Category: Blu-ray
CES 2009: Pioneer unveils new Blu-ray and upconverting DVD players, new AV receivers
Pioneer has been showing off its latest range of Blu-ray players, upconverting DVD player, and AV receivers.
First up is a new collection of advanced Blu-ray players, all capable of handling BD Live for advanced disc features.
The BDP-120 and BDP-320 are aimed at consumers who want a simple high definition disc player right out of the box and come with 1GB of memory (either via a flash drive or internal memory), full BD-Live functionality, USB and Ethernet ports, True24FPS feature for realistic reproduction of discs recorded at 24fps, full support of all high resolution audio formats including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD bitstream output, and up to 7.1-channel analogue output…
CES 2009: Samsung get wall mount fever with the first attachable BD-P4600 Blu-ray player
Alongside the glut of screens and assorted boxed up circuitry, Samsung announced the slightly bizarre but rather attractive wall mountable BD-P4600 Blu-ray player. Funnily enough, it’s the first wall mountable Blu-ray player largely because most normal people aren’t interested in stapling all appliance to their masonry. What’s next? The kettle? The 1″ microwave?…
CES 2009: LG brings YouTube to Bluray
LG announced today that as well as bringing the full Bluray experience to your living room, in the form of Profile 2.0, their new BD370 Bluray player will also stream content from YouTube. Yes, you can enjoy top quality content like the latest in RC ducks right there on your sofa.
Sony shows off new home cinema systems
Sony has launched a range of home cinema systems in time for the holidays, so if you’ve got a bit of money to spare and want an all-in-one package, these are worth considering.
First up is the HTP-BD3iS, which combines Sony’s BDP-S350 Blu-ray player and HT-IS100 5.1-channel surround sound system that features subwoofer, powerful S-Master digital amplification, surround sound processing, and automatic audio calibration…
Denon DVD-A1UD high-end universal Blu-ray player
Okay, I’ll have to admit I asked for this a bit. In my last post about Denon Blu-ray players I demanded to know what Denon would describe as ‘high-end’, after their ‘entry-level’ player cost £600.
Well, this is it. It’s the catchily-named DVD-A1UD, and it’ll play back Blu-ray discs, Super Audio CD (SACD), DVD-Audio, DVD-Video and plain old CDs. The DVD-A1UD is the replacement for the Denon’s previous universal DVD player – the DVD-A1XV. Full specs are over the jump.
It costs a massive £3,300. I can safely say that I don’t know anyone who’d splash out £3,300 on a DVD player, but someone must, or they wouldn’t make the damn thing. It’s going to show up across Europe in March 2009, in either a silver or black finish. Who knows, perhaps by then you’ll be rolling around in pots of money. Denon can only hope.
Sony UK sort of cuts price of PlayStation3 – starts offering £40 discount on 40GB model
If you really, really must have a PlayStation3 right now, you might want to buy yourself one via Sony’s online shop SonyStyle.co.uk – as it’s currently offering a £40 discount on its cheapest model.
The deal takes the RRP of the Blu-ray-playing “entry level” 40GB machine down to an almost reasonable £249 including free delivery, with a nearly tempting…
Sharp intros new 46-inch AQUOS HDTV and Blu-ray player
Sharp has added another size to its range of D65 high definition LCD TVs. The 46 inch version, the largest yet released, features a full 1080p panel, 20,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 450cd/m2 brightness, and a reasonable 6ms response time.
Three HDMI inputs will enable you to connect up all your high-def gear, and there’s a built-in Freeview digital tuner plus two SCART ports for connecting other equipment and a USB slot for memory sticks or cameras.
Featuring two 10W speakers, the set shouldn’t embarrass itself if you don’t plan on hooking it up to an audio system. Sound features include automatic volume control and clear voice technology…
Bad eyes or missing equipment? One in five Americans can't tell HD from SD
One in five Americans can’t tell the difference between high definition and standard definition TV according to a recent piece of research.
In fact, that’s probably a little misleading. More people probably would be able to tell the difference if they were shown a standard definition broadcast and a high definition broadcast (or, better yet, a Blu-ray film) side-by-side. What’s actually happening is that viewers aren’t sure when they’re watching normal TV and when they’re viewing higher resolution TV.
There are likely many reasons for this problem…
DO NOT BUY A PLAYSTATION3 JUST YET – Sony's planning a price cut in March 2009
Here’s an amusing little faux pas to add to the 2.4MB, 124-page-long document I carry around with me at all times on a memory stick documenting all of Sony’s errors regarding PS3.
At a recent employee meet, the company apparently told its staff that PS3 would start to be “more competitive in price” from March of 2009, telling everyone the expensive Blu-ray console will be a little more affordable next Easter – and damaging sales from now until then, we’d imagine, as credit-crunched gamers beneath the fuel poverty line hold out for a price cut.
The report also revealed that Uncharted 2 would be shown to the world and that LittleBigPlanet would be announced for PSP, both in March ’09…
Onkyo launches first Blu-ray player: DV-BD606
Onkyo, which made its high definition disc player debut on the HD DVD side last year, has finally launched its own Blu-ray player.
Focusing far more on video and audio quality than on the newer interactive features of Blu-ray, this Profile 1.1-compliant player offers full 1080p playback including 24fps “film mode”, Deep Colour via HDMI, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio formats including direct bitstream output via HDMI or 7.1-channel audio output, and superb audio quality thanks to a 192kHz/24-bit DAC from Burr-Brown…
