February 9th, 2010

Panasonic to release four 3D Blu-ray recorders and players in Japan

The VIERA 3D full HD plasma TVs weren’t the only 3D products Panasonic priced and dated for the Japanese market today. The company also announced a total of three new Blu-ray 3D recorders and one player. Here are the details. → Read More

February 9th, 2010

Panasonic's 3D full HD TVs get priced and dated (in Japan)

Panasonic Japan went on a 3D spree today, presenting a total of 6 3D products to be rolled out soon. And the company has priced and dated the new TVs, Blu-ray recorders and players, too (at least for the Japanese market). Some of them were shown last month during the CES, there’s no new word on their cool 3D camcorder, but anyway, here are the 3D TVs [JP] first. → Read More

February 8th, 2010

Saving Private Ryan to storm Blu-ray

You might want to sit down for this one. Are you ready? Saving Private Ryan is coming to Blu-ray. Yep, the 1998 Academy award-winning movie is finally coming to Blu-ray on May 4th. Expect the ad machine to fire up some time in April, since you’re going to want to buy another version of this movie as well, right? → Read More

February 5th, 2010

CrunchDeals: $78 Magnavox Blu-ray player

Most Blu-ray players are resting comfortably well north of the $100 mark, but not this Magnavox. It’s only $78 and it really does play Blu-ray movies. However, there’s a bunch that it can’t do, because, well, it’s only $78. → Read More

February 4th, 2010

CrunchDeal: Blu-ray player for $117.99

Still waiting on picking up the Blu-ray player? I held off too until I saw one of these deals, and picked one up a few months ago. If you’ve been holding off until after the holidays, here’s your chance to pick up a 1080p Blu-ray player for a good price. → Read More

January 29th, 2010

CrunchDeals: Sylvania Blu-ray player for $90

Have you heard about Blu-ray? Don’t question it, just get a player! They’re all the rage! You can get into the whole Blu-ray game for just $90 today as Amazon is selling the Sylvania NB530SLX Blu-ray Disc Player at a $42 discount. → Read More

January 27th, 2010

JVC announces Blu-ray/DVD/VHS recorder with 250GB HDD

Here’s a new device that can help those who still sit on precious VHS cassettes that never made it onto discs. JVC announced [JP] the SR-HV250 for the Japanese market today, a Blu-ray/DVD recorder, VHS recorder and 250GB hard disc drive all rolled into one.

The device supports MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 and AVREC. You also get a USB port, an SD/SDHC slot, LAN connectivity, an HDMI interface, and an… → Read More

January 22nd, 2010

Luxury Blu-ray player is actually an Oppo one that has been placed whole inside a larger case

Wow, this is one of the most egregious consumer electronics scams I’ve ever heard of. Lexicon put out a player called the BD-30, which they said was an enhanced Oppo BDP-83. The Oppo costs $500, the Lexicon $3500. Well, when the testers at Audioholics got their hands on the Lexicon, they cracked it open to check out the guts and found “it was in fact AN OPPO BDP-83 PLAYER, CHASSIS AND… → Read More

January 21st, 2010

199mm: Panasonic to release the world's "shortest" Blu-ray player

Panasonic has announced [JP] a new Blu-ray player for the Japanese market today, the DMP-BD60. The device is sized at just 430x49x199mm, with the 199mm depth making it the “shortest” Blu-ray player available so far. Spec-wise, the main selling point is the integrated Wi-Fi and web connectivity (for example to YouTube). → Read More

January 19th, 2010

Japanese Twilight/New Moon DVD box includes a movie on microSD

Teenage movie sensations Twilight and New Moon have grossed over $1 billion at box offices worldwide so far (New Moon is still in theaters), and both movies have proven to be extremely successful in the world’s second biggest movie market, Japan, too. That’s perhaps the reason why the second movie (New Moon) gets a special treatment in this country, namely a huge and Japan-only DVD premium box. → Read More

January 14th, 2010

Toshiba to roll out REGZA TVs with built-in Blu-ray players

Toshiba’s first Blu-ray recorders are on their way, and the company also announced [JP] new TVs with built-in Blu-ray players today. While these TVs are nothing new (in Japanese stores, at least), it’s the first time for Toshiba to offer devices like this. A recording function would have made sense, but you can only watch Blu-rays on the TVs. At least, it’s possible to connect external hard discs… → Read More

January 14th, 2010

Vardia: Toshiba announces four new Blu-ray recorders and players

Last summer, Toshiba decided to abandon their self-developed HD-DVD format and to go Blu-ray instead. Soon after, the company started rolling out a few Blu-ray devices here and there, but today Toshiba Japan announced [JP] a flood of new Blu-ray-powered devices. The company is ready to roll out a total of three Blu-ray recorders and one Blu-ray player in the next few weeks. → Read More

January 7th, 2010

Denon's S-5BD combines a BD player and 5.1 receiver for fun and profit

All-in-one solutions are nothing new. Hell, Walmart sells them, but that term is generally reserved for lower-market products, not something from a top-tier audio brands. Denon doesn’t care about that stereotype though. The companies new S-5BD is a Blu-ray player and high-end audio receiver. All-in-one! → Read More

December 31st, 2009

Higher capacity Blu-ray discs coming soon

You might be able to squeeze a little more storage into those Blu-ray discs soon. Sony and Panasonic have been working on increasing the maximum capacity per-layer from 25 to 33.4GB, and the new version might be ready for market in the near future. → Read More

December 14th, 2009

Lord of the Rings Blu-ray trilogy on track for April release, but don't buy it

Too bad the upcoming $99 Blu-ray release is just the theatrical edition and not the extended-cut version. It’s not even worth the $69 price Amazon has it set at for pre-order as you know the other version will come out eventually anyway. New Line just wants fans to double dip. Fail. Amazon via High-Def Digest → Read More

December 14th, 2009

CrunchDeals: $78 Blu-ray player

Been holding out of buying a blu-ray because you were waiting for them to get cheap? Wait no longer, penny pincher! Wal-mart is selling off a bare bones unit for $78 plus shipping. → Read More

November 25th, 2009

CrunchDeals: $99 LG Blu-ray player

Skip the Black Friday crowds and head over to Amazon for a sweet price on a LG Blu-ray player. But just like most other Black Friday deals, this model is stripped down and isn’t for everyone. → Read More

November 9th, 2009

Star Trek Blu-ray release earns a perfect score at Blu-ray.com

We all know that the new Star Trek was the best movie of all time – I’m serious – but how about the upcoming Blu-ray release? Well, Blu-ray.com takes Blu-ray releases and grades them on four levels: Movie, Video, Audio, and Extras. The upcoming Star Trek release scored a perfect five out of five in each category. Yeah, it’s that awesome. → Read More

October 30th, 2009

VHS lives: JVC announces VHS/DVD/Blu-ray recorder for Japan

It seems VHS will never die, and this is generally welcome, as a lot of good movies aren’t still available on optical discs. In summer 2008, Panasonic released a VHS/Blu-ray combo, followed by Sharp’s Aquos BD-HDV22 that was pretty much the same thing. And today, over one year later, JVC anounced the DR-BH250 [JP], which is a VHS recorder, Blu-Ray Recorder and 250GB HDD rolled into one. → Read More

October 29th, 2009

Transformers 2 sells 7.5 million DVD & Blu-ray discs. Can't you people find a better movie to buy?

This is just wrong. I’ll admit, I didn’t enjoy “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”. I thought the plot was weak and contrived, and I was slightly offended by the dumbing down of the film (robot urination and racial stereotypes? give me a break). I realize that the original “Transformers” wasn’t exactly the height of cinematic art, but it was better then the sequel. → Read More

October 28th, 2009

JVC drops the ball, releases a $200 BD Profile 1.1 Blu-ray player

Last year I made a habit of calling out manufacturers that released Blu-ray players that didn’t have the latest Profile 2.0 spec. That was last year. But for some odd reason, JVC has introduced a brand new Blu-ray player that confirms to the old Profile 1.1 spec and therefore doesn’t have an Ethernet port or can playback any of the BD-Live features. Oh and this player has an MSRP of $200. → Read More

October 26th, 2009

Best Buy drops the price on the Netflix-streaming, Blu-ray playing Insignia Blu-ray player

Want a Blu-ray player? Want a Netflix streamer? How about both for $100? Best Buy has you covered with the Insignia NS-BRDVD3. → Read More

October 19th, 2009

Blu-ray player sales up 13%, which is modest, I guess

Surprise, surprise, more people are buying Blu-ray players this year over last year. I guess that’s to be expected. In all, retailers have ordered 13 percent more Blu-ray players this year. That’s 3.3 million for those keeping track. So this brings the total amount of Blu-ray players – including PS3s – in American households to a whopping 11.7 million and in nearly 25% of homes that own an HDTV… → Read More

October 15th, 2009

Maybe, maybe not: New doubts on Blu-ray being part of the next iMac revision

I’m not about to knock myself out for noting the 800th iMac rumor of the past few weeks, so here’s the deal: people “close” to Apple now aren’t sure whether or not Blu-ray will wind up on the next iMac revision. Blu-ray may be on Mac Pros, and maybe then only as a build-to-order option, but that’s enough “maybes” to bore a slug. → Read More

October 15th, 2009

Woot! Pioneer Blu-ray player for $135

Some people are jerks about their AV gear. They simply must have certain brands. If that’s you and Pioneer is your company of choice, head over to Woot for a surprisingly good deal on a modern Blu-ray player. → Read More

October 13th, 2009

Qosmio G60: Toshiba unleashes new super-laptop

Toshiba Japan has announced a slew of new and updated notebooks today, and one of them [JP] is a monster of a notebook (more will be posted later). The Qosmio G60/97J is basically a high-end computer, digital TV and Blu-ray player rolled into one. → Read More

September 29th, 2009

Blu-ray notebooks expected to have a big year in 2010

Right now it’s somewhat of a chore getting a Blu-ray-equipped notebook. That might change in 2010 though according to a report at Digitime. The report suggests something most of us already know that once the price drops on the slim Blu-ray drive – which will happen in the second half of 2010 – we will start seeing the option become standard. → Read More

September 19th, 2009

CrunchDeals: Buy one Blu-ray, get one free at Best Buy

Best Buy has a nice little deal going on with Blu-ray movies right now and you already know what it is if you read the headline. But there is some good news and some bad news with the deal though. → Read More

September 11th, 2009

Only the suits stand between you and 100GB Blu-ray discs

Sharp (yes Sharp, I was surprised too) is working on developing an improved version of the current technology use to read and write Blu-ray discs. By changing the way the discs are made, and improving the laser, Sharp has been able to increase the maximum capacity of the Blu-ray disc to 100GB, from the current standard of 50GB. → Read More

September 9th, 2009

Panasonic Japan outs three Blu-ray set-top boxes with digital TV tuners

Panasonic Japan announced a total of three new Blu-ray-based set-top boxes today [JP], the first devices in the industry featuring a digital CATV tuner. All of the models (TZ-BDW900M/pictured, TZ-BDW900F and TZ-BDW900P) have a 500GB HDD on board, too. → Read More