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Electronista: Young movie store Film Fresh today launched itself as the first US-based movie store to provide downloads from larger studios in DivX form.

Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony and Warner have all agreed to include both recent and classic titles on the store and as a result have created one of the first few truly cross-platform movie services.

Although the videos are still copy-protected, the choice of DivX lets them play on Macs as well as any other device with an official DivX certification, including Blu-ray and DVD players, consoles like the PS3, and even the TVs themselves.

The approach works by requiring that users register the DivX devices allowed to play the files on the web, which prevents casual piracy but still provides room to copy movies in any form possible, including burning DVDs. Not all movies are available to download, but those that aren’t are available through Film Fresh on regular DVDs.

Prices vary widely depending on the profile of the movie as well as its original release; a slightly older movie like School of Rock costs $10 (€7), while Watchmen costs $16 (€11). The store doesn’t pose a particularly large threat to iTunes as neither iPhones nor iPods support DivX videos.

It nonetheless serves as a rare alternative to this store on Macs and is a larger risk to stores that often require Windows or are limited to very specific devices, such as CinemaNow or Vudu. Services like Amazon VOD or Netflix avoid the restriction by using streaming access on the web through Flash or Silverlight.

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DigiTimes: Despite a rapid rise in the sales of consumer Blu-ray players, a fall in their prices and an increase in the number of high-definition movie titles, Blu-ray Drives (BDs) in PC systems have been left singing the blues, according to iSuppli.

By 2013, BDs will be found in only 16.3% of PCs shipped, up from 3.6% in 2009.

“BDs won’t be replacing DVDs as the primary optical drive in PC systems through at least the year 2013,” said Michael Yang, senior analyst for storage and mobile memory at iSuppli.

“They eventually will find success, but during the next five years, that success will be limited in the PC segment.” According to Yang, the two main reasons hampering the adoption of Blu-ray drives in PCs include cost, as well as the lack of a library of movies to justify the need for consumers to move to a different drive in their PCs.

Cost, Yang said, is the primary impediment. Given the high price of the product, consumers are unwilling to pay the extra money in order to obtain a high-definition drive. “The cost issue is amplified by the fact that the library of content is so small that there really isn’t a reason for users to switch at the moment,” Yang added. And while this is changing and studios are rolling out more Blu-ray content every week, there remains a long way to go.

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EngadgetHD: Instead of offering a tour of its 3D lab as we hoped, Panasonic is bringing 103-inch plasmas and 3D capable Blu-ray players to you, planning to send around tractor trailers to promote its technology and the new James Cameron flick, Avatar.

IFA and CES will also get the full 3D experience, with the company still planning to put hardware on shelves in 2010. It expects HDMI 1.4 and Blu-ray 3D spec standardization to have the market primed and ready, and while 3D may not be for everyone, we’re sure those interested are just waiting to toss those silly two-color glasses in the trash to get with this stereoscopic solution.

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Video Business: Pioneer and Sharp have formalized their plans to jointly create Blu-ray Disc players, among other products, starting in October.

The two companies’ venture, dubbed Pioneer Digital Design and Manufacturing Corp., should help the companies improve efficiency through sharing resources.

Operations are scheduled to kick off in October, but the companies haven’t specified when the first products will reach shelves.

Blu-ray players are high on the venture’s to-do list, as well as such other optical-disc products as disc drives and recorders.

Pioneer Digital Design expects to generate 38 billion yen (approximately $400 million) between Oct. 1 and March 31, 2010.

Pioneer controls 66% of the venture, and Sharp has 34% ownership interest. PDDMC will have 450 employees, to be based within Pioneer’s Kawasaki Plant in Japan.

Toshihiko Kurihara has been tapped president of the joint Pioneer/Sharp entity. He’s currently general manager of Pioneer’s components business division of the home entertainment business group.

Earlier this year, Pioneer management said it was joining forces with Sharp in product development in order to remain competitive in the marketplace. At the same time, Pioneer said it was slimming expenses by exiting its in-house plasma display production business.

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EngadgetHD: Blu-ray buyers of Disney movies can expect to keep finding DVD copies packed in, at least through 2010.

According to a statement from the company received by Video Business, president Bob Chapek claims customers have shown “tremendous interest” in packages that can also play in their existing DVD players.

Especially for the market of Disney titles, we can see how that would be, since you probably haven’t upgraded the television in the kids room, or in the backseat of the car just yet. Hopefully this deeper commitment to including an additional disc doesn’t lead to the rumored raised prices, but hopefully the threat of Redbox keeps that at bay.

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AkihabaraNews: Ok, this is not really fresh, since this news has been announced by Sony Europe August 11, however, here you are 3 New Blu-Ray Home Theater set for your own pleasure.

These set includes the BDV-E300 and BDV-E800W both offering 1000W on 7.1Ch and the cute little BDV-Z7 with 2.1 speaker and 5.1 virtual surround (350W output). More information in the official press release.

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EngadgetHD: Take this rumor with a fairly large grain of salt and please hold your “bag of hurt” comments until the end. Boy Genius claims he’s got it on word from a “pretty reliable source” that the next big iTunes revision will include better organization options for your iPhone / iPod touch apps, something vague concerning integration with Twitter, Facebook, and Last.fm, and… Blu-ray support.

To be fair, the HD disc format wars are all but over at this point, and the most recent Final Cut Pro actually lets you burn video directly to a third-party BD drive, only to have to play the discs on another, non-Mac device.

This is all pretty sketch at the moment, and we doubt the boys in Cupertino will be showing their hands until just after the eleventh hour — let’s not forget, also, that iTunes is also available for Windows which does have other third-party Blu-ray players. In possibly related whispers, AppleInsider has offered some none-too-descriptive hints at possible iMac refresh with some improvements catering to the “semi-professional audio / video crowd.”

Between this and talk about a tablet, we can’t wait for the next Apple press conference, if only to subside all the rumors for a few months. Update: Our resident HD expert Ben Drawbaugh has chimed in on the matter, hypothesizing that this might be referring to support for Managed Copy, a digitized (and DRM restricted) copy of the film that you would save onto your local hard drive.

But in that scenario, it still doesn’t behoove Apple to add that to iTunes unless it was looking to put Blu-ray drives on its own machines, which makes this (still very faint) rumor all the more interesting.

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BBC: Toshiba is to start making products that can play Blu-ray discs. The decision marks a big change for the electronics firm which was the prime mover of the rival HD-DVD format.

Blu-ray and HD-DVD went head-to-head to see who could dominate the burgeoning market for movies produced in the high definition format.

The format war was effectively won in early 2008 when the Blu-ray camp won the backing of all four of the biggest movie studios. Blu-ray was largely developed by Sony. Its efforts to dominate the HD market were also helped by sales of the PlayStation 3 which has a Blu-ray player built-in.

Toshiba said it would begin production of stand alone Blu-ray players as well as drives for PCs and laptops. Its first products are likely to be ready for the end of 2009. The Japanese firm also said it would join the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) – the industry body which oversees development of the high-definition format.

“In light of recent growth in digital devices supporting the Blu-ray format, combined with market demand from consumers and retailers alike, Toshiba has decided to join the BDA,” the Japanese firm said in a statement.

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Electronista: Sharp and Sony on Thursday announced they have entered into a joint venture agreement related to the production and sales of large LCD panels and modules.

Sharp’s under-construction LCD production plant in Sakai City, Japan was transferred to Sharp Display Products Corporation (SDP) on July 1st, with opening scheduled for October. On December 29th, Sony will invest 10 billion yen ($105 million) into SDP for shares, which will be the first step towards reaching the final 66% Sharp, 34% percent Sony split.

This initial investment will make SDP a joint venture company of Sony as well as Sharp. The target date for the final deal is March 10th, with Sony responsible for 34% of the joint venture plant’s total $4 billion cost.

Sony will get a portion of the LCDs produced at Sharp’s Osaka plant and another one in Southern Japan. The new plant will mainly produce 32-inch LCD screens. Sony currently sources its LCD panels from Taiwan-based AU Optronics and a joint venture it has established with Samsung.

At the same time, Sharp has been linked to Pioneer and merging with its Blu-ray business at the start of October. Sharp is also negotiating with Toshiba to increase production of solar panels.

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T3: There aren’t really many excuses for not investing in Blu-ray right now, aside from perhaps the price of discs and the lack of classic titles in the format maybe.

But when it comes to hardware, decent players don’t have to cost a fortune, as the Philips BDP 3000 Blu-ray player shows.

It’s got everything you’ll expect and a few nice little extras you might appreciate, which means 1080p 24fps full HD images, upscaling of existing DVDs to near 1080p HD quality, Dolby TrueHD 7.1 surround sound and BD Live (Profile 2.0) support for those web-based extras, along with USB connectivity, DivX compatibility, x.v.Colour technology to boost the look of your camcorder classics and of course playback of music and photos.

If that sounds like your kind of Blu-ray player, the BDP 3000 is available now for £169 (around €200).

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Electronista: Toshiba, which once vehemently defended the HD DVD high-definition format that eventually lost to Sony’s prevailing Blu-ray, will soon release a Blu-ray player of its own, according to the Japanese paper Yomiuri.

Toshiba should bring out its first Blu-ray player, likely in its home market of Japan initially, before 2010 rolls around.

A Blu-ray recorder is also being considered for Japan, though there are no other details on this device. Since the end to HD DVD, the company had maintained that it would not bring out a Blu-ray player and instead focus on upconverting DVD players that would bring standard DVDs to near high-definition resolution.

Most critics believe the move was a matter of pride and refusing to back a competitor’s format so quickly than a strategic decision.

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TechDigest: If you’ve got a spare £5,500 (€6,392) lying about then you can think about buying the Marantz’s UD9004 Blu-ray and SACD player. If you haven’t, well, join the club.

So what exactly can you expect from your £5,500? Well, the UD9004 is a fusion of the flagship SA-7S1 Super Audio CD player and the very best of the company’s Blu-ray technology. In other words, this is an absolute beast of a Blu-ray / SACD player.

It has a Silicon Optix Realta chip that offers the very finest broadcast quality video processing, including pixel-by-pixel conversion, 1080p upscaling by a 10bit process for standard definition images, detail enhancement, digital noise reduction and high-end analogue video output.

You can even run the audio and video via separate HDMI connections just for that extra bit of quality. For audiophiles there is 32-bit floating point type Analog Devices DSP for the purist audio imaginable with four separate circuit boards and a pure direct mode that shuts down the video playing elements to deliver exceptional, focused audio output.

The machine is built like a tank which will reduce mechanical distortion. The extensively braced chassis has a thick bottom plate with machine milled copper feet, sustaining mechanical stability and therefore sound quality.

It weighs an incredible 19.2kg. So, if you’ve read this post to its conclusion you’re obviously still interested. Go get yourself one from Marantz. If you’re feeling particularly flush – and let’s face it, you should be if you’re about to shell out over five grand for a Blu-ray player – order me one too.

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