It is capable of burning BD-R at up to twelve times speed as well as BD-R DL at up to eight times speed. Software containing CyberLink Blu-ray as well as DVD playback is supplied, together with recording applications and equally software capable of delivering 3D playback compatibility. It also has LightScribe direct disc labeling included in order to create black and white picture labels of professional quality.

The PX-LB950UE of Plextor is available from February in Europe for a price equivalent to $248. Information about the availability in the United States is not known at this time but it can be expected to arrive soon.

Conferencing with up to 24 other partners is still supported. When users are not at home to be able to receive Skype calls, it is possible for the caller to leave a message. When a message is waiting, a blinking light on the Blu-ray player indicates this. Blu-ray players such as the DMP-BDT110, DMP-BDT210 or DMP-BDT310 require connected, cameras, compatible with Skype.

The Blu-ray players support Skype video calls up to 720-pixel resolution at 22 frames per second. This is more than users of PCs get, at 640×480 VGA.

The light transmittance of the disc is very high, with 95.1 percent for each layer and reaches 72.6 percent for the entire disc. According to a TDK representative, material used to make the new disc is currently utilized in Blu-ray media, so that durability is not unproven.

The new disc has read speeds identical to those of Blu-ray devices. Symbol error rates when reading out data are situated between 1 × 10-5 and 1 × 10-4, low enough for commercial purposes. However, the thickness of the disc is a topic that still needs discussions. While the TDK disc is 260μm thick, a Blu-ray recording layer has to be less than 100μm. The TDK disc causes aberration of optical lenses.

TDK said support of other disc producers was still needed before the new medium could be commercialized. Expected applications include not only backup, but also broadcasting as well as recording in the home.

2010 Samsung TVs sized at 40 inches and above owners, as well as 2010 Blu-ray players and home theater systems which benefit from Samsung Apps support are now able to download the application. The app is currently free of charge, but users need, however, a Napster subscription. A two-week free trial is available for those wanting to test the new service.

The correspondence continued and Jobs argued that free, instant satisfaction and convenience are some of the factors that have made MP3s take off. He also said that the downloadable movie business is swiftly moving to free services – for example, Hulu – or even rentals; therefore, Jobs claims that storing purchased movies is not an option anymore. The CEO declared that it is very possible to soon see a fast, large move to streamed free and rental content, available at a satisfactory quality (at least 720p) to win almost everybody.

Some rumors claimed that Blu-ray could have been headed to Apple’s Macs; despite this, none of these reports turned out to be true. Because of copyright protection, as well as licensing issues, Steve Jobs has described this disc format as some kind of a bag of hurt.

In order to read BDXL discs, new disc readers have to be especially designed to read this type of discs, even if these will also be compatible with the current 25GB and 50GB Blu-ray disc formats. License information, as well as applications for this new standard are already available for manufacturers. The Association hasn’t yet given any details on the estimated release date of the first BDXL hardware.

The player sports all modern Blu-ray features and has 1GB of internal memory and an Ethernet jack to support BD-Live. Like its predecessor, it can also play Blu-ray movies at 24p without needing pull-down conversion and has an HDMI 1.3 output supporting 36-bit colour on matching receivers and TV sets. There is still an option for non-disc formats that range from simple photos and audio to video formats like AVCHD (H.24), whether stored on an attached USB drive or on disc.

Oppo is already receiving orders for the BDP-80 Blu-ray player that is priced at $289, which is much lower than the BDP-83 with its $499 price.

LG is expected to provide further information about the new features of the Blu-ray players at its CES keynote as well as its own show.

The current version of the BDP-83 has both BonusView and BD-Live support. VRS de-interlacing and scaling capabilities are also present. The device can play back DVD-Audio and SACD discs content and has a 7.1-channel analogue output, as well as a dedicated stereo output and, on the front and the back, a USB port for connections of external hard drives or flash drives. The player also provides NTSC and PAL video system conversion. According to an Oppo Digital representative, streaming options can be added to the features list.

The first discs can be purchased with the whole trilogy of action movies of Jason Bourne. The flipper discs will be released in mid-January next year, but Universal has not mentioned at what price.