Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has confirmed final specs for the August Blu-ray release of 'Immortal Beloved,' which will see expanded Dolby TrueHD support and a new user-controlled subtitle feature.

BD Plus Technologies LLC has announced that it has begun issuing specifications to content providers for use of its BD Plus content protection system.

In another last-minute announcement, LG will finally be premiering its on-again/off-again Blu-ray/HD DVD combo player -- the world's first -- at next week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

A potential big boost in HD DVD storage technology, Toshiba has unveiled a new prototype "triple layer" HD DVD/DVD that promises to double the capacity of current combo discs.

Move over, BD-50! TDK earlier today unveiled a prototype 200GB multi-layer Blu-ray disc at the IFA conference in Berlin, Germany.

While you're waiting for the price of Blu-ray and HD DVD players to come down, New Medium Enterprises is hoping that you'll drop a Benjamin or two on a Versatile Multilayer Disc (VMD). VMD provides a high def image using Red-ray technology, which compresses more digital information onto a disc than the standard DVD, but less than an HD or Blu-ray disc.

London-based New Medium is partnering with Chinese hardware supplier Beijing E-World to deliver the first VMD-compatible hardware to the US. The first VMD player to hit US markets will be priced at $150 and will be backward compatible with standard DVD content.

While they haven't announced which titles, New Medium is promising 100 VMD releases by September, priced at $25 per disc.

Essentially a third high def format, the proponents of Red-ray technology are hoping to find a foothold in the market with consumers who want high-def playback, but don't want to pay for developing HD and Blu-ray technology. Rather than a shift in format, New Medium conceives of itself as providing the next incremental step in the quality of DVD players.

We know you need another high-def DVD format like you need a hole in the head, but that's just what London-based New Medium Enterprises is planning to introduce later this year. The company has developed the Versatile Multi-Layer Disc (VMD), a multi-layer disc technology that promises equal or greater storage capacity to existing HD-DVD and Blu-Ray high-def formats, and cheaper player and disc costs.

Wisely, New Medium isn't planning to introduce the format in the U.S. anytime soon, so as to avoid direct competition with HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, which are due to hit the domestic market this spring backed by both strong manufacturer and studio support.

"We don't want to be in collision with the big guys," said COO Eugene Levich, adding that the company will promote VMD first in China and India later this year, followed by Eastern Europe, Russia and South America. "[That's] enough for a small company like us. Those markets are a good chunk of business."

Even if VMD is successful overseas, it faces an uphill struggle here in the U.S, where it has absolutely zero manufacturer and studio support. Still, given the the numerous delays that continue to plague both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, who knows -- at this rate, VMD could just beat them both to market.