The AACS (Advanced Access Content System) is the standard of decrypting HD content of HD DVDs and Blu-ray Discs. The implementation of AACS into both HD disc formats is the target of hackers throughout the whole world and it seems the HD DVD is not that secure as it's inventors wanted it to be. Its encryption got hacked utilizing a flawed mechanism inside a special WinDVD version by members of the well known Doom9 Forums some time ago. When the company behind AACS, the AACS LA, reacted and prohibited the playback of HD DVDs using the aforementioned WinDVD version, the hackers found another way to get to the important data.
This time a hacker called 'xt5' took advantage of a common unmodified Xbox 360 HD DVD drive (Toshiba SD-S802A). He was somehow able to get a so called Volume ID out of the disc using this drive. With this Volume ID one could get access to all the neccessary keys needed to play a HD DVD movie. You won't need a software like WinDVD anymore. In order to fix this problem the AACS LA could add all external Xbox 360 HD DVD drives to their black list (Revocation List), no owner of such a drive would be able to play back a HD movie with it - except hackers of with above stated knowledge of course. Another solution would be to release a new firmware update for the Xbox HD DVDs but it would be only a matter of time until the next clever chap finds a solution for that.

Fastmac today announced the first & only Blu-Ray optical drive upgrade for Apple's PowerBook, iBook & MacBook Pro computers. The new slimline, slot loading drive uses one of the fastest & most compatible Blu-ray mechanisms to provide up to 50 Gb of storage on 1 disk, without sacrificing compatibility with standard DVD & CD recordable media. Fastmac's Blu-Ray optical drive upgrade is scheduled to ship within 10 days and is available for pre-order from www.fastmac.com for a special introductory price of $799.95. Each drive carries a 1 year warranty and a 30 day money back guarantee .

Consumers are already torn between choosing Blu-ray and HD DVD for their high definition format, but that's only the surface competition. If you dig a little deeper, you can find that there is another battle commencing between HDMI and DisplayPort, two different interface standards. Although HDMI seemed to the main choice among manufacturers, DisplayPort 1.1 has now been approved which could reignite the competition, giving yet more trouble for people moving to high definition. The main improvement of 1.1 is that it boasts High Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) version 1.3, however groups backing HDMI still argue that HDMI can still do everything that DisplayPort can and more, urging manufacturers to stick to HDMI. But with the backing of large companies such as AMD, NVIDIA, HP, Lenovo and Samsung, DisplayPort won't be defeated too easily, and consumers could have some more HD headaches still to come. DisplayPort could well become the replacement for DVI among graphics card companies, whilst HDMI looks to have control of the TV based market.

Although Blu-ray is still quite fresh on the shelves, owners of Blu-ray players may be concerned about news that the Blu-ray specifications are set to change this autumn. Although these players should remain adequate for general viewing, changes to BD-Java specifications mean that current devices may not be able to take full advantage of interactive features, including picture-in-picture. Unlike HD DVD players, many of the Blu-ray players don't all have Ethernet ports to let users upgrade the firmware, so users could be left stranded - it isn't even clear if those that can take advantage of firmware upgrades will be compatible with the new specifications. Manufactures have confirmed that new disks will still play in first generation players, but early adopters may still be disappointed that their expensive hardware has become out-dated so quickly.

The Inquirer noted that Slysoft promised it's customers that their software would be able to remove Blu-ray Digital Rights Management (DRM) software by the end of this quarter. It seems that the people at Slysoft have not only done this, but accomplished their goal an entire month ahead of schedule. AnyDVDHD version 6.1.3.0 adds more than just true Blu-ray support. It also promises to run on Windows Vista and XP x64 (along with all the other operating systems it supports). The free upgrade also removes region encoding. Now it seems that the only problem people will have with upgrading their PC's to support high-definition optical drives is affording the drive and Slysoft AnyDVD HD. You can get AnyDVD HD here, and if you already have it, you can patch yourself for Blu-ray support here.

Samsung has been seen before as an official maker of Blu-ray hardware, and a supporter of the standard. So their announcement of an HD-DVD laptop took a lot of people by surprise. The Samsung M55 features a 17" widescreen capable of an impressive 1920x1200 resolution (more than enough for 1080p HD DVD's), powered by an NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 with 256MB GDDR3 graphics memory. The laptop also carries an HD-DVD player (of course), 2GB of DDR2 667 system RAM, a Core 2 Duo T7200 processor, a 120GB hard drive, and support for all wireless standards, excluding 802.11N. All this is run with the help of Windows Vista Home Premium. The laptop will go on sale in Korea for KRW3m ($3,186/£1,627/€2,419).

Blu-ray has now sold more disks overall than rival format HD DVD, selling in a ratio of 100:98.71. Blu-ray has been outselling HD DVD for a few months now, but HD DVD had a head start in sales thanks to an earlier launch date, but due to PS3 there are now five times as many Blu-ray players in homes, making Blu-ray is the obvious choice for most consumers. Blu-ray wasn't helped by its high initial price compared to HD DVD, but that has once again been helped by the relatively cheap PS3. There is still confusion in the market for many consumers as some companies stick exclusively to one format, but studios such as Warner and Paramount are willing to sell on both formats, which has helped boost overall sales.

Although most will agree that the best value way to obtain a Blu-ray player is still to buy a PS3 (from as little as $499), Sony is planning a new Blu-ray player due for release this summer which will be cheaper than current stand alone player. The Blu-ray player offered by Sony at present is the BDP-S1, which retails at around $999 and is only attracting a very small number of customers. However, the new BDP-S300 will soon become the cheapest standalone Blu-ray player with a price tag of $599. According to Sony, the new player will offer the same features as the BDP-S1, along with the ability to play CDs as well as being more compact - about the same size as your average DVD player. This is still noticeably more expensive than the cheapest HD DVD players, which can be found for under $400, but it should help to further boost Blu-ray disk sales, which have already been helped by the PS3.

Blu-ray disks are currently limited to a slow 2x write speed, as are the burners. Fortunately, Nichia Corporation looks to change that.

Nichia's new laser diode is able to emit pulsed light at 320mW, while it offers a stable operation of 1,000 hours, according to the company. The diode could be used for optical discs including Blu-ray and HD DVD, allowing 10X speed recording with a double-layer disc and 2X speed recording with a four-layer disc.

Nichia hopes to make these available by mid 2008. Of course, Blu-ray disks have to be made that can actually support this gigantic boost in burn speeds.

Traxdata has joined the Blu-ray side of the HD-DVD vs Blu-ray war. And what better way to do it than by introducing a rewritable Blu-ray disk? The disk can hold 25GB of data, and can play 1080p HD at an impressive bitrate of 40Mb/s. It also features a hard-coating technology that should make it more resistant to things like fingernails that tend to scratch disks. It can be re-wrote at speeds of 2x.

Although both HD-DVD and Blu-ray have already been hacked to get around copy protection measures, a Doom9 forum poster has managed to find the most effective method yet. Until now, each different film has needed its own unique key to decrypt it, but now all you need is a single Processing Key, which works on both high definition formats. The method used by the hacker was to record all the information that was being read from the disk into the memory and therefore managed to find the processing key. This Processing Key will probably stop working soon however - once the Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administrator gets word of it future disks are likely to be updated.

According to the latest figures published by Nielsen VideoScan, sales of pre-recorded Blu-ray media have outsold HD DVD by a huge margin in the USA. During the first week of January, HD DVDs were selling at 47.14% of the rate of Blu-ray disks, with that figure falling to 38.36% during the second. Although overall more HD DVD disks have been sold so far (they have been out for longer), the PS3 (which can play Blu-ray) seems to have given a huge boost to Blu-ray sales after shipping over a million consoles in the same time that just 175,000 HD DVD players were shipped to the US. The Xbox 360 HD DVD drive may help to balance this out a little, but for many the PS3 seems the best value way to move to High Definition.

It seems that muslix64, the hacker who cracked HD-DVD, has now done the same for Blu-ray. Blu-ray and HD-DVD both use AACS (Advanced Access Content System) to prevent people copying the media, but it looks like both formats may have been defeated. By finding the keys that films use to prevent users copying the content, people can sidestep the protection and then rip the movies into another format, essentially allowing them the freedom to do what they want with the films. BD+, the second type of protection for Blu-ray, is yet to be broken.

Despite numerous reports last week (including one on techPowerUp!) that the adult entertainment industry has gone for HD-DVD over Blu-ray, DailyTech claims that this isn't completely true. In an interview with the site, founder of Vivid Entertainment (one of the big names in pr0n), Steven Irish, claimed that his company fully intends to back both formats. The adult entertainment industry has a big impact on sales despite its secretive nature - when the industry chose VHS over Betamax it was deemed to be a big factor in VHS' success. Other companies such as Digital Playground still intend to stick with HD-DVD to start with, but the industry isn't being exclusive. However, it's very possible that online downloads could be the future of all films, not just adult ones, and that could be a big deciding factor. All that can be said so far is that the ball isn't in HD-DVD's court just yet.

Warner home video may just have the answer buyers have been waiting for. If you have been holding out on buying a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player, because it is not yet set which will prevail - wait no more. Warner is now offering "Total Hi Def" discs, which combine the Blue-Ray and HD-DVD discs on one disc. So no matter what player you own, the movie will play in HD. First movies using the format will be released in the second half of 2007. The buyer only needs to pay the extra licensing fee for both technologies, as Warner will not charge more for the special discs themselves.

People who bought "The Descent" on Blu-ray hoping for a high-definition movie experience were sorely disappointed if they had a standard Blu-ray drive. While PS3 users watched away, people who had spent hundreds of dollars more on a standard Blu-ray drive could only stare at a blank screen. The problem has to do with the way Lions Gate Entertainment encrypted the Blu-ray. Lions Gate Entertainment used BD-Java technology, which is not compatible with any Sony or Pioneer stand-alone Blu-ray player. Sony is expected to patch the problem early this year.

Blending the latest technologies and offering unprecedented flexibility to consumers seeking the convenience of playing both Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD high-definition content, LG Electronics (LG), a leader in consumer electronics and mobile communications, today launched the groundbreaking "Super Multi Blue" Player at the 2007 International CES (Booth #8214, Central Hall, Las Vegas Convention Center).

LaCie today introduced the first external Blu-ray burning solution for Mac OS and Windows called the LaCie d2 Blu-ray Drive. LaCie's d2 Blu-ray Drive is addressed to proffessionals or video editors who need to distribute HD content while retaining quality of picture and sound. The drive does not support playback of protected BD-ROM movies. LaCie d2 Blu-ray Drives come with full-featured Roxio software including Roxio Easy Media Creator 8 for Windows, and Toast 7 Titanium for Mac - both with new support for Blu-ray. The drive also comes bundled with a 50GB BD disc from Panasonic. LaCie d2 Blu-ray Drives are available immediately online and widely available via LaCie's specialized dealer network later this month at the suggested retail price of $1149. In addition to Roxio burning software, drives ship with CinePlayer 3.4 for HD playback on Windows.

Considering that there is no clear winner in the high definition media content battle, Warner Brothers patented dual-format technology in September. With this technology, Warner Brothers will take a dual layer high definition disk, put the HD-DVD version of a movie on one side, and the Blu-ray version on the other. Paramount will also begin producing movies on this universal disk, which should not cost more than an HD-DVD or a Blu-ray disk.

Seoul, Korea, January 4, 2007 --- LG Electronics (LG), a leader in consumer electronics and mobile communications, announced that it will launch the world's first dual-format high-definition disc player, capable of playing both Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD content. The unit will be released in the United States in early 2007. Details will be provided at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), held January 8-11 in Las Vegas.

AMD will begin offering AMD Live! computers with Blu-ray and HD DVD drives in Q3 2007. This should definitely increase AMD's market share in multimedia PC's. While both AMD and Intel are working hard on making a nice multimedia platform, AMD with AMD Live! and Intel with Intel Viiv, neither of them have very much market share. This is probably due to a lack of enthusiasm from any major computer vendor. AMD's support for HD DVD and Blu-ray should help the Blu-ray drive gain popularity.

Japanese consumer electronics maker Sharp Electronics said on Tuesday it has started the commercial production of blue laser diodes, used to read and write data on high-definition optical discs. The diodes can be used in DVD players based on the Blu-ray format, championed by Sony, as well as competing HD DVD technology, promoted by Toshiba. Sharp, which is entering the market dominated by Sony and unlisted Nichia, plans to bring the monthly capacity to 500,000 units by the end of 2007, spending several billion yen.

Dell has now chosen to offer a Blu-ray drive as an optional extra on its XPSTM M1710 notebook, making the first of Dell's models with Blu-ray. According to a spokesperson, the company's view of Blu-ray is "We [Dell] believe it will become the optical drive standard of the future." It's extremely likely that Dell will soon begin to offer Blu-ray across a much wider selection of models.

After three years of work, 20 of the largest DVD manufacturers in China demonstrated 80 EVD players today. EVD is intended as a low cost alternative to the relatively pricy Blu-ray and HD-DVD and uses more conventional data storage methods. By using advanced compression techniques the manufacturers intend to store high definition movies without requiring a large increase in capacity over a standard DVD.