Over One Million Blu-ray Players Shipped in the U.S. in 2006; Blu-ray Becomes the Clear Leader in HD Entertainment
Las Vegas, NV– January 8, 2007 — The Blu-ray Disc Association today declared its victory as the premiere high definition DVD format of choice. Debuted to the U.S. market in June 2006, over 25 companies have released Blu-ray Disc products to date, including players, recorders, high-definition computer drives, recordable media, PC applications, and announced almost 170 movie and music titles.
Driving demand for high definition content, more than one million Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) units, each featuring a Blu-ray Disc drive, were shipped to the United States in 2006, from launch through the end of the year, as reported by Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA). Demand for PS3 has been extremely high, and according to a recent SCEA survey of over 10,000 PS3 owners, 80 percent indicated they will buy Blu-ray movies and 75 percent said they use the PS3 as a primary device for viewing movies.
“The success of Blu-ray Disc is unprecedented,” said Andy Parsons, chair of the U.S. Promotions Committee for the Blu-ray Disc Association. “With unmatched cross-industry support, including seven of the eight major Hollywood studios and two biggest players in the music industry, consumers have voted with their wallets for the format that offers the widest array of hardware and content on the market. The road ahead in 2007 looks even brighter as we introduce Blu-ray Disc to Europe and as even more consumers migrate to HDTVs.”
Blu-ray Disc provides consumers and content providers with a single common format that has the capacity, image and audio quality, interactivity and connectivity needed to expand beyond the simple movie playback and into a range of interoperable consumer products and applications that have brought a new dimension to home entertainment.
Understanding & Solutions, Ltd., a leading market analyst projects continually increasing market share for Blu-ray Disc beginning in 2007, and predicts that by 2010 virtually all HD optical disc hardware sold will be Blu-ray hardware, with all but the smallest fraction of movie content also on Blu-ray only.
In 2007, consumers in the U.S. will continue to see a pouring of Blu-ray Disc products on retail shelves, including new arrivals such as Pioneer’s next generation BD-ROM computer drive, the BDC-202, Samsung Electronics’ second-generation Blu-ray Disc player, the BD-P1200, Sony’s VAIO XL3 Digital Living System and highly-anticipated movie releases from seven of the eight major movie studios supporting the format. For a list of companies that have announced products and movie titles, please see attached.
Blu-ray Disc Association at ICES
To see and experience the Blu-ray Disc product lineup, please visit the association’s booth (#11606) located in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. For more information on specific Blu-ray products, please visit the Blu-ray Disc Association’s ICES press site at: http://www.virtualpressoffice.com/presskit/index.jsp?showId=1136771688404&compan yId=1161029578109
About Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is the next-generation optical disc format being developed for high-definition video and high-capacity software applications. A single-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 25 gigabytes of data and a double-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 50 gigabytes of data.
About the Blu-ray Disc Association
The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) is responsible for promoting and further developing business opportunities for Blu-ray Disc – the next-generation optical disc for storing high-definition movies, games, photos and other digital content. The BDA has more than 180 members. Its Board of Directors consists of Apple; Dell Inc.; HP; Hitachi, Ltd.; LG Electronics Inc.; Mitsubishi Electric Corporation; Panasonic (Matsushita Electric); Pioneer Corporation; Royal Philips Electronics; Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.; Sharp Corporation; Sony Corporation; TDK Corporation; Thomson; Twentieth Century Fox; Walt Disney Pictures and Television; Warner Bros. Entertainment.
For media inquiries, contact:
Blanc & Otus- Jennifer Zerwer
(Tel) +510-334-7328 (email) jzerwer@blancandotus.com
Players & Recorders
Samsung Electronics
PCs & Computer Drives
Dell, Pioneer, Sony
Blu-ray Disc Media
TDK
Buena Vista Worldwide Home Entertainment
North America: Cars, Chicken Little, Con Air, Crimson Tide, Finding Neverland, G.I. Jane, King Arthur Director’s Cut, Open Range, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, The Recruit, Remember The Titans, The Rock
Europe: Air Force One, Bruce Almighty, Cars, Chicken Little, Con Air
Crimson Tide, Dinosaur, Eight Below, Enemy of the State, Finding Neverland, Flightplan, Gone in Sixty Seconds, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, King Arthur Director’s Cut, Pearl Harbor, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, The Rock, Scary Movie 4, Sky High, The Wild
Asia: Air Force One, Cars, Chicken Little, Con Air, Crimson Tide, Face/Off, King Arthur Director’s Cut, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, The Rock, Scary Movie 4, The Wild
Lionsgate
American Psycho, Basic Instinct, Belly, Cabin Fever, Crank, Dirty Dancing, The Dead Zone (TV series), Dune, Employee of the Month, House of 1000 Corpses, Monster’s Ball, National Lampoon’s Van Wilder, Pi, Rambo First Blood, Requiem for a Dream, Reservoir Dogs, Saw II, Saw III, Ultimate Avengers, Ultimate Avengers 2, Waiting, Weeds, Young Guns
MGM
A Bridge Too Far, A Fistful of Dollars, Battle of Britain, Bull Durham, Dances with Wolves, Flyboys, The Graduate, Hannibal, Hart’s War, Hoosiers, Out of Time, Platoon, Ronin, The Silence of the Lambs, The Thomas Crown Affair, To Live & Die in L.A., The Usual Suspects, Walking Tall
Paramount Home Entertainment
Babel, Face/Off, Flags Of Our Fathers, Payback: Straight Up
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Big Fish, Casino Royale, Gridiron Gang, Layer Cake, Open Season, Resident Evil: The Apocalypse, Running with Scissors, Stranger Than Fiction, The Tailor of Panama, Vertical Limit
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
Alien Vs Predator, Broken Arrow, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Cast Away, Chain Reaction, Commando, Courage Under Fire, Dodgeball, Dude, Where’s My Car?, Edward Scissorhands, Entrapment, The Fly (1986), From Hell, I, Robot, Ice Age, Independence Day, Man on Fire, The Marine, Master & Commander, Me, Myself & Irene, Men of Honor, Phone Booth, Planet of the Apes (2001), Predator, The Sentinel, The Siege, Tristan & Isolde, Turistas
Warner Home Video
Alexander Revisited: The Unrated Final Cut, Beerfest, Blood Diamond, Bullitt, The Departed, The Dirty Dozen, Enter the Dragon, The Getaway (1972), Goodfellas, Happy Feet, Harry Potter franchise, The Matrix franchise, Oceans 11, Oceans 12, We Are Marshall, The Wicker Man
