Hey, Futuresource Consulting -- tell us something we didn't already know, why don'tcha? All jesting aside, said firm has become the second this year to find that Blu-ray Disc sales will likely outpace DVD sales in around four years. Granted, the report also asserts that a $250 BD player will be on shelves by the end of this year, so we can't help but drink whatever Kool-Aid it's sippin'. If you're interested in boring yourself with the same assumptions we've already heard, check out the PDF in the read link below.

[Via US News]

Oh Toshiba, has it really come to this? After a humiliating loss to Blu-ray, Tosh just unveiled its new $150 XD-E500 DVD player. It's no run o' the mill DVD player mind you, this unit touts Toshiba's new eXtended Detail Enhancement (XDE) technology -- that super-duper resolution upconverting tech meant to fill the void between ubiquitous upconverting players and Blu-ray. Unfortunately, the player demonstrated offered just "subtle but noticeable sharpening of the image" when compared side-by-side (in a controlled demonstration) with an unnamed $70 upscaler -- to its credit, Tosh did not try to compare its new player with an HD-capable Blu-ray machine. Still, more than twice the price for "subtle" hardly sounds like a compelling purchase to us.

Update: Official press release is now out which, oddly enough, helped us upconvert our 480i/p cynicism to full-blown 1080p/24fps skepticism.

Stellar news, Netflix users -- those shipping issues that have been plaguing certain customers for a few days now are finally fixed. Currently, the company is still investigating the root cause as it attempts to ensure such a problem doesn't crop up again, but for those who've been adversely affected this week, you can look forward to a bit of compensation. No, we're talking a personalized "I'm sorry" letter in the mail, but existing users will get 15% off their next bill and folks within their trial period will get another week on the house. Party on, dudes and dudettes!

[Image courtesy of Homotron]

We fully understand that we're a few days late in posting this up, but seriously, we figured Netflix would fix whatever's been ailing its shipping system well before now. Days after we heard the first reports of users getting an atypical warning when viewing their queue alerting them of possible shipment delays, tips are still flowing in from frustrated users. The message asserts that the company is "still experiencing issues with its shipping systems," though it gives no estimated time for a fix to be implemented. Have you been bitten by the Netflix delay bug? Have your titles continued without so much as a hiccup? Let us know in comments below.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

We'd already been formally introduced to Sony's HT-IS100 HTIB, but it -- along with the DVD-based 5.1-channel DAV-IS50 and the HDD-infused HTD-890IS -- have just been made official over in Europe. The low(er)-end DAV-IS50 arrives with 450-watts of amplification, a slot-loading DVD / CD / MP3 Disc player with 1080p upscaling, built-in AM / FM radio, wireless rear speakers and Sony's own BRAVIA Sync. The HTD-890IS spices things up with a 160GB hard drive, digital / analog TV tuners, a Digital Media Port, support for wireless rear speakers, two USB sockets and one-touch dubbing from camcorders or the HDD to blank DVD media. Mum's the word on pricing, but don't plan on any of the sets being a runaway bargain.

Gettin' antsy, are we Sony? Barely a month after the Entertainment Merchants Association pumped out a report suggesting that Blu-ray Disc sales could exceed that of DVDs by 2012, along comes a bullish Sony VP from the Asia-Pacific region to state otherwise. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's Tim Meade has asserted that the "sales volume of BD movie discs may surpass that of DVDs in 2011," following market reports in the US that indicate that the "global sales ratio of Blu-ray movie discs to DVDs will rise to an estimated 40:60 in 2010." Can't knock a guy for being hopeful, right?

Okay, so there are a few titles out there on Blu-ray, DVD and / or CD that simply shine. Those are undoubtedly the ones you bring out when looking to wow onlookers who are checking out your setup for the first time. But wouldn't you like to know which titles industry professionals use to seal deals and land clients? Thanks to a feature over at CE Pro, now you can. Bigwigs from SpeakerCraft, Richard Gray's Power Company and the Imaging Science Foundation were questioned about their favorite source material, and just to name a few, Cars, Casino Royale, The Fifth Element (the remastered version, obviously), Vertical Limit and Contact (DVD) made the cut. Hit up the read link for the full list.

Oh yeah, Onkyo's definitely going to dish out a Blu-ray player of its own later this year, but it can't just sit idly until that one has spent adequate time in the oven, now can it? Say hello to the DV-SP406, a 1080p upscaling DVD player that delivers upconverted content over HDMI. You won't find SACD / DVD-Audio compatibility here, but you will find coaxial / optical digital audio ports, a USB socket for loading up multimedia files and a 180MHz / 14-bit video DAC. Not too much else to gloat about beyond that, but considering the $125 street price (available now in black or silver), we suppose that's just alright.

[Via RandomlyAccessed, thanks littlefarny]

Slumping economy? Recession? Poppycock. Based on sales of home media, America's financial engine is humming along just fine, with consumers plunking down 1.6% more on DVD / Blu-ray purchases and rentals combined than they did in the first half of 2007. Granted, some may suggest that home entertainment is seeing an increase as more lavish alternatives (going out for a movie, taking a vacation, etc.) are utilized less frequently, but whatever the case, this sector is sure benefiting. Focusing on HDM, we're hearing that $194 million has been spent on Blu-ray Disc thus far in 2008, which is up some 350% from $43 million in 1H 2007. Amazing what a format war conclusion will do for numbers, huh?

[Image courtesy of Syracuse, thanks Joel]

If you've stumbled upon the perfect solution for archiving your DVD collection and streaming it via a DLNA server (you know, like the PlayStation 3), this week's Ask Engadget question is just begging for your input. Head on over and give those two pennies a toss!

Okay, so we really have no clue what's going on inside of Toshiba's labs, but one thing is for certain: it has upscaling on the brain. After hearing of an elusive super-resolution DVD player and seeing an all-too-curious new DVD logo, in flies word from Germany that the outfit is prepping an updated line of Picture Frame LCD HDTVs for release at IFA 2008. On the surface, there's not too much different about these REGZAs compared to any others, but internally, the newcomers are expected to tout Cell-based Resolution+ technology, which will upscale SD images in an attempt to make something (read: HD) out of nothing. Granted, Tosh has been talking up this stuff since CES, so it's not an entirely new concept, but we'll be interested to see if this has anything to do with those rumored DVD deck plans.

[Via Big-Screen, danke Joel]

'Round these parts, we prefer to read the fine print first, so it should be noted that none other than Macrovision -- you know, the firm that purchased the now-cracked BD+ DRM scheme for $45 million last year -- financed this here study. According to poll results from US and UK consumers, around 1 in 3 individuals admitted to "making copies of pre-recorded DVDs in the past 6 months, up over a quarter from the previous year's study." Predictably, males aged 18 to 24 were most likely to wear an eye patch and own a DVD burner (if you catch our drift), and while revenue loss due to illegal copying is certainly a valid concern, researchers did find that 62% of American respondents (and 49% in the UK) were duping flicks they already owned. Arrr!

[Image courtesy of George Dillon]

We keep hoping that Toshiba will come to its senses and just let this whole thing die, but no. Apparently insistent on keeping the last-generation format alive for as long as it possibly can, it seems the outfit is getting ever-closer to a super-resolution DVD player that would reportedly upscale DVD content like nothing we've ever seen. The latest tidbit in this woefully depressing saga is a newly approved DVD Download DL logo, which was given the final thumbs-up by the DVD Forum Steering Committee last month. In reality, no one outside of Tosh's headquarters has any idea if this development is indeed intrinsically related, but at this point, we wouldn't be shocked one bit to find that it was. Then again, the June 11th meeting also saw specifications for CH-DVD approved, so here's to hoping Toshiba isn't jumping on that bandwagon fiery wreck.

[Via TG Daily]

Read - DVD Forum approval
Read - Discussion / rumors

Never mind those fancy BD-R critters, how's about a 42GB DVD? Researchers with a good deal more intelligence than us over at Tohoku University have reportedly figured out a way to "multiply the amount of data that can be stored on a DVD or CD by 9." Based on our best guess at translating a foreign language (we kid... sort of), the achievement was realized by shaping the pits on a DVD's surface like Vs, essentially making the disc more capacious in the process. Unfortunately, said project will probably never see any mainstream attention, as existing DVD / CD players won't recognize the malformed media, and worse still, the process can't be applied to Blu-ray Discs.

[Via CrunchGear]

Oh, joy. Yet another report suggesting something about the year 2012 -- as if we're just going to let 'em spew anything and not check back for accuracy in 3.5 years? Anywho, not long after hearing a laughable article suggesting that Blu-ray decks would outsell DVD players by August (yes, of 2008), along comes another that makes a little more sense. The Entertainment Merchants Association's (EMA) 2008 annual report on home entertainment has found that "nearly 9 million high-definition discs were sold in 2007," and just 12,177 DVDs were released last year, down from a peak of 13,950 in 2005. More interesting, however, was the notion that "in 2012, sales of Blu-ray Discs will exceed those of standard DVDs and will generate sales of $9.5 billion," while spending on home video in general is expected to increase to $25.6 billion. Remember those days when you just couldn't find a VHS tape to save your life? You've got just under four years before that same feeling hits in relation to DVD (their assertion, not ours).