Check it, Blu-ray fans. That totally believable rumor about Transformers finally fitting into a BD sleeve was indeed accurate, and now we're starting to see the nitty-gritty details about what we can expect come September 2nd. For starters, the Blu-ray edition will feature a 5.1 Dolby TrueHD track as well as a 5.1 PCM uncompressed track to complement the obligatory 1080p transfer. We're also told to expect a trailer for the BD release of Iron Man, BD-Live content and a lengthy list of supplemental material -- all of which is expected to be in beautiful high-def. Tap the read link for the full list of extras, and start saving that $39.99 (or so) right now.

[Thanks, Wii60Warrior]

Heads-up, BDP-S300 owners -- Sony has just unleashed a new firmware update for your machine. Posted today, the v3.90 update will bring you, well, we're not exactly sure what. According to users at AVSForum, the general consensus is that TrueHD support just has to be in there, but Sony's servers are so glacially slow that no one has been able to confirm or deny just yet. Once your download manages to complete (hey, it takes awhile when it's being uploaded from what appears to be a 14.4k modem connection), feel free to discuss any notable changes in comments below.

[Via AVSForum, thanks Peter]

Concerned you might not be able to experience the Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour properly in your home theater? Worry no more, the biggest 3D movie ever is making a HD first, when it hits Blu-ray August 19 it will include 2D and 3D viewing options. If 1080p 3D video isn't enough, the live concert flick also features uncompressed 7.1 PCM audio, a tour documentary and two bonus tracks. No word if it will come with requisite glasses or anything else necessary to get that extra D With a movie that did unprecedented numbers at the box office, this is sure to be one of the year's biggest releases and with never-before-seen options, might be a good reason to share the home theater with your favorite 'tween.

With HD DVD and Blu-ray also came the ultimate audio options in a time when convenience trumps quality in most of the audio world. While SACD and DVD-Audio are all but a bust, audiophiles can turn to HD DVD and Blu-ray for the ultimate audio experience. But even if you aren't an audiophile, it's still worth it to many to take advantage of the master quality audio available on the HD discs that you've already paid for. Unfortunately, it isn't as easy as it used to be, and after realzing how much confusion there was surrounding these next-gen codecs, we decided to try to help clear up the confusion. So if you want to know how to take advantage of everything on the discs you already own, but don't know why Toslink doesn't cut it anymore (and what's so special about about HDMI 1.3), then read on, will ya?

Hard to believe that CES 2007 was the venue at which Samsung launched its second-generation Blu-ray player, as just 12 months later we're staring the fourth-gen unit right in the face. Coming this May, the BD-P1500 will support 1080p playback (not to mention 720p / 1080i / 1080p DVD upconversion), 7.1 PCM, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD HR and MA, Bitstream audio output via HDMI, HDMI 1.3 with CEC and the obligatory Profile 1.1. Meanwhile, the firm is also announcing its forthcoming combo player, and for those out there who have yet to successfully hunt one down or are just too frightened by the reports of lackluster audio performance, you may want to hit the pause button 'til May. The BD-UP5500 (pictured after the break) handles Blu-ray / HD DVD discs and supports 1080p24, but otherwise remains functionality identical to the P1500. The pain? $399 for the BD-P1500, $599 for the BD-UP5500.

Just in case you don't have enough digital download choices, here comes iTrax to give you another. This site, however, deviates from the beaten path by offering up DRM-free HD Audio tracks for those with more discerning ears. Granted, the music selection is quite limited, but for the albums that are available, users can download individual songs or entire records in a variety of encoding formats / mixes. Among the options are MP3, Dolby Digital, DTS, WMA Pro, WMA Lossless and even uncompressed PCM 96/24, and most songs can be downloaded in 2.0 stereo, 5.1 "stage" and 5.1 "audience" perspectives. Currently, the available music all stems from AIX Records, but more options are purportedly on the way, and if you're curious about pricing, most albums look to run you anywhere from $9.99 to $24.99, depending on quality / mix.

We gave this a go some time ago, but compared to the job Hi-Def Digest did, ours is pathetic. Not only do they go into detail about what every audio format available for both HD disc formats is all about, but they go on to give examples of discs that include them, and to top it all off, how to enjoy them. It's more complicated than you think because not every player or connection method supports every audio format. To be honest it's far more complicated than it should be and we wonder how anyone could make heads or tails of this mess without being very dedicated. Lucky for us, Joshua Zyber is up to the challenge and his article should help clear things up for just about everyone.

Sony's PlayStation 3 definitely had a tough holiday season, with a disappointing launch lineup of games, odd incompatibilities and shortage of consoles; it outsold the HD DVD add-on for the Xbox 360 but not much else. Luckily we're not just interested in the system for games, it also carries the status of being the cheapest and potentially most advanced Blu-ray player available. How well suited is it for a home theater environment? Home Theater Blog and Ultimate AV recently put the unit through it's paces to find out and had mostly good things to say. In terms of old school DVDs, it's lack of 3:2 pulldown or any upconversion via HDMI is obviously disappointing, while Ultimate AV found the picture "soft", HTB noted otherwise perfect scores on the HQV test disc. Both liked that the system loaded and began playing Blu-ray movies considerably faster than other players, and had nothing but good things to say about the picture quality -- with the exception of the included movie, even on a 50GB disc Talladega Nights looked "flat" and "compressed" -- despite still leaning towards HD DVD in overall sharpness. They weren't able to test out any lossless Dolby TrueHD soundtracks, but uncompressed PCM soundtracks on Sony Blu-ray movies blew away their lossy DD and DTS equivalents. If you can get around the lack of an IR receiver for standard remotes, both considered the PS3 an attractive option for anyone considering a Blu-ray player.


Read - Home Theater Blog
Read - Ultimate AV

The Blu-ray camp is moving the hype machine to 11 now that HD-DVD is in stores. The latest is Sony's own BDP-S1 showing up on their website for pre-orders, ready to take the $999.95 that has been burning a hole in your pocket. Of course if you start financing it at $29 a month, you'll have it paid off by the time HVD comes out.

Continue on for the feature list, is all that 1080p, uncompressed multi channel audio goodness worth it to you? Frankly I'm unimpressed, you'd think that for $1000 you could at least get the twin HDMI outs they claim will be on the Playstation 3. And a "blue glass front"? Call me back when it's chrome plated and spinning. "On or about August 15", update your calendars children.

[Via engadget]

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?