVD the PX-B920SA also can play and write to BD-R (at 4x), DVD and CD media, and uses a SATA connection. This drive is ideal for OEMs where playback HD DVD format is wanted along with Blu-ray playback and burning. The PX-B920SA will be sold for $599.00. If you think $599.00 is too much Plextor will also made the PX-B300SA drive which will cost around $499.00 and plays all the same formats but does not write to Blu-ray discs.

These are the formats compatible with the PX-B920SA:

BD
BD-R, BD-RE, BD-ROM, BDMV
DVD
HD DVD–ROM, DVD+/-R, DVD+/-RDL, DVD–RW, DVD+/-RW, DVD-RAM
CD
CD-R, CD-RW

Popularity: 10% [?]