Blu-Ray Best Of The Best - for discussing releases only

[JP]

I've NEVER heard of these people but it seems that Funai have sent out a press release stating that they are in the process of releasing a Final Standard (1.1) Blu-ray player with a RRP of $299:99!

FUNAI NEWS Press Releases

On January 3rd, 2008, Funai Corporation, Inc., the North American sales and marketing subsidiary of Funai Electric Co., Ltd., today announced the introduction of its first Blu-ray Disc player (NB500 series) for the North American market.

The Company will begin production in the first quarter of 2008, and plans to begin selling the player at retail stores in North America during the second quarter. The retail price is projected to be under $300. Demand for players that supports High Definition contents is increasing swiftly in the U.S. market thanks to the rapid spread of Full HD flat-panel televisions in addition to FCC mandate to switch from analog to digital formats. In the consumer products market in particular, movie and music contents are becoming more common in the Blu-ray Disc format, and shipments of specialized disc players and game machines compatible with Blu-ray Disc products are increasing. Within the healthy competitive environment in this next-generation DVD market, the Blu-ray Disc format is steadily enhancing its market position. The player supports Profile 1.1 (Final Standard Profile), the latest Blu-ray Disc format standard, and will allow consumers to fully enjoy the Blu-ray Disc HD experience. The product is expected to further stimulate the Blu-ray Disc market, and enable customers to appreciate movies and music with even higher resolutions and higher quality sound. To see the exhibition of the product, please visit the BDA (Blu-ray Disc Association) booth at the CES Hall in 2008.

EDIT:
This may be more important than I originally thought as 30% of their profits come from being Wal Mart's main budget electronics supplier:

Funai Electric Co., Ltd. (船井電機株式会社, Funai Denki Kabushiki-gaisha?) (TYO: 6839) was established in 1961 in Osaka, Japan. Funai in Japan is engaged in the development, manufacture, marketing, and distribution of information and communication equipment such as Internet access terminals, computer peripherals, audio-visual devices, televisions, VCRs, DVD players, and home electrical appliances. Funai is currently the main supplier of TVs and DVD players to Wal-Mart stores for "Black Friday" sales, the day after Thanksgiving. It has recently begun to be the supplier for TVs manufactured under Walmart's house brand, Durabrand. In fact, sales to Wal-Mart now account for 30% of the company's net income.

[dvdmike]

Gone baby gone !! and unbreakable, I hope GBG is one of the non coded Disneys as we never got to see it

[Daragon]

Gone baby gone !! and unbreakable, I hope GBG is one of the non coded Disneys as we never got to see it

A film directed by Ben Affleck? What a tragedy that would be if we never get it....

I wonder if he can direct better than he can act?

[dvdmike]

You have not read the reviews for it I take it ? One of the best of last year so said alot of people, its even pretty hing on the site of unholyness http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/gonebabygone?q=gone%20baby%20gone
For example one of the bad reviews

Ben Affleck is smart about setting the scene -- he's even better at it than Clint Eastwood was in another Lehane adaptation, "Mystic River." But he's less adept at defining individual personalities, at making us care about the characters who deserve our sympathy -- or, maybe more important, the ones who don't.

Better than Eastwood, not bad for your first go

[reektan]

Watched it last week - very very good movie - enjoyed it and was never checking my watch during to see how long was left.

[Lyris]

I heard Gone Baby Gone was really good as well.

I've NEVER heard of these people but it seems that Funai have sent out a press release stating that they are in the process of releasing a Final Standard (1.1) Blu-ray player with a RRP of $299:99!

That's excellent news, at the IFA I asked them what was the deal with the prototype they had, and they told me they'd only begin finalising and releasing a model when they knew for sure what the winning format was.

A lot of BD fanboys on other forums didn't like me mentioning this conversation because everyone is completely behind BD etc etc, but it looks like their timing was exactly as they said it would be.

Unless HD DVD stages some sort of comeback miracle

[JP]

It makes perfect business sense for companies to wait, it's fairly safe to say that some companies are going to be loosing quite a bit of cash with the Warner announcement and I don't just mean studios.

Lyris, have you tested any other hardware that Funai have produced? I'd like to know just how low cost the actual hardware itself is.

What I'd hate to see happening in a sudden drop in of players prices in the way that the HD-DVD group sponsored to happen. It's always nice to get them in peoples homes but it just seemed a really counter productive move for them to make at the time.

Hopefully we'll get more manufacturers announcing BD players now that we are a bit closer to a standard format.

As to the comeback, I'd read on another forum that Lucas Arts were going to announce HD-DVD exclusivity because HD-DVD was selling almost double the amount of discs in the US when compared to BD and that the US was the only market he was really interested in!!

I read it on the internet so it must be true...

[Lyris]

Lyris, have you tested any other hardware that Funai have produced? I'd like to know just how low cost the actual hardware itself is.

I've not - not knowingly, anyway. They're an OEM company and I get the feeling that my parents' Toshiba VCR/DVD combo isn't really a Toshiba. I doubt there'll be anything wrong with their BD player.

[JP]

I've not - not knowingly, anyway. They're an OEM company and I get the feeling that my parents' Toshiba VCR/DVD combo isn't really a Toshiba. I doubt there'll be anything wrong with their BD player.

That sounds promising!

EDIT:
Moved the sales figures to here.

[Lyris]

If I were the HD DVD Group, right now I'd be formulating the most graceful exit strategy possible.

I'm looking forward to the clear-out sales, myself... if Amazon ever start squirting the discs out at $5 a pop then the sales will take a jump, and we'll get the usual format fanboys claiming that Disney are about to go neutral and Toshiba have pulled a last minute trick out of their hat

Incidentally, I should be at CES in Vegas right now and taking all this drama in first-hand, but the BDA/Sony wouldn't pay for me to go, and I can't afford it myself because I just bought a projector... a Sony projector

Then again, most of the drama is on the web forums, so maybe I have the funnier front row-seat of the two. I won't name any other sites, but some of them are a laugh riot

[JP]

Most of the forums are more like comedy though and now that the HD-DVD group have cancelled their conference...the only chance of real comedy there is dead!!

As embarrasing as it would have been, I would love to be able to attend that if it was still on today!!!

[Lyris]

It might have been a bit like when the BDA told us we absolutely had to go to the Hitachi press conference, because they were ready to make a major Blu-ray announcement.

It turned out that their big announcement was the Blu-ray camcorder they'd already announced.

[Dazzyman]

Anyone know if Ronin is region free or not on euro? (as have a Region A PS3)

[Lyris]

Can't answer that (hopefully someone else can) but...

I did just watch Resident Evil: Extinction. Honestly, I can't understand why everyone hates these films so much, I guess just because they're not faithful to RE at all. But, I wasn't bored once and the video transfer is absolutely stunning. I need to check it out on a panel display to test for sure, but I think there was a smidge of edge enhancement (could have been an optical effect though). It can be hard to tell on a projector because you're just so sucked into the film.

It looks fantastic, either way. And, the entire RE trilogy is region free.

[NoelEdwards]

Does anyone know if the UK versions of Die Hard 1 & 2are region locked. I know thw German versions play on region A players but I can't find out if the UK versions will.

Thanks in advance