Experts Debate The Future Of Blu-ray Disc And HD DVD Player Hardware At The DisplaySearch 5th Annual HDTV Conference

September 5, 2007

DisplaySearch, the worldwide leader in display market research and consulting, will host a panel session covering "Next Gen DVD Hardware Outlook" at its upcoming 2007 HDTV Conference, to be held October 10-11, 2007, at the Hilton Universal City in Los Angeles, California. "As the DVD market reaches maturity and the DVD player category begins to slowly decline in this latter stage of its life cycle, the battle to determine its replacement is fully underway," according to Paul Erickson, Director of DVD and HD Market Research at DisplaySearch. "This market is in an interesting phase, with the dueling HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats creating a hardware market for both single- and dual-format solutions. With high definition players now in their third generation, prices dropping rapidly and the format battle deepening, understanding the current and future competitive situation for playback hardware is essential for assessing this market's potential." This panel features presentations by several prominent executives from the most influential companies in the next-generation DVD player market, and will focus on the short- and long-term prospects for players of each format. Hardware developments, new functionality and market positioning are among the topics to be examined. The Next Gen DVD Hardware Outlook panel will cover other crucial topics: * What are the competitive prospects for next-generation players versus inexpensive up-converting DVD players? * How will connectivity and interactivity affect the customer experience, and how effective of a differentiator will they be? * What features and/or functionality have shown to be highest in priority for consumers purchasing Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD players? * When will the price differential between DVD and next generation hardware be low enough to displace standard DVD player sales? * What position will dual-format players eventually hold in the market, and what is the expected price differential compared to single-format players over the long run? * How will the contribution of the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 game platforms to each format's hardware sales change over the long run? * What are the most significant advancements in the third generation of Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD players? What features are planned for the fourth generation? DisplaySearch's Next Gen DVD Hardware Outlook panelists include Representing Blu-ray Disc * Chris Fawcett, Vice President Home Video, Sony Electronics * Chris Walker, Sr. Manager Product Planning and Marketing, Blu-ray and Optical Disc Products, Pioneer Representing HD DVD * Kevin Collins, Director of HD DVD Evangelism, Consumer Media Technology Group, Microsoft * Jodi Sally, Vice President of Marketing, Digital A/V Group, Toshiba Representing Dual Format * Tim Alessi, Director, Product Development and Advertising, LG Electronics The panel will be moderated by Paul Erickson, DisplaySearch's Director of DVD and HD Market Research. Paul has more than eight years of technology industry analysis experience, covering software, consumer electronics and pay-TV services, bolstering DisplaySearch's existing industry-leading research expertise in the display arena. Register for both HDTV and the DVD Forum North America DVD Conference and Save! DisplaySearch has co-located the HDTV Conference with the DVD Forum North America DVD conference, which takes place on Tuesday, October 9, 2007. Register for both events and save $100. For more information on both events, please visit www.displaysearch.com/hdtv2007. Media interested in attending should contact Heather Boudreau at heather_boudreau@displaysearch.com Both events take place at the Hilton Universal in Los Angeles, California. A special conference hotel rate of $165 per night is available when you book online or by referencing the Group Code DIS when calling the Hilton Universal at 800-498-5416. The special conference rate is only available until September 14, 2007 or until the room block is filled. Click Here for hotel details.

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