We can't really see the logic in releasing a Blu-ray player without BD-Live in 2008 -- and neither can Samsung, which just announced its fourth generation BD-P1500 will be BD-Live Ready. The bad news is the May release date announced earlier has slipped to June, and the formerly comfortable $399 MSRP is now a less promising TBA. We're not sure if that "ready" tag means it will be BD-Live enabled out of the gate, however DTS-HD "High resolution" is confirmed on the way in a future firmware update. A slight delay for a significant upgrade in features? We'll allow it.

Update: Samsung let us know the press release was in error, the MSRP will remain at $399.

NAB Show 2008 is in full swing, and just in case you haven't heard, here's something worth taking a listen at. DTS has just revealed v1.6 of its DTS-HD Master Audio Suite toolset for Blu-ray Disc and DVD production, which includes "numerous highly anticipated file management features [along with] the public release of Dynamic Automation for DTS Express." The latter is an interactive secondary audio codec for BD, and according to Brian Towne, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Consumer Division, "the latest feature set empowers content creators with the freedom and flexibility to dynamically vary the primary audio volume, which is essential for picture-in-picture, alternate tracks, director commentaries and other interactive features for Blu-ray Disc." Best of all, DTS Express streams encoded for Blu-ray with MAS v1.6 are playable on Profile 2.0 and Profile 1.1 players, and it's available as a free upgrade (right now) for existing customers.

Avid has been working with the SMPTE organization for two years, and can finally announce that its DNxHD codec, intended for use in HD postproduction, has been approved as compliant with the newly created VC-3 standard. The upshot of this is a standard that can be used to work with and transfer high quality HD media at lower bitrates and file sizes, without being locked into just one hardware manufacturer. We'll have to wait and see who else adopts this standard, and what cost/time savings are to be had, but things are looking up for our art house production of Format War: The Tale of Two Brothers, Blue and Red.

Moving 100 million of anything is no easy feat, and DivX is using this very milestone to throw itself a party. Reportedly, over 100 million DivX Certified video devices have shipped out "since the launch of the DivX Certification program in 2003," and it notes alliances with LG, Philips, Samsung, Sony, and Thomson (what, no SanDisk?) as key steps along the way. More specifically, over 2,500 individual product models have been loosed that support DivX playback, and the company estimates that around "32-percent of all DVD players sold worldwide support DivX." Way to go, now how's about unleashing that Connected box of your to the masses?

[Via PhotographyBlog]

Likely coinciding with XM's unveiling of its media-packed "infotainment" concept vehicle at CES, On2 Technologies will be showcasing its TrueMotion VP6 and VP7 compression codecs. While On2's codecs have been at work in XM's gadgetry (among other things), On2 is now aiming to take its compression software to the high definition realm as well as beefing up its stake in the portable arena. The VP6 codec will primarily be used in VOD, broadcast, digital video signage, and other bandwidth-constrained networks and mass-market devices for fixed and mobile video; the VP7, however, will demonstrate compression technology at "data rates as low as 2Mbps," which will supposedly allow "greater penetration of high definition video across low cost devices and existing networks for on-demand, broadcast and other streaming applications." The technology could eventually be used to broadcast HD content over 2.5G, 3G, and 4G mobile networks whenever we get displays large enough (and with enough pixels) to view them, but we'd be perfectly content with a little HD streaming on our navigation systems for now.

We understand if you're just a bit confused about Blu-ray and HD DVD playback on your PC. Forgetting unreleased operating systems for the moment, if you want to check your current Windows XP PC for compatibility and get more information on what you can expect from next gen discs, Cyberlink has a FAQ up and also an automated tool for you to download and run, that will let you know if your computer is HD DVD and/or Blu-ray-ready. While the specs aren't guaranteed yet, it is obvious that on top of HDCP for any digital outputs, compatible disc player and plenty of memory, they think you'll need either a Intel Core Duo, Pentium EE/D or AMD Athlon 64 processor and plenty of memory to power those next-gen codecs without a problem. You'll also need a recent graphics card from ATI or NVIDA, PureVideo HD support should ensure the power necessary. As you can see from the picture above, this PC is going to need quite a bit of work, maybe revision two will include an automatic calculator to figure out the cost of the necessary upgrades.

[Via CDRinfo]

A lot of the criticism leveled at early Blu-ray releases cited their use of the MPEG-2 video codec for compression on 25GB single-layer discs. According to Home Theater Spot, a Warner rep confirmed to them that Lethal Weapon, Blazing Saddles and Firewall will all be encoded with the Microsoft codec. Full Metal Jacket however will still ship as MPEG-2. With fixed Samsung BD-P1000 players and properly next-gen encoded titles, perhaps Blu-ray can stand up to HD DVD and show why it is worth the investment. No word on any new extras to take advantage of all that extra space however, we guess we'll just take one order of increased video quality at lower bitrates to go, thank you.


[Via HDBlog]

The early impressions of Sony's initial Blu-ray releases are in and as you may have heard, they aren't so good. Many have pointed the blame at Sony's insistence on using MPEG-2 instead of the newer and more easily compressed MPEG-4. One of the reasons they cited for sticking with the older format was their insistence that the MPEG-4 authoring tools available were not of sufficient quality.

Whether that is true or not, Matsushita (Panasonic) has announced their own set of MPEG-4 Blu-ray encoder and authoring tools, which support Java (BD-J) for the interactive features Blu-ray is also capable of. According to what we can interpret of the press release, this will be available July 1st in United States yet Panasonic's (US) web site has no mention of it yet. Also no mention of cost or license fees, although this probably won't be on the shelf at CompUSA anytime soon.

Regardless, considering the apparent state of Blu-ray releases, we can't say for sure how much of the problem is the codec but one has to wonder how many discs will be released using the older technology if they continue to get poor reviews. Rumors have indicated the authoring tools made available by Sony support only MPEG-2 and for that reason all the studios have been using them. It will be interesting to see if there is any release date reshuffling of content in the same way some players have slipped, or if the other studios are able to get better results using Sony's own tools.

[Via AV Watch]

[Update] HDTV UK has more information on the MPEG-4 equipment available soon at the Panasonic Hollywood Library in California.

Erik mentioned this during the podcast earlier, and I thought some of you might find it interesting. TWICE has an article up listing the various audio options that will be available on both HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs and players. All HD-DVD players must include support for two-channel Dolby True HD, 5.1 DTS HD, and 5.1/6.1 Dolby Digital Plus. Blu-ray players are required to support Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1 and 5.1 PCM.

More information on the HD-DVD audio codecs is available from the DVD Forum, and info on Blu-ray codecs at Blu-ray.com. They also mention what sort of feature upgrades we can expect, at least in respect to audio second-generation HD-DVD players will add features like 7.1 analog connectors and HDMI 1.3 outputs. As much as we talk about MPEG-2 and h.264, are you taking audio options into account with your next purchase?

It's official. I'm boycotting all things not high def. E3 was the start, and last weekend's Tokyo Game Show sealed it. The high definition gaming era is upon us, and I'm not squinting at low resolution photos and postage-stamp sized movie trailers anymore. I'm going to play it in high definition, why would I try to judge a preview of it in anything less? Microsoft and Sony have taken the right steps in person, displaying their wares on glistening high definition displays at each tradeshow, but finding proper quality trailers and screens is still much like panning for gold, a few shiny nuggets every now and then, but mostly just mud.

Bus passes for the revolution after the jump, along with links to the best sources for HD resolution trailers and pictures I've found.