I’ve written many an opinion column on why the Playstation 3 is the best console out there. After HD DVD died, my argument was strengthened further. Ryan then put the nail in the coffin by confirming that the only BD Live-enabled player on the market right now is the PS3.

A lot of talk has gone on revolving around the price of Blu-Ray players on the market. Some argue that prices have increased since HD DVD died out. Others state that prices are going down on specific players. While each side has some truth to it, the Playstation 3 remains at $399 and gives you both the best Blu-Ray player available and the most powerful gaming console on the market. Either way, consumers shouldn’t have any second thoughts about picking up a PS3 if they’re considering an HD solution for movies.

I’m glad we had this little talk. In the end, I’m just trying to keep you informed.

Coming in October, Disney plans to release “Sleeping Beauty” on Blu-Ray disc with some remarkably exclusive features thanks to the rise of BD-Live, the internet-based feature which offers a variety of Web-enabled features. From the article:

…viewers will be able to pop “Sleeping Beauty” into their Blu-ray Disc player and get a customized version of the famed Sleeping Beauty castle that serves as a backdrop for the menu. The sky behind the castle will reflect the weather in their hometown, whether it’s a blizzard in Cleveland or a balmy day in San Diego.

It’s more or less an Xbox-live with some Sony snaz thrown in exclusively for Blu-Ray discs and Blu-Ray players. Ironically the only Blu-Ray player on the market supporting such a feature is Sony’s PS3. So, if you shelled out loads of cash for a top-notch Blu-Ray player and held off on a top-notch gaming system with no-notch games, you’ll be missing out, for now.

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How badly have you Mac users wanted to have your very own Blu-ray burner? No matter, you can do it now. MCE Technologies has released a $699 Blu-ray Internal Recordable Drive so that you can use a disc instead of an external hard drive. One nice thing is that if you happen to want the Blu-ray burner but you think that you’d also like to have a regualar CD and DVD burner, this drive is backwards compatible. For every drive you buy, you also recieve a copy of Toast 8 Titanium as well as a 25GB Blu-ray (BD-RE) rewritable disc. And just look at the picture, it looks cool too! Still, $700 is a killing…

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Remember last week, all of the news stories of a new LG DVD player that had broken the barrier that stood between the new next gen DVD formats? That player, the BH100, has officially been released at CES. Any new news? Yes, they also announced that there will be a drive for the PC released also due in Q1 of 2007, called GGW-H10N. While the BH100 is a proud supporter of 1080p playback through HDMI, component- and composite-video outputs, the GGW-H10N is limited in it’s playback and recording capabilities. It has been announced that it will have a fully functional read and writer for CD & DVDs, and that it will also support BD-R and BD-RE, but that’s where the writing capabilities stop. It will only be able to read HD-DVDs and some of the online interactive features will be crippled.

One last note on design. The GGW-H10N looks just like a normal PC drive, a bland off-white that won’t stand out, but the BH100 looks like it was made out of Chocolate phones. It even has the same kind of backlight touch sensitive control buttons. No prices on the GGW-H10N, but the BH100 is said to sell for $1,200… Ouch.

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It is the problem that has been making Sony execs cry: Blue-Laser Diodes. Well, the diodes aren’t the problem, the problem is the fact that no one can seem to be able to produce enough of them. Why Sony? Because Blu-Ray drives are a huge part of what they are doing right now. Blu-Ray is built into the PlayStation3 and the new round of Blu-Ray drives. Because of the lack of the diodes, the prices of the drives are sky high, and the lack of PS3s is also due to the deficit.

Sharp is giving Sony a reason to celebrate. Sharp has begun to produce the blue-laser diodes for use in all of the Blu-Ray devices. As of now, Sharp as produces 150,000 diodes which will be fought over by Blu-Ray and HD-DVD drive manufacturers (HD-DVD uses blue-laser diodes as well). So more PS3s? Probably. Will anyone buy them?….. Definitely. — Nik Gomez

Sharp begins Mass-Production of Blue-Laser Diodes [Gizmowatch]