Consumers Overwhelmingly Choose "Blu".

Over One Million Blu-ray Players Shipped in the U.S. in 2006; Blu-ray Becomes the Clear Leader in HD Entertainment

LAS VEGAS -- The Blu-ray Disc Association today declared its victory as the premiere high definition DVD format of choice. Debuted to the U.S. market in June 2006, over 25 companies have released Blu-ray Disc products to date, including players, recorders, high-definition computer drives, recordable media, PC applications, and announced almost 170 movie and music titles.

Driving demand for high definition content, more than one million Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) units, each featuring a Blu-ray Disc drive, were shipped to the United States in 2006, from launch through the end of the year, as reported by Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA). Demand for PS3 has been extremely high, and according to a recent SCEA survey of over 10,000 PS3 owners, 80 percent indicated they will buy Blu-ray movies and 75 percent said they use the PS3 as a primary device for viewing movies.

"The success of Blu-ray Disc is unprecedented," said Andy Parsons, chair of the U.S. Promotions Committee for the Blu-ray Disc Association. "With unmatched cross-industry support, including seven of the eight major Hollywood studios and two biggest players in the music industry, consumers have voted with their wallets for the format that offers the widest array of hardware and content on the market. The road ahead in 2007 looks even brighter as we introduce Blu-ray Disc to Europe and as even more consumers migrate to HDTVs."

Blu-ray Disc provides consumers and content providers with a single common format that has the capacity, image and audio quality, interactivity and connectivity needed to expand beyond the simple movie playback and into a range of interoperable consumer products and applications that have brought a new dimension to home entertainment.

Understanding & Solutions, Ltd., a leading market analyst projects continually increasing market share for Blu-ray Disc beginning in 2007, and predicts that by 2010 virtually all HD optical disc hardware sold will be Blu-ray hardware, with all but the smallest fraction of movie content also on Blu-ray only.

In 2007, consumers in the U.S. will continue to see a pouring of Blu-ray Disc products on retail shelves, including new arrivals such as Pioneer's next generation BD-ROM computer drive, the BDC-202, Samsung Electronics' second-generation Blu-ray Disc player, the BD-P1200, Sony's VAIO XL3 Digital Living System and highly-anticipated movie releases from seven of the eight major movie studios supporting the format. For a list of companies that have announced products and movie titles, please see attached.

Blu-ray Disc Association at ICES

To see and experience the Blu-ray Disc product lineup, please visit the association's booth (#11606) located in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. For more information on specific Blu-ray products, please visit the Blu-ray Disc Association's ICES press site at: http://www.virtualpressoffice.com/presskit/ index.jsp?showId=1136771688404&companyId=1161029578109 (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.)

About Blu-ray Disc

Blu-ray Disc is the next-generation optical disc format being developed for high-definition video and high-capacity software applications. A single-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 25 gigabytes of data and a double-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 50 gigabytes of data.

About the Blu-ray Disc Association

The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) is responsible for promoting and further developing business opportunities for Blu-ray Disc - the next-generation optical disc for storing high-definition movies, games, photos and other digital content. The BDA has more than 180 members. Its Board of Directors consists of Apple; Dell Inc.; HP; Hitachi, Ltd.; LG Electronics Inc.; Mitsubishi Electric Corporation; Panasonic (Matsushita Electric); Pioneer Corporation; Royal Philips Electronics; Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.; Sharp Corporation; Sony Corporation; TDK Corporation; Thomson; Twentieth Century Fox; Walt Disney Pictures and Television; Warner Bros. Entertainment.

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