Sony sets UK Blu-ray launch date

 

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By Steve Malone

Posted on 1 Sep 2006 at 11:20

Sony is to introduce the first wave of Blu-ray titles this autumn to coincide with the launch of the hardware beyond North America. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment says it will be expanding its Blu-Ray operations to Europe, Japan, Australia and Korea.

The Blu-ray titles will appear in Australia, Japan, Korea, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland, the Nordic countries, Spain and the United Kingdom.

The first raft of titles from the studio is set to launch in October and includes Hitch, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, RV, The Fifth Element, Hostel, A Knight's Tale, S.W.A.T., Tears of the Sun, Underworld Evolution and Ultraviolet among others.

Sony promises that the prices of the titles will be broadly in line with current DVDs.

'We stand behind the superiority of Blu-ray as the pre-eminent high-definition optical disc format and are committed to delivering a strong slate of Blu-ray titles to entertainment enthusiasts worldwide,' said Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) President, David Bishop.

Sony is in a fierce battle with Toshiba and its HD DVD format to establish itself as the standard bearer for the next generation of 'blue laser' high definition optical disk technology. At stake is a billion dollar business that will fuel the move to high definition television and will most likely be the final optical disk advance before the dominance of video on demand over the Internet, and holographic technology beyond that.