Blu-ray

Research: Digital living room to require tech support

Consumers will spend more than $400 million on in-home tech support this year, and that number could skyrocket in the future, according to a Parks Associates report.

Research: Europe goes on flat TV buying spree

One in three European consumers bought a TV in the past two years, but just 11 percent bought a flat-panel, according to a new report from Forrester Research. The more recent data is more promising for the likes of Sony (SNE): In the past six months, 42 percent of bought flat.

Research: 32 million high-def players to sell by 2011

It's beginning to look a lot like a high-definition Christmas, and the battle lines are already forming between the Blu-ray and HD DVD camps. The stakes are getting clearer, too: Parks Associates today released a report estimating that, counting both set-top boxes and game consoles, more than 32 million Blu-ray and HD DVD players will be sold in United States by 2011, up from the 4.9 million units estimated to MORE

Sony: Price cut more than doubles rate of Playstation 3 sales

Jack Tretton, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America (SNE), told the San Jose Mercury News that the $100 price drop on the 60-gigabyte Playstation 3 caused the rate of sales to double. Retailers reporting a PS3 sales spike included Amazon.com (AMZN).

Microsoft fights for the life of HD DVD as Blu-ray gains retail support

Microsoft (MSFT) said today that it would cut the price of its Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on heading into the holiday season. The software giant is seeking to lend support to the format as Sony-backed (SNE) rival Blu-ray gains support at retail.

At last: TiVo trims prices to pursue HD customers. But is it enough?

Buy a high-definition TV to watch HD cable channels, and your world changes. Suddenly you can see erstwhile invisible crow's feet around the eyes of aging actors, and standard DVDs bear a grainy resemblance to YouTube video. Like some modern Greek hero, you're blessed and cursed with the ability to see TV as it really is.

New Blu-ray / HD DVD combo player coming in fall?

Japanese site AkihabaraNews.com is reporting that LG plans to release a $400 HD DVD/Blu-ray combo player this holiday season, citing anonymous sources.

Enterbrain: Nintendo's Wii clobbering PS3 and Xbox in Japan

Nintendo's Wii sales in Japan appear to be pulling further ahead of Sony's (SNE) PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's (MSFT) Xbox 360, game marketing outfit Enterbrain reports, with the Wii chalking up sales of more than 3 million units since it hit store shelves there December 2.

Blu-ray vs. HD DVD: Sony says the war has just begun

Sony (SNE) executives in the United States are well aware that the battle has barely begun between their Blu-ray disc format for high-definition content and rival HD DVD, they told me over lunch this week.

Xbox 360 price cuts coming before Christmas?

Microsoft (MSFT) realizes that $199 is the "sweet spot" for console pricing, and that Nintendo did a "good job" pricing the Wii at $249, Bloomberg reports, quoting David Hufford, a director of Xbox product management. The Bloomberg piece also says:

Microsoft Corp. has won over 20-year-old gamers, who spend hours a day launching rockets and firing

plasma guns on the company's Xbox 360. Now it wants their moms.

To lure them, the MORE