- Details
- Home Entertainment
At the nation's premiere film festival this week, film industry executives and dozens of celebrities received a glimpse at the future of storage and playback technology for high-definition (HD) video content through demonstrations of Blu-ray Disc media in Philips' Simplicity Lounge. Its third year at the festival, Philips created the Simplicity Lounge in order to showcase current and future technology to industry VIPs and media, with an emphasis on products that enhance the viewing experience of TV and movie content for consumers.If you'd like to read more, Philips' entire press release can be found here, Add a comment
- Details
- Home Entertainment
In a deal reached this week after tense negotiations, the eight-company consortium behind the Advanced Access Content System, created for use by both high-def formats to prevent unauthorized copying, has agreed to require hardware makers to bar some high-def signals from being sent from players to displays over analog connections, sources said.It's hard to say at this point just how many people will be affected, but I think it's fair to say that many current HDTV owners will not be happy with this news. For more information, the whole article can be found here. Add a comment
Instead, the affected analog signal must be "down-converted" from the full 1920x1080 lines of resolution the players are capable of outputting to 960x540 lines—a resolution closer to standard DVDs than to high-def. Standard DVDs are typically encoded at 720 horizontal by 480 vertical lines of resolution.
- Details
- Home Entertainment
Last we heard, things degraded from gung-ho to so-so for Samsung on the prospect of going in on a dual-mode device that'd bridge the gap between HD DVD and Blu-ray for the consumer. But it looks like guarded has now turned to closed-until-further-notice according to a SVP of Marketing at Samsung North America, Peter Weedfald. We had no idea there were licensing agreements in place that prevented a dual-mode player, but apparently "Until everyone agrees to check their egos at the door and help the consumer, there is nothing [Samsung] can do about a universal product."While a dual-mode player would be best for the consumer, it probably would not be cheap. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
- Details
- Home Entertainment
Last week we reported that Microsoft would leave open the possibility that its next-gen console could one day support Blu-ray if that format ended up winning the war against HD DVD. This was based upon comments made by Microsoft's Corporate Vice President of Interactive Entertainment Business Peter Moore to Japanese website ITmedia during CES.Microsoft would be smart to release both HD DVD and Blu-ray drives and let consumers decide which is best. Then again, that's not really the Microsoft way. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
However, Moore's comments, which made the rounds not long after MS announced plans for an external HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360, were taken out of context, the company insists. To clear up any confusion, MS has issued a statement to the effect that they are 100 percent behind Toshiba's HD DVD format.
- Details
- Home Entertainment
In the wake of Microsoft's CES announcement of a peripheral HD-DVD drive for the Xbox 360, the company's gaming division boss Peter Moore has revealed that a Blu-Ray drive could also be on the cards for the system.Of course, like with HD DVD, Blu-ray would probably be used only for movies and not for games. If you'd like to read more, head on over to GameIndustry.biz. Add a comment
Speaking with Japanese website ITMedia at the huge electronics show in Las Vegas last week, Moore said that a Blu-Ray drive for the Xbox 360 could be released if the Blu-Ray standard, which is backed by Sony, wins the next-generation DVD format battle.
