Cheaper Blu-ray disc support ready for PlayStation 3

The Japanese company has released a new downloadable update for the PlayStation 3 that allows the system to support the new, cheaper-to-manufacture Blu-ray ...

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HP Media Vault Linux Server Reviewed: It Kicked-Ass

Why, in the midst of a major Windows Home Server push, would HP introduce a little Linux-based NAS at half the price? And why would HP make the $300 Media Vault mv2120 so full featured and easy that its $600-and-up MediaSmart Servers look

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Blu-ray disc sales gain ground on DVD

Since Blu-ray finally won the format war, next-gen disc sales are gaining market share from DVD in the home video market.According to data from Nielsen VideoScan First Alert, Disney’s Blu-ray title ‘No Country for Old Men’ drew 9.8 percent of its total unit sales from Blu-ray during its first five days in stores.

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Rumor: Netflix coming to Xbox Live April 1

Rumor has it that XBox Live might be getting live Netflix downloads next month. Here's hoping.

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Despite on-demand downloads, it's still a DVD world

For now, DVDs rule. Downloading movies from the Internet, also known as video on demand, is growing, but it's still a tiny part of the market, says Tom Adams, president and senior analyst for Adams Media Research in Carmel, Calif.

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HD DVD promo body dissolves itself

RIP

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SlySoft on Blu-ray BD+ crack: next time it will be easier

Blu-ray's BD+ was supposed to take "10 years" to crack, but it didn't take 10 months. Yet, even though the scheme can be dynamically updated, SlySoft is extremely confident that they'll crack whatever the BDA sends our way. (Updated.)

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'Consoles to die in 5 to 10 years', says ex-Microsoft man

Former Vice President of Xbox Europe Sandy Duncan has cast his doubts on the long term future of the console market, claiming consoles as we know them will die out with a decade.

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Sub-$1,000 Blu-ray Laptop Now Available from Dell

The high-definition format wars are over - and you won: Dell customers can now get a Blu-ray laptop for under a $1,000. Available today on dell.com, movie buffs can pick up the Inspiron™ 1525 with optional Blu-ray disc playback starting at $879.

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Best Buy Returns All HD DVD Movies

It appears that Best Buy is not giving HD DVD owners a chance to pickup movies at cheap prices. Best Buy has moved to return all unsold HD DVD software this week and has expanded its Blu-ray Disc merchandising at the same time.

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Are Downloadable HD movies where it's at?

I've come to the conclusion that people really like their physical media...whether that's a HD DVD, Blu-Ray or DVD. Microsoft seems to be putting all of their eggs in one basket by poo-pooing Blu-ray on the Xbox 360 and going strictly with Xbox Live downloads. I've said all along, people still like to hold something in their hands, plus not everyone has a 15mb FIOS connection like I do. I have recently started converting my DVD's to mpeg4 files and stream them over my network to my 360 which is nice and convenient but still lacks the thing I liked best about laser discs and DVD's: Box Art.
Who doesn't like looking at the back of a DVD or Blu-ray and reading all the technical spec's? That was the best part of getting a DVD back in the day: reading those little boxes showing the video and audio spec's!

So the Chief Science office of THX isn't a big believer in Blu-ray and Bill gates says downloads are the way of the future but I want to know what happens to places like Best Buy and Circuit City? Half of the floor space of those places are DVD's!
Where are all those people going to work? Starbucks?

HD DVD Sale $9.99 at Best Buy

Best Buy is finally clearing them out...hop on down to the haven of blue shirts and buy some shiny discs.

FSN will broadcast 1000 MLB games in HD

The year 2008 will be flooded with HD games for the baseball fans as FSN is planning to offer more than 1,000 live high-definition baseball broadcasts this year. This is possible for FSN with its 16 owned and operated regional sports networks and they totally will offer more

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Turn Your PC into a DVD Ripping Monster

Once upon a time, the four to eight gigabyte footprint of a DVD on your hard drive was prohibitively large. But since the price of a gigabyte has plummeted, ripping your entire DVD collection to your computer is not just possible, it's prudent, and it's easy. Let's take a look at the best ways to back up and play any DVD rip on your home computer

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PSP Portable Copy Not Coming with PS3 updates 2.2

SCEA contacted us today[kotaku] to let us know we were right to doubt, the Playstation 3's firmware 2.20 update will not include Portable Copy support, despite reports to the contrary.

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Digital Download Store Comparison

Comparison of a variety of digital music stores, detailing what features, file formats, prices and percentages they offer both record labels and customers.

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Sony PS3 firmware 2.20 converts Blu-ray movies to PSP

Previewed at CES in Las Vegas is the ability for the PS3 to take Blu-ray movies, convert them to standard definition and let PSP owners watch them on-the-go, in a function known as ‘Portable Copy’.

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Thinking Blu-ray? Don't rush

You may be itching to buy a Blu-ray DVD player now that the format has won the high-definition disc standard war.But you may want to hold off a bit before scratching that itch. By waiting a few months, you may save yourself some irritation - and a few bucks to boot.

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CEA: NCAA Tourney Will Spur Almost a Million HDTV sales

Like other big sporting events, the NCAA's March Madness is a driver for TV sales, and also for the overall increase in web sports viewing, the CEA says.

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DirecTV’s New Satellite DIRECTV 11 Launched successfully

SeaLaunch successfully launches DIRECTV 11 satellite into the space on Wednesday, 19 March at 22.48 GMT from Odyssey Launch Platform. The satellite weighing 5,923kgs lifted off from an oceangoing platform as per schedule and will be positioned at 154 degrees West Longitude 22,236 miles from the Earth. DIRECTV-11

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Comcast Reportedly Compressing Some HD Content

Comcast's policy has been to pass through High Definition content to its customers unaltered. A customer reports that Comcast has begun compressing some HD content, lowering the bit rate and diminishing the video quality, ostensibly to make room for more HD channels.

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TANDBERG to Deliver First High-Definition Webcam for Microsoft

This is really cool, and you know it's only a matter of time before you get to hook up a system at home ... I'm just saying.Joint initiative with Microsoft to enable mass adoption of HD videoconferencing

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Rock Band Gets In-Game Music Store

Along with a slew of other updates, the latest patch for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 version of Rock Band includes a new in-game music store. The music store will let you preview and purchase songs from inside the game by selecting the option from the main menu.

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Microsoft's XBox 3 Could Give It Market Supremacy

The following is just speculative fun. But it is based firmly in reality. The Microsoft (MSFT) Xbox 360 is very, very well designed. Part of this design genius is ease of manufacture and potential for cost reduction. So I see this console as having a ten year life. This should easily see it up to 2015.

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Top 10 Video Formats HD DVD Will Meet in Heaven

This year is shaping up to be a year of technology battles-Microsoft vs. Google, iPhone vs. Android-but just last month, we saw the end to a momentous tech showdown. On Feb. 19, the high-definition disc format war was finally over. And when the dust settled, Toshiba's HD DVD technology lay beaten on the ground-left for dead by its former friends..

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PS3 firmware 2.20 will include BD-Live interactive Blu-ray

The Blu-ray 2.0 spec (or BD-Live) is just days for launch. Sony just announced that the next PlayStation3 firmware updated -- v2.20 -- will add the new interactive features to your PS3 in "late March." As such, PS3 owners should expect downloadable video content, ringtones, games, and the always intriguing "more" when the software is released...

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Blu-ray 2.0 Update: PS3 Best Player

Coming Blu-ray 2.0 Update Makes PS3 Best Player Ever

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WinDVD9 supports TrueHD and DTS-HD

According to EngadgetHD, the latest version of the popular WinDVD 9 Plus Blu-ray (it actually supports HD DVD as well) has finally updated support for the latest audio codecs Blu-ray has available, namely TrueHD and DTS-HD. Also improved in the update is support for BonusView and the HD video camera Codec, AVCHD.

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Toshiba not taking in the shorts after all

So how much of a loss do you take for investing in a format that never once leads a week in disc sales? About $600 million.

Toshiba apparently didn't lose $1 billion, it was about $300 million less than that.

Via Bloomberg

Arthur C Clarke dies aged 90

Arthur C Clarke has passed away.

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Report predicts mass adoption of pay HDTV services by U.S. households

More than 47 million households in the United States will pay for some type of HDTV service by the end of 2008 — an increase of 17 million homes from the level at the end of 2007, according to a new forecast from Pike & Fischer in Silver Spring, MD.

The forecast, part of the new Pike & Fischer "HDTV Service: Market Forecast for Multichannel Video Providers" report, also predicts that by the end of 2012, up to 103 million households will pay a multichannel video provider for some form of HD service or rental equipment.

Although the broadcast networks now air their programs in HD for free, cable operators, satellite TV providers and telephone companies are striving to make money off the public's appetite for HD video by offering HD premium channels, leasing HD-ready equipment and selling on-demand movies and TV shows in HD format, the report says.

The strong demand for HD video will generate up to $2.6 billion in annual revenue for the multichannel video providers by the end of 2012, according to the forecast.

Mitsubishi Blu-ray recorders put HD video on standard DVDs

The part that really makes these Blu-ray records most notable is that they can record HD content onto a regular DVD disc with Blu-ray’s AVCREC specs. You can fit around a couple of hours of Full HD MPEG video onto a standard 4.7GB DVD, and set it to record using the super-cool, included touch screen remote control.

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Dish Network's HDTV Satellite: Not Dead Yet

By Swanni

Washington, D.C. (March 17, 2008) -- Dish Network's new HDTV satellite could still become operational, officials said yesterday.

The AMC-14 satellite, which Dish is leasing from SES Americom, lifted off successfully Friday morning. But International Launch Services, which was conducting the launch, reported that an "anomaly" occurred during the second burn of the Breeze M upper stage.

The satellite then failed to reach its planned orbit.

"While we are not in a position to comment on the possible causes of this launch anomaly, the satellite is healthy and is operating nominally in a stable orbit," SES Engineering said in a statement.

SES and Lockheed Martin engineers are exploring ways to place the AMC-14 into its proper geostationary orbit, the companies said. However, even if successful, the procedures could shorten the life of the satellite.

Dish Network intends to use the satellite to expand its capacity for national and local HD channels. The satcaster has said it will launch three new satellites in 2008 to expand its HD capacity, with the AMC-14 being the first.

Batman Begins First Time on Blu-ray™ Hi-Def July 8 from Warner Home Video

Batman Begins catapults into the high definition age on July 8th with the Blu-ray™ Hi-Definition release from Warner Home Video. Batman Begins has already been well received in high definition, as the HD DVD release is the top catalog HD seller.

Three new DVD editions -- two on Blu-ray™ Hi-Definition and one in Standard Definition -- will be released prior to the July 18th nationwide theatrical release of Warner Bros. Pictures’ The Dark Knight.

Leading the Blu-ray™ Hi-Def pack is the Batman Begins Limited Edition Gift Set ($49.99 SRP). The single disc Blu-ray™ Hi-Def Gift Set also includes The Dark Knight Prologue (the first six minutes of the film), a Batman Begins motion art lenticular, a 32-page booklet including an all-new DC Comics comic book adaptation of The Dark Knight prologue, exclusive photos, script pages and story boards. This Gift Set will also include five Batman Begins collectible postcards with never-before printed key art from the theatrical release, as well as $7.50 “movie cash” towards the purchase of an adult ticket to see The Dark Knight in theatres.

A single disc Blu-ray™ Hi-Def version ($28.99 SRP) of Batman Begins will also be available. This also features The Dark Knight prologue.

Batman Begins Limited Edition Gift Set will also be available in a 2-Disc Standard Definition ($39.92 SRP) version. This Gift Set will include a 128MB Batman branded flash drive, five Batman Begins collectible postcards with never-before printed key art from the theatrical release, as well as $7.50 “movie cash” towards the purchase of an adult ticket to see The Dark Knight in theatres.

Holy Crap this sounds expensive

Inteset thinks we want to spend even more to get Bluray in our homes!

Inteset, LLC is now offering Blu-ray movie playback capabilities on its Vana VA6420-Si Advanced Extender product. The extender unit will play back Blu-ray content at a full 1080p resolution over DVI and HDMI interfaces. The Blu-ray drive will also be available in Inteset’s Vana VA6420-Sx Single Room solution.

Whole Blu World: The Format War's Bloody Aftermath

The format war. It's over. Done. Break out the blue victory hats and Curaçao, right? Wrong. There won't be a Blu-ray victory party.

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I Am Legend HD DVD Combo $18.99 at Amazon.com

ok, I know that its a dead format but if you have no plans to throw out your beloved HD drive....it is 47% off list

Microsoft Not Discussing Blu-ray On Xbox 360

Microsoft had used the Toshiba-backed HD DVD format to add high-definition movie playback to the Xbox 360. By Antone Gonsalves Microsoft is not in talks to add Blu-ray high-definition technology in the Xbox 360, an executive with the ...

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Xbox 360: To Blu-ray or Not to Blu-ray?

Those folks at Sony are the biggest kidders, to liberally paraphrase Xbox 360 product manager Aaron Greenberg. Greenberg just told Reuters that Microsoft is in fact decidedly not in talks with Sony to do anything whatsoever with Blu-ray and the Xbox 360.

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Microsoft says no Blu-ray for Xbox 360

Microsoft Corp is not in talks to include Sony Corp's Blu-ray high-definition DVD technology in its Xbox 360 video game console, an executive said on Wednesday.

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Acer Launches 'Blue' Blu-ray Notebooks

On Wednesday an Acer press event was largely focused on the company's business plan in the wake of the company's acquisitions of Gateway and Packard Bell. The company spelled out plans to maintain the individual brands in different markets

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Pimp My Lounge

Show Off Your TV, Audio-Video Gear's Beauty: Frame it

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The Future of Portable Entertainment Is Not an Apple Product

The Future of Portable Entertainment has a 2.8" touch screen, a 1.3MP camera and one big honking square orange button. And you all Apple haters can rest now, because The Future of Portable Entertainment "is not an Apple product." Or so says the company that makes this cloned piece of crap metal and plastic called Touch.

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Microsoft's price drop a shot across Sony's bow in Europe

Microsoft is trying to force Sony's hand by offering price drops on the Xbox 360 hardware in Europe, but Sony may already have locked down its dominant position in the region.

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How to Keep a Woman's Breasts Healthy

Let's face it: There's no body part women obsess about more than breasts -- their size, shape, sag factor, and whether those strange pains stem from monthly PMS hormones or something more ominous, like breast cancer...

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Paramount to Release its Final HD-DVD Titles on Tuesday

'Things We Lost in the Fire' and 'Into the Wild' will be Paramount's final releases in the HD DVD format. After that, the studio that released Transformers, will switch over to Blu-Ray. That announcement came after Toshiba Corp. said it would no longer develop, make or market players and recorders in HD DVD, the standard it invented.

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InFocus IN83 DLP Plays Slightly Bigger Than Its Older Siblin

InFocus's new IN83 DLP projector may look the same as the previous IN82 model but it does pack some slight upgrades. Displaying full 1080p HD, the IN83 features the latest DarkChip4 DLP chipset and HDMI 1.3.

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Netflix's Blu-ray headache

As pricey Blu-ray discs take off, will Netflix have to raise rental prices?

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The Top Ten Blu-ray Discs You Must Own: Part II

Looking at the Blu-ray specifications, the top 3 Blu-Ray players on market and the second half of the top ten titles you must own.

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Food Network, HGTV to Begin High-Definition Simulcast

Scripps Networks' HGTV and Food Network will simulcast their respective standard-definition and high-definition feeds to cable and satellite affiliates beginning March 31, 2008. This means that the rapidly growing number of HD-enabled households will be able to watch their favorite Food Network and HGTV programs in high-definition at the same time.

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Lionsgate to offer iTunes Digital Copy

Second major studio to get on-board with Apple's 'distribute once, play everywhere' platform

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Microsoft's Ballmer: We'll support Blu-ray

He said Microsoft will work with the Blu-ray next-generation DVD format in some form following the demise of Toshiba's HD-DVD, which Microsoft previously supported. "We've already been working on, for example, in Windows, device driver support for Blu-ray drives and the like, and I think the world moves on. Toshiba has moved on. We've moved on, and we'll support Blu-ray in ways that make sense."

Sea Launch Prepares for the Launch of DIRECTV 11

The Odyssey Launch Platform and the Sea Launch Commander have departed Sea Launch Home Port for the equatorial Pacific, in preparation for the launch of the DIRECTV 11 broadcast satellite, planned for Monday, March 17. Liftoff is expected at the opening of a 58-minute launch window, at 3:49 pm Pacific Daylight Time (22:49 GMT).

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Sony, Microsoft discuss Blu-ray for Xbox 360

Sony is in talks with console rival Microsoft about offering a Blu-ray drive for the Xbox 360, according to a senior executive. The Japanese electronics maker has until now touted Blu-ray as an advantage its PlayStation 3 holds over Microsoft’s console.

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TiVo: Still Haunted By HDTV

TiVo yesterday reported a small decrease in total subscribers and the company's delay in embracing High-Definition TV is a major cause.

The DVR service reported that it had 3.95 million subscribers at the end of the fourth quarter, a decline from approximately 4.1 million at the end of the third quarter.

In an investors call with Wall Street analysts, TiVo CEO Tom Rogers noted that many DIRECTV/TiVo standard-def subscribers have upgraded to DIRECTV's HD DVR, which contributed to the company's monthly churn rate rising from 1.2 percent to 1.5 percent.

Confirmed: DVD-Style Double-Dip Releases Coming to Blu-ray

We warned you that one reason to hold off on boarding the Blu train is that movies released in the past year without sweet BD Live interactive features might be re-released. Today, we got first confirmation of this from Fox, which told us it'll be re-releasing Alien Vs. Predator later this year with a suite of new interactive features. And that's..

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Sony CEO: $200 Blu-ray Players Coming

Sony Electronics CEO Stan Glasgow told us today in New York, "I don't think $200 is going to happen this year. Next year $200 could happen." Why not?

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Sony offers Blu-ray trade-in deal for HD DVD owners, in Switzerland

We've already seen a couple of Blu-ray exchange programs offered to HD DVD owners looking to jump ship, but looks like Sony is now finally getting in on the action itself, albeit only in Switzerland.

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BluRay drives plummet in price to sub $200

It looks like the death of HD-DVD is already starting to pay off, with BluRay drive makers ramping up production and prices dropping rapidly.A price search shows a Pioneer BluRay drive can readily be purchased for as little as $AU199 ($US185).

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10 reasons PlayStation 3 is still relevant

Blu-ray wins, Metal Gear Solid 4 gets dated, and 8 other reasons the PS3 is relevant again.

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Blu-ray is to DVD as SACD was to CD: Better, but not enough

The main reason why Blu-ray will now struggle.

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Freakonomics: What Are the Lessons of Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD

So what are we to make of this format skirmish? We gathered up a group of smart people who think about such things — Shane Greenstein, Andrei Hagiu, Michael Santo, and Pai-Ling Yin — and asked them the following: Is the battle between HD-DVD and Blu-ray really over? What can we learn from it? Here are their answers.

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Are you ready for Blu-ray Music?

I’m not sure if the market is ready for Blu-Ray music but MedialnVision Creative Group looks to be the first to offer professional audio encoding and ...

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Apple TV vs. Vudu vs. Xbox 360: Video Download Battlemodo

If you've been wondering how to compare the video-download options of Apple TV, Vudu and the Xbox 360, I think today is your lucky day.

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Pioneer to STOP producing plasma HDTV's

Say goodbye to the Kuro people.

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Circuit City discounts HD DVD for quick inventory sell-off

Circuit City is closing out its HD DVD stock and expects to be rid of the products within the month.

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Panasonic To Introduce DivX Certified Blu-Ray Disc Player In March

Yeah because what I want to do is watch downloaded Divx video on my 1080p player and TV

Toshiba's Plan for Life After HD DVD

Toshiba CEO Atsutoshi Nishida talks about how he decided to shut down the HD DVD business, his management style and how the company intends to remain a player in consumer electronics.

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120-Hz TV refresh rate a bit better for DVDs

Q: While shopping for an HDTV television set, I noticed that some of the newer (and more expensive) sets boast a 120-Hz refresh rate. What the heck does that mean, and should it be a factor in deciding which set to buy?

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Paramount to Release its Final HD-DVD Titles on Tuesday

'Things We Lost in the Fire' and 'Into the Wild' will be Paramount's final releases in the HD DVD format. After that, the studio that released Transformers, will switch over to Blu-Ray. That announcement came after Toshiba Corp. said it would no longer develop, make or market players and recorders in HD DVD, the standard it invented.

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