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
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
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 when considering that 45 million US homes have high-def sets. Yeah, that’s cool. But I still don’t want a Blu-ray player. → Read More
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
OK, the bad: the Oppo BDP-83 is $500, it doesn’t have WiFi or any digital download dilvery system like Netflix, Pandora, Amazon, or YouTube. But on the plus, CNET ranked the player above all others – including the PS3 – and that’s good enough for me. Where’s my credit card… → Read More
The first reaction most have to these Sony megachangers hasn’t changed over the years. Just insert the name of the appropriate physical media. But yes, some people do own that many discs and so these changers make sense for them. Plus, while digital downloads are great and the future of the average consumer, there are still some folk that demand the absolute best picture and sound which only Blu-ray can provide. Electronic house had a chance to sit down with the ES Blu-ray changer and sent it through the paces. → Read More
From the fine folks who brought us the first video comparison comes another batch showing that the PS3 Slim is, in fact, faster than the PS3 fatty. However, I’m sure you noticed that the Slim is running firmware v3.0 while the fat is still on v2.8. Regardless, the Slim is booting up and loading faster than the fat all across the board. Hit the jump for two additional videos showing off Slim’s speed on Uncharted and Blu-ray start ups. Oh, it’s just a comparison between firmware v2.8 and v3.0 on the Slim. It’s pretty fast, right? → Read More
On one hand, the Addonics Pocket Blu-ray/DVDRW packs eSATA and USB 2.0, but it isn’t the first portable Blu-ray player drive. Correct me if I’m wrong, but Fastmac released an external Blu-ray player drive back in January at Macworld, which I believe was the first external Blu-ray drive. I guess eSATA isn’t that important to me and the $259 price tag is a bit much considering the Fastmac drive is $120. Read and write speeds are nothing to drool over either. → Read More
Big, bad Bay just pushed out the press release confirming the October 20 street date for both the DVD and Blu-ray of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Both the DVD and Blu-ray versions will come in a two-disc variety (single disc DVD will be available as well). The two-disc packages will include “augmented reality technology” that give owners a chance to rebuild a broken down Prime using their webcam and a “special website.” A gaggle of other extras are available. Check those out after the jump. → Read More
Back in April, Panasonic was the first company that announced a Blu-ray player for installation in cars, and today [JP], the CY-BB1000D – and the even cooler “Strada CN-HX3000D” navigation system – finally got a price tag and a release date. But first the specs and some pictures. → Read More
They’ve announced it back in June and executed the plan today: Toshiba is now officially a Blu-ray supporter. The company issued a short press release (in English) today, stating Toshiba has applied for membership of the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA). The BDA is a voluntary membership group aimed at fostering the development of the Blu-ray format on a global scale. → Read More
I am seeing more and more TV/Blu-ray combos in Japanese electronics stores, and today Sharp announced [JP] a total of 13 new LCD TVs boasting a built-in Blu-ray recorder. The AQUOS DX2 series consists of screens measuring 26/32/40/46 and 52 inches. → Read More
San Francisco, CA
