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Interestingly enough, Panasonic's new recorders can also down convert HD content so that it will fit on a normal DVD. The DMR-BW200 and DMR-BR100 are expected to hit stores in Japan on November 15th for about $2550 and $2050 respectively. More information can be found here. Add a comment
The new models support single-layer 25 GB and dual-layer 50 GB BD discs (BD-RE and BD-R). Users can record up to six hours of high-definition programs on a 50 GB BD disc.(1) In addition, the DMR-BW200 and DMR-BR100 come with a built-in HDD with a huge capacity, 500 GB and 200 GB, respectively.
The DMR-BW200 is equipped with a total of seven TV tuners including two tuners each for terrestrial, BS and 110-degree CS digital broadcasts and one analogue TV tuner. That enables users to record two digital TV programs simultaneously on the HDD. Users can also record one program on the HDD while recording one on a BD-RE disc.
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Samsung Corp's (000830.KS) Samsung America Inc on Thursday said it would make some improvements to its Blu-ray high-definition DVD players ahead of the holiday season.While these improvements will be built into future players, existing BD-P1000 owners will be able to add them via a free firmware update. Expect to see this update in late October. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
"As we approach the 2006 holiday season, Samsung will make a running line production improvement to BD-P1000 Blu-ray disc players destined for the U.S. market," the company said in a statement.
The production line improvement will include a modified setting for the noise filter reduction circuit that will provide a slightly sharper picture, it said.
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Microsoft has started designing a new-generation of Xbox 360's equipped with an internal HD-DVD drive and is selecting manufacturers in Taiwan to build the drive, according to sources in Taiwan's optical disc drive (ODD) industry.The article also mentions that if things go smoothly, we could see the new version of the Xbox 360 in the first half of 2007. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
Microsoft will offer an external HD-DVD drive for its Xbox 360 at around the end of this year, in an attempt to compete with the Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3), which will have a built-in Blu-ray Disc (BD) drive, the sources indicated. The external HD-DVD drive, however, can only play back movies, the sources noted.
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The new high end Toshiba HD-XA2 HD DVD player is designed to output 1920 x 1080p, the highest HD signal currently available, via High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) 1.3. HDMI version 1.3 is the most current, major enhancement of the HDMI specification, which adds support for Deep Color technology. The HD-XA2 also incorporates a 297MHz / 12 bit Video DAC with high-quality, 4x oversampling for increased bandwidth for true playback of an HD picture to a video source. The HD-XA2 comes with a picture setting function allowing customers to optimize picture quality with user adjustable settings for color, contrast, brightness, edge enhancement and block noise, among others. The new HD-XA2 HD DVD player's 1080p output capability complements Toshiba's new Cinema Series Pro LCD TVs which provide true HD 1080p input capability via HDMI.The HD-A2 will ship in October for $499.99. The HD-XA2 will follow up in December for a whopping $999.99. More information on both players is available on Toshiba's website. Add a comment
The HD-XA2 will be one of the first next generation players to support the video portion of HDMI version 1.3. HDMI 1.3 supports the demands of future high definition display devices, such as Deep Color enabling 36-bit (RGB or YCbCr) color depths, up from the 24-bit depths in previous versions of the HDMI specification. This allows Deep Color compatible display devices to deliver outstanding video quality.
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That said, with all things being equal and this second round of comparisons being apples to apples -- same title, same master, same codec, same supplemental material -- it is telling that I found it almost impossible to detect any differences between the Blu-ray and HD DVD discs. And any discrepancies I did see often felt like nitpicking. Which means that this stage of the game -- at least while we're still using first-generation hardware -- I'm starting to feel like in comparing the two formats, I'm not so much reviewing software, but hardware. If I see visible noise, a difference in contrast, or wonky black levels -- are these the faults of the disc, the player, or the display device? Or a kink in the chain somewhere in between?It's good to see that the VC-1 codec has leveled the playing field some what. If you'd like to read more, Hi-Def Digest's comparison can be found here. Add a comment
