HDTV

Ever since I played my first video game, the thought of losing or dying was awful. After all, who really wants to spend a half-hour making their way through a dangerous dungeon only to die at the end and be forced to retrace their steps to get to the boss battle?

In fact, I disliked dying in games so much, I would often find it easier to walk away and do something else rather than risk the health of my controller after losing such an important battle. And while I would venture to say many would agree with my assertion, one study claims it's actually quite the opposite.

According to a study performed by a number of researchers in Helsinki, Finland, gamers actually like to die in games and actually prefer that over killing other enemies.… Read more

Over the past decade, video game popularity has grown at an exponential rate. Instead of being the niche market that only a select few cared about, the industry is now worth billions of dollars and has become mainstream.

But as that has happened, video game developers like EA and Take-Two Interactive have become far more business-savvy and done their part in ensuring that they can maximize shareholder value and create an environment where video games are an extremely profitable product.

In the process, the video game industry has been damaged by a slew of mergers and acquisitions and in the process, some of the most profitable genres (first-person shooters and sports games, for example) have been copied and refreshed so many times over that gaming has quickly become derivative and bereft of innovation.

And although the main culprit for the lack of innovation is obviously the Almighty Dollar, another culprit is lurking in the shadows and quietly damaging the foundation of gaming as we know it--acquisitions.… Read more

Regular Cheapskate readers know that I'm a big fan of media-center PCs, which is why I frequently spotlight TV tuners. Now let's round out the movie side of the equation: Newegg has the Lite-On DH-401S-11 internal Blu-ray drive for $129.99--way, way less than the price of a standalone Blu-ray player.

This is a serial drive, meaning you'll need a system with a SATA interface. You'll also need a video card that supports HDCP, otherwise Blu-ray's copy protection will prevent movies from playing. Finally, Blu-ray requires a fair amount of horsepower; if you're … Read more

When the format war was finally brought to a close, almost everyone was happy to see that we'll only need to watch one format try to survive in the Digital Age instead of two.

And while most of us were sad to see Toshiba throw in the towel and admit that it made a mistake with HD DVD, some were wondering how the house of cards crashed so swiftly. Some said it was due to the departure of some of HD DVD's retailers and rental services, some said it was poor internal operations and still others said it was due to the fact that movie studios simply had enough of the war.

But what if all of those assertions are false? What if all of those companies knew that an undercurrent continuously undermined the growth of HD DVD and helped Blu-ray cement itself as the winner?

What if Toshiba and Sony worked together to kill HD DVD?… Read more

I suppose this was inevitable: Best Buy has the Xbox 360 HD DVD drive $49.99, down from $129.99 (the price still listed on Microsoft's site). You get one free movie in the box (King Kong--blech) and five by mail.

I've got one of these babies, and it's pretty good. It serves up 1080p and provides a pair of USB ports. However, it employs component video outputs, not HDMI, so it can't upconvert standard-def DVDs (unless you have an Xbox 360 Elite, which does, of course, offer HDMI connectivity). That's a pretty big downside, … Read more

If you've been shopping for an HDTV tuner for your PC, run, don't walk, to Woot.com. (Okay, you can't actually run there, but you can click speedily.) The one-deal-per-day site has the Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro Stick for $39.99 plus $5 shipping. It's a refurb, but so what? It's a USB device, not a fancy piece of electronics.

The HD Pro Stick lets you watch standard-def or over-the-air HD channels on your Windows PC (sorry, Mac users). It comes with an antenna, wireless remote, and DVR software. It's also compatible with Windows … Read more

As the high-def format war finally runs out of steam and Blu-ray has been named the winner, some are wondering what the future of the format will look like.

Will it be the unbridled success DVD was? Will it go the way of the Laser Disc and become more a bridge format than anything else? Or will it be long forgotten as just another attempt to force people into buying the same movies all over again as they wait in anxious anticipation of whatever comes next?

If you ask me, Blu-ray will never be the success DVD was and chances are, it'll be one of the forgotten formats that people scoffed at as they continued to download their favorite films online.… Read more

The HD DVD fire sales have begun.

Circuit City has the Toshiba HD-A3 for $99.99 shipped, plus seven free movies (two in the box, five by mail). If only this had happened six months ago, it might be Blu-ray hanging up its gloves.

So let's ask the obvious question: Is there any sense in buying an HD DVD player at any price--especially this model, which tops out at 1080i?

Well, maybe. There are already thousands hundreds of movies available on HD DVD, and countless more will likely filter into stores for the next couple months. So it's … Read more

Now that Engadget is reporting Toshiba will wave the white flag tomorrow and finally put an end to the high-def format war once and for all, there are a whole new set of questions that must be answered.

Will Toshiba move to Blu-ray? What will the company do with the technology? Will it sell the HD DVD name to the Blu-ray folks?

But perhaps most importantly, what will Microsoft do? The company has been a staunch supported of HD DVD since the beginning and it currently offers an HD DVD add-on for its Xbox 360 console. But now that the format is dead and the rightful winner is ready to be crowned, will Microsoft ignore the format war and go about its business or try to jump on the Blu-ray bandwagon?

Trust me -- within a month, the company will announce a Blu-ray add-on for the Xbox 360.… Read more