Bruce Nazarian

A SINGLE FORMAT! 

Unless you have been under a rock since January, you know that an avalanche of change has been sweeping through the Next Generation Optical disc community. Warner Brothers kicked things off in early January, when they announced they would support the Blu-ray Disc format exclusively over HD DVD on releases beginning around June 2008. Followed by recent similar announcements of exclusive support for Blu-ray Disc from Target, Netflix, Best Buy, and finally Walmart, it would appear that a major market shift is finally taking place. One the one hand, this is a great development, since it will finally resolve a format war that (in the opinion of many) has caused a lot of confusion in the minds of potential adoptees. Some have opined that the confusion over Next Gen had contirbuted to a perceived slowdown in DVD sales, as well, and that was a justification for Warner's opinion.

Regardless, it would appear to be over. This morning, the BBC is reporting that Toshiba has aoounced it will cease production of HD DVD players and recorders, effectively ending the format. They have said they will continue to offer support to existing customers, and that's a good thing. How this will play out in the future is something the DVDA will remain on top of.  Despite the end of the format, we should thank Toshiba (and its partners) for their technological development efforts on HD DVD. 

More notes from Las Vegas and CES 2008...

Everyone was buzzing Monday about the Warner Bros decision to go exclusively with the Blu-ray Disc format, and that begs a thorough investigation and discussion here at a later time - but what I want to chat about today are some cool things that were being demonstrated at CES, and that FINALLY show us the potential of the long-awaited and oft-sought-for realtime internet connectivity from an Optical Disc player!

Greetings from Las Vegas and CES 2008!

If you've ever wondered if it's possible for a trade show to get TOO big, this is the one that will make you feel that way! Reportedly in excess of 180,000 are in Sin City for this show, and it shows… Traffic jams are everywhere, and I mean foot traffic jams, as well as the motorized kind! The show is SO big, they even provide a shuttle bus just to get around the Las Vegas Convention Center (as well as to get you to the Hilton, Sands, and Venetian, each of which plays host to an important part of the show).

Bruce Nazarian

First and foremost, we would like to wish you all the happiest of new years, and our best wishes for a successful and prosperous 2008.

And in keeping with this month's title, a New Year, a New DVDA, you will be seeing many new and innovative things from the DVDA in 2008. First, DVDA will be more active in co-sponsoring and presenting events this year - our first co-sponsored event of 2008 is the Storage Visions '08, http://www.storagevisions.com taking place in Las Vegas on January 5-6, just before the perennial 'Big Show' - CES, where you will find many DVDA Directors in attendance.. 2008 also showcases our very first event from the DVD Association - Europe - a day of informative DVD and Next-Gen sessions to be held on January 31st at the Broadcast Live / Video Forum event at Earl's Court, in London: http://www.broadcastvideoforum.co.uk/. Information for this event will be posted shortly.

The President's Message - 1 December 07

Bruce Nazarian

As you may know, I was recently elected President of the DVDA by the DVDA Board of Directors, with a mandate for change, and change has been topmost on my list of priorities. 

Since the election, I have been actively working to reshape the mission for the worldwide DVDA, making it relevant to 21st century issues, and more tangibly beneficial to its members. We've started by adding more globally-usable membership benefits for all our members, as well as organizing a series of high-profile conference events and DVD awards programs in the US, EU, and (shortly) Asia. For the first time, the DVDA Day of Excellence Event and Excellence Awards will be at NAB, in April 2008. Details will be forthcoming shortly.

Among the many member benefits we have recently added is an alliance with Netblender to provide DVDA Corporate Members with special access to the Do Studio MX online toolset, as well as discounts on DoStudio training classes to be held worldwide. We are also finalizing a deal for online digital media training thru lynda.com. Another benefit is a discount on HD After Edit (and DVD After Edit), a tool used by many DVD authors worldwide. In addition, our old friend Discmakers is offering all DVDA members a discount on their replication orders, and Screamervision in New York offers a discount on duplication. There are many more benefits that also exist. (Login and visit the members benefits page to see details)
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The President's Message - Nov 1, 2007

Bruce Nazarian, MPSE - DVDA President

The President's Message

Bruce Nazarian, MPSE
DVDA President