Christine Persaud

Despite studies that predict physical disc media is on its way out as consumers continue to favour online streaming, research firm Futuresource Consulting forecasts that global Blu-ray disc production will reach two-billion units by 2014.

In 2010, Futuresource reports that more than 400 million Blu-ray discs were produced, not including gaming titles for the PlayStation 3. That represents an increase of nearly 60% compared to 2009.

“Moving forward, we expect to see continued expansion in BD video production volumes…” says Michael Boreham, Senior Consultant Disc Manufacturing & Storage Media.

Futuresource attributes the growth to more Blu-ray disc players being sold, falling disc prices, and the emergence of 3D content.

“A number of bundled exclusives are already boosting demand,” confirms Fiona Hay, Market Analyst, “such as Avatar with Panasonic displays or How To Train Your Dragon with Samsung displays.

“From 2012,” she adds, “we’re going to see very strong demand for 3D content, which will fuel additional growth.”

Christine Persaud

Visit the Apple Website, and this is the image you’ll see. Yes, it has been confirmed. The Beatles catalogue is now officially available for purchase as DRM-free MP3 files through the Apple iTunes portal.

Some say so what. Others are jumping for joy. Frankly, I’d actually be more excited if The Beatles catalogue came to GLEE. Nevertheless, the truth is that die-hard fans will now be able to download and enjoy iconic songs like Hard Day’s Night, Can’t Buy Me Love, Eleanor Rigby, and I Want to Hold Your Hand through the iTunes portal, then play them back in high quality on, and streamed to, various devices.

Now available is the band’s 13 remastered studio albums, the two-volume Past Masters compilation, and the classic “Red” and “Blue” collections. They can be purchased as full albums, or as individual songs. Single albums are $12.99, doubles are $19.99, and individual tracks are $1.29 each. A digital Beatles Box Set is also available for $149, and includes all of the above, plus mini-documentaries, and the Live at the Washington Coliseum, 1964 film of the group’s first concert, which can be streamed and viewed for the remainder of the calendar year. Adding a feel-good angle, the announcement is made in 2010, the year that would have marked John Lennon’s 70th birthday.

Since Apple started iTunes in 2003, several musicians have strongly held out on opening their musical catalogues to the site, choosing instead to focus on (yikes) just physical CDs, citing a number of reasons for the decision. Some of the most common include not agreeing with Apple’s policies and the royalties the company receives, and feeling that songs should be sold as albums, not as individual tracks (how, then, do you explain CD and cassette singles?) Two of the most notable hold-outs included The Beatles, AC/DC, and Garth Brooks. While you could indeed play music from these iconic musicians on your iPod, iPhone, or other Apple device, they would have had to have been ripped from a CD, or swiped it from an illegal peer-to-peer Website.

There’s no denying that The Beatles music is popular across generations, but the fact that the band comes from the “older school” of music could have a major impact on other musicians who have opted to keep their music out of iTunes. Let’s face it: no one from The Beatles needs the exposure, nor would they be significantly hurt financially by the exclusion from iTunes. So the decision was made as a clear one to move ahead with the times.

Will we see other hold-outs follow suit?

Gordon Brockhouse

At this time last year, it looked like 3D video would be the big home-entertainment story of 2010. Avatar was setting box-office records, and videophiles were eagerly looking forward to getting the 3D experience at home.

3D HDTV arrived in Canada in the spring; by late fall, all six major TV manufacturers were shipping 3D flat panels. However, only a handful of 3D movies, mainly animated features, have appeared on Blu-ray Disc. 3D fare on cable and satellite has been even more limited: last summer’s final and semi-final FIFA World Cup games, and the Masters Golf Tournament last spring. This winter, CBC will broadcast two NHL games in 3D.

I’m not convinced that 3D TV will become a mainstream phenomenon in the immediate future. But that hasn’t stopped me from making two 3D flat panels my Gear of the Year picks. They’re loads of fun with 3D content; but more important, they’re fabulous 2D HDTVs. In different ways, they’re two of the greatest televisions ever made.

Everything’s connected: They also have some intriguing network functions. You can use them to stream video from the Internet and to access content on home PCs over a home network.

Network features have been available on upscale TVs, Blu-ray players and A/V receivers for a couple of years now. But networked A/V components are now becoming mainstream, and changing the way we consume media. New online services such as Netflix, which launched in Canada in September, are dishing up movies and TV shows in new ways.

In fact, the home theatre is becoming part of a networked-entertainment ecosystem that includes iPods, smartphones, tablets, game consoles and notebooks. You can access Netflix and watch movies from any of these devices. You can use your smartphone to beam content from your PC to your A/V receiver.

And that, I think, is the big story of 2010 for home entertainment: this was the year that home theatre really got connected. All five A/V Gear of the Year products for 2010 have sophisticated networking functions. We’ll see lots more of this in 2011.

1. Panasonic VT25-Series Plasma TVs

I reviewed Panasonic’s TC-P54VT25 54-inch plasma TV last spring; the series also includes 50-, 58- and 65-inch models. To get a good 3D experience, it’s important that all vestiges of the left-eye image be gone from the screen when a right-eye image is being shown (and vice-versa); otherwise “crosstalk” will cause ghosting and blurring of 3D images. Panasonic’s top plasmas employ high-speed phosphors and high-speed processing to prevent crosstalk.

These refinements deliver important benefits with 2D HDTV, such as full 1080p resolution on moving images and improved gradation of tones and colours. These plasmas also have an incredibly high native contrast ratio spec of 5,000,000:1, which results in wonderfully deep blacks, brilliant whites and colours, and the ability to resolve fine differences in tone and colour right through the brightness range. This results in 2D pictures with a great sense of depth.

These TVs also have an attractive suite of networking features, including the ability to make Skype voice and video calls when used with the optional TY-CC10 video camera; this mounts on top of the TV and connects to one of its USB ports.

When I reviewed the TC-P54VT25, I called it “a great TV – the best I’ve every had in my home theatre.” I have not changed my opinion.

2. Apple TV

Unlike the original Apple TV, this second-generation model has no built-in storage; it’s strictly a media player. You hook it to your TV or A/V receiver with an HDMI cable, and connect it to your home network either wirelessly (it has built-in Wi-Fi) or with an Ethernet cable.

After that, you can rent movies and TV shows from Apple’s iTunes store, watch YouTube videos, view photos on Flickr, or connect to Netflix. It’s also really easy to pair your Apple TV with an iTunes library on a Mac or a PC. Then you can use follow menus on your TV screen to stream video and music your computer to the Apple TV. Or you can use the new AirPlay function in iTunes to play music on the Apple TV, just as if it were a speaker connected to your computer; or stream music to the Apple TV from an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

All this is presented in an instantly understandable interface. For users whose media consumption centres around iTunes, Apple TV a wonderful way to get their content into the home theatre.