Harman Kardon Announces its First Blu-Ray Player
Harmon Kardon BDP10
Harman Kardon has blown the news–expect to see their first ever Blu-Ray player (dubbed as the “BDP 10″) coming soon. The BDP 10 is set to release in Europe some time this month and will be priced at $940. Read more
Sony BDV-IT1000 HTIB
Sony’s BDV-IT1000 HTIB was outed late last month, but that’s not stopping the powerhouse from making it official alongside the BDV-IS1000 today at CEDIA. As you likely know, these two are Sony’s first offerings in the burgeoning Blu-ray HTIB market, as both packages come bundled with an elusive BD-Live-capable deck (the BDP-S350, we presume?) along with integrated support for the firm’s S-AIR technology.
Each set packs a pair of HDMI inputs, XMB menu navigation, 5.1-channel surround sound, Digital Media Port (for hooking up your PMP), BRAVIA Sync and even an IR repeater on the IT1000ES. The aforesaid BDV-IT1000ES ($1,999) includes oh-so-slim drivers (pictured after the jump), while the $1,000 BDV-IS1000 includes the same “golf ball-sized” speaks as the HT-IS100. Both sets are shipping next month, or so says the release waiting after the break.
Toshiba XD-E500 DVD Player
After losing out in the battle to define the high-definition successor of the DVD,Toshiba Corphas turned its attention to the next best thing: the DVD. The Japanese electronics company is releasing a new DVD player that it says does more than previous models to improve the look of DVDs on high-definition TVs.
The XD-E500 will sell for a suggested price of $149.99, twice as much as regular “upconverting” players, but it is less than half the price of a Blu-ray player.
Blue-Ray Discs – Store, Explore and Enjoy Says Disney!
Blue ray discs are a thing that will help you increase the efficiency of your discs as well as have high quality image definition.
In fact these discs are a great way to store data and videos, not only they give you a higher disc life but also provide a huge amount of data space that can be used by you.
Today even Disney has recognized the potential it has and has started promoting the use of blue ray discs rather than going for DVDs as well as they have started actively promoting the concept.
So do you think you can possibly shift over to the new generation disc- the blue ray discs?
Michael Bay: “I Told You!”
Michael Bay is a successful film director and producer – his best movies are Armageddon, Pearl Harbour, The Rock, Bad Boys I + II and Transformers. Also, he is one of the members of Propaganda Films, a music video production company.
He presented the award for animated character in a motion picture at the Visual Effects Society’s sixth annual award show and once again he spoke out and praised Blu-ray. He wanted to remind us what’s his opinion of the war between Blu-ray and HD-DVD, “Blu-ray’s better, and I told everyone. I was very vocal about it. I knew HD [DVD] was not going to make it”, he said.
Although he is 100% dedicated to Blu-ray, he admits that the movies are a little grainy but he claims that he likes it that way and he uses it as an artistic effect.
HD DVD’s Intentions to Keep Up With Blu-ray Are “useless resistance”
Hiroyuki Shimizu, Research Analyst, states that due to Toshiba’s price-cutting the battle between HD DVD and Blu-ray will continue, but not for long. He says that this actions are useless, because they are just delaying the what seems to be inevitable. Shimizu says in Gartner’s Semiconductor DQ Monday Report that, Gartner is expecting that the battle will be won by Blu-ray by the end of 2008. Blu-ray are also backed by five of the seven major Hollywood studios, so it seems that HD DVD will lose this one.
Blu-ray “Kills” HD-DVD
NPD Group is global market research company which provides information about manufacturers and retailers. According to their latest report, Blu-ray player sales increased after Warner’s announcement that they will go Blu-ray. Although, HD-DVD is less expensive than Blu-ray, in December, 60% players sold were Blu’s, in the first two weeks of January the Blu-ray had a 70% market share.
After Warner’s announcement, HD-DVD sales decreased to an unbelievable 7% rate which means Blu-ray had a 93% market share. If these media sales continue, HD-DVD manufacturers will have to take drastic measures and it’s up to them to decide what the players future will be.
Rumor: PS3 owners to get Blu-Ray Profile 1.1
There are some good news for gamers and PlayStation 3 users and should offer them some Christmas gifts. They might release another PS3 firmware update and they might also make Profile 1.1 compatible with Blu-Ray discs, while the HD DVD was already compatible and had some standard features, like the secondary audio, local storage and picture-in-picture, while those were only optional for Blu-Ray.
Hitachi Prototype: 100 GB Blu Ray Disc
Although this is just a prototype, we must think that it will eventually become a reality. We are faced with a drive that is capable of playing 100 GB of data from just ONE 4 layers optical disc. There are also hints at the possibility of inventing a 200 GB disc based on 8 layers. OK, this is quite a lot of information to be held on just one disc. Nobody really knows when the 4 layers disc will be released but still, think about it! Holding 100 GB on one disc is kind of risky in my mind because there is always the possibility that the disc will get broken eventually. Nonetheless Hitachi’s 100GB Blu-ray disc drive is soon to appear.
XBox 360 With New HD DVD ROMs in 2008
Not a lot of details are known but according to PC World, Mark Bennett, Microsoft’s European HD DVD business director, announced that the company will start shipping a different XBox 360 HD DVD drive in 2008. Rumors had it that it has improved support for HD DVD’s HDi interactive features. Microsoft claims that this is actually “nine months” ahead of Blu-ray. Surely this is another move in the format wars we see with high definition DVDs vs Blu-Ray DVDs. It will be interesting to see the impact this will have but we will need to wait till 2008 to really realize it.
Alienware Updates the Digital Home Channel Program
Alienware is the leading manufacturer of high-performance desktop, notebook and professional systems and they are standing up to that title through the launch of the new Alienware HD Media Server at CEDIA EXPO 2007. Hangar18: HD Entertainment Center, now with added Blu-Ray Disc, will also be launched at the same event during the following days. Marc Diana, Product Marketing Manger at Alienware declared:
“CEDIA attendees have the privilege of witnessing firsthand the newest entry to Alienware’s digital home line: the HD Media Server, which fulfills the demand for an easy-to-use, high definition content storage and distribution device in next-generation digital homes. In addition, the event provides a chance to see how the addition of Blu-ray Disc further elevates our acclaimed Hangar18 system.”
The Alienware HD Media Server comes with 4 Terabytes of swappable hard drive storage and with a system that enables playback and recording of high definition content at up to the standard 1080p through HDMI output. It supports internal cable card (OCUR) and also features Dolby Digital 7.1 support.
The Hangar18: HD Entertainment Center is already a fan favorite and now it became even better. Alienware added a Blu-Ray Disc that delivers 1080p HD picture quality and 10 times the storage space of a regular DVD. You can thus store up to 50GB of entertainment on a dual layer disc and when it comes to surround sound and scratch resistance there is no real equal. Mike Seamons, vice president of marketing at Life|ware declared:
“Life|ware’s CEDIA EXPO booth, #320, will be home to a profusion of leading-edge digital entertainment and home control technology, including the new Alienware HD Media Server and Blu-ray-equipped Hangar18. Working alongside Alienware, we are thrilled to deliver an in-depth, hands-on media center experience sure to have the custom electronic industry buzzing.”
Both the HD Media Server and the Hangar18 are part of the Alienware Digital Home Channel Program, which is built around system integrators. They get toll-free access to top level support engineers and special peripherals together with specialized service offerings.
Blu-Ray and HD-DVD United
The Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD war is still going on and each side is continuously trying to attack the other. With this in mind we find ourselves in a race for exclusive deals that might determine the winner. The end is still to come and the regular user is the one that feels the pressure the most so a solution was bound to appear. How about a DVD, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray player, all linked in one package? It does sound like a great solution and it is offered by two Japanese companies, Buffalo and IO-DATA. They announced the availability of special internal drives that are 100% compatible with all three popular formats. Buffalo also offers an external drive that has the same main characteristic.The regular devices that use this new technology in formats are expensive but IO-DATA’s internal drive is affordable, standing in at just $630. If you were to purchase an HD-DVD and a Blu-Ray, the combined price would really top the one mentioned before. If you still think $630 is expensive, you should now that this device also has the possibility of recording Blu-Rays in one or dual layer versions.
The New Panasonic 50 Gb Blu-Ray
Panasonic is now the first company to introduce Blu-ray discs that can be written at 4x and have double-layer capability of 50 Gbytes. Most of the others available on the market today only have half of the capability of the new format. Panasonic, a brand name of Matsushita Electric Industrial, has plans to release a 25 Gbytes version this month and the 50 Gbytes Blu-ray disc in September. The maximum transfer rate announced is 144 M per second, which translates in a never before achieved capability of writing 1 Gbyte of information in one minute.Panasonic also claims that their new Blu-ray discs introduce new technology that reduces error rate to one tenth of a normal disc. This means that their product provides higher reliability and overall quality recording is also better.
This announcement is another blow to the HD DVD format that is mainly backed by Toshiba. The company announced that their sales target has been lowered by 44% because of weak sales in USA. Even movie studios are involved in the battle with different companies taking different sides. So far Blu-ray discs have the edge as they hold 60% of the market for DVD movies.
LG unveils BH100 Blu-ray/HD DVD player
After all the rumours about this device, we were able to see with our own eyes. LG has finally unveiled the Super Multi Blue Player (or the BH100).The device can play both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs.
It has been on sale from the month of April in the US, at the retail price of $1,199.You can see movies at the resolution of 1920×1080p HD, it has touch sensor buttons and it can support HDMI Out and Optical / 5.1CH out.You won’t need to think about which slot to insert the disc because it has only one tray.
You can also play the regular DVD discs.As a disadvantage the audio CDs aren’t compatible to this player. Dr H.G. Lee, the president and CTO of LG Electronics has told us : “We decided not to include the CD this time,” “It was an engineering decision to make it simpler. We felt for most consumers it would not be a limitation.”
Maybe they though that the player won’t support the full range of HD DVD interactive features due to hardware limitations. But Mr.Lee tryes to be confident that the Super Multi Blue Player will solve the confusion that surrounds competing HD formats.”Most consumers feel they are confused, and they are not really sure what format player they would like to buy,” he said. “So naturally they are reluctant to purchase players or the DVD content. The growth of this exciting new technology is much slower than it could be, and that’s a concern for everybody in the industry. LG has been a member of the Blu-ray Disc Association, and we’re still very active in that camp, but some time in the last year we decided and recognised that the two formats are here to stay, and there won’t be a unification of the formats anytime soon. So this is our approach to solve at least part of the problem.”
With the BH100 you have to wait around 25 seconds from putting a Blu-ray disc and seeing the first menu screen. I think this is on of the fastest startup time for any Blu-ray player that is available today.
There isn’t any network or serial port for budding home networkers.
The LG company has gave us an insight about the price point, they sayed that they wanted to make the combi player no more than 20% more expensive than “premium Blu-ray only playersâ€.
Sony’s new BDP-S300 low-cost Blu-ray Player
From today you can buy the Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray player from Amazon.com at the price of $499.99 .And the shipping is included in the price.A shock to myself and the rest of the Sony fans, the firm announced two weeks ago a lower price for the BDP-S300 player. The device features full HD output with 24p support. It also upscales the DVDs up to 1080p.You can get support even for the AVC-HD discs encoded with x.v.Color technology.
At the moment Amazon.con is the greatest deal for buying it.There is another offer from SonyStyle, but they charge $15 for the product shipping.
If you aren’t a gaming fan, then you might find the BDP-S300 as the cheapest Blu-ray player on the market.The other Blu-ray players from Sony, Samsung, Panasonic and Philips have a good price, but they don’t get under $500.
You can discover a new world with the high definition of the BDP-S300 Blu-ray Disc Player, it’s equiped with
a crystalline clarity of 1080p Blu-ray Disc movies1 and DVD upscaling2.You have to see this to believe it. You can watch movies exactly how the director intended with the amazing 24p True Cinema3 2 output and cinema-tuned picture.With the Bravia Theatre Sync, you’ve got another special feature wich you can control your compatible BRAVIA TV and AV systems3 from just one remote.
The color space has been greatly expanded, now 1.8 times as many natural colors as existing HDTV signals can be faithfully reproduced. The BDP-S300 has a 24p output capability, from wich you get smoother and more natural-looking images that make watching television an experience to remember. This format of the player provides you five times larger capacity than all the DVDs from our times, on wich you can store up to 25 GB (single-layer) and 50 GB (dual-layer). The device provides picture quality of a 1080p/24 resolution in Blu-ray . Its audio supports 8 channels of Liner PCM, Up to 32 streams of audio, interactive capability, seamless menus, integrated games, hi-def bonus and educational features.
You are able to choose from seven of Hollywood’s major studios produtions: Sony Pictures, Walt Disney, MGM, 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers, Paramount, and Lions Gate.From movies to music to games to PC software and file backup, Blu-ray Disc is your solution!