Something out of nothing perhaps? A little Korean news.

[WriteSimply]

Full article here.

Blu-Ray Disc Gets Momentum Here
By Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporter

Blu-ray discs are taking an edge over HD-DVD discs in the fledgling high-definition (HD) video market with strong support from big firms such as Samsung Electronics and Korea Telecom.

Samsung said it is working together with Sony for Blu-ray movie titles and players in Seoul. Korea Telecom also forged a strategic partnership with the Japanese company, which is the leader of the Blu-ray team, to launch an Internet-based TV service based on PlayStation3 console next month.

``The local Blu-ray market is starting to heat up as the supply of Full HD TVs and Full HD projectors is increasing and more movie titles are released,'' said Jun Dong-soo, executive vice president of Samsung's audio and video division. ``We will spur the growth of the market with new players that can satisfy consumers in both price and quality.'

...

Market reports are showing that the Blu-ray has nevertheless taken a sharp edge over HD-DVD in the format war worldwide. According to Home Media Magazine, American consumers bought 2.6 million Blu-ray discs in the first nine months of the year and just 1.4 million HD-DVD discs.

In Korea, Warner and Sony Pictures are planning to release some 50 movie titles for either Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats by December, including blockbusters such as ``The Transformers.''

indizio@koreatimes.co.kr

Maybe he means the old one.



fuad

[buckshot]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

Full article here.

Maybe he means the old one.



fuad

that'd be supersweet if we got tranformers on blu somewhere in region a. it'd be even better if we got advanced audio with it too.

[m_tyson]

Was the old one a "blockbuster"?

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

Full article here.

Maybe he means the old one.



fuad

[Krazy]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

Full article here.

Maybe he means the old one.
fuad

It could also mean the 2007 hit as CJ Entertainment is the distributor of Paramount/DW movies in South Korea and (if I'm not mistaken) a blu-ray supporter as well, so there's still a possibility of Transformers '07 on Blu

[Guinness7]

Korea was one of the twow countries in which it could be released on blu was it not?

[m_tyson]

Originally Posted by Guinness7

Korea was one of the twow countries in which it could be released on blu was it not?

그렇다.

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by m_tyson

정확한.

Does that mean yes?

[GoldenRedux]

Paramount does not hold the rights to distribute Transformers in South Korea. The rights are held by a Blu distributor. This is also the case in Finland, if I'm not mistaken.

[JadedRaverLA]

While I don't especially care about Transformers, it would be hilarious if the one HUGE HD DVD exclusive ended up coming out on Blu-ray... and in region A no less.

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by JadedRaverLA

While I don't especially care about Transformers, it would be hilarious if the one HUGE HD DVD exclusive ended up coming out on Blu-ray... and in region A no less.

I would buy just to piss them paraduders off lol

[lch]

Originally Posted by JadedRaverLA

While I don't especially care about Transformers, it would be hilarious if the one HUGE HD DVD exclusive ended up coming out on Blu-ray... and in region A no less.

... and if they come out with a higher bitrate and pcm version
it will piss off the red even more.

[Seretur]

A Korean or Finnish release of Transformers was only a matter of time.

And I've been waiting for the news of it, not because I can't wait for a proper US Blu-ray release -- which, as Bay has hinted, will outclass the present edition -- but because it will perfectly dovetail into the old HD DVD "we can import everything we're not getting locally" argument.

Of course, I don't see people who can't afford a $400 player importing much of anything. But as I've imported virtually my entire DVD collection (can't stand to have cases with titles that aren't in the native language, or English), it will be a nice thing to see the imports actually happen on the Blu side.

Also -- Koreans often have amazing editions. I've imported their DVD of Pan's Labyrinth, which will tide me over nicely until the New Line Blu-ray release. It's as classy as DVDs get -- leatherette case, artwork book, a gold key collectible, and limited to 5000 copies.

Perhaps they do that to combat piracy, which is rampant in Asia.

But I do have high hopes that they just might put out a killer Transformers release on Blu. In which case I will be importing it sooner rather than later.

[m_tyson]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

Does that mean yes?

Yes.

[The Guardian]

Maybe they should invite Michael Bay to personally oversee the Blu-ray authoring? And put a PCM or lossless track on it?

[Seretur]

Bay virtually said that.

How else would you put together the two key statements he made last week -- that the current edition is subpar to his idea of what it should be, and that his money is on Blu-ray?

He can't bite the hand that feeds him right now, but he's still making his preference abundantly clear.

[PaulGo]

Blu-Ray Disc Gets Momentum Here
10-28-2007 18:03
By Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporter
Blu-ray discs are taking an edge over HD-DVD discs in the fledgling high-definition (HD) video market with strong support from big firms such as Samsung Electronics and Korea Telecom.

Samsung said it is working together with Sony for Blu-ray movie titles and players in Seoul. Korea Telecom also forged a strategic partnership with the Japanese company, which is the leader of the Blu-ray team, to launch an Internet-based TV service based on PlayStation3 console next month.

``The local Blu-ray market is starting to heat up as the supply of Full HD TVs and Full HD projectors is increasing and more movie titles are released,'' said Jun Dong-soo, executive vice president of Samsung's audio and video division. ``We will spur the growth of the market with new players that can satisfy consumers in both price and quality.''

Neither of Blu-ray and HD-DVD gained a strong foothold in Korea or in other countries. In the beginning, they received a lot of attention from the industry, which thought they would soon replace the vernacular DVD discs. However, as of now fewer than 40 movie titles are available in Korea and none of them have sold more than 2,000 copies.

In the beginning, Samsung was one of ardent supporters of the Blu-ray group and it had downplayed the HD-DVD format, which is bolstered by Toshiba and several major movie producers in the United States. But since last year, the firm changed its position to a neutral one because the meager sales of both formats made it hard to predict which would be the eventual winner. So instead of devoting itself to Blu-ray, Samsung sold an expensive dual player that can play both Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats.

Recent moves, however, showed that the electronics giant has finally settled on the Blu-Ray side. Last week, it launched a 600000 won Blu-Ray player, far more affordable than the one-million won model first introduced last year. The following weekend, the firm held a public showcase for the P1400 player and other beam projectors at the COEX exhibition center in southern Seoul together with Sony Pictures. The event was watched by members of DVD Prime, a prominent movie society on the Internet.

Korea Telecom, the telephone and Internet line operator, made a more ambitious move to utilize the HD video fever. The company said last month that it would soon connect its Internet-based TV broadcasting service to Sony's PlayStation 3 game console for the first time in the world. This is supposed to be a win-win strategy, as consumers will be able to use the console box as a Blu-ray player and set-top box for HD TV, it said.

The Blu-ray technology uses a blue-violet laser to read and write the disc. Because of the shorter wavelength of the blue-violet laser, compared to the red laser used for DVDs and CDs, it can store up to 25 gigabytes of information on a single disk, about five times more than a DVD.

In comparison to HD-DVD, which also uses a blue laser, Blu-ray disc has more information capacity per layer, but is known to be more costly to manufacturer.

One of the two formats was thought to replace the current DVD format to become a new market standard by around next year. But so far, the transition to the HD format has been far slower than expected due to high prices and lack of content.

Market reports are showing that the Blu-ray has nevertheless taken a sharp edge over HD-DVD in the format war worldwide. According to Home Media Magazine, American consumers bought 2.6 million Blu-ray discs in the first nine months of the year and just 1.4 million HD-DVD discs.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news...123_12659.html

[jorg]

already thread on this mod please merg

[atomik kinder]

When I used to work at a Laserdisc store, yes we only sold and rented laserdiscs, we used to have a good distibutor that we could order imports from. Really I haven't seen that too much with BDs yet. If this comes out, it would be great if there was seller who imported this title so we could get it not too expensively. I have ordered from pokerindustries in the past, but lately it seems they don't get a lot of what is out there for import. I have gotten more on ebay. I would suspect that this one would be a huge seller on ebay.

[DetroitSportsFan]

What region code is South Korea?

Or are their Blu releases usually region-free?

[zombie]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

What region code is South Korea?

Or are their Blu releases usually region-free?

Korea is Region A, same as USA and Canada.