The little format that could is winning some fans. NME, the company behind this third high-def format technology, is trumpeting that it has sold 10,000 HD VMD Multi-players in Central Europe, spanning the countries of Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia. Whoop! 
Seriously, though, considering all the honking that we hear from the Blu-ray and HD DVD sides, it's quite an achievement that this NME is able to get anything done. 
True, there is little word from NME on what is happening stateside.
A while ago, NME stated that it locked in online retailer PCrush.com to start offering its HD VMD hardware this year. NME thinks that by using red laster technology, it can offer a superior high-def value than the other two formats, which utilize the blue lasers.
Scanning PCrush.com now, there is a plethora of HD DVD and Blu-ray offerings. But no sign of a HD VMD player.
Yet maybe its OK to find success mainly outside of the U.S. Hey, aren't David Hasselhoff, and I swear Jennifer Love Hewitt, really big pop stars in Germany?

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Through Friday, retailers nationwide will be selling Toshiba's HD A3 for $199. The $100 slashing off the players' current $299 list price comes courtesy of a Toshiba instant rebate. Ads featuring the deal have already started appearing in various major retail circulars in the run-up to Black Friday.
Amazon.com is currently offering $199 HD A3s.
At Best Buy, the Toshiba rebate will be offered this Friday and Saturday. The other guys will be taken care of as well, as spokesman Brian Lucas confirmed the chain will be offering $399 Samsung and Sony Blu-ray players during the two days. Both BD players are regularly priced at $499.
You'd think Toshiba and Best Buy could enjoy a deserved breather after the retailer event-priced Toshiba's second gen HD A2 player to $99. During that Nov. 2 weekend, in which Wal-Mart also set the player for $99, stores moved about 90,000 HD A2s, more players than most Blu-ray standalones have sold in their lifetimes. 
Also, Toshiba's share of next gen standalone players recently hit a personal-best 65% market share, according to company marketing VP Jodi Sally.
But as much as people participated in pre-Black Friday, they're still going to show up for the actual thing. After the madness that is family Thanskgivings, butting heads with frantic shoppers is totally going to sound like a vacation.

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Samsung can't seem to get it quite right with BD + playback. The manufacturer released a second firmware upgrade today to improve the ability of its Samsung BD-P1000 to handle BD +, which is an ehanced form of copyright protection for BD titles. Samsung first rolled out BD + firmware in October, following people complaining that their Samsung players were tripping up trying to run such Fox BD titles as Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
Well, Samsung didn't have much of a choice, as copyright protection guru Macrovision has agreed to plunk down $45 million to purchase the BD + technology. Macrovision, in a fun coincidence? said it was purchasing BD + on the same day that Samsung posted its latest firmware. 
Macrovision wouldn't agree to pay that kind of cash if it wasn't dead set on promoting its BD + for the long-term. Let's hope this Samsung upgrade sticks!

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It looks like certain Best Buy stores are taking a 'one of this, one of that' approach with their high-def bundling.  From a picture snapped by a Best Buy shopper, the chain is advertising a deal that features a Sony high-def TV and Toshiba HD DVD player. That has got to anger either Sony or Toshiba who have been trying to promote more like-minded bundling as a way to sway the format war. Sony TVs go with Blu-ray players, Toshiba TVs go with HD DVD players. It's not that hard, people! But Best Buy is simply illustrating its long-held dual format strategy. It widely stocks products from both sides for its customers. Neither Blu-ray nor HD DVD supporters can complain about that.   

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Or so says a couple of entertaining, but definitely stretching it, BD-cheerleading You Tube videos proclaiming that the HD DVD format is already obsolete. The videos are part of a new official Blu-ray ad blitz, dubbed "The Future is Blu."
In 'The Coaster' the video's star probably does what you've already guessed. He watches a film on a Blu-ray player, while using his HD DVD player as a sort of a digital-age drink holder. 
With 'The Junk Clostet' you are treated to a 'technology through the ages' experience set to hippie rock music. Dusty formats such as the 8-track player, Betamax and Laser Disc, are all stuffed into a closet with their respective R.I.P dates given.  The 'oh, snap!' moment comes at the end when the guy shoves the HD DVD player into the closet, as the date 2007 pops up, followed by a question mark.
Well, BD backers did hold back with the format war bluster there. You know they totally could have put an exclamation point at the end of 2007.
You've got to wonder how the HD DVD camp will decide to fire back on You Tube. I'll guess that they'll have some sorry-looking folks putting foreclosure signs on their homes, after spending all their savings on Blu-ray players.  I don't know - just a guess! Let me know if you guys have some other ideas.
Elsewhere, in some likely upcoming BD shout-outs, HollywoodInHiDef.com blogger Scott Hettrick (and former Video Business editor-in-chief) will be leading segments on TV show "Designing Spaces" about hot holiday items. Hettrick's site is unabashedly pro-BD, and he is already slated to showcase the latest BD titles from Fox and Disney. Hettrick can be seen on TLC and the Women's Entertainment Network starting Nov. 16 in episodes running through the weekend between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m.

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Wal-Mart wowed many with its unprecedented pre-Black Friday price chops on Toshiba HD DVD players, selling them for sub-$100 pricing on Nov. 2. Now comes word they are rolling out major price drops on other products during actual Black Friday, on Nov. 23, spanning high-def TVs, computers and Xbox 360 gaming consoles. Citing leaked Black Friday advertisements, CNNMoney notes that Wal-Mart will be selling a 50-inch Philips plasma TV for $1397, a Dell Inspiron 1501 laptop for $598 and Xbox 360 arcade console/5 game bundle for $279.92. DVDs will be going for $2.96. Look for Wal-Mart to more widely distribute its Black Friday details this Monday, Nov. 19.

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F.Y.E. is spicing up the ubiquitous 'Buy One, Get One Free' offer with some extra cash.  Now through Nov. 17, shoppers can choose two of 40 featured Disney Blu-ray titles, get the lesser-priced disc for free, PLUS score a $10 mail-in rebate. You can order titles and print out the rebate form from the FYE site.  Everyone likes a 'BOGO' deal, but it's nice seeing retailers trying to get creative. It's probably smart for F.Y.E. to carve out a new angle on the concept, standing out some from the hurricane of rival retail deals hitting shoppers through the end of the year.

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An eagle-eyed reader has pointed out that Target's Web site has begun offering that once highly anticipated Venturer HD DVD player. It's set at $249.99, which isn't quite as low as the $199 pricing initially stated by Venturer executives. But even if the Venturer player had come tagged below $200, wouldn't the product launch still feel anti-climatic? We've already seen Toshiba HD DVD players marked down to $99 at retail. And on Black Friday, Sears will be selling Toshiba's latest third generation HD A3 model, regularly $299, for $169.99 That is nearly $100 less than the new Venturer model. It will be fun to see how Black Friday shakes out, with the slew of lower-priced HD DVD and Blu-ray players on shelves. The deals could be so hot that people will just have to pick up one of each. 

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During a Thursday speech by Sony Corp. CEO Howard Stringer, there was no chest thumping about Blu-ray already winning the format war. Instead, in some refreshing even-handedness, the Blu-ray exclusive executive said that high-def is locked "in a difficult fight," according to reports, including this AP story covering Stringer's appearance in Manhattan. He believes that Blu-ray did enjoy plenty of momentum, but the high-def climate quickly became muddled when Paramount Home Entertainment decided to go HD DVD exclusive. 
But Stringer seems to wave off all the hoopla surrounding the ongoing format war, suggesting that the only thing to be won really is corporate bragging rights.
Still, it's widely understood that Sony would seriously be in the hole if Blu-ray did wind up failing - as the compnay has invested heartily in the BD-capable Playstation 3. On that end, the BD player install base has swelled some of late, due mostly to the $100 price cut on the 80 GB PS3 and entry of the cheaper $399 40GB console.

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It looks like Samsung will hit a new Blu-ray player low, at least for one day at Circuit City. The chain is advertising a $377.99 Samsung BD player in a Black Friday ad that started making the rounds today. Pretty nifty. Best Buy Black Friday ads were also circulating, showing $399 Samsung players. Not shown here, but Circuit City is also expected to offer $399 Sony Blu-ray players as well. Currently, these players from Sony and Samsung are marked at $499.

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The established magazine for shopping advice, Consumer Reports, is almost agonizingly balanced in its picks for Blu-ray and HD DVD players in its current December issue. Yes, on average, Blu-ray wins better overall marks, securing 87 points, out of a possible 100, in picture quality. HD DVD's average was 81.
There is a real big but, though. 
Consumer Reports manages to pick as its bestest players, one Blu-ray player and one HD DVD player, Pioneer's BDP-94HD and Toshiba's HD-XA2, respectively. And it confuses things further by giving them the exact same 91 score. 
Consumer Reports judged primarily manufacturers' second generation models, including on the BD side, Pioneer's BDP-94HD, Panasonic's DMP-BD10 and Sony's entry level BDP-S300. Sony's first generation BDP-S1 was also evaluated.
Toshiba's higher-end HD-XA2 and HD-A20, plus entry level HD-A2 were included on the HD DVD side. The fact that Toshiba's HD-A2 outputs to 1080i, rather than the more pristine 1080p, likely worked to drag down the HD DVD player average quality score.
The good news is the Consumer Reports argues that no matter which side of the high-def fence consumers fall, they won't get hurt. 
"All the high-definition models we tested provided excellent HD picture quality with high-def discs," the review states.
Also heartening for high-def fans, Consumer Reports top marks for the also evaluated upconverting DVD players max out at 84, with the Harman Kardon DVD 48 model.

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Sony unveiled new firmware for the Playstation 3 today, but the update doesn't appear to include that long-awaited Blu-ray picture-in-picture functionality.
In this Firmware 2.00, available starting Nov. 8, PS3 gamers will be able to turn on the console remotely with their Playstation Portable while in a wireless Internet hot spot. Sony has also added an 'Information Board,' where people can find out about latest gamer news through a scolling window that runs along the PS3 menu screen. There are also ways to build music and photo playlists.
Back last month, Sony exec Don Eklund slipped that there would soon be firmware that would beef up the PS3 with picture-in-picture. That would help buyers of the studio's BD title Resident Evil: Extinction fully enjoy its planned picture-in-picture bonus features. It will be mighty hard for Sony to market advanced interactivity (Extinction marks its first picture-in-picture title) - if a vast majority of the Blu-ray base can't see it.
 

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