If you’re still wavering between Toshiba’s HD DVD and Pioneer’s Blu-ray (and who isn’t) then you’ll either be very pleased or very angry that Warner Home Video has announced a third format: the Total Hi Def disc, a hybrid choice containing both formats.
The title they were showing off at CES 2007 was Superman Returns (pictured) which apparently played on a Pioneer Blu-ray player, a Toshiba HD-DVD player and an LG Super Multi player (which plays both formats anyway) looking exactly the same on all three.
A nice technological achievement for sure. But is adding what’s essentially a third format really the right way to solve the format war? Even though it’s a great compromise between the two, Warner will still have to market the Total Hi Def disc and beat out the Toshiba and Pioneer products, effectively making themselves just another competitor.
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Warner Bros are all set to unleash their some big name movies on HD DVD in the near future. At big prices. Word is that The Matrix trilogy, the Harry Potter franchise and Ocean’s Eleven (yay) and Twelve (boo) will get a release this year, as well as a modern classic: Scorsese’s The Departed.
HD DVD has six times the resolution of regular DVD, but it’s still difficult to justify a suggested price of $39.99 for The Departed.
Even more intriguing, does six times the resolution mean The Matrix: Revolutions will make six times less sense?
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Neosonik are all set to unveil the world’s first 100% wireless home entertainment system at the Consumer Electronics Show (Las Vegas, January 8th to 11th, 2007.)
Their Wirelss Home Theater System (pictured) is exactly what it sounds like, with no cables, no analogue whatsoever and a Wireless A/V Controller (go here for what seems to be a comprehensive summary of the technology involved) running the entire digital show, promising no compression and a 200 foot range.
Aside from reducing tangle, and “oops I tripped over my speaker cable, why isn’t the cat moving?” incidents this should also deliver massive improvements in quality, with a digital signal pure as the driven snow.
The lucky folks at CNET got a preview and seemed suitably impressed, so looks like this is the real deal wireless wise.
My only question: Is it 100% wireless if you still have to plug it in?
Prices will range from $6,000 to $15,000 depending on your setup.
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No one wants to be the new Betamax. But if Blu-ray and HD DVD formats keep fighting each other for blue laser format supremacy then one or the other will have to be the 21st century equivalent of the failed video cassette. It could even be both of them if they’re not careful.
Good rumours/news from Taiwan then. Apparently Samsung and Hitachi are both planning to offer hybrid players that can record and play using either Blu-ray or HD formats.
They’re banking on consumers being either confused or frustrated by the competing formats (I’m a little from column A, a little from column B myself) and going for the safe middle ground.
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Make no mistake, home theater equipment is expensive. But a Sony suit and tie has gone on record saying flat screen HDTV prices are falling too fast for his liking.
The cost of a HDTV screen has plunged 5% and 7% lower than expected this year, probably due to smaller companies selling screens for less and dragging big boys like Sony down with them. Stan Glasgow, president of Sony, says this sudden drop could leave the industry less able to invest in future technology.
“LCDs will continue to experience heavy price erosion, but not at this level,” he said. “It is hard to see that business model (of drastic price cuts) sustaining itself.”
It’s even harder to sympathize with Glasgow, who I’m sure isn’t hurting for spending money.
And though Sony aren’t exactly handing out HDTV screens in the street, it’s quite comforting to know the big names are having their hands forced by the smaller companies.
Let’s mark this one down as a consumer victory for now.
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After yesterday’s look at the dnp SuperNova Screen – which allows you to use a front projection screen in a home theater system without making you squint until your eyes disappear – here are two other screens quite literally worth looking into.
First up, the TAW XtreamScreen. Their spelling might be a bit wobbly, but apparently their screen is near indestructible. They’re even billing it as “the first child proof screen” as it can withstand detergents used to clean off things like (and these are their examples) crayon, mustard and grass stains.
Prices range from $1,595 for a 70-inch XtreamScreen to $3,299 for a 123-inch. So if you’re brave enough to test their other claim that “even stepping on the screen will not destroy it!” then you deserve for it to break.
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Serious home theater, involving a projector and a screen, usually means pulling the blinds down to make your room as dark as possible. But there’s a new wave of cutting edge front projection screens that claim to work with ambient lighting. Which means an end to sitting in the dark (unless you like it that way).
I’ve never heard of the dnp company before, but am told by reliable sources that they’re a long time maker of parts for other companies. Like an apprentice who’s finally mastered his home theater craft, they’re now hitting the high end marketplace themselves with the dnp SuperNova Screen.
I won’t bore your with the science (mostly because I don’t undestand it) but will instead take dnp’s word that 60% of their screen is covered by “a patent pending high contrast filter” which reflects the projected light and filters out ambient light from other angles (other angles basically meaning windows) and that this “revolutionary optical screen delivers ten times higher contrast and twice as bright images as standard front screen.”
To prove it they’ve got a slightly cheesy video on their site where the very Danish sales and marketing manager Soren Musk demonstrates that the dnp SuperNova Screen works not just in your living room, but in the middle of your local park too. It’s impressive to be sure, but slightly surreal. Soren never really explains where the electricity is coming from.
Those with well paying jobs should read on for available sizes and prices…
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