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Say what you will about PS3 sales, but it seems clear that the game console is having an impact on the next-gen DVD war. This week the Blu-ray version of Casino Royale broke into the Amazon top 10 for DVD sales and four other Blu-ray titles sit in the top 100. On the other hand, the top title on HD DVD, Happy Feet, is currently ranked at No. 117.

In a recent column, I suggested to readers that they should keep an eye on The Departed--it's a Warner release and therefore available on both HD DVD and Blu-ray--to get … Read more

The Brits are using a simulated combat environment developed by the University of Southern California, to treat soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

By bringing to life a "virtual Iraq," complete with the realistic thumps and bumps of battle, the program allows troops to "relive and confront psychological trauma." All this takes place in a graduated manner so as not to re-traumatize, according to the University of Reading's Visualisation Centre.

The Iraq simulation experience is "fully immersive," meaning that patients wear VR goggles that transport them to the virtual battlefield. There, an attending … Read more

Amazon Unbox on TiVo launched yesterday, which means TiVo subscribers will be able to download selected Amazon Unbox videos straight to their TiVo box. We were pretty excited about the announcement, because at first glance Amazon Unbox on TiVo looks to be a possible replacement for a DVD renting service like Netflix, or Pay-Per-View services available on cable or satellite. The service works on any broadband connected Series2 or Series3 TiVo, and we took it for a spin on our Series2 TiVo.

We had absolutely no trouble linking our TiVo with our Amazon account, and we were selecting movies in just a couple of clicks. The interface to select movies will be familiar to anyone who has used Amazon, which is to say it's pretty painless. The only knock we had is that Amazon doesn't seem 100-percent ready for TiVo fans, as the method of filtering TiVo-transferable files from other Amazon Unbox files is just using the search term "tivo" in the Unbox section. A separate section of Amazon Unbox would be preferable.

We found the initial selection to be a little meager. Not all Amazon Unbox videos are available to be transferred to TiVos, presumably because of the need to convert the files to a TiVo-friendly format. As of press time, 1,433 videos were labeled "TiVo", which is a combination of TV shows and movies. Sure, that's a lot of videos for any one person to watch, but it's not much of a library. However, Amazon claims it will be adding new titles every week, so you can expect this library to grow. In terms of cost, most movies we saw were $15 to buy and $4 to rent, while TV shows were $2 to buy.… Read more

The SciFi network has a little gift for Battlestar Galactica fans. It's posted downloadable audio and video clips from the show and is running a contest for the best 4-minute, fan-made, BSG knockoff video. Amateur BSG directors are encouraged to mash up the SciFi clips with their own footage. Hopefully, hilarity will ensue.

SciFi isn't providing any online video-editing option (maybe a deal with Adobe, for Remix, or with Yahoo, for JumpCut, would have been a good idea). But there's an upside to that: the BSG files are free and clear to download, not locked into a … Read more

Last Friday we reported on a quote from TV Week that Sony President and COO Stan Glasgow said Sony had plans to cut prices on its Blu-ray players to $299 by the end of the year. Well, don't update your Christmas list just yet. According to a Sony representative, Glasgow was misquoted. What Glasgow said, apparently, was that he felt the $299 price would be the tipping point where the average consumer would start to consider buying a Blu-ray player. Indeed, the Sony spokesman went on to specify that the company has no plans to roll out a Blu-ray … Read more

The TV Week story upon which this blog entry is based was in error, according to a Sony representative. Read the updated blog for the complete story.

It was already pretty big news that Sony would be releasing a $600 Blu-ray player this summer, but it's possible we could see that price drop by half again before the year is over. According to a report by TV Week, Sony President and COO Stan Glasgow said on Monday that Sony might cut the prices on its Blu-ray players to as low as $299. If true, that would be the first … Read more

Is it some kind of sign that we're seeing portable gadgets for our portable gadgets? Probably, but we doubt it'll stop companies from finding ways to make and market them.

In this case, we actually think there's a justifiable use (sort of) for the Philips DCP850. It's a DVD player with a twist: It can also play video and audio directly from an iPod on its 8.5-inch screen, according to Technabob. What makes this idea even more appealing to us is its design, which includes a place where the media player can actually be popped … Read more

Back in January, we reported on Netflix's new movie streaming service, dubbed Watch Now, but we weren't able to try it out because the "Watch Now" tab never showed up on our account page. Well, thanks to a quick tip from Uneasy Silence (via Gizmodo), we were able to get the Watch Now tab added to our account and take it for a test spin. Well, it wasn't quite that easy. We got the Watch Now tab added to our account without a problem, but were quickly rebuked when it detected we weren't using … Read more

Fans of Sony products are often disappointed at the January Consumer Electronics Show to discover that the company doesn't have very much to say. Sure, there's a big Sony booth and a handful of token product announcements and press releases, but it's always small potatoes compared to the dozens of new items on display from competitors such as Samsung, Philips, and Panasonic. But that's entirely by design: rather than get lost in the CES maelstrom, Sony opts to launch its new line of products at its own Sony-only line show. We've got complete coverage of … Read more