Blu-Ray ROYALE Cracks Top Ten!! Herc's HDTV Cellar!!

I am – Hercules!!
Blu-ray Cracks Amazon Top 10 The Blu-ray version of “Casino Royale” is the first to crack the Amazon top-10 DVD chart, according to High-Def Digest.

It charted even higher than the full-screen standard-DVD version of the same title (though lower than the widescreen standard-DVD version of “Royale”).
Format War Victor Over! Again! Sony execs last week claimed the Sony-backed Blu-ray format had emerged victorious over HD-DVD. Frank Simonis, European chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association, even went so far as to claim Blu-Ray will overtake standard DVDs over the next 36 months. Toshiba execs, who make HD-DVD players, are saying, “not so fast.” An excerpt from a CrunchGear.com piece:

The Blu-Ray Disc Association stated last week that their format was outselling HD 3:1 in the US. [Toshiba Deputy General Manager of HD-DVD Olivier Van] Wynendaele argues that PS3 owners are to blame for this and it’s not because they’re purchasing discs. They’re simply redeeming vouchers for free Blu-Ray discs from Sony. He also states that Toshiba has sold 200,000 HD DVD players in the US compared to the 30,000 Blu-Ray players that have been sold. Wynendaele believes PS3 sales shouldn’t be counted in the tally because there is no guarantee that they are purchasing Blu-Ray discs for themselves or that they’re even going to watch Blu-Ray discs at all. In all fairness, neither format can claim victory because HD players don’t have enough market share, less than 1%, and Wynendaele agrees.

$600 Blu-ray For Summer Sony announced in late February that its second stand-alone Blu-ray player, expected to sell for about $600, will hit shelves in early summer. The new BDP-S300 is way cheaper than last year’s $1,000 Sony BDP-S1, and a little cheaper than the $700 (60GB) version of Sony’s PlayStation 3, which also plays Blu-ray discs. The new machine’s price is less impressive, however, when compared to Toshiba’s new HD-A2 HD-DVD player, which can currently be bought new for as little as $366.
HD-DVD/Blu-Ray Combo Discs Due In June Warner Bros. will issue its first titles in Total HD, which can be played in both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray drives, this June, Dominick DallaVerde, Cinram’s senior director of HD operations, new technology and applications tells Home Media Retailing. The format was previously expected to be introduced this autumn.
100 HD Channels Coming To DirecTV in September We knew DirecTV has been promising a bunch of new HD channels for 2007, and it appears now 100 of these channels – including HD versions of the SciFi Channel and MTV - will launch in September. (I was guessing it'd be more like Dec. 31.) Read more of DirecTV’s plans at TVWeek.com.
How is Cable Keeping Up? I note there are now 21 HD channels Time Warner Cable offers here in Studio City, Calif.: 402 KCBS 404 KNBC 407 KABC 409 KCAL (Independent) 411 KTTV (Fox) 412 KCET (PBS) 413 FSN (Fox Sports) 414 MHD (MTV/VH1/CMT) 415 TNT 416 DHD (Discovery) 419 UHD (Universal) 420 HDNet 421 HDNet Movies 422 INHD (In Demand) 424 ESPN 425 ESPN 2 427 HBO West 428 Showtime 429 Starz West 430 Cinemax West 431 HDMEV (PPV) I didn’t know MHD was on there until just now. As I type this it’s repeating the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremonies. INHD, according to a story in Tuesday morning’s Variety, will change its name to “Mojo” on May 1.

Blu-ray Calendar
March 13 Casino Royale The Holiday