Items tagged with Blu-ray
TDK has always been one to push the limits. Back in August, we heard that the company's roadmap included 960GB laptop drives and 3.2TB desktop drives. Now, we're also hearing that it's looking to push the same boundaries in the optical media realm. How does a 10-layer, 320GB disc sound? Sounds like Blu-ray whimpering.Reportedly, the 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,...
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Sharp has announced that it's now capable of building a blue-violet laser with an optical output of 500mW that's capable of writing triple and quadruple-layer Blu-ray (BD) discs at up to 8x. (36MB/s) In theory, this new development could be attractive to consumers/businesses who prefer to backup to optical disc, but find themselves hampered...
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Addonics Announces Hardware Port Multiplier – Lets You Connect Up To Five SATA Drives To Any SATA Port SAN JOSE, CA (September 14, 2009) -- Addonics Technologies (www.addonics.com) today announced a feature-rich hardware port multiplier, the 5-port HPM XA, which provides easy connections of up to five SATA drives to any SATA port. The new...
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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...
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Remember the days when you were content with a DVD player doing nothing more than playing back DVDs? Those days are long gone. Now, Blu-ray decks aren't even considered worthwhile against rivals unless they can do a whole mess of other things, including stream Web content, check Twitter feeds and enable users to...
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Vudu has certainly come a long way during its brief existence in the world of home entertainment. Starting out as a company peddling standalone movie boxes, the outfit has morphed into a software solutions provider that puts its iconic software and UI onto devices that people are already looking to buy. No extra mess...
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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...
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Addonics has added new portable optical drives to its line that feature a built-in eSATA and USB interface. The new Pocket Blu-ray/DVDRW and the Pocket DVD-RRW drive provide throughput up to 3Gbits/second when connected via an eSATA port. For convenience in connecting to practically any computer, a USB 2.0 port is also available. Additionally,...
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News flash: Blu-ray adoption on PCs is still awfully sluggish. And we're talking about years after the format was introduced, and over a year since it trampled HD DVD to become the lone supported next-gen high-def video format. Why? The answer is pretty simple, really. Cost and necessity. A new research report from iSuppli digs into the reasoning...
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As if Sony's week couldn't get any better, the company responsible for issuing a new, slimmer PlayStation 3 is also announcing a new audio product line that'll soon be gracing the shelves of Best Buy locations. The ALTUS range will initially consist of just a handful of kits, all of which are tied to the company's S-AIR wireless protocol in...
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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...
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With Blu-ray sales on the rise, there's hardly been a better time than now for Sony to introduce its most spacious BD changer yet. The BDP-CX7000ES MegaChanger holds more Blu-ray Discs than have even been made to date: 400. Of course, the slots not filled by Blu-ray Discs can handle DVDs and CDs just fine, but unless you've got tons of time...
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You know, we think this is a great idea, but we can't figure out why Sony hasn't done this from the get-go. If you'll recall, Sony sold legions of PlayStation 2 consoles by it having a DVD player built in. The pitch went something like "Buy a PS2, get a DVD player!" At the time, it worked wonderfully. For whatever reason, Sony didn't really...
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Think DVDs are old fashioned? Already looking forward to the end of the line for Blu-ray? If so, you may be interested in what Disney and Panasonic hope is the next big thing: movies on flash cards. Yep, those same diminutive memory chips that you buy for your digital camera will soon be available with major motion films loaded on, giving...
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At long last, the inevitable has occurred. Nearly 1.5 years after the curtain fell and HD DVD was deemed dead, Toshiba--HD DVD's biggest fan, backer and producer of players--has agreed to join those on the other side. After years of fighting, the Blu-ray format won out over the other HD disc format, HD DVD, though Toshiba never once showed...
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The economy as a whole may not be ready to turn the corner just yet, but new data from the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG) will have proponents and manufacturers of Blu-ray devices dancing a jig. According to the group, Blu-ray disc sales are up a whopping 91 percent compared to the first half of 2008. Total for the year is said to be around...
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Whatever you can do, I can do better. That's the saying that Samsung and Blockbuster have evidently taken to heart, as the tandem has joined up to match Sony and Netflix's streaming announcement with one of their own. The Blockbuster movie services are slated to go live this fall, the same time in which Sony BRAVIA TVs will be able to stream...
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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...
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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...
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Synopsis: The Lenovo IdeaCentre A600 is an all-in-one desktop with plenty of features and bells-and-whistles to keep all but the most jaded of users happy. Perhaps taking a page out of Apple's book, Lenovo put a lot of effort into the look and feel of the A600, with its black-colored chassis, borderless 21.5-inch 1920x1080 TFT display, curved...
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It's a tough time for Blu-ray to be really hitting its stride. Many consumers are still wary due to the battle with HD-DVD, and frankly, many are still content with DVD. In too many cases, upscaled DVD looks "good enough" for consumers, and only those with oodles of disposable income are willing to fork out for Blu-ray. Blu-ray player prices...
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