The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry along with the Education, Science and Technology Ministry of Japan announced that royalty fees will be levied on blank Blu-ray recordable media and Blu-ray disc recorders in Japan.  The rationale for this move is that it is necessary to compensate copyright holders due to the increase in new digital technologies and personal copying.

Now that Blu-ray manufacturers don’t have a format war to contend with, they can focus on giving us players that take advantage of Blu-ray’s full technological potential. One of the main criticisms of the format thus far is that the first crop of players didn’t support interactive features like picture-in-picture playback and Internet connectivity (features that we got with early-generation HD DVD players, I might add).

Elevating the high definition experience in home theaters, Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. announces the Elite® BDP-05FD and Pioneer® BDP-51FD BonusView Blu-ray Disc® players that exceed the capabilities of current players in the market with support of next generation high resolution audio and video formats that fulfill the emotional experience of high end entertainment. Featuring picture-in-picture interactivity and a redesigned platform that significantly improves overall performance, the new players work in tandem with Pioneer's KURO displays and A/V receivers to provide film enthusiasts the most true-to-life reproduction of HD feature films.

The first Blu-ray player may have arrived in 2006, but 2008 will go down in the consumer electronics annals (is there such a thing, hidden away in a drawer at the CEA?) as the year of Blu-ray. If I were the resident annals-writer, the post would read something like this: In 2008, Blu-ray defeated HD DVD and became THE high-definition disc format. In 2008, we finally saw Profile 2.0 players that exploit Blu-ray’s full potential. In 2008, more manufacturers joined the fray, giving consumers a wider array of product options at a variety of price points.

Goldmund introduces the company's first Blu-ray player, the Eidos 20 BD. With the announcement of the Eidos 20 BD, Goldmund becomes the first high-end audio/video manufacturer to issue a Blu-ray player. The Eidos 20 BD embodies the Goldmund high-tech refinement that has made the Swiss-based company a leader in the audiophile community for the last 30 years. Goldmund signature features found on the Eidos 20 BD include the "AC-Curator" power supply circuit which dramatically improves picture and sound stability and dynamics, and the "Mechanical Grounding" construction which removes from the player mechanism spurious vibrations blurring the video signal and increasing jitter.