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Tech NewsGadgetsSamsung SH-B022 Blu-Ray Burner Reviewed (Verdict: You Might Want to Wait a Bit)
We re already over three months into 2006, the year that high definition and next generation DVDs are set to make their big splash. The gang over at The Register got their hands on Samsung s SH-B022, the company s Blu-Ray disc burner and gave it a thorough testing. The overall impression of the drive … Continued
By Gizloco -
Tech News
Sony Announces VAIO RC Series Blu-ray Desktop and Laptop
At the same time Sony offered its Blu-ray player for pre-order, the company also announced its first desktop and notebook PCs shipping with Blu-ray burners. The handsomely-designed VAIO RC Series is aimed at aspiring moviemakers and videographers, where Sony envisions them archiving their high-definition footage on BD-R (write once) or BD-RE (rewritable) discs. The company … Continued
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Tech News
Sony Says BDP-S1 Blu-ray Disc Player Up For Pre-Order
If you absolutely have to be the first one on your block to have a Blu-ray player, Sony says it’s now offering its $1000 BDP-S1 unit for pre-order starting today. One thing’s for certain, we won’t be seeing any of these until at least July even though Sony told us at CES the unit would … Continued
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Tech News
LG Officially Announces Dual Blu-ray/HD DVD Player
LG officially announced it will develop a dual-format Blu-ray and HD DVD player, and analysts are saying that the company plans to launch the much-rumored device this fall. John Taylor, a US spokesman for LG, said LG is a supporter of Blu-ray and is now considering a dual format player for later this year. Last … Continued
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Tech News
PSP Gets EyeToy, PS1 Games PLUS PS3 News
Sony President Ken Kutaragi pulled an Apple yesterday at an agonizing press conference where he leaked information, bit by bit, like a mad Steve Jobs. The first news? PSP is getting its own EyeToy. This new camera will allow you to play interactive games and presumably take pictures and video. Next, we’ve got PS1 game … Continued
By Johnb -
Tech News
Sony Offering Up Stale Blu-ray Titles for May 23 Launch
Sony announced the first Blu-ray disks will be available on May 23, the same day the first Blu-ray player goes on sale. There will be a scant few titles offered up, including such cinematic masterpieces as 50 First Dates, The Fifth Element, Hitch, House of Flying Daggers, A Knight’s Tale, The Last Waltz (MGM), Resident … Continued
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Tech News
Sony Wont Downconvert Blu-ray HD on Old HDTVs
Here s one less worry for those of us looking forward to Blu-ray: Sony’s Don Eklund, Senior Vice President for Advanced Technologies, said that all of Sony’s Blu-ray disks will be free of that digital flag that tells the player to down-rez the HD signal if there’s no HDMI cable present. Called the “image constraint … Continued
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Tech News
Sony to Ship Blank Blu-ray Discs This Month for $30
Sony announced it will ship blank Blu-ray disks in Europe beginning this month, but added that dual-layer versions won’t be shipping until later this year. That s okay, though, these single layer BD-R (recordable) disks hold a whopping 25GB of data. It’s just that $30 price that’s hard to swallow. BR-RE (rewritable) disks will be … Continued
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Tech News
Rumor: LG Planning to Release Dual Blu-ray/HD DVD Player
An internal memo allegedly from LG s U.S. sales VP Bob Perry says the company is planning to ship a disk player compatible with both Blu-ray and HD DVD in the late summer or early fall. In the memo, Perry also said LG s BD199 Blu-ray player, which we saw the company demonstrating at CES … Continued
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Tech News
Blu-ray Arrives May 23
I’m going to make a prediction here: HD DVD is going to win this horse race and Blu-ray is going to be another Betamax. There are too many defections by former Blu-ray players and even Sony is hedging its bets. I know the arguments—Blu-ray, at least in terms of disk space, is better than HD … Continued
By Johnb -
Tech NewsGadgets
Samsung Intros Internal and External Blu-ray Writers for April Release
Samsung announced internal and external Blu-ray burners that will be shipping in April. All three will be 3-in-1 drives, capable of reading and writing Blu-ray disks, DVDs and CDs, and will burn and read Blu-ray at 2x, which amounts to 9MB per second. The internal drives (SH-B022A) will be available in black or stainless steel … Continued
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Tech News
Sony, NEC Getting Friendly in the Optical Drive Business
Sony and NEC have officially signed an agreement which would merge both of their respected optical drive businesses. With the agreement Sony will control 55 percent of the company while NEC will control the other 45 percent. The company, named Sony NEC Optiarc Inc., will begin manufacturing merged optical drives this spring. The kicker, Sony … Continued
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Tech News
Next-Gen Media Screws Early HDTV Owners
If you were one who bought an HDTV back when they first hit the streets, it appears your TV will be almost useless with the new HD DVD and/or Blu-ray players. The AACS copy-protection rules were released this week and those older HDTVs will be unable to display full resolution because their video connections have … Continued
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Tech News
Blu-Ray Causes Next-Gen Media Delays
It may be a little bit longer before you are able to get your hands on a HD DVD version of Firefly thanks to Blu-Ray. The specifications for the AACS (advanced access content system) have been delayed because of a extra anti-piracy measure that Blu-Ray is using, called BD+. BD+ is a dynamic encryption scheme … Continued
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Tech News
Sony Sets Blu-ray Pricing
If you’ve been wondering what a Blu-ray disc is going to cost you once it hits the markets, Sony has deigned to let the world know. As the first studio to put forth a price (as well as a marketing strategy), Sony revealed that it will also bundle formats together for better flexibility. A catalog … Continued
By Tgrumet -
Tech News
Netflix Bringin’ on the High Def
Well, there’s no doubt Netflix wants to make sure any and all early adapters are taken care of, which isn’t a terrible thing. Looks like the DVD rental club is going to be supporting HD DVD at its launch in March, carrying the first next-generation DVD movies—and promises to do the same with Blu-ray when … Continued
By Tgrumet -
Tech News
Blu-ray Output Downconverted By Hollywood
Want to record 1080i HD signals? Well, screw you! That’s the word from Hollywood, where the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) has negotiated a deal whereby hardware manufacturers are required to down-convert the analog output in HD DVD and Blu-ray players. Basically, the signal will be down-converted from the potential 1080i resolution to 960×540. While … Continued
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Tech News
Nope, Xbox 360 Wont Do Blu-ray
There was earlier speculation that Microsoft was going to offer Blu-ray support to its Xbox 360 (most likely via an external drive). This seems to have been a bit inaccurate as Microsoft has stated that it is fully committed to the HD DVD platform. Apparently, Microsoft was just touting the system s ease of expandability, … Continued
By Gizloco -
Tech News
Xbox 360 Going Blu-ray?
Peter Moore had a recent interview with the Japanese website ITmedia where he admitted that the Xbox 360 could possibly see a Blu-ray external add-on. Even though it was announced at the Microsoft keynote at CES that the HD DVD add-on would be coming soon for the Xbox 360, Moore said this isn t certain. … Continued
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Tech News
HD-DVD Cases Totally Suck
At CES, we got to check out the cases for both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD for feature films being released on each format. However, we only admired them from behind a glass case. The Inquirer points out that though Blu-Ray has a smaller and odd shaped design, HD-DVD is even worse. Better throw away those shelves … Continued
By Gizmodo.com