Items tagged with BD
It's coming, Star Wars fans. The question is: are you ready? For the first time ever, the Star Wars saga in its entirety will be available on Blu-ray, the highest resolution home film format yet. It's an announcement that fans have been waiting for, but the painful part is waiting from now until this time next year. That's right, this amazing set won't actually be ready for sale until Fall 2011, so you won't be placing it on the holiday wish list for 2010. The Star Wars Blu-ray Box Set will include all six films, featuring the "highest possible picture and audio presentation, along with extensive special features – including documentaries, vintage behind-the-scenes moments, interviews,...
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Right from the start, Sony has been one of Blu-ray's largest fans, and also one of the company's pouring the most money into marketing the format. Many people assumed that Blu-ray was a format created by Sony at first, but it's actually not. Nevertheless, Sony is now helping to advance Blu-ray into the next level, teaming with Tohoku University in order to develop a blue-violet laser with a 100W output. This may not sound too important on the surface, but it holds a lot of promise. What kind of promise? According to reports, this invention could lead to 1TB optical discs. That's a fair bit larger than the 50GB Blu-ray Discs that we have today, and while there have already been plans made for...
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Thanks to the invention of the netbook and the tablet PC, it's safe to say that not everyone's main mobile machine has an optical drive. And in a lot of cases, that's perfectly fine. Not everyone needs an optical drive, and the added space, cost and power usage is sometimes not even favored. But that's why there are external optical drives, which are perfect for carrying along on trips where you may need access to a disc. Plextor has been in the media game for a long, long time, and their expertise is shining through with the PX-B120U. This new product is essentially a USB-powered external BD-ROM drive. It's one of the few external Blu-ray supporting optical drives out for PCs right now, and...
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It's true: Blu-ray is outgrowing itself, but thankfully, there's room for expansion on the current format. There have been rumors for years that larger optical discs were on the horizon, and even hints that Blu-ray itself may grow. But now it's official, and those who always assumed that a single 50GB dual-layer disc would one day be too small no longer have anything to worry about. Until 128GB per discs seems too small, we guess. The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) recently announced the finalization and release of the specifications for BDXL, the new multi-layer recordable Blu-ray Disc format with up to 128GB of capacity. With the completion and approval of the specification, manufacturers can...
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When it comes to storage and media, "big enough" never really is. With the amount of 1TB and 2TB hard drives on the market today, it's easy to see that the demand for massive amounts of storage isn't fading soon, and even on the optical media side, there's an unyielding desire to cram more and more data onto the discs that we've used for years. Remember the early HD DVD vs. Blu-ray wars? One of the major fighting points was storage capacity, and Blu-ray had a huge advantage by being able to store 50GB on a dual-layer disc compared to HD DVD's maximum of 30GB. But just a few years after release, it looks like the Blu-ray Disc you know and love will be seeing an overhaul, and it won't make existing...
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Blu-ray adoption still has aways to go before it matches the ubiquity of DVD, but those who can't get enough storage are already looking beyond the first generation. We've already seen TDK working hard on a 320GB optical disc based around BD technology, and now there's a new report suggesting something entirely more reasonable. You see, a 320GB Blu-ray Disc is probably years away, but a new method of evaluating BD media quality has led to the discovery of a size increase that's much more modest. The increase would apply to each layer, bringing them from 25GB (currently) to 33.4GB each. There are plenty of dual-layer Blu-ray Discs, so there's a theoretical new limit of around 66GB per disc. A...
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Plextor announced a new Blu-ray internal writer, the PX-B940SA. This new drive features Blu-ray write speeds of up to 12x, which Plextor claims is the fastest available on the market today. The drive comes with CyberLink’s BD Suite software package and uses a Serial ATA interface. In addition to Blu-ray, the drive also supports DVD R/RW and RAM. It can accept both 12cm and 8cm discs (horizontally) and has a 4MB buffer. Plextor Announces PX-B940SA Internal Blu-Ray Writer with 12x Write Speeds PX-940SA provides 12x Blu-ray write speeds in addition to high-definition Blu-Ray playback (Fremont, CA – November 10, 2009) – Plextor, a leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital media...
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Looks like we've got ourselves quite the conundrum. Today, Pioneer has unleashed the planet's first-ever 12x Blu-ray Disc writer. Problem is, all writable Blu-ray media available on U.S. shelves is still at 6x. In other words, you can now buy a writer that'll toast media twice as fast as the media that's currently available. Like we said, it's a strange problem indeed.Still, for those with faith in the future (and optical media companies needing to catch up), Pioneer's BDR-205 Blu-ray Disc Computer Writer is an attractive piece. It's easily the industry's fastest BD writer, with all other rivals currently maxing out at 8x. When utilized with a properly configured PC, the drive’s Low Vibration...
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At the CEDIA Expo, Pioneer announced that its Elite BDP-09FDr Blu-ray Disc Player has become the world’s first to achieve THX certification. The company’s Elite EX Series in-wall speakers have also attained THX Select2 certification. Both of these products complement the company’s Elite A/V Receivers, which are also THX Ultra2 Plus Certified and feature Class D digital amplification. By meeting these certifications and adhering to the company’s own strict principles for faithful reproduction of content, Pioneer feels that its line of products rival the movie theater experience. Pioneer Showcases the World’s First THX Certified Blu ray Disc Player Company Delivers Cinematic Quality to the Home...
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Toshiba told us it was coming, and now the world can finally mark it down: the company famous for supporting HD DVD while everyone else sided with Blu-ray has finally decided to product its very own BD deck. Some might view this as the real death of HD DVD, as for the longest time, Toshiba would have nothing to do with the rival format that eventually killed the "red" format that it so dearly loved. The BDX2000 will be forever known as Toshiba's first-ever Blu-ray Disc player, and it'll provide 1080p video output, Profile 2.0 (BD-Live) support, a smoked mirrored front panel, REGZA-LINK support, an SD card slot for loading up multimedia locally and AVCHD playback. The full list of highlights are...
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We already knew as much, but today Toshiba has made it extra official: it's joining the Blu-ray camp. For those unaware (yes, all six of you), Toshiba was far and away HD DVD's largest supporter during the format's boom years. After a long, hard-fought battle with Blu-ray that spanned nearly 24 months, HD DVD finally folded after too many studios devoted their attention (and future releases) to the Blu-ray Disc format. Many still wonder why HD DVD fell and Blu-ray won, and even today the Blu-ray adoption level is exceedingly low for a next-generation format. HD DVD was always the cheaper option, and while its disc held less information (30GB compared to Blu-ray Disc's 50GB), it was first with...
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Finally, a solution for that perplexing issue that hits netbook owners the hardest. Asus has placed its recent design cues onto a new external optical drive, but this is no normal external optical drive. Instead of just reading back DVDs and CDs, the SBC-04D1S-U External Slim BD-Combo Drive plays back Blu-ray Discs, promising high-def playback on any machine with a USB port and enough GPU power to handle the strain.The unit even comes with a stylish stand, and frankly, the upright position reminds us a little of the slim PlayStation 2 console. It is capable of reading 4.8X BD-ROM/R/RE and writing 8X DVD+R/24X CD-R formats, while the Turbo Engine increases the connection performance between the...
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While HDTV growth is still strong during the global recession, Blu-ray adoption remains sluggish. We obviously can't pinpoint the exact reasons, but we have our guesses. The primary reason we figure the format still hasn't taken off the way BD backers would like is price. Even years after BD hit the mainstream, the price of admission is still too high. Most players are still hovering around the $200+ mark, while most consumers aren't yet willing to fork over that kind of dough to see only "incremental" boosts in audio/visual quality. Now, however, Vizio is hoping to turn the tables with a $188 Profile 2.0 player that should mimic higher-end units costing far more. If all goes well, it will debut...
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The world hardly needs another Blu-ray player that only a few in a hundred can afford, but that's exactly what we're getting with Harman Kardon's latest. Granted, this one's aimed directly at the high-end market, so we'll certainly cut it some slack there. The BDP-10 is a Blu-ray / DVD player that can also play back multimedia via USB, and the built-in BD-Live feature ensures that users will be able to take advantage of the latest interactive features on films.As expected, the deck -- which is H/K's first Blu-ray unit -- boasts an HDMI output, support for LPCM/MP3/Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HA Master Audio audio formats, an Ethernet socket, IR-remote in/out jacks, a front-panel USB port, optical and coaxial...
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Just a few weeks back, Lite-On introduced its very own 8X Blu-ray Disc reader; today, Pioneer is one-upping that with its 8X Blu-ray Disc burner. The BDR-2203 picks up where the others have left off by adding in 8X BD writing (the fastest currently available for the format) as well as the traditional CD-R and DVD-R burning capabilities. Aimed at professional authoring gurus and choosy HTPC owners, this new internal optical drive provides users with a solid brand name, top-notch burn support and the ability to play back 1080p films -- all for less than a standalone deck, in some cases. With the drive, users can burn up to 50GB of information onto a single BD-R or BD-RE disc -- assuming they can...
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BD-Live (AKA Blu-ray Disc Profile 2.0) titles were released earlier this year, despite the fact that there were no players yet capable of supporting BD-Live. But ...Hi again everyone. Here’s a quick preview of the next PLAYSTATION 3 system software update coming up in the next few days. Firmware v2.20, introduces a number of features to further enhance your PLAYSTATION 3 as the hub of your entertainment center.Most notably, the update enables the PS3 to support Blu-ray Disc Profile 2.0, also known as BD-Live. You can connect now to the Internet while playing discs that support BD-Live to obtain additional content and special features. These features vary from disc to disc, and will keep...
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Our friends at the Tech Report have a review on-line today detailing Abit's P965-based AB9 Pro and their 975X Express-based AW9D-MAX Core 2 compatible motherboards. As usual, the crew at TR does a bang-up job covering all of the finer points of each product. "Abit has beenon the comeback trail since its acquisition by USI, and we've been impressed by the company's recent AN8 32X and AT8 32X motherboards for Athlon 64 processors. Intel's Core 2 Duo has become the processor of choice for PC enthusiasts, though, and we've yet to see what a reinvigorated Abit can do with an LGA775 socket. Interestingly, Abit's most famous boards have been for...
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Abit's BD7II-RAID Vs. MSI's 845E Max2 BLR Two Fully Featured i845Es Do Battle... By, Marco Chiappetta August 6, 2002 With the release of their "new" Pentium 4s, Intel revised their mainstream i845 chipset to add official support for 533MHz front side bus frequencies. This new revision of the i845, was dubbed the i845E, which is the chipset powering the two motherboards we'll be looking at today. Abit's BD7II-RAID and MSI's 845E Max2 BLR are two full featured, Socket 478 mainboards, targeted squarely at the enthusiast looking for a quality product, that doesn't carry a premium price tag. Both of these products have on-board RAID and Ethernet...
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Dueling i845 DDR Boards From Abit and Asus Abit's BD7-RAID and Asus' P4B266 Take Flight By, Dave Altavilla January 23, 2002 We're back again with a look at two new motherboards based on Intel's recently released i845D chipset with DDR SDRAM support. Our initial look at the i845D was centered around some fairly standard issue offerings from Intel and DFI. MSI was the only "tweaker's" board that we put to the test in that round-up and it certainly shined heads and tails above the rest. This time around, we have entries from two strong veterans in the "enthusiast/tweaker's" motherboard market, Abit and Asus. We all know Abit's approach with their...
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