Matsushita sharpening Blu ray technology to build a home entertainment center around

EST on June 22nd (Beijing time June 23rd) news: around the Blu ray DVD technology Panasonic Corp intends to re shape their home entertainment center.

Panasonic Corp plans to launch in September a blu ray format DVD player, an audio and video receiver and a set of speakers with the use of players. Panasonic Corp will combine these products with its plasma TV products, in fact, in order to cope with the Blu ray format DVD player release, it will launch a 65 inch plasma tv.

At this point on the two new generation of DVD technology for the market battle is in full swing. Toshiba Co earlier this year, has launched a high-definition DVD player and a HD DVD drive CD-ROM. On the other hand, Samsung Corp, Sony Corp and other Blu ray format DVD supporters have been preparing to launch their first Blu ray format products.

Panasonic Corp has launched a computer with a recordable Blu ray format drive and developed a related burn tool software. High definition cameras are now priced at nearly $2000, but manufacturers say the price of the high-definition camera will be reduced to around $1000 or less in the next 18 months to the next 24 months.

For now, the HD DVD player is sold at a lower price than the Blu ray DVD player. But supporters of the Blu ray format say Blu ray DVD can store more data. A single disc can store the amount of data in the 25GB, and a multi-layer optical disk can store the 200GB data in 8 storage layers. For HD movies and other applications, the storage space is sufficient.

Like all other Blu ray formats, Panasonic Corp's home entertainment center based on Blu ray will not be cheap. The retail price of the Blu ray format player can only be $1299.95, and the receiver is priced at $999.95, and the speaker is priced at $2999.95. Consumers can purchase one of the parts individually or by combination.

Kazuhiro, the executive director of Panasonic Corp's digital network and software technology, said that the production cost of Blu ray format players will gradually decrease over time. Tsuga. At present, the biggest problem in the cost of production is the highest cost of laser head and lens. Tsuga said that once put into mass production, product prices will begin to decline.

He added that the price of Blu ray format media will also fall. Panasonic Corp has developed a new technology for rotating the disc, which can reduce the production cost and price. Currently, the production cost of recordable Blu ray format discs is $19.95.

He added that the price is only one of the reasons why consumers are not willing to buy Blu ray HD DVD format produced by Panasonic Corp.

He said: "the dual format player will be sold at a higher price." Players can play two formats of the product must be thicker in appearance, so it is not suitable for notebook computers.

"Blu ray format dominates in Japan," he said." Sony Corp and a few other companies actually launched Blu ray devices a couple of years ago.

He claimed that Blu ray format has also been a strong support for many film studios and equipment manufacturers. The Walt Disney Company, twentieth Century Fawkes company, SONY company, DELL pictures company, Apple Corp, PHILPS and several Japanese companies are supporting the Blu ray format. But the proponents of the HD format are not weak, including Intel, Microsoft, Toshiba and universal studios.

Hewlett-Packard Co, Paramount Pictures and Warner Brothers choose the two formats are supported.