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Portable version embedded on BR discs may be rolled out this year
At the company's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Sonydemonstrated Blu-ray movie discs embedded with a lower-resolutionversion of the film for portable devices.
Fox and Warner Bros. released discs with a similar feature last year, albeit in standard definition.
Using a PlayStation 3 and a PSP, Sony showed how a Blu-ray moviedisc could be inserted into the former and copied to a memory stick forthe latter.
"There was always the promise of greater inactivity," David Bishop, president of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment told PC World. While admitting that it was not currently part of the company'scurrent release schedule, Bishop said that it was something SonyPictures would probably roll out this year.
Because the lower-resolution version is permanently stored on thepurchased Blu-ray disc, the portable version would not need to bedownloaded online for a separate fee and there would be no expirationdate. Although it was not specifically demonstrated, it is possiblethat the portable version could also be played on an iPod or a Zune.
If other movie studios follow suit, such a move could help increaseBlu-ray disc sales - but will also be likely to eliminate the UMD as astorage media for films.
In other HD format news, shares in Toshiba fell to their lowest level since last March on the news that Warner Bros. decided to drop support of its HD DVD format in favour of Blu-ray.