The format war is over, Sony now wants to expand the presence of Blu-ray. The Sony boss says it’s time to start building Blu-ray  players in more product, including HDTVs. The story-between-the-lines is we’re probably about to see Blu-ray players at the bottom-end of the price spectrum.

Blu-ray players have already found their way into laptops, home computer systems and of course the PS3. Where else can Sony stuff a Blu-ray player? That’s the question Sony President Ryoji Chubachi asked spectators at a conference in Taipei.

Chubachi said Sony will begin production of a wide range of new product lines at a variety of price ranges. The company’s intention is to develop the global market share of Blu-ray by the end of 2008.

According to Chubachi, part of the company’s plan to extend the reach of its disc format will involve building a Blu-ray player/burner directly into HDTVs. That’s an interesting twist on the traditional TV/DVD combo.

Playback devices built directly into TVs doesn’t usually instill much confidence in the quality of either device. Most TVs with built-in DVD players or VCRs have been the bottom-end of their respective markets. But an HDTV with a Blu-ray burner sounds interesting.

Now that Sony is getting ready to bring Blu-ray into a wider range of consumer markets – it probably means that even cheaper Blu-ray players than we’re seeing today are just around the corner.

On the German homecinema site www.areadvd.de I saw an interesting review of the new Beyerdynamic headphone, the Headzone Home. I say interesting because untill now the surround sound experience from most headphones is somewhat disappointing. But according to the guys of areadvd, the Beyerdynamic is capable of delivering surround sound comparable to the quality of real speakers.

The headphone uses a patented “Headtracking” system which is said to react to the listener’s head movements and automatically adapt “the space impression” in real-time. In other words, the actors’ voices remain at the front of the room even while turning your head. Beyerdynamic also claims to deliver “perfect spatial impression” regardless of your room acoustics.

With a list price of €2490/$3,397 this headphone is clearly not for everyone.