Posts with tag dvd
Okay, so there are a few titles out there on Blu-ray, DVD and / or CD that simply shine. Those are undoubtedly the ones you bring out when looking to wow onlookers who are checking out your setup for the first time. But wouldn't you like to know which titles industry professionals use to seal deals and land clients? Thanks to a feature over at CE Pro, now you can. Bigwigs from SpeakerCraft, Richard Gray's Power Company and the Imaging Science Foundation were questioned about their favorite source material, and just to name a few, Cars, Casino Royale, The Fifth Element (the remastered version, obviously), Vertical Limit and Contact (DVD) made the cut. Hit up the read link for the full list.
Onkyo not quite ready for Blu-ray, offers DV-SP406 upscaling DVD deck
Oh yeah, Onkyo's definitely going to dish out a Blu-ray player of its own later this year, but it can't just sit idly until that one has spent adequate time in the oven, now can it? Say hello to the DV-SP406, a 1080p upscaling DVD player that delivers upconverted content over HDMI. You won't find SACD / DVD-Audio compatibility here, but you will find coaxial / optical digital audio ports, a USB socket for loading up multimedia files and a 180MHz / 14-bit video DAC. Not too much else to gloat about beyond that, but considering the $125 street price (available now in black or silver), we suppose that's just alright.
[Via RandomlyAccessed, thanks littlefarny]
[Via RandomlyAccessed, thanks littlefarny]
Home video spending still strong, $194 million spent on Blu-ray in 2008
Slumping economy? Recession? Poppycock. Based on sales of home media, America's financial engine is humming along just fine, with consumers plunking down 1.6% more on DVD / Blu-ray purchases and rentals combined than they did in the first half of 2007. Granted, some may suggest that home entertainment is seeing an increase as more lavish alternatives (going out for a movie, taking a vacation, etc.) are utilized less frequently, but whatever the case, this sector is sure benefiting. Focusing on HDM, we're hearing that $194 million has been spent on Blu-ray Disc thus far in 2008, which is up some 350% from $43 million in 1H 2007. Amazing what a format war conclusion will do for numbers, huh?
[Image courtesy of Syracuse, thanks Joel]
[Image courtesy of Syracuse, thanks Joel]
Got any tips for archiving / streaming DVDs?
If you've stumbled upon the perfect solution for archiving your DVD collection and streaming it via a DLNA server (you know, like the PlayStation 3), this week's Ask Engadget question is just begging for your input. Head on over and give those two pennies a toss!
Toshiba plans new LCD HDTVs for IFA, will include Resolution+ technology
Okay, so we really have no clue what's going on inside of Toshiba's labs, but one thing is for certain: it has upscaling on the brain. After hearing of an elusive super-resolution DVD player and seeing an all-too-curious new DVD logo, in flies word from Germany that the outfit is prepping an updated line of Picture Frame LCD HDTVs for release at IFA 2008. On the surface, there's not too much different about these REGZAs compared to any others, but internally, the newcomers are expected to tout Cell-based Resolution+ technology, which will upscale SD images in an attempt to make something (read: HD) out of nothing. Granted, Tosh has been talking up this stuff since CES, so it's not an entirely new concept, but we'll be interested to see if this has anything to do with those rumored DVD deck plans.
[Via Big-Screen, danke Joel]
[Via Big-Screen, danke Joel]
Study finds that one-third of consumers copy DVDs
'Round these parts, we prefer to read the fine print first, so it should be noted that none other than Macrovision -- you know, the firm that purchased the now-cracked BD+ DRM scheme for $45 million last year -- financed this here study. According to poll results from US and UK consumers, around 1 in 3 individuals admitted to "making copies of pre-recorded DVDs in the past 6 months, up over a quarter from the previous year's study." Predictably, males aged 18 to 24 were most likely to wear an eye patch and own a DVD burner (if you catch our drift), and while revenue loss due to illegal copying is certainly a valid concern, researchers did find that 62% of American respondents (and 49% in the UK) were duping flicks they already owned. Arrr!
[Image courtesy of George Dillon]
[Image courtesy of George Dillon]
DVD Download DL logo sparks wonder over Toshiba's super-resolution DVD player

[Via TG Daily]
Read - DVD Forum approval
Read - Discussion / rumors
Japanese researchers devise method for cramming 42GB on a DVD
Never mind those fancy BD-R critters, how's about a 42GB DVD? Researchers with a good deal more intelligence than us over at Tohoku University have reportedly figured out a way to "multiply the amount of data that can be stored on a DVD or CD by 9." Based on our best guess at translating a foreign language (we kid... sort of), the achievement was realized by shaping the pits on a DVD's surface like Vs, essentially making the disc more capacious in the process. Unfortunately, said project will probably never see any mainstream attention, as existing DVD / CD players won't recognize the malformed media, and worse still, the process can't be applied to Blu-ray Discs.
[Via CrunchGear]
[Via CrunchGear]
Blu-ray Disc sales estimated to exceed DVDs in 2012
Oh, joy. Yet another report suggesting something about the year 2012 -- as if we're just going to let 'em spew anything and not check back for accuracy in 3.5 years? Anywho, not long after hearing a laughable article suggesting that Blu-ray decks would outsell DVD players by August (yes, of 2008), along comes another that makes a little more sense. The Entertainment Merchants Association's (EMA) 2008 annual report on home entertainment has found that "nearly 9 million high-definition discs were sold in 2007," and just 12,177 DVDs were released last year, down from a peak of 13,950 in 2005. More interesting, however, was the notion that "in 2012, sales of Blu-ray Discs will exceed those of standard DVDs and will generate sales of $9.5 billion," while spending on home video in general is expected to increase to $25.6 billion. Remember those days when you just couldn't find a VHS tape to save your life? You've got just under four years before that same feeling hits in relation to DVD (their assertion, not ours).
Movie Booth DVD rental kiosks head for UK, Ireland
DVD rental kiosks have been lighting up pharmacies and supermarkets across the US, but it seems that UKers and Irish lads / dames will soon have the great, great privilege of interfacing with Movie Booths in the near future. This particular unit doesn't seem all too different from other variations we've seen, boasting a simple touchscreen display and a built-in android tasked with fetching your selected title and spitting it out for a nominal (read: undisclosed) fee. Apparently, trials have been deemed a success in outlets like Tesco, Centra and Applegreen, thus paving the way to see these pop up everywhere by the year's end. Any chance we'll see a Blu-ray Disc or two popped in there?
[Via Pocket-lint]
[Via Pocket-lint]
Kaleidescape's overpriced upscaling DVD players get reviewed
Let's get real honest with one another here: if folks are legitimately arguing that a $700 Profile 2.0 Blu-ray player is overpriced, there's absolutely no way a DVD player is worth over four times as much. That being said, the folks over at Sound & Vision put the pricey pair through the paces, and they were actually quite pleased with the results. In a nutshell, it seems that reviewers found the best upscaling DVD players this planet has to offer, and while all the fawning over their pristine reproduction of colors was fine and dandy, it's the value proposition here that's absurdly out of whack. In fairness, it's good to hear that the bundled Sigma Designs' Gennum VXP video processor chip lived up to the hype, but all the upconverting in the world won't make us believe these things are worthy of the stratospheric prices.
Kaleidescape claims new 1080p upscaling DVD players "rival Blu-ray"

Research firm says Blu-ray sales outpacing DVD sales of yesteryear in western Europe
Yes, this really is yet another research firm chiming in on the pace at which Blu-ray is being adopted. This go 'round, we've got Futuresource digging into the numbers, though it is looking exclusively at western Europe. According to Jim Bottoms, managing director of corporate development at the outfit, the "early indications are that Blu-ray player sales are running way ahead of DVD after the same time period." He continued on to say that his firm expects some 10 million Blu-ray players (Sony's PlayStation 3 included) to be in use before 2009 dawns, whereas just 1.5 million DVD players were installed after its third year on the market. Notably, the importance of the PS3 in all of this wasn't understated, but the data didn't mention how many of those 10 million were expected to be consoles.
[Via MarketNewsGadgetTalk]
[Via MarketNewsGadgetTalk]
Toshiba remains stubborn, looks to DVD upscaling while brushing Blu-ray off

Read - Toshiba's London press event
Read - Toshiba Europe CEO comments
Netflix tidbits: DVD business could peak in a decade, Mac streaming on the way
Given Netflix's blatant plunge into the world of online content delivery, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the outfit's execs understand that physical media is at risk. Sure, DVD rentals far outnumber online rentals today, but Netflix is assuming that its DVD business could peak in around five to ten years. In a brief interview this week, CEO Reed Hastings told investors that "everybody peaks sometime," but he did note that Blu-ray was apt to make the "DVD ecosystem stronger." Even though the company is definitively moving at least some of its attention to online streaming, it's still quite aways from delivering a "standalone streaming service." On a slightly different note, we also learned that Intel-based Macs would be able to tap into the firm's "Watch Now" service "later this year," but unfortunately, it didn't get any more specific than that.
[Image courtesy of ANPark]
[Image courtesy of ANPark]



























