Using the Sony PlayStation 3 as a game console and as a Blu-ray player is perhaps the best move you can make in terms of value for your money if you want to get into the whole next-gen format and gaming loop. More and more people are realizing this as evidenced by a new survey conducted by Warner Home Video. See the full article for more details.

Tech-savvy Brits seem to enjoy HD content more than everyone else in the world. That's according to the latest statements dropped by the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG) Europe. The tracking group says that the adaption rate of HD technology and media is rising fast and  the UK has been a key catalyst along with the rest of Europe. See the details in the full article up next.

Here's some more news on the Blu-ray front. It seems New Line Home Entertainment and HBO Video have decided to follow Warner's choice, opting to abandon HD-DVD and make the  switch to Blu-ray. Though the format wars have yet to be decided, it's certainly dealt another blow against HD-DVD, at least.

More on this new development after the jump!

It was earlier reported that Total HD, Warner Home Video's dual-format disc which unites Blu-ray and HD-DVD in one two-sided medium will launch late this year. However, Studio VP Dan Miron now says it will probably come in 2008.

He says that the company recognizes that there's a market for both formats and there definitely is shelf space for their dual-format SKU. Ultimately, it was decided that they'll come out with it "when it's right" and "when it makes sense."

"There is no expiration date on the viability of this concept, so we’re not in a rush to do it," affirms Steve Nickerson, Warner's senior VP for Marketing.

The rationale behind the product, says Miron, is to try and avoid saturating the market with different formats that carry the same content. With Total HD, not only is it universally applicable, it's also one less SKU to sell for the company.

The North American HD DVD Promotional Group announced in an official press release that the sales of HD DVD players exceeded 100,000 units sold in the U.S. It was announced that HD DVD was the first to break that sales barrier in the consumer electronics industry, "ahead of any other high definition format." This announcement also marks the first anniversary of the HD DVD format.

It was roughly put, however, is that these sales do not include the HD DVD drive sales for the PC or the HD DVD drives sold for the Xbox 360. Toshiba, the company behind HD DVD, also announced to be the first to bring high definition DVD prices down to below the US$ 400 tag.

Jodi Sally, VP of marketing of Toshiba America Consumer Products, said, that retailer feedback shows that the lowered price has increased sales volume for April. "On Amazon.com, our HD DVD players continue to rank among the top ten best sellers of all DVD players, which says a lot about how consumers relate to price," she added.

Complementing the rapid growth of sales for HDTVs, Toshiba has been driving sales with strategic prising and marketing in mind. Banking on the many features inherent to HD DVD, including network connection, picture-in-picture, persistent storage, and decode support for Dolby's proprietary True HD format, Toshiba also offers original DVD format movies alongside HD format movies in a single HD DVD disc for true backward-compatibility playback.

More than 70 new titles in HD DVD format are expected to be released at the end of July, bringing the amount of HD DVD movie titles to more than 300 by summer of 2007. "The Complete Matrix Trilogy," from Warner Home Video, is expected to arrive in HD DVD format by next month.

Why choose between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray when you can have both in just one single player? Such is the argument being held by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. as it announced Duo HD player (BD-UP5000) today. The new system will be capable of supporting both formats and their interactive technologies HDi and BD-Java.

"We welcome Samsung's Duo HD player as another solution in the marketplace that will help reduce consumer confusion and buyer hesitancy towards HD media," uttered Warner Home Video President Ron Sanders. "This is an innovative product that can move us closer to mainstream consumer adoption of HD technologies."

A couple of days ago, the media conglomerate surprised consumers and producers as it displayed a double-sided combo disc that is currently under development. If all things go well, the said disc will be able to handle 30GB of HD-DVD and 25GB of Blu-Ray this coming fall.

As to why Samsung decided to come up with a hybrid player, Samsung Electronics Digital AV Division Exec. VP Dongsoo Jun explained,

As a member of the DVD Forum and contributor to the DVD Industry, we recognize that both HD-DVD and BD formats have merits. As such, we have decided to market a dual format player. Samsung is flexible to market a stand-alone HD-DVD player whenever consumers demand it. Our main concern is not technology but consumer choice.

Pricing and other features of Duo HD player are expected to become in the coming months.

Let's face it. The UMD is not really a very popular medium for people. It's struggling to make a profit, you could say, as its limited uses and high prices push consumers away from making purchases.

In Japan, however, the poor unloved UMD had Christmas early, as people actually started to buy universal media discs. After Warner Home Video opted to reduce prices for their UMD movies, sales of the discs went up tenfold! The UMD vids, which are now priced at 980 yen (around  $8.50) were only supposed to be marked down as part of a limited time sale. Warner decided to just keep the price down permanently.

It's a smart move to make it limited then permanent. People will think that this markdown is a godsend (or santasend) and buy more discs to suit their movie tastes because the high prices from before are still fresh in their mind. We wish they'd send that discount to other countries because the darned things, while cute, cost more than the usual Christmas gifts you buy for to family members you don't like and can barely tolerate (admit it, because it's bound to be true).

One last thing: Don't you think it's weird that they didn't offer numbers? There's this mental image of them selling only one a month with the old prices, so they still only sell 10 UMDs now... If any of you have actual numbers for the UMD sales, send us a tip, ok?

As June nears, so is the official launch of the Blu-ray format. With that looming over the horizons, the HD-DVD party continues to pull out all the necessary efforts to counter the rival. Warner Home Video (WHV) continue to widen their HD-DVD movie collection with the recent announcement of their first interactive title.

WHV has been busy building their HD-DVD portfolio consistently. Movies such as The Perfect Storm, Firewall, and Constantine are already part of the growing HD-DVD portfolio and will have price tags ranging from $29-$40. If the Warner Home Videos people will continue with this kind of pace and if other publishers decide to go the HD-DVD way, then there would be a handful of titles out at the time the Blu-ray is launched.

In related stories, Microsoft is also busy promoting the HD-DVD at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference. They presented software and hardware supporters that promised a commitment to the HD-DVD format. Also, the Bill Gates camp also confirmed that the Windows Vista will be shipped with the drivers, file system and other components necessary to support HD DVD playback. The company also gave a positive progress report on the state of third-party software players, and announced a new initiative designed to help ISVs implement VC-1 and iHD, and improve HD DVD playback.