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Blu-ray
OWC updates Quad Interface external Blu-ray drive range to 8x
By Matt Kennedy
22:16 February 26, 2009 PST
Other World Computing (OWC), known to many of us as macsales.com, has added an 8x Blu-ray drive to the Mercury Pro external Blu-ray/SuperDrive line - currently the only “Quad Interface” (FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0, & eSATA) equipped Blu-ray drives on the market. Read More
Blu-ray licensing changes offer hope for cheaper players and discs
By Darren Quick
20:34 February 26, 2009 PST
Even though Blu-ray has claimed the honors in the format war with HD DVD, it has failed to set the world on fire in terms of widespread adoption. One of the major factors for this slow uptake can be attributed to the high prices of not only Blu-ray players and recorders, but also the discs themselves. But plans announced by Sony, Panasonic and Philips to create a simplified licensing process for Blu-ray discs could see this change. Read More
Hybrid game/movie Blu-ray discs coming to the PS3 this year
By Tim Hanlon
19:01 February 12, 2009 PST
There's a lot of space on a 50GB Blu-ray disk. So much so that many PlayStation 3 developers are padding up to 50% of it with the data equivalent of whitespace, pushing content to the outside of the disc to decrease load times. Sony plans to change this with a hybrid movie/game disc, and expects at least two titles on shelves by the end of 2009. Read More
Philips 56-inch LCD packs a 21:9 aspect ratio
By Darren Quick
02:18 February 2, 2009 PST
As all aspect ratio snobs know, the 21:9 cinema screen aspect ratio was developed to mimic our own peripheral vision and therefore provide a more immersive viewing experience. Recognizing this Philips has unveiled the world’s first cinema-proportioned LCD TV dubbed the Cinema 21:9, which features a 21:9 aspect ration 56-inch screen and Philips’ Ambilight technology to deliver what it says is the most completely immersive home viewing experience possible. Read More
Panasonic's 3D Full HD TV system
By Darren Quick
22:42 January 28, 2009 PST
With the head of LG Display recently quoted as saying that flat-panel LCD prices have bottomed, the world's electronics manufacturers are looking for the next big thing to keep the coffers ticking over. With a number of companies rolling out various 3D TV technologies over the years, it’s obvious that many think that this will be the next big thing. Panasonic is one such company that has spent a lot of time and money investing in 3DTV. The fruit of its labor: the world’s first 3D Full HD (3DFHD) Plasma Home Theater System. Read More
Cambridge Audio’s Azur 640 Blu-Ray player and Version 2 AV receiver
By Tim LeFevre
03:45 January 19, 2009 PST
On show at CES 09 this year was Cambridge Audio’s latest offering to the Blu-Ray player market, the Azur 640BD. As this is the company's first Blu-Ray offering they’ve released a Version 2 update of their Azur 640R AV Receiver that partners nicely with their new player. Read More
World’s first portable Blu-ray player
By Mike Hanlon
15:38 January 10, 2009 PST
Panasonic introduced the world’s first portable Blu-ray Disc player at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show and it’s not as lame as you might at first think. It’s already copped criticism for being pointless , but there’s more to it than being able to watch Blu-ray disks on an 8.9 inch WSVGA screen for three hours. Plug it into an Ethernet connection and you have movies on demand via VIERA CAST and BD-Live, plug it into a HDTV and you have a standalone Blu-ray Disc player, and if connected to an HD-Audio compatible AV receiver with a home theater speaker system it delivers outstanding surround sound too. As it has an SD Memory Card slot it becomes a convenient reviewer of digital photos, as well as a player for HD video recorded on an SD card. There’s even an optional headrest mounting bracket for in-car use, which makes this a mighty useful tool whether you have children or not. Read More
The Top 50 Best Selling Blu-ray Players
By Tim Hanlon
18:13 December 19, 2008 PST
If you're not too keen on the idea of using a games console as your Blu-ray player, we can help - even if your budget is less than US$180. Here's a list of the best selling Blu-ray players on PriceGrabber right now, with links to the places offering the best prices available on the net. Read More
High Definition Audio explained
By Tim LeFevre
20:28 December 11, 2008 PST
High definition TV’s and displays offer obvious visual benefits over conventional standard definition sets, but what about the audio side of things? Along with the Blu-Ray and HD DVD formats have come new high definition sound formats to match their high quality picture. To understand what these new high definition audio formats have to offer, it’s important to know how that digital information is stored and transmitted in the audio visual world. Read More
New releases on Blu-ray: December 9, 2008
By Tim Hanlon
17:03 December 8, 2008 PST
This week brings a relatively huge number of new releases on Blu-ray, including the eagerly awaited Batman movie The Dark Knight, kid-friendly Horton Hears a Who! and cult comedy classic Super Troopers. Read More
Denon Launches World's First Universal Blu-Ray Player
By Kate Seamer
22:12 December 7, 2008 PST
Denon are planing the release of their ground breaking universal Blu-ray player, the DVD-A1UD, across Europe in March 2009. The term 'universal' refers to the fact that the player is designed to play multiple formats (unfortunately this is not a reference to region-free playback). It joins the award-winning reference class AVP-A1HDA pre-amplifier and the POA-A1HD 10-channel power amplifier in the company’s flagship HD home entertainment system. Read More
Where's the "Who's that guy?" button?
By Tim Hanlon
17:20 December 4, 2008 PST
Now that our living rooms are equipped with massive flat screen TVs pushing 1080p resolution at a film-mimicking 24 frames per second, and 5.1 surround systems providing reference quality cinema sound (and all this source material coming off a single disc of 50GB capacity) I ask you this: When do we get a "Who's that guy?" button. Read More
How to set up your surround speakers
By Tim LeFevre
03:45 November 11, 2008 PST
The world of home theater seems ever changing. New formats, new innovations and cheaper prices have made an altogether bigger audio-visual experience more accessible for everyone. Two channel systems have been common place in our lounge rooms for decades now, but you might need a few more tricks in your arsenal to get the best out of the latest multi-speaker systems. Tim LeFevre investigates. Read More
JL Audio Fathom f212 subwoofer
By Tim LeFevre
14:21 November 9, 2008 PST
Well known to car audio enthusiasts, JL Audio subwoofers set a high standard in clean, deep bass reproduction. So it’s not surprising that when they turn their attention to home audio the results are just as impressive. Enter the Fathom f212 dual 12-inch subwoofer. It employs JL Audio’s new 12W7 subwoofer drivers, boasting the most powerful and refined motor system JL Audio has ever used on a 12-inch woofer. The result is even greater output and accuracy than the single 12-inch Fathom subs in the range. Read More
Belkin's FlyWire provides wireless HD AV
By Kyle Sherer
16:53 October 31, 2008 PDT
Available from January 2009, Belkin’s FlyWire wirelessly delivers uncompressed 1080p True Cinema HD content from Blu-ray players, receivers, video-game consoles, and set-top boxes to HDTVs and projectors. FlyWire operates in the open 5GHz band, and intelligently manages its own connection, adjusting frequency and power to avoid interference. Read More
Sharp AQUOS DX Series LCD TVs feature integrated Blu-ray recorders
22:23 October 21, 2008 PDT
October 22, 2008 Sharp's new 16-model AQUOS line-up is the first series of LCD TV's in the world to be equipped with built-in Blu-ray Disc recorders. Ranging in size from 26-inch to 52-inch, the all-in-one DX Series design means there's no cords cluttering the back of your TV stand and viewing, disc-playing and recording can be simply controlled using one remote. Read More
Sony's BDP-S300 Blu-ray Disc Player reaches mass market price
23:00 October 20, 2008 PDT
It seems that high-definition, 1080p viewing has well and truly entered the mainstream - at least when it comes to the players themselves. Our question is this: if you can pick-up a Sony BDP-S300 for under USD$250, why does it still cost $40 for a movie to feed it with? Read More
Wireless HDMI solution from Gefen
By Darren Quick
21:09 October 7, 2008 PDT
Cords and wires are the bane of any technophile’s existence. They are a pain to set up and inevitably form an unruly tangle that's just plain messy. The introduction of HDMI went a long way to reducing the unsightly clutter running from behind the lounge room AV set up by combining high definition sound and video in one convenient cable. But now connectivity solutions company Gefen has gone one step further with their Wireless for HDMI Extender, which comprises a local sender unit which is paired to a receiver unit at a remote location. Read More
Pioneer promises most powerful Blu-ray player ever built
By Kyle Sherer
11:07 August 28, 2008 PDT
August 28, 2008 Pioneer is unleashing a Blu-ray player that will out-do the PS3 – and probably outweigh it too. The US$2,200 Elite BDP-09FD is hyped as the most powerful Blu-ray player ever built, and will feature Ethernet, BD-Live playback, and 4GB of internal memory for downloads. Read More
Criterion Collection's new reference Blu-ray player: a PlayStation 3
By Darren Quick
10:47 August 19, 2008 PDT
The PS3’s credibility as a Blu-ray player has received another boost with the news that the folks at the Criterion Collection – the distributors of “important and classic and contemporary films” – use the PS3 as their reference Blu-ray player in their new HD home theater. The news might come as a surprise to those that would assume a stand-alone player would trump a game console/Blu-ray player in the picture quality department, but the PS3 has consistently received favorable reviews of its Blu-ray playback capabilities after overcoming some early teething problems... Read More
Hitachi announces updated Blu-ray Disc Hybrid Camcorder
By Emily Clark
11:21 August 12, 2008 PDT
Hitachi's new has Blu-ray Disc Hybrid Camcorder can record onto either Blu-ray Disc, Hard Drive or SDHC format and promises a number of notable improvements from its predecessor such as a seven megapixel CMOS image sensor, face detection, image stabilization and longer recording time. Read More
LG announce BD30 Network Blu-ray player with Netflix streaming capability
By Darren Quick
05:16 August 4, 2008 PDT
August 4, 2008 In January, prior to the 2008 International CES, LG Electronics and Netflix announced their intention to team up and provide a set-top box for streaming movies and TV episodes from the Internet to the TV beginning in the second half of the year. Now, true to their word they’ve announced the LG BD30 - the first Blu-ray disc player that can stream movies and TV episodes from Netflix’s library of more than 12,000 choices directly to your TV. It also plays Blu-ray discs and up-converts standard DVDs to 1080p. Read More
Dell's $499 Studio Hybrid mini-PC is their smallest, greenest PC yet
By Tim Hanlon
01:21 July 30, 2008 PDT
July 30, 2008 Dell's answer to the Mac Mini ups the ante with an HDMI output, optional Blu-ray drive, and some seriously green credentials. Read More
Dell shipping their 24-inch, HDMI-equipped S2409W LCD monitor
By Tim Hanlon
01:10 July 30, 2008 PDT
July 30, 2008 Dell's new 24-inch LCD monitor has an HDMI input and a native resolution of 1920 x 1080, making it a perfect fit for Blu-ray and video game consoles. Read More
Sony’s new VAIO FW laptop is sexy in silver
By Darren Quick
04:11 July 29, 2008 PDT
July 29, 2008 Sony’s upcoming VAIO range includes the FW laptop, which features a Macbook-style keyboard, built-in Blu-ray drive and a 16.4-inch display. Read More
Alexis Olson
- November 9, 2009 @ 21:08 UTC
