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
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
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
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
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
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 S-Video. The device lets you record video on BD-R/RE and DVD-R/RE discs. → Read More
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 ALL, SHOVED INSIDE AN ALUMINUM LEXICON WRAPPER.” → Read More
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
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
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 via USB and record video on those. → Read More
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
