As previously mentioned Ricoh is working on a way to read all four formats with a single adjustable laser, and they came to Interopto 2006 to show it off. Of course with their panels written in Japanese it's a little hard to understand the details, but the idea is clear. They claim they will be able to provide samples to OEMs this year, but don't anticipate players on shelves until the end of 2007. Of course some people think the Blu-ray and HD DVD format war could be over by then, and we still have the unknowns of license restrictions and price to deal with before this is a realistic alternative to existing standalone players and recorders.

While it may be delayed (only in Europe, Blu-ray fans don't jump off the ledge just yet!), a few guys at Greek home theater site AVSite.gr got a demo of Samsung's BD-P1000 Blu-ray player and said it looked beautiful. Actually we're not totally sure what they said because we can't read any of it but the pictures look great. A few guys from the site came over and posted a few details on AVS Forum. During their demo they weren't able to switch into 1080p mode to get a look at that, but in 1080i connected to a high-end projector everything looked great. They didn't note any playback glitches and said the discs did not seem to take a long time to load.

That's all well and good but HDTVPolska did them one better and cracked the unit open for a look at its insides. That's what we like, pre-early HDTV adopters who take risks.

Unfortunately the bad rumors we hipped you to earlier are all too true. Samsung's BD-P1000 will not launch on May 23, but June 25. The good news, if there really is any, is that they have added a couple features to the checklist:

• 1080p upconversion of DVDs (apparently only via HDMI out)
• Support for 11 (up from 9) memory card formats, adding Mini-SD and Memory Stick Pro Duo

The official reason is to undergo further compatibility testing with Blu-ray test discs, and the price is still $999. HD-DVDs are still (probably) hitting shelves later this month, but we're not holding our breath (anymore, because the hospital said they are not resuscitating Kevin again). Hopefully this will be the last time we have to tell you when next generation DVDs aren't coming out.

If you're really ready for next generation DVDs, this guy on the CDFreaks message boards is selling NEC HD-DVD HR-1100A readers for your desktop PC. Not sure why you'd want one since we don't know when you'll actually have HD-DVDs to play on it and probably no software to play them with, but you would still be first. We've seen commercial Blu-ray players from Japan pop up on eBay before, but this may be the first opportunity to have HD-DVD technology all to yourself, and for only $120.

Since you won't be playing HD-DVDs anytime soon, enjoy your stunning 32x CD/8x DVD playback speeds and wonder what might be ... someday. As soon as HD-DVD drives are available from somewhere other than some-guy-on-a-forum, we'll let you know.

[via digg]

Our good friend and Microsoft MVP Chris Lanier moved to clear up some controversy over whether or not Vista would include native support for any next generation format, confirming that yes, it will ship all right and ready for your HD-DVD's. Blu-ray support will need to come from a third party, so look for an extra disc of software when you pick up that shiny new Blu-ray drive for your PC.

No word however on whether or not Vista will include the vaunted "write your blog posts while you lay on the couch and play Xbox 360" feature. We'll keep you updated.

Check out Joystiq's continuing updates of Sony's Playstation Conference for more information, but lets get down the key facts:

• Worldwide (Asia, Europe, North America) launch in early November
• 1 million units shipped every month, total of 6 million shipped by the end of 2006
• 100% backwards compatible with existing PS1 & PS2 titles, will upconvert to HD resolutions
• Latest HDMI connectors (1.3?)
• 60GB HDD "required", supports Linux, acts as a media server
• All PS3 games will ship on Blu-ray discs to prevent piracy
  
• PS3 online service will feature matchmaking, downloads; free "basic" service
• Developers will get final kits in June
• PS3 is "4D"
• The conference is over, no games, no price announced

Well there we have it, more hardware details, and still so many questions. But at least it is launching in 2006, I don't know if we could survive another Christmas without "true" high definition. One thing is for sure, just when it looked like Sony might be slipping, they have come back with a big plan for continued worldwide dominance. Anyone want to place odds on if they can pull it off?

In the "who didn't see this coming?" news of the day Sony has announced that the Playstation 3 won't be shipping this Spring. A Japanese newspaper is reporting the launch has been pushed back to November in Japan, potentially leaving US high definition gamers PS3-less until 2007. The stated reason for the delay? Copy protection related to the Blu-ray drive. Apparently that preliminary AACS agreement wasn't enough, or maybe Sony is just planning on slipping a combo (or at least 4x drive) in the unit.

It's been pretty obvious that the PS3 would slip, with it being March and developers still not having final hardware to work on, but November seems pretty late, it will be interesting to see how they keep the hype machine rolling all year long.

Hopefully we will learn more about Sony's next generation plans tomorrow.

[Via Evil Avatar]

CE Pro is reporting LG sent a memo to their dealers indicating that among other things, like removing LCoS screens from their lineup, they have cancelled their BD199 player due to "uncertainty in the market". Without even stopping to mourn the BD199 that never was, they go on to say they expect to launch a combination Blu-ray/HD-DVD player by late summer or early fall.

A device that plays both formats would seem to be the holy grail of high def DVD's, but we seem to recall Samsung saying that due to licensing restrictions of both camps that it would be impossible to produce one. Now that AACS is somewhat settled, and Sony and NEC working together (although Samsung already similarly partnered with Toshiba), has something changed?

The real question seems to be is there any point in HDTV owners buying a first generation player if combination units are right around the corner.

That's the word according to German mag heise; apparently disagreement from within the Blu-ray Disc Association over how AACS and BD work together means no high definition DVD formats yet.

Beyond just noting the delay, they also dropped a few dimes on what we can expect from managed copy: the content holder gets to decide how many copies can be made and any device they are copied to requires an Internet connection for verification. Microsoft's COPP (Certified Output Protection Protocol) makes sure you're actually watching a movie and not dumping the video to a file, after which that HDCP-compliant videocard that doesn't exist yet finally lets you play HD-quality content on your monitor.

I really have to wonder, is the BDA that far apart on the DRM issue, or is there any possibility that this is intentional to delay the launch of HD-DVD, which was supposed to debut last year but can't until AACS is finished. Being the first mover was part of HD-DVD's advantage in the face of Blu-ray's greater storage capacity but that continues to shrink and may even be nonexistent by the time they launch. I'll tell you what though Toshiba, how about we just forget the whole AACS, DRM thing? We won't tell if you won't.

Did you catch the images in the "monster" as it faced down Eko? I don't have any screen grabs but Kevin might later, the'yre talking about it over on TV Squad also. Thanks to the high definition DVR I was able to make out the images as they flashed by, this wasn't so much of an HDTV easter egg as a Tivo-egg, because there's no way you would be able to see all the images without frame-by-frame.

• Church
• Eko as a child
• a woman
• the man he shot
• his brother and the gun
• an upside down picture of Eko coming out of the water after the plane crash
• the man who pushed him off of the missionary plane
• the woman who sold the figurines
• two flashes of Eko holding his dying brother
• Jesus on the cross

All they need is a subplot about how Eko used to be in a wheelchair and he and Locke will officially be the exact same person.

One of the best shows in HD is back and it should be an interesting rest of the season.

If you've been just dying to record high definition video on the go, Sanyo has the camcorder for you. The Xacti DMX-HD1 measures at an amazingly small 80x119x36mm, and weighs only 235g, including battery and memory card. It will record 1280x720 resolution video at 30fps in MPEG-4 format.

With a 2gb SD card you can expect to get about 28 minutes of recording time in high definition. JCN reports the price as $1040, but DV Guru caught a look at the camera during CES and says we can expect it in March for just $800. They've also got video of the device.

Blah blah blah, laptop, blah blah, iPod, blah blah blah, dual core Intel processor. No 50" plasma screens, no UDI. The best news we got was DVI out on the new laptops, no word if that will include HDCP, but unless they'll upgrade your laptop to Blu-ray or HD-DVD, who cares?

I'm so disappointed, check out the rest of the coverage of the Jobsy one's keynote on Engadget and TUAW.

Ok, so now, we've seen the huge hulking 1980's VHS-style players for both HD-DVD and Blu-ray, but which one are we going to buy? Well, if you were hoping to buy a Samsung player that was compatible with both standards, don't hold your breath reports CNet. Apparently both groups have regulations making it impossible for any member to create a drive capable of playing both formats, so there goes that idea for now.

Also today, the "HDTV Professor" noted that of all the things he heard at Insight Media's HDTV Conference, the possibility for flip disc HD-DVD's with regular DVD content on one side is much more promising than similar Blu-ray applications, and could lead to quicker adoption by consumers and retailers.

As usual, we'll continue to keep an eye on it.

Connecting.

It seems like companies had no problem doing that at CES. Everybody was in a partnership with everybody else and was in a hurry to tell people about it, I'm not even going  to make the lame high school compariso...oops.

But seriously, after all the talking is done, I still don't know what is going to work with what, or how. I can't even imagine what it's going to be like for the average consumer this year, because this stuff is gibberish to me. Let me run down a list just of the things I'm left with far more questions than answers about.

Intel:

• Viiv: I still don't know what this is. I know that Intel has partnered with everyone and their mother. (Seriously, at this point I wouldn't be at all surprised if I visited home and found that I needed at the least a software upgrade before I could eat some DRM protected home cooking). The questions I need answered are, will I absolutely need to buy an Intel PC to take advantage of this content? How will I take advantage of it, can I build my own Viiv PC? And what does this mean anyway?
  

Microsoft:

• Congratulations, the Xbox 360 is getting HD-DVD playback. How much, how will it connect to my 360 and my TV and when can we expect it, until you answer those questions I'm not excited in the least.
• Is Wintel really dead? Viiv relies on Windows Media Center, but Microsoft is partnering with AMD on their competing AMD Live standard, (btw, everything I said about not knowing what Viiv is, goes double for AMD Live).
• Now that Google is using DivX, is Microsoft going to add support for streaming to the Xbox 360 or am I going to have to wait for a mod chip?

Continue on for questions for Google, Sony, HANA or provide your own answers/questions.

The CEO's of Best Buy and Circuit City took time during panel discussions at CES to tell them exactly how unhappy it makes them that sometime this year, they will try to sell you a $1000 next generation DVD player knowing full well you may have to come back a few years later and buy another one.

That I don't believe at all, which is why I wondered if retailers may be the only ones benefiting from this conflict, but one thing I definitely agree with, is that the prospect of conflicting formats will negatively affect sales as customer wait for a winner. Confused and frightened customers who stay out of stores on Black Friday 2006 is what keeps both of these men awake at night, and I'm sure they'd love to do without figuring out how much shelf and advertising space, not to mention employee training they will have to devote to both formats.