Tag: Hd Dvd

ThinkGeek recently announced their latest electronic gadget, a device that can easily convert your old Betamax Tapes to brand-spankin’-new HD-DVD discs. While it won’t handle transfers of DIVX, MiniDisc or SelectaVision Videodiscs, the BetaMaxHD will convert between two of the most undoubtedly out-of-fashion consumer media formats money can (or can’t) buy.

For all of you who’ve been holding out hope that HD DVD might stage a comeback in its stand against the rapidly gaining Blu-ray format, I think that it’s time to count HD DVD down for the count.

While I’m not a huge fan of many of those old full-motion-video (FMV) games, I have to keep a place in my heart for Space Ace, a surprisingly entertaining FMV laserdisc-based game created by some of the industry’s most respected animators.

Is Microsoft getting ready to announce a new Xbox SKU? The guys over at Stuff.TV are reporting that the company is readying a new top-of-the-line console model called the Xbox 360 Ultimate. Aimed squarely at Sony’s Playstation 3 high-end hardware features, the Ultimate console is rumored to include built-in HD-DVD playback, Wi-Fi, improved audio circuitry, a 65nm chipset, and a 320GB hard drive so you’ll have plenty of storage space for Microsoft’s upcoming Xbox IPTV service and other downloaded content.

According to this ad circular that’s floating around the web, your friendly neighborhood Wal-Mart will be flooding the market with super discounted Toshiba high definition DVD players. After dropping the price on Toshiba’s HD-A2 HD DVD player to $199, there’s now an ad that shows an unbelievable price of $98.87.

By now, we’ve all heard plenty about Blu-Ray, HD DVD and the so-called HD “format wars”. Now a little upstart disc format known as HD VMD has started to ship their very first players for less than half (correction: now just a little bit less than) the price of the cheapest standalone Blu-Ray and HD DVD machines.

Shuttle is well known for their small-form-factor PCs. Their latest models are perfect for a high-end home theater, and can be loaded up with everything you’d need in a single, compact box. The top-of-the-line Shuttle D’VO SG33G5M Deluxe features 1080p high-definition video output via an HDMI output.

One of my biggest frustrations with high definition television has been the lack of decent test materials for verifying image quality. Up until now, pretty much all of the test and benchmarking discs out there came in lowly 480i resolution, designed for playback on standard DVD players.

According to a recent post over on AVS Forum, Wal-Mart is reportedly working with Taiwanese manufacturer Fuh Yuan to crank out HD DVD players for a wholesale cost of just $50 per unit, based on an initial commitment of 2 million players.

With all the recent buzz about how Blu-ray is leading HD DVD in the high definition “format war,” there’s a new wildcard that could shake things up. While Sony certainly has a leg up on the race with millions of PlayStation 3 consoles out there, one big road block to broad adoption of either high definition disc format is the high cost of standalone players.

If you’ve got a big library of CDs, DVDs or other 5-inch discs, this shmancy storage system can help keep your library organized and looking cool too. The $489 BlueDot Divita Storage Tower holds up to 100 CDs or DVDs and lets you easily access them by disc name using the built-in 1.8″ LCD screen and numeric

According to a recent report from ABI Research, the HD DVD vs. Blu-Ray format war will be won not by either format, but by dual-format players, such as the recently released LG BH100 combo player. According to the Steve Wilson, ABI’s principal consumer electronics analyst: “We believe that universal players will come to dominate the high-definition DVD player market.”

Even though Blu-ray has already declared victory in the high definition format war, Warner Home Video clearly hasn’t counted out HD DVD as a viable format. At this week’s CES show, the company announced a new format, called the Total Hi Def Disc, which provides both Blu-ray and HD DVD content on opposite sides of a single disc.

This is starting to sound like the early days of the war in Iraq… Apparently, while we were off living our lives, Blu-ray became the “overwhelming” victor in the high definition format wars. Here are some excerpts from today’s overly self-congratulatory press release from the Blu-ray Disc Association, titled Consumers Overwhelmingly Choose “Blu”: The Blu-ray Disc Association today declared its victory as the premiere high definition DVD format of choice… The success of Blu-ray Disc is unprecedented… consumers have voted with their wallets for the format that offers the widest array of hardware and content on the market.

A couple of days ago, we reported that LG was planning on releasing a disc player that can handle both Blu-ray and HD DVD formats. Details of the player were announced today, so here goes: The LG BH100 Super Multi Blue Player will handle both high definition disc formats, in full 1080p resolution, as well as offering DTS-HD audio support.

A while back we reported that Ricoh was working on a optical mechanism that could handle both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs. At next week’s CES show, it’s expected that two companies will be showing off their proposed solutions to dealing with the incompatible formats.