http://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/ Engadget HD Comments for Funai to produce inexpensive Blu-ray players http://hd.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://hd.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/May 22nd 2007 7:11AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/May 22nd 2007 8:04AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/May 22nd 2007 8:04AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/http://www.funaiworld.com/investors/financial_report/pdf/ks_e554.pdf
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Seriously, you need one like that format needs better audio quality. And please, responders, don't bother trying to come at me with any names or gripes about my post; I do this for a living, and it hurts when half of America doesn't know the difference between "lose" and "loose."]]>May 22nd 2007 8:19AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/Not sure how I missed that one.]]>May 22nd 2007 8:19AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,129106/article.html

Japan's Funai Electric Co. Ltd. is set to enter the next-generation DVD market this year, it said Friday.

The company, which is known for its low-cost consumer electronics products, plans to have a Blu-ray Disc player available before the end of 2007, said Naoyuki Takanaka, a spokesman for the company.

The product won't be sold under the Funai name but offered to other consumer electronics companies on an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) basis for resale under their respective brand names.

Takanaka wouldn't disclose Funai's target price for the player but a report in Friday morning's Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun industrial daily said it will cost around US$500, or about ¥60,000.

Whether that price is correct or not the entry of Funai into the next-generation DVD market is likely to increase low-end competition, if previous experience is any predictor.

Earlier this year Funai began supplying LCD (liquid crystal display) TVs on an OEM basis to Yamada Denki Co. Ltd., a major electronics retailer in Japan. A 32-inch set currently sells for ¥138,000 (US$1149). That's right at the bottom end of the price range for such sets. The retailer sells other 32-inch TVs for between ¥137,700 for a Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic) set and ¥278,000 for the latest model from Sharp Corp.

Japan's Blu-ray Disc market is currently made-up of a handful of recorders that carry price tags of over ¥100,000. Player-only machines haven't been released to-date and the cheapest way to get Blu-ray Disc playback is with Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation 3 games console, which costs about ¥50,000.

While its first product is likely to be compatible with Blu-ray Disc, Takanaka said Funai hasn't taken sides in the format battle and is also considering an HD DVD player.

]]>May 22nd 2007 8:31AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/May 22nd 2007 8:43AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/

Please let this war be over. I want Bond and Bourne in HD.]]>May 22nd 2007 12:30PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/
Additionally, HD DVD's use of Linux allows them to drive the control hardware and software towards zero -- x86 hardware being nearly free -- and BD uses a proprietary OS and custom hardware that will always cost more.

There are also royalties to consider.

So, HD DVD is less advanced than BD, and this mean that rock-bottom for HD DVD is substantially lower than for BD.]]>May 22nd 2007 12:46PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/May 22nd 2007 1:10PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/May 22nd 2007 1:55PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/
Here is the link for you all to look through.. http://www.funaiworld.com/investors/financial_report/pdf/ks_e554.pdf]]>May 22nd 2007 3:19PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/
Try it: hd dvd linux]]>May 22nd 2007 5:54PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/May 22nd 2007 5:45PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/
http://geekswithblogs.net/lorint/archive/2006/04/21/75795.aspx

(works better on IE than Firefox, unfortunately)]]>May 22nd 2007 5:57PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/05/22/funai-to-produce-inexpensive-blu-ray-players/
VC1 and HDi are MS technologies, indeed, but can be used outside of the MS OSes. VC1 compression is available in both BD and HDDVD specs, for example, and competes with MPEG4. HDi is the menuing system, which is the best user feature of HDDVD, but that's not an OS, just a C code API.

While there is a Windows CE 6.0 suite for HD DVD, Toshiba doesn't use it, nor does MS claim they do. They use it on their Xbox thing, no doubt, but that's not Toshiba. They also offer it OEM, and it may get used by others, but again not by Toshiba.

As for the guy who calls me a fanbot -- well, I admit a bias and a hard dislike for FUD. I think HD DVD is a better product design. This opinion is informed by 30 years as an engineer of embedded real-time systems. I don't work for anyone involved, although I have done work for MS in the past -- I built their DirectFM network's base stations on contract, for example.]]>May 22nd 2007 6:56PM