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Tech NewsGadgetsSamsung Blu-ray Due in April
Yesterday we hit you with a rumour that Samsung would be coming out with a combo HD DVD/Blu-ray drive. Today we can give you some specifics on the company’s $1000 Blu-ray player, which should ship near the end of April. This, according to Jim Sanduski, Samsung digital video and audio products group senior marketing VP. … Continued
By Tgrumet -
Tech News
Live from CES: Forward Versatile Disc
I felt especially embarassed for the booth promoting the FVD red-laser video disc, a Taiwanese “alternative to DVD.” Unlike HD-DVD and Blu-ray, which increase the storage of standard-sized optical media by three to five times, FVD increases the capacity over DVD a whopping 15 percent to 5.4GB per layer. Don’t worry, though! FVD can support … Continued
By Joel -
io9Movies
High Def Movie Releases
Alright. So money doesn’t matter, you’ve gotta have the next new format whether it’s Blu-Ray or HD-DVD, and you can only pick one. How do you decide? Easy. The release titles. A list of available movies for both HD-DVD and Blu Ray have come out for when both formats launch. Action buffs will love titles … Continued
By Gizmodo.com -
Tech News
Live From CES: LG Press Conference
Highlights from the LG press conference… First up, a 50-inch plasma display with built-in 160 GB DVR. The PC2DR series has got two ATSC tuners for recording HD programs simultaneously (yes!). It’s digital cable ready, a 9-in-2 memory card slot and it supports MPEG-2 and H.264 if you like to play that way. Expect to … Continued
By Noah R -
Tech News
Pioneer’s Blu-ray PC Drive Beats New Year
To help along the proliferation of Blu-ray versus the dreaded competition of HD-DVD, Pioneer has unveiled a Blu-ray DVD disc drive for the PC. Aimed mainly at professionals—specifically high-end content users (mainly folks who work at movie studios and need to evaluate Blu-ray DVD titles during the authoring process)—it will also be marketed towards people … Continued
By Tgrumet -
Tech News
Oh Snap! Blu-ray Burnin’ in January
Looking to get your hi-def, next-gen, hyphenated format on early this year? No worries, mate, looks like a nice new Blu-ray burner is on its way from Pioneer in January. The Pioneer BDR-101A is capable of burning Blu-ray 25GB discs at 72Mbps. Totally fast. The drive will also be able to read and play back … Continued
By Gizmodo.com -
Tech News
HP Says All’s Fair in Love and DVD War
Yes kiddies, that’s right. More silliness in the war of the next-generation DVD format. Until recently, HP was a tried and true Blu-ray supporter, giving the Sony-based format a little extra zing from the computer side of things. But, all good things must come to an end and now, HP is playing both sides of … Continued
By Tgrumet -
Tech News
TDK Launches Bare Blu-ray Sample Discs
Looks like we’re one step closer to Blu-ray. For the first time, TKD has announced that it’s shipping mass-produced samples of Blu-ray, bare-type, cartridge-less discs. In BED-R (write-once type ) and BED-RE (rewritable type), these discs come with 25GB on a Single-Layer and 50GB on a Dual-Layer, with a recording speed of 2x. They will … Continued
By Tgrumet -
Tech News
Father of DVD Not Happy With Prodigal Son
With a nickname like “The Father of DVD,” I guess Warren Lieberfarb can say pretty much anything he wants about the format these days. And yesterday, he gave a surprising speech in which he blasted Blu-ray. Taking the next-generation DVD battle another step into uglytown, Lieberfarb said Hollywood is acting like a bunch of lemmings, … Continued
By Tgrumet -
Tech News
Pioneer Blu-ray Disc Drive
Looks like Pioneer will be the first to bring a PC-based Blu-ray disc drive to market with its BD1.5. We don’t have much more information than the fact that it will be internal and shipping sometime next year. Pioneer PC-Based Blu-ray Disc Drive [Bios Magazine]
By Tgrumet -
Tech News
Panasonic Starts 50GB Blu-ray Production
After much chatter and anticipation, Panasonic has finally started production of dual-layer 50GB Blu-ray discs. Ok, so actually, they’re calling it a “pilot production”—but hell, if something gets made and they can call it rabbit hunting I’m fine as long as it’s in high def. This tech miracle is taking place at the Japanese company’s … Continued
By Tgrumet -
Tech News
Fox sez Blu-ray Wins
Fox’s big fancy pants co-chairman has said he sees Blu-ray technology winning the race for the next-generation media format. Supposedly Blu-ray has the lead thanks to widespread Hollywood support, the release of the popular Sony PlayStation 3 consoles and just the sheer number of companies involved with Sony and Blu-ray. Chairman James Gianopulos (best last … Continued
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Tech News
Blu-ray Using Old Codecs?
Looks like Sony’s been busted for using a really old codec for its next-gen Blu-ray format. For its first Blu-ray movies, Sony will encode with MPEG-2, which is the same codec used for today’s old-fashioned DVDs. Don Eklund, senior vice president of advanced technology for Sony Pictures, has gone on record as saying: Advanced formats … Continued
By Tgrumet -
Tech News
Blu-ray to Give Details in January
Well, looks like not much longer to wait to get the specifics on Blu-ray, though the Blu-ray DVD Group still expects a Spring 2006 launch of the next-gen DVD technology. Doesn’t really surprise me that the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas will be an information stomping ground, since companies who plan to use Blu-ray … Continued
By Tgrumet -
Tech News
HD DVD and Blu-Ray Already Outdated?
Blu-ray and HD DVD may become non-existent with the new HVD coming into play. HVD is the holographic versatile disc which has been in the making for nearly 20 years and it is finally going to happen, maybe. The two players in this battle are American InPhase and the Japanese company, Optware, which we have … Continued
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Tech News
Netflix Jumps Gun on Next Gen DVD
Looks like Netflix isn’t shy about taking sides for the next-generation DVD wars, though the company seems to think we won’t be having one anytime soon. According to Netflix CFO Barry McCarthy, Blu-ray has already won over HD-DVD. As many know there s been a format war. Two formats have been proposed as a successor … Continued
By Tgrumet -
Tech News
HP May Take Its Toys and Go Home from Blu-ray
Yup, it’s happening again. More next generation DVD hype from big player HP. Though Hewlett-Packard had pledged support to Blu-ray earlier this year, it looks like the company is pissed off that the group has not come up with a way to help with the PC-based specifications it asked for from the beginning. HP has … Continued
By Tgrumet -
Tech News
Plasmon UDO30D-SE Blu-Ray Drive Reviewed (Verdict: Not Ready for Prime Time)
Blu-ray is still in its relative infancy but that won’t stop your local IT shop from picking up a few of these hulking UDO compatbile SCSI drives. First, a quick explanation: UDO stands for Ultra Density Optical and it is based on the Blu-Ray standard. However, these disks are encased in a honking big cartridge … Continued
By Johnb -
Tech News
Warner Bros. Straddles Fence With Next Gen DVD Pick
Yes, here’s yet another scratch in the catfight that is next generation DVD. Warner Brothers has decided to release DVDs in Blu-ray as well as the HD-DVD format. This follows Paramount Home Entertainment’s decision last month to also support both Sony- and Toshiba-backed formats. Because Warner Brothers had formerly backed just HD-DVD, this is a … Continued
By Tgrumet