Dan Warne14 June 2007, 3:08 AM
Sony has made the audacious claim that 90.8% of the 6,000 high definition movies sold in Australia in the first quarter of 2007 have been in the BluRay format.
Sony has made the audacious claim that 90.8% of the 6,000 high definition movies sold in Australia in the first quarter of 2007 have been in the BluRay format.
"Sony Australia’s latest HD Benchmark Report puts Blu-ray well ahead of the HD DVD format. Of the nearly 6,000 HD movies sold in Australia in Q1 2007, 90.8% were in the Blu-ray format," the company said in a statement.
"The report also reveals that for the third quarter running, total HD category sales are higher than non-HD models, representing over two-thirds of total spending, with a year-on-year increase in HD sales of over 80%.
The research was conducted by retail analyst GfK Australia.
Sony released the data to coincide with the Australian launch of its $1399 home theatre BluRay player, BDP-S1E, which does look mighty tasty, if you can totally ignore the pricetag.
Yes, it does all the spiffy technical stuff like full 1080p playback, upscaling of regular definition DVDs and eight channels of uncompressed Dolby Digital sound output via HDMI, but what looks particularly nice is the industrial design of the product itself.
What better way to put it than the gloriously written PR fluff in Sony's press release: "The BDP-S1E pays extraordinary attention to detail including a glass front, which shimmers in deep blue and disappears once the light in the home theatre is dimmed, drawing the audience's attention to the picture it creates."
Sony also says the player will integrate with the remote controls of its Bravia TVs and that movie buffs will love true 24 frame per second playback.
"Films are actually recorded at 24 frames per second but due to televisions operating at a higher frame rate, conversion has traditionally been necessary. When the BDP-S1E is connected to a TV with 24p capabilities, the film is shown precisely as it was recorded."