IFA 2007: Blu-ray Disc Association
Posted September 10, 2007 by Marwin
The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), similarly to previous years had a joint booth located at the center of the main IFA hall where all of their member companies could display their upcoming Blu-ray products. However, as those that have been following our coverage from IFA already have seen, Blu-ray was everywhere and virtually every large consumer electronics manufacturer (Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Sharp, LG, JVC, Hitachi, Denon, Loewe, Daewoo, Funai) featured various Blu-ray products in their own halls/booths as well.
The BDA also held a press conference at IFA where they announced that China Hualu and Acer had joined the BDA. China Hualu, which has close ties to Panasonic and interestingly created the first DVD player production line in China in 1998, revealed that they are in the process of setting up a Blu-ray authoring center in China and will begin releasing local content on Blu-ray. As for Acer, with the addition of them as a contributing member it means that the top four PC makers now are supporting the format. Other significant announcements at IFA included the Hitachi Blu-ray camcorders that will be introduced in October.
At the press conference, the BDA further revealed that Blu-ray software so far this year has outsold HD DVD in the US (67%), Europe (70%), as well as Japan (90%+). In addition, representatives from Disney, Sony Pictures, Fox/MGM and Warner detailed their plans for upcoming Blu-ray titles in the fourth quarter and beyond. Warner, which chose to only appear at the BDA press conference and not the HD DVD one, promised to release more Blu-ray titles in Q4 than in Q1, Q2 and Q3 combined.