Both sides say the war between high-definition, next-generation video offerings Blu-ray and HD DVD isn’t over, but an announcement earlier this year that HD DVD creator Toshiba would no longer develop, make or market HD DVD players or recorders speaks to the contrary.

Slysoft have released a new version of its AnyDVD software which, it is claimed, can bypass the 7th generation of HD DVD and Blu-Ray copy protection (MKB v7), found in the latest Blu-ray movie releases.

Beginning this week, Blockbuster will start offering Blu-ray movies, for rent and sale in all of its corporate stores in the U.S., as well as in Canada.

Following the industry-wide adoption of the Sony Blu-ray high definition DVD format, Sony Creative Software today announced upgrades to its DVD Architect and Blu-print applications for authoring Blu-ray discs.

No-name brands could release their own Blu-ray players to take on the major brands by September, increasing competition and potentially driving prices down further.

Bandai Visual has announced that it will be releasing the Macross Zero video anime series in a Blu-ray Disc Box on August 22. The two discs (one BD25G, the other BD50G) will feature 16:9-aspect, 1080i-resolution high-definition video and Dolby True HD (5.1 ch) or linear PCM stereo audio.