- Details
- Home Entertainment
The BDZ-V9 will be launched on December 8th for ¥300,000 ($2,545). The BDZ-V7 will follow on December 16th and will cost ¥250,000 ($2,121). If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
The machines both feature hard-disk drives for day-to-day recording and a Blu-ray Disc drive for longer term storage. The BDZ-V9 has a 500GB drive and the BDZ-V7 has a 250GB drive. There are two digital tuners in each recorder so that two high-definition programs can be recorded simultaneously.
Both were unveiled during a news conference at the Ceatec show, which opened today and runs until Saturday at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, east of Tokyo.
The recorders are designed to appeal to videophiles with demands for high specifications, including Linear PCM audio and 1080p (1,080 lines progressive scanning) output, which is the highest of several image levels judged to be high-definition. The recorders can also be connected to Sony's recently launched high-definition camcorders by a Firewire connection and can playback the AVCHD-format discs used in the cameras.
- Details
- Home Entertainment
The Xbox 360 HD DVD Player, arriving at retailers in North America, the U.K., France, and Germany in mid-November 2006, will retail for $199.99 in North America (ESRP) and €199.99/£129.99 (ESRP) in the U.K., France, and Germany. The Xbox 360 HD DVD Player comes with both the Universal Pictures blockbuster Peter Jackson's King Kong on HD DVD (for a limited time) and the Xbox 360 Universal Media Remote.Between this and upcoming games like Halo Wars, its becoming harder and harder to resist picking up an Xbox 360. If you'd like to read more, Microsoft's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
- Details
- Home Entertainment
Sony's forthcoming 20GB version of the PlayStation 3 video game console will feature an HDMI 1.3 output, the company announced Friday at the Tokyo Game Show.Sony also announced that they have dropped the price of the 20GB PS3 in Japan to 49,980 yen ($426), including tax. Unfortunately, it will still cost $499 in the US. More information can be found here. Add a comment
The port, which had been previously announced as standard on the stepped-up 60GB model, allows games to be played in full high-definition video and audio.
The company said its decision was made in part by the "sharp increase" in flat-panel televisions now sold with high-definition multimedia interface ports, or HDMI.
- Details
- Home Entertainment
Britain-based New Medium Enterprises (NME) (NMEN.OB: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Tuesday it had solved a technical production problem that makes it possible to produce a cheap multiple-layer DVD disk containing one film in different, competing formats.While NME's new technology probably won't end the format war, it will hopefully lower the cost of multi-format discs. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
"Current technologies to create multiple layer disks mostly don't work. We've created a technology for mass production of multiple layers that does not suffer from the well known problem of low yields," said NME Chief Technology Officer Eugene Levich. A low yield means that many DVDs coming off the manufacturing lines are not working and have to be discarded.
The production costs of a multi-layer DVD using the new NME technology are estimated to be around 9 cents, compared with the 6 cents for a standard single-layer play-back DVD, according to Dutch company ODMS, one of the world's leading makers of production lines for optical disks.
- Details
- Home Entertainment
The basic Xbox 360 doesn't come with high-definition DVD capability. The new Microsoft peripheral, to be launched in Japan on Nov. 17, is based on the HD DVD standard, a rival technology to the Blu-ray format Sony is using for the HD player built into its anxiously awaited upgrade to the PlayStation line.Microsoft also announced that they will be releasing a software update later this year, that will enable full 1080p output. Without an HDMI interface though, it is unclear whether it will be able to play HD DVD movies at this resolution. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
The attachment will cost 19,800 yen ($170) in Japan, bringing the combined cost of the basic Xbox 360 and the HD-DVD player to 49,600 yen ($420) -- compared to 59,800 ($510) for the basic PlayStation 3 in Japan. The higher-end Xbox plus the HD-DVD player will cost 57,700 yen ($490). Sony has left it up to retailers to set the price for its higher-end PlayStation 3.
