Recent Comments:
Ask Engadget HD: What's the best mainstream Blu-ray player? {Engadget HD}
Jun 3rd 2009 4:28PM The new Samsung BD-1600. Loads discs fast, good DVD upscaling, not too expensive. The front door is annoying, we just leave it down. The remote is good. Handles all the HD audio codecs. It has Netflix and Pandora streaming, but we don't use that feature yet, maybe down the road, nice to know it's there.
Plays AVCHD discs also. Be sure to use DVD-R discs for AVCHD, or the DVD-R DL 8.5GB. The DVD+R DL will not work for AVCHD.
Ask Engadget HD: What's the best plasma to pick up? {Engadget HD}
Oct 15th 2008 12:33PM I'd skip the Vizio's and go for an entry-level Samsung or Panasonic. The PQ is hands down much better than a similar sized/priced LCD. Deep blacks, great colors and excellent viewing angles. I have a 42" 720p Samsung plasma and am very happy with it, I was comparing it to a 720p Panasonic. I liked the Samsung better (look, some features), but the Panasonic was a very nice TV and had just as good PQ.
Ask Engadget HD: Where are all the standalone OTA HD DVRs? {Engadget HD}
Sep 17th 2008 1:09PM From Echostar:
The TR50 will be sold as the DTVPal DVR, and will be available around Thanksgiving for a price of $299. It will be available online through DISH Network. At this time we do not have any information on whether the product will be available through retail outlets. An online information site is planned for the near future. Please check back with us as we get closer to the product launch date. Thank you for contacting EchoStar. Regards, EchoStar Sales Team
Ask Engadget HD: Where are all the standalone OTA HD DVRs? {Engadget HD}
Sep 17th 2008 12:47PM Yeah, what's up with that. I'd definitely buy one. I currently use a MyHD card in my PC to record HDTV. It works great with the QAM recording, but the OTA tuner is not the best. I get some dropouts, and can't tune in as many stations with it as I can with the OTA tuner in my (newer) HDTV and the new digital converter boxes (5th, 6th generation tuners I think) are much better. The MyHD probably needs a much larger outdoor antenna to record error-free. But a great feature is that MyHD works great with TitanTV. No Tivo fees. I'm not aware of any OTA DVR solution that does not require a PC today. It's definitely not a consumer friendly method though.
My *guess* to the reason is scheduled recordings. Personally I never had an issue setting a VCR back in the day, and I would have no issue doing the same for OTA HD. VCR+ could work here also. People want to see the guide on screen and simply push a button to schedule the recording. The EPG is available over ATSC, but it looks like a lot of programming/development work to program it into a intelligent application and install enough memory and that into a device and use it like Tivo. I bet after the digital transition, we'll see this happen and it may even end up inside newer TV's.
Or the MPAA is still trying to adopt the OTA broadcast flag (we see the reports that it's in there with Media Center, standing at the ready) and are strong-arming manufacturers in some way.
Eyes-on Toshiba's new XD-E500 upconverting DVD player {Engadget HD}
Aug 19th 2008 3:41PM I don't think this has the spurs engine. I went to Toshiba's site and read through everything and it sounds like a traditional upscaler with the 3 extra filters. I would like to see this player up against an Oppo or a player with one of the Silicon Optix HQV chips, and maybe a PS3.
Toshiba stubbornly launches the un-Blu-ray, XD-E500 DVD player {Engadget HD}
Aug 19th 2008 12:29PM I really do think BD and DVD are fierce competitors. Chances are an individual will only buy one copy of a movie (yes some titles are re-released in many editions and they get fans to buy more copies). Toshiba sees no royalties from a Blu-Ray disc sale. It's a razor-razor blade business. They do get a royalty from a BD player, but the real money is in the bzillion of titles sold annually. Toshiba does not want BD to replace DVD the way DVD pretty much replaced VHS. Toshiba is working hard to maximize the PQ and interactive aspects of DVD to keep it mainstream until the next best thing comes around. HD-DVD was a natural for them, no worries if it replaced DVD, as the train would just keep on rolling for them.
If I were running Toshiba, I would be hard at work on the successor to Blu-Ray, 2X or 4X. If I'm running Sony, I would be looking to hijack DVD sales and work to lower prices to make BD the default standard.
Toshiba stubbornly launches the un-Blu-ray, XD-E500 DVD player {Engadget HD}
Aug 18th 2008 4:36PM Toshiba is the main force behind DVD. Blu-Ray is their #1 competition. They have no interest in supporting their rivals standard, which will only hurt their profits. They want to keep DVD relevant in this new HD age, and are trying to do their best to make DVD PQ as good as possible, good enough for the general population of casual viewers. They are even adding the online interactive layer (plucked directly from the HD-DVD standard) so DVD can have the same type of interactivity as BD Live. The better DVD looks, it actually lowers the perceived value of Blu-Ray. Think of it in 3 market segments, low-end, mainstream, and high-end. They are trying to keep BD a high end product. The volume is in the low-end and mainstream markets. Blu-Ray needs to lower pricing on both the discs and players to get themselves into the mainstream.
Toshiba stubbornly launches the un-Blu-ray, XD-E500 DVD player {Engadget HD}
Aug 18th 2008 1:36PM C'mon guys, lets wait and see how this thing does in some official reviews and put it up against the best DVD upscalers, Oppo, Reon/Realta, etc. before damning it to hell. I'm interested to see how it performs. $150 for a top performing upscaling DVD player is not a bad deal, especially if it performs as good as DVD players with the Silicon Optix chips in them.
Here's a quote from Toshiba:
"If you want Blu-ray, go get Blu-ray. This product is meant to improve playback of DVDs," said a Toshiba spokesman.
LG's BD300 Network Blu-ray player to stream Netflix in September {Engadget HD}
Jul 31st 2008 4:56PM Sounds like what Toshiba is trying to do with their new super upconversion DVD players in which they are adding the HD-DVD interactive/online spec to normal DVD. Toshiba is just trying to keep the standard DVD-format relevant in the brave new world of HD and digital downloads by giving it the very best up conversion possibl;e and the same online connectivity as BD Live.
Maybe if one purchases a DVD, one then gets access to watch a streaming HD version?? I'm curious to see what Toshiba has planned and how well their up conversion tech looks.
Universal HD claims there's more than the Olympics going on in August {Engadget HD}
Jul 25th 2008 4:33PM I have it on both DVD and HD-DVD and the PQ is so-so. The show is supposed to have a rough look to it, so I think they are intentionally making it dull (soft) and drab, then adding some noise to set the mood and tone. Some facial close-ups, CGI space scenes can look amazing, but without a side-by-side comparison it's hard to tell the 2 versions apart and probably not worth the extra money to buy it on Blu-Ray, at least if the season 1 HD version is how seasons 2, 3 and 4 are going to look.
