Blu-ray Disc Association - Timeline of Major Events and Announcements Involving Members | Timeline Major Events Announcements Involving Members

Timeline of Major Events and Announcements Involving Members

On June 30, 2004 Panasonic, a founder member of the Blu-ray Disc Association, became the second manufacturer after Sony to launch a Blu-ray Disc consumer product into the Japanese market. The DMR-E700BD recorder supported writing to existing DVD formats, and became the first unit to read and write to dual-layer Blu-ray Discs with a maximum capacity of 50 gigabytes. The launch price of the recorder was $2780 USD.
On December 8, 2004 The Walt Disney Company (and its home video division, Buena Vista Home Entertainment) announced its exclusive support for Blu-ray Disc.
On January 7, 2005 Vivendi Games and Electronic Arts announced their support for the Blu-ray Disc format.
On July 28, 2005 Verbatim Corporation, part of Mitsubishi Chemical Media, announced its support for Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD storage format development.
On August 17, 2005 Lions Gate Home Entertainment announced it would release its content using the Blu-ray Disc format.
On September 7, 2005 Samsung confirmed their next generation of optical drives will support Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD discs.
On October 2, 2005 Both Paramount and The Weinstein Company announced they would endorse Blu-ray Disc, while still supplying content on the rival HD DVD — in order to give consumers a choice.
On October 20, 2005 Warner Bros. announced they would release titles on the Blu-ray Disc format, in addition to HD DVD Video.
On November 1, 2005 20th Century Fox announced it would release its content using the Blu-ray Disc format.
On November 9, 2005 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer announced it would support Blu-ray Disc, and plans to have titles available when Blu-ray Disc is launched.
On November 19, 2005, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment announced that they finished editing the first Blu-ray Disc, a full-length movie, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. The disc uses MPEG-2 compression at a resolution of 1920×1080 (it was not announced whether it will be 1080p or 1080i) and claims to use a menu interface that would succeed current DVD-Video interfaces.
On January 4, 2006, at the Consumer Electronics Show Samsung and Philips announced their first Blu-ray Disc players for the U.S. market. Samsung announced the BD-P1000, retailing for $1000 USD and sporting HDMI output with backward support for DVD formats (DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+RW, and DVD+R), while Philips announced the BDP-9000. Philips also announced their all-in-one PC TripleWriter Blu-ray Disc drive and range of Blu-ray Disc media would arrive in 2nd quarter of 2006.
On March 7, 2006 Sony announced it would be shipping rewritable single-layer 25 GB 2x speed Blu-ray Discs to Europe, with dual-layer discs arriving later in the year.
On March 16, 2006 Sony announced a Blu-ray Disc player, the first VAIO desktop PC with a Blu-ray Disc recorder, and a Blu-ray Disc internal PC drive would be released in the summer of 2006. The VAIO PC would be shipped with a free 25 GB Blank BD-RE (rewritable) Blu-ray Disc worth $25 USD.
On April 10, 2006 TDK announced in a press release that it began shipping 25 GB BD-R and BD-RE media (at prices of $19.99 USD and $24.99 USD respectively). TDK also announced that it would be releasing 50 GB BD-R and BD-RE media later this year (at prices of $47.99 USD and $59.99 respectively).
On May 16, 2006 Sony announced its first VAIO notebook computer that will include a built-in Blu-ray Disc recorder with a 17" WUXGA display capable of displaying 1080p (at a price of $3499.99 USD). The VAIO shipped in June including software to play Blu-ray Disc movies and an HDMI-A input for other HD devices.
On May 17, 2006 Pioneer shipped BDR-101A, a PC-based Blu-ray Disc recorder drive.
On June 15, 2006, Samsung announced the industry's first BD-P1000 player had begun shipping to U.S. retail stores for availability on June 25, 2006.
On July 18, 2006 Verbatim Corporation announced that it was shipping its ScratchGuard coated BD-R and BD-RE Blu-ray Disc recordable and rewritable discs to stores in Europe, with discs priced between £20 and £24 (GBP).
On August 16, 2006 Sony announced shipment of 50 GB dual-layer Blu-ray Disc recordable discs with a suggested retail price of $48.
On January 4, 2008, Warner Bros. announces that it would abandon HD-DVD support by the end of May.
On January 5, 2008, New Line Cinema announced it would be following Warner's lead, backing Blu-ray exclusively.
On February 11, 2008, Netflix announced to phase out HD DVDs and begin to carry only Blu-ray Discs.`
On February 19, 2008, Universal Studios announced it would be releasing movies on Blu-ray Disc format making it the last ever Hollywood major motion picture studio to release titles on the Blu-ray disc format.
On February 20, 2008, The Weinstein Company announced it would be releasing movies on Blu-ray Disc format.
On February 21, 2008, Paramount Pictures announced it would be releasing movies on Blu-ray Disc format.

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