Kai Uwe Marner has become the new chairman of the Blu-ray Group Germany, taking over from Thilo Röhrig. Röhrig, who held the role of chairman since the group’s formation in 2007, oversaw Blu-ray Disc’s success over the competing format HD DVD.

“Blu-ray has gained real fans in the home cinema sector and has become well known in general. But a lot of people still do not know about all advantages of the technology”, says Marner. “Education and information remain the central tasks of the Blu-ray Group Germany.” With home entertainment in 3D and growing professional usage of the format using BDXL, further challenges are waiting. “The standard’s constant development opens up quite new perspectives – on the market and regarding consumer education. I am looking forward to the upcoming tasks as chairman, because the technology’s potential has still not been exhausted.”

Marner answers more questions about the current market development below.

What are the current sales figures of BD software and hardware?
The consumer can now choose between over 2,000 different Blu-ray titles in Germany. In the first half of the year about five million BDs were sold in Germany (source: GfK) and at the end of 2010 we are expecting overall BD sales to hit an eight-figure number. The hardware market is developing equally well. We are expecting an increase in sales of 170 percent this year.

3D is the main topic at IFA 2010. Does 3D home entertainment have the potential to strengthen the Blu-ray market or is it just a temporary trend?  
3D home entertainment is directly connected to the Blu-ray technology. At the moment only Blu-ray Disc offers enough space to deliver 3D content in HD quality to the consumers’ living rooms. It is a revolutionary extension of the technology.

The first sales figures and surveys show a very high consumer interest. Since March already 40,000 3D TVs were sold (source: BITKOM) in Germany and we expect a six-digit sale by the end of the year. According to an up to date survey by BITKOM, a further 16 million German customers are planning to buy a 3D TV.

Prices for Blu-ray 3D players are already affordable, starting at a point less than 250 Euros. Furthermore the players are downwardly compatible, so they also playback CDs, DVDs or 2D Blu-ray Discs. Blu-ray 3D Discs also often contain a 2D version of the film and can be read by a 2D Blu-ray player too. That is why we are convinced that the 3D technology will become a long-term trend.

Which problems do you see for the Blu-ray 3D market at the moment?
The assortment of devices and content is still low, but that’s normal for any newly introduced technology. With the customers’ increasing demand the diversity will rise automatically. We are expecting a dozen 3D movies on BD in Germany by the end of the year.

Don’t you think the customers are maybe overstrained by this new innovation in the home entertainment sector?
No, I don’t think so. The success of 3D theatrical experience has helped to increase the awareness of 3D home entertainment. According to BITKOM almost one of three Germans is interested in three-dimensional movie experiences at home. Of course it is an important task of the Blu-ray Group Germany now to educate and inform the consumers about the advantages and specifics of the technology.

Only a few weeks after announcing its support for the Blu-ray Disc format, Toshiba has revealed its first standalone BD player.

The BDX2000 provides Full HD 1080p digital output, BD-Live support (via Ethernet connection), AVCHD Playback and support for Dolby True HD and DTS-HD audio formats.

The BDX2000 is expected to be available in November. You can read the press release here.

Pocket-Lint reports that The Touch (or Medion X9613) contains an Intel CoreTM2 Quad processor Q9000, NVIDIA GeForce GT240M graphics card, a 1TB hard drive capacity and 4 GB of DDR3 RAM, alongside Dolby Home Theater V3-certified sound, a subwoofer, radio remote control, wireless keyboard and a two-megapixel webcam.

The BD390’s Wi-Fi and DLNA technology means that it can access shared media, such as home movies or music, from other connected devices, and its built-in 1GB memory allows easy and smooth running of this personalised BD-Live content. The full press release can be read here.

Meanwhile the HLB54S Soundbar also includes Wi-Fi and DNLA, but also features audio technology developed in conjunction with audio expert Mr Mark Levinson to deliver superior quality sound. The player boasts 430W of sound through the integrated speaker and wireless subwoofer, as well as a dock for iPods or iPhones. The full press release can be read here.

The BD390 should be available later this month, with the HLB54S following in November.

The fully-equipped PC stands only five centimetres tall but packs in a Blu-ray Disc reader, 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 processor, a 320GB Western Digital hard disk and 4GB of DDR2 RAM. It also includes an HDMI output for connecting to a television.

Niels Keunecke, Senior Director PCs & Displays at Fujitsu Technology Solutions, said:

“The Fujitsu ESPRIMO Q1500 is a very attractive mini PC for our customers. It combines state-of-the-art technology with an exclusive design. Thus, the ESPRIMO Q1500 is an excellent choice for lifestyle-oriented users looking for a powerful device processing their multimedia applications. We did not compromise on the environmental sustainability of these products and optimized their energy efficiency. As a consequence, the ESPRIMO Q1500 is one of the most energy-efficient products in our portfolio saving the environment and your money.”

More details on the Q1500 can be found here.

The PowerDirector 8 package includes the ability to author HD or upscaled SD content to Blu-ray Discs.

The full press release can be read at the CyberLink website, and a copy of the datasheet here.

The press release states:

In addition to unparalleled audio quality and maximum ease of use Pure Audio Blu-rays can be equipped from now on with “CopyToGo” technology. This means that the user can copy the songs of the Pure Audio Blu-ray from Blu-ray Players (profile 2.0) via network connection directly on¬† his¬† computer – all you need is an internet browser. The content on the Blu-ray can be provided in any format. The user therefore can listen to the music apart from using a Blu-ray player, and can even burn a CD or copy on an iPod/MP3 player.

Stefan Bock, managing director of msm-studios, is convinced that this innovation makes Pure Audio Blu-rays even more attractive: “With CopyToGo we provide all possibilities to enjoy music content from Blu-ray in any format. Perfect listening experience of Pure Audio Blu-ray in studio quality at home, MP3 on the road on your iPod/MP3 player, or CD quality in the car. CopyToGo provides always and everywhere the perfect format.”

For more details, visit the msm-studios website.

At IFA this morning Samsung announced a partnership with YouTube that will enable users to view content from the video sharing site directly through their BD players.

New players will have the functionality built in, but Samsung will also make it available to existing users through a firmware update.

Tech Radar has the full story.

Pocket-Lint has the details here.

Here are details on the SoundBar from the press release:

For design conscious consumers who demand superior sound and picture, Philips SoundBar with Ambisound is the right choice. The new Philips SoundBar with Ambisound incorporates a complete home theatre system, with integrated high definition Blu-ray Disc playback for sharp images in full HD 1080p and an optional dock for iPod in a single unit. This means you can now enjoy all your entertainment in high definition surround sound and Blu-ray Disc picture quality without having multiple speakers.

And here are details on the top of range Philips HTS7540 full home cinema system:

For consumers with more space, the Philips’ range of home theatre systems offers the best-in-class listening experience combined with high definition Blu-ray Disc playback.

The new Philips Home Theater HTS7540 is a 5.1 system which delivers high definition pictures and surround sound in a stylish design with a high quality aluminium metal finishing.

With its four floor standing pillars, magnetically shielded centre speaker, and the 8” high efficiency subwoofer, the system is truly designed to deliver best-in-class audio quality for all kinds of contents.

The other models in the range come with the same high-quality audio features but smaller set ups.

T3 has posted a round-up of announcements from the Philips press conference here.