Sony plans to release its new Blu-ray combo drive in Taiwan next month. Set to retail at around £115, the PC peripheral will be able to read Blu-ray media, as well as burn DVDs and CDs. The unit is still far from competitively priced though, as Taiwanese consumers can pick up separate BD-ROM and DVD writer drives for less than the cost of Sony’s new effort. The read/write speeds are also reputed to be less impressive on the combo drive, so it may be a while until they start to appear in the average PC.

Darcy Antonellis, president of Warner Bros. Technical Operations, has said that the studio plans to release BD-Live-enabled Blu-ray titles before the end of the year. The as-yet unnamed releases will include real-time viewing, library tools, a search engine, a recommendation tool with email reminders, ring tones and wallpapers.
Speaking about BD-Live’s interactive potential, Antonellis said, “I think it has the ability to compete [with MySpace and YouTube] for a user’s time because you are taking them online and you’re able to create a community that we have never been able to do before.” He added, “These are exclusive opportunities that can be offered through this small community that is created with these [Profile 2.0] players. We are no longer limited by finite capacity on the disc.”

World cinema specialist Kino International is answering the prayers of HD sci-fi diehards out there with news of Fritz Lang’s influential Metropolis getting a Blu-ray release. Due to arrive in 2009, Kino’s painstaking 2001 special-edition treatment of the film stock and attached supplementary materials is set to feature and will be further optimised in this ground-breaking HD release. Laying down the foundations for an entire genre and filmic sub-culture, this is exciting news. So keep your eyes peeled on our news feed as we track this historical slice of HD and its future shelf date.

Ahead of a September UK release, here’s a sneak preview of the Transformers Blu-ray box art:

 Art house distributor and recent Blu-ray adoptee Tartan has ceased business, Stateside that is. Auctioning off its 100-strong film library, which includes recent hits such as Oldboy and A Tale Of Two Sisters, film print and advertising financing company Palisades Media Corp made the purchase. With Tartan USA’s output relatively quiet so far this year, this move wasn’t too surprising. And, to relieve all left-field HD fans out there, this sell-off does not alter the impending Blu-ray releases of Sky Blue, The Proposition or A Tale Of Two Sisters – or Tartan UK’s continued dedication to the format.