It’s almost January 1st, 2010 and we’ve been mulling over our favorites of 2009 – and the previous decade. Here we present another installment of our “TenYears” list. We already did the biggest losers in the tech industry but why not talk about the biggest product flops? Here are a few of the biggest failures of the decade, starting with one monster release from a fairly well-known… → Read More
Fellow HD DVD die hards, it’s a sad day. Toshiba has officially surrendered to the enemy camp with the BDX2000 Blu-ray player. HD DVD is dead and the format war is finally over. → Read More
It had to happen at some point. With HD DVD long gone and Blu-ray sales rocketing up 91 percent (Q1 ‘09 over Q1 ‘08), Toshiba really had no choice, but to join the other team. → Read More
You may want to pull your HD DVD player’s Craigslist ad if you’re a Harry Potter fan. For only $25, you can get the first five Harry Potter films in glorous high definition with free shipping. And did you see the spectacular gift box? Why wouldn’t you spend $25 on this? Really, tell me one good reason… Deep Discount via dealnews → Read More
Remember HD DVD? The video format developed by Toshiba that lost the format war against Blu-ray? Today Toshiba held a pretty interesting annual shareholder meeting in Tokyo during which president Atsutoshi Nishida didn’t say they will revive HD DVD but that his company thinks about producing Blu-ray products. → Read More
Blu-ray was declared the winning format last year when HD DVD threw in the towel. This victory came after major studios left the HD DVD camp and joined up with Blu-ray. But just because a victory was celebrated, that doesn’t mean the format is successful. In fact, a recent Harris Interactive poll shows that many purchased an HD DVD player last year and most don’t plan on buying a Blu-ray player… → Read More
Well isn’t this a sweet promo from Warner Bros to promote Blu-ray and attempt to eliminate the remaining HD DVD inventory. The trade-in program is a bit weird, though. You don’t actually have to send in the HD DVD disc to get a copy of the same movie on Blu-ray. All WB wants is the original cover sleeve and nothing else. Prices on Blu-ray discs start at $4.95 and go up to $14.95 for… → Read More
http://www.videojug.com/film/player?id=a26005a0-bc6e-26e5-7773-ff0008cb16d5 Go grab that Xbox 360 HD DVD drive and give it new life with this mod. What you’re going to do is rip it apart and make a sweet-ass laser pointer/gun sight/cat teaser. It’s not like you’re ever going to use it again. Look at it. It’s just sitting there, mocking your early-adapting ass. Oh, and… → Read More
The Format War is done; it has been for a while. Netflix officially stopped buying new HD DVDs back in February ’08 and starting on December 15th, the company will no longer be shipping ‘em out either marking Blu-ray’s exclusive reign. Any HD DVDs remaining in subscriber’s queues will simply be replaced with standard DVDs. No word on what Netflix is doing with the soon to… → Read More
The format war may be done and even though Blu-ray won, that doesn’t mean Toshiba is going to leave its early adopters stranded with unsupported devices and so, just released firmware 4.0 for its HD DVD players. It seems the update affects every Toshiba HD DVD player and owners will want to download this update via the built-in Ethernet port for improved disc playback, along with resuming… → Read More
Sony BDP-350 owners, I’ve got great news for you this Friday. Your Sony Blu-ray player can now play all the fancy-pants BD Live extras once you update your player’s firmware. The 56 MB firmware update can be downloaded directly via the players Ethernet port or you can download it on your computer and make an update disc. Either way you go, I’m happy for you. The BD… → Read More
Once upon a time, there was a high definition format called HD DVD. Now, HD DVD was developed by a company called Toshiba, and that company put its heart and soul into this format. Evenutally though, the format died off by the big blu-ray monster. Toshiba was very sad and didn’t want anything to do with the winning format. So do you know what they did? They developed the XDE-E500… → Read More
There was a time when the CD was the saving grace of the computer and media world. No longer would it take 22 floppy disks to install Windows 95. Oh no, just one magical disk. But as everything digital, things change overtime, and so optical formats are now loathe as the bastard child you wouldn’t dare get rid of, but can’t stand the sight of him nor his loser friends. → Read More
Happen to be a HD DVD earlier adopter? Sorry to hear that. Paramount and Dreamworks wants to help switch your library to the winning side and is offering up a $10 rebate. All the studios ask is that when you buy a Blu-ray title of a disk you currently own, mail in a promo certificate along with the proof of purchase from the original disc’s packaging. That’s not all good reader… → Read More
The format war is done. HD DVD lost, Blu-ray own, I was wrong and the world continued on. So where is Blu-ray now? ABI Research sayz not so good, but that was just one groups opinion and you know what they say about opinions…something about everyone’s got ‘em and they are kind of like something else…digressing. Future Source analyzes this type of stuff, and according to… → Read More
Those crazy kids over at Engadget got their grubby hands on Toshiba’s new XD-E500 upconverting DVD player. Their take? Most consumers will see a visible quality improvement when playing their DVDs, particularly in the realm of sharpness. Toshiba’s new filters are “intelligent” enough to spice up the grass while leaving the sky and clouds free of noise, and while the… → Read More
Even after HD DVD’s demise, Blu-ray still isn’t catching on, the PS3 excepted. Maybe the real format war was between DVD and Blu-ray all along? A recent survey, carried out by ABI Research, found that more than half the respondents have no intention of buying a Blu-ray player. About a quarter said they had plans to buy one, but not till next year. And why are consumers so reluctant to… → Read More
Despite Blu-ray’s victory over HD, Toshiba does not seem to be accepting defeat and quietly adopting Blu-ray. The folks over at TG Daily speculate that instead Toshiba is working to enhance the image scaling capabilities of its DVD players and possibly launching an Internet-enabled players. Though no specifics have been nailed down, TG Daily based its report on the Toshiba-chaired DVD Steering… → Read More
Due for release on September 2, Transformers on Blu-ray will no doubt entertain those of you who think giant robots fighting other just-as-big robots is “cool.” Paramount has said that the Blu-ray version will feature, in some capacity, BD Live content. Better still, this version will have Dolby TrueHD 5.1 sounds; the HD DVD version only had Dolby Digital Plus. And that’s the box art… → Read More
Blu-ray isn’t dead yet. Sales of Blu-ray players in Japan topped sales of regular DVD players for the first time last month, an indication that consumers are finally warming up to the high-def format. Spun a different way, sales of Blu-ray alone in April were three times the amount of both Blu-ray and HD DVD combined in January. Reasons for the sudden uptick in sales include people finally… → Read More
My brother told me that HD DVD died a few months ago because I hadn’t heard or read anything about the format war, but Blu-ray still ain’t doing so hot. And by “doing so hot,” I mean selling any better than it did when it was still entrenched in the utterly pointless war. From January to February, Blu-ray sales plummeted some 40 percent, only to get a slight bump from… → Read More
The fallout from the now-over Blu-ray vs. HD DVD war is still coming, with Toshiba suffering a 95% loss in profits this quarter, most of it attributed to the failure of HD DVD as the format of choice for next-gen disc players. Samsung, meanwhile, is showing a 37% increase in profits, mostly from mobile phones and LCDs. For Toshiba, it wasn’t just the licensing, but the loss of HD DVD’s… → Read More
In an interview with Game Daily, Shane Kim professes his love for HD DVD, what MS is doing to ensure the next gen Xbox doesn’t have RROD issues, DRM issues and why they’re not in the market to swoop up Take-Two. While it is unfortunate that HD DVD was discontinued, there is still enjoyment to be had from your Xbox 360 HD DVD Player. You can take this as an opportunity to build out your… → Read More
Those sports at Amazon understand “new technologies don’t always work out as planned.” Or rather, they don’t work out as Toshiba planned. I have a feeling this is how Sony planned it all along. In any case, if you bought one of those bargain HD-DVD players after February 23rd, help yourself to $50 worth of stuff from Amazon. Personally, I’d be buying the Planet Earth… → Read More
So those of you with the Xbox 360 HD DVD player will be getting an update the next time you watch a flick while you’re logged into Live. The update will add support for network features and certain titles will get compatibility improvements, but specific titles were not divulged. If you don’t have acces to Live then you can get the download from here. Thanks for the update Major… → Read More
Attention HD DVD purchasers, If you were suckered into getting an HD DVD player from Wal*Mart on or after November 1 then you are entitled to a full refund, I think it’s a full refund, so long as you have your receipt. That is all. → Read More
TG Daily is reporting that Circuit City has begun spring-cleaning on HD DVDs by offering them with discounts up to 50 percent. Can anyone confirm this? → Read More
It’s not like we didn’t see this coming. It’s just now official. → Read More
I haven’t been to my local Best Buy, but it’s being reported that some are clearing out stock or sending them back to publishers. One location in Dublin, CA has discounted all HD DVD movies to $10 with TV shows discounted at 70 percent. While two locations in Chicago have pulled all HD DVD discs and put them in back to be shipped out. I better get my copy of “I Am Legend”… → Read More
I’ll leave this up to you as to whether or not you consider this a good deal. In light of what retailers like Best Buy and Circuit City are offering to HD DVD refugees, Amazon’s decided to get in on the good-will action by offering the following; “For a limited time, receive two HD DVDs from the list below for free when you buy the Samsung BD-UP5000 1080p HD-DVD Blu-Ray Disc… → Read More
Seattle, WA
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Menlo Park, CA
Berlin, Germany
Boston, MA
Berlin, Germany
