CES: HD DVD to See 300 New Titles in 2007

Firing the opening high-def salvo of this year's Consumer Electronics Show, the North American HD DVD Promotions Group held a press conference late Sunday, with format-supporting studios previewing several high profile new disc titles to come in 2007.

Though exact specs and street dates are still to be announced, primary HD DVD backers Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Warner Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment released an impressive short list of some of their most highly-awaited new and catalog releases due in 2007.

Among the theatrical blockbusters promised in the coming year are 'The Departed,' 'The Good Shepherd,' 'Flags of Our Fathers,' 'Blade Runner,' 'The Matrix' trilogy and the entire 'Harry Potter' franchise, all from Warner, plus the already-announced February HD DVD debut of Paramount's 'Babel.'

TV on HD DVD will also heat up in 2007, with Warner/HBO issuing more of 'The Sopranos' in season-by-season sets, plus the new Battlestar Galactica' from Universal, and as expected from Paramount, the original series of 'Star Trek,' which was digitally remastered and retooled in HD late last year.

These titles represent just a handful of what the HD DVD Promotions Group today promised will be a total of at least 300 new titles on the format in the next year, from more than 41 studios and distributors currently supporting HD DVD worldwide, including HBO Home Video, New Line Home Entertainment, Genius Product, Inc., The Weinstein Company, Studio Canal, and Bandai Visual.

The HD DVD session came on weekend filled with pre-CES press conferences, primarily from hardware manufacturers. The other high-def disc related highlights included: a price reveal for LG's dual-format player ($1,199), which is due to hit stores in early February; Toshiba's unveiling of a new $599 1080p HD DVD player (the HD-A20), set for release this Spring; and a first look at the first HD DVD write drive for PCs, also from Toshiba.

Things should heat up considerably on Monday as CES 2007 officially kicks off in Las Vegas. Of particular note is a planned press conference from the Blu-ray Disc Association in the late afternoon. We'll be keeping you posted with all the late breaking news, so stay tuned for continued updates all week.

In the meantime, we've added all of the previewed HD DVD titles to the Release Dates Pending section of our HD DVD Release Schedule, and for more details on the HD DVD Promotions Group press conference, you can read their official press release.