rays

More details on Samsung's HD DVD/Blu-ray combo player

Editors' note: Toshiba has officially announced that it will stop producing HD DVD products, bringing an end to the format war. For that reason, CNET recommends that consumers should avoid buying this player for high-definition movie playback, as very few HD DVD discs will be produced in the future.

We've already known most of the details about the upcoming Samsung BD-UP5000 HD DVD/Blu-ray combo player for a while, but today at CEDIA they announced a few more nuggets of info. Here's a summary of what we know:

BD-UP5000's key features

1080p output at 24 frames per … Read more

LG's new combo HD DVD/Blu-ray player

Update: This post has been updated to reflect that LG has confirmed that the BH200 can output DTS-HD Master Audio in bitstream format, that it fully supports Blu-ray profile 1.1 and has only stereo analog outputs.

LG was the first company to come out with an HD DVD/Blu-ray combo player--the LG BH100--which made a big splash at CES 2007 and won CNET's "Best in Show" award. At CEDIA today, LG announced its second combo player, the BH200, which looks to improve on many of the shortcomings of the BH100. The most significant failing of the BH100 was its limited support for the interactive features available on HD DVD discs, also known as HDi. According to the press release, the BH200 will support HDi functionality, along with network-enhanced HD DVD features, available on some discs such as Blood Diamond. On the Blu-ray side, it should also support BD-Java functionality (as seen on the newer Pirates of Caribbean discs), as well as picture-in-picture functionality. (While picture-in-picture functionality is standard on all HD DVD players, it is not required on Blu-ray players until October 31.)

LG BH200's key features

Full HDi support on HD DVD discs Picture-in-picture support for both HD DVD and Blu-ray (fully Blu-ray profile 1.1 compliant) 1080p output at 24 frames per second Onboard decoding for Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD Bitstream output for DTS-HD Master Audio HDMI 1.3 output, with Deep Color support Ethernet port $1,000 list price, mid-October release date… Read more

Messiah's PS3 Blu-ray remote looks like a cell phone

Many home theater geeks love their PlayStation 3s as Blu-ray players, but don't want to pick up a gaming controller to watch a movie. But thanks to the PS3's lack of an infrared port, existing universal remotes can't be used with the console. That's why the niche of PlayStation 3 remotes has popped up, and the newest remote from Messiah is slick-looking. The Messiah Darklite DVD remote strongly resembles LG's Chocolate cell phones, and as you slide down to open the remote you get access to more advanced functions like chapter forward/backward and display. The remote also looks to be fully backlit, which is a big plus if you plan to use it in a darkened home theater. Backlighting uses a lot of battery juice, so it's nice that the Darklite has a built-in rechargeable battery that plugs into the base station. The base station itself connects to the PS3 via a USB port. The base also doubles as an IR receiver, which means you'll need to physically point the remote at the station, unlike Sony's own Bluetooth-powered remote.

The Darklite has a cool design and its $30 price tag isn't terrible, but I think a whole lot of home theater buffs just want a cheap USB IR receiver they can use with their universal remotes. Messiah is currently taking preorders for the Darklite DVD remote, with a shipping date of September 25.… Read more

Directed-energy weapons keep on truckin'

In its quest to develop laser weapons, the Pentagon is aiming both high and low.

The sky-high plans for the Airborne Laser call for a squadron of 747s that would train chemically generated laser beams on ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) to knock out those missiles long before they become a threat to targets in the United States. A "lethality" test of that system is scheduled for 2009, though if past delays are any indication of future performance...

For a more down-to-earth system, look no further than a truck-mounted solid-state laser now in the early stages of development. Rather … Read more

Mitsubishi planning 3D Blu-ray player for early 2008

Along with a few other tech journalists, I spent a couple of hours today over at the Westchester Country Club, which is gearing up for The Barclays PGA Tour event. What the hell was I doing there? Well, as part of a marketing deal with the PGA Tour, Mitsubishi is the "official large outdoor video display provider" of the Tour, and the PR team wanted us to see some of these displays in action--along with the Tour's ShotLink technology, which tracks players' shots almost down to the centimeter (the info is then displayed on those giant Mitsubishi scoreboards). That's all sorts of interesting if you're a golf fan, but things got a little sexier when Mitsubishi representatives took us into a hospitality suite, handed us each a pair of fancy 3D glasses (a little smaller than the ones shown in the photo), and showed us a demo of some new 3D-imaging technology the company's working on.

The demo was run from a massive Dell desktop and output onto a large DLP set. In an effort to inject new life into the fading rear-projection category, the company's pitch was that the 3D technology worked with existing DLP TVs and projectors (due to DLP's native 120Hz refresh rate, which allows you to split it into 60/60 for 3D) but not with LCD and plasma displays.

Most of us were pretty impressed by the demo, which included clips from movies, commercials, and sporting events. There was real depth to the 3D, and you got that 3D-feeling of objects poking out at you from the screen. All the demo material had been shot in 3D, but the kicker to the whole presentation was that Mitsubishi apparently has a Blu-ray player in its labs that can convert existing 2D movies into 3D on the fly. Better yet, according to company representatives, it may be available early next year.

… Read more

Blu-ray victory: not inevitable

With the latest news of Paramount and DreamWorks becoming HD DVD exclusive studios, we couldn't help but remember the ridiculous "Blu-ray Today" publication from CES 2007. Blu-ray tried to fire back by announcing Fox and MGM releases this year, but that doesn't stop the fact that Blu-ray's edge in studio support was somewhat eroded by yesterday's news. Blu-ray victory is far from inevitable, and whether or not this format war ends up being good for consumers has yet to be seen. All a high-def movie fan can do is hope that combo players start … Read more

Blu-ray camp fires back at latest HD DVD announcements

Ah, the emails and voice mails were flying fast and furious yesterday after Paramount and DreamWorks made their little announcement about going HD DVD exclusive. At just after 4 p.m. in New York, Fox and MGM put out a press release saying they were unveiling "an aggressive global Blu-ray Disc release strategy, including 29 new release and 'must-have' catalog titles that runs through the end of the 2007 calendar year."

The release went on to say that Fox intends to put out "at least one state-of-the-art title per month featuring numerous BD 'firsts'" and highlighted the fact that "Blu-ray was out-performing HD DVD 2-to-1 at retail in 2007." Among the 29 new releases, my eye was drawn to Master & Commander, Ronin, Cast Away, Independence Day, A Bridge Too Far, 28 Days Later, The Day After Tomorrow, and the Die Hard trilogy.

After the email went out, the phone started ringing: All the CNET the home-theater editors were contacted, so the PR folks at GCI Group in LA were working overtime, trying to do a little damage control. The basic message was, they may have this, but we have a whole more of that. And, did you hear that the Paramount deal doesn't include any of Spielberg's movies and that the deal only ran for 18 months? Tit for tat. Tat for tit. The war was raging.

Then, thanks to a New York Times article, word got out this morning that indeed (as I suspected), someone was getting paid off. The article noted that, "Paramount and DreamWorks Animation together will receive about $150 million in financial incentives for their commitment to HD DVD, according to two Viacom executives with knowledge of the deal but who asked not to be identified." Microsoft denied paying anything, but wouldn't rule it out as a tactic in the future. There was no word on who might be paying Universal for its exclusive HD DVD agreement, but you gotta think there's a pretty sweet deal in place there, too.

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Kill toothbrush germs wherever you go

We must admit that, as far as germ-centric issues are concerned, the toothbrush has to rank at or near the top of the list. And even though some uber-devices claim to sterilize practically any object they encounter, we'd feel more comfortable with something that's been developed specifically for oral hygiene.

Now we finally have just such an item that's made for travel--which is ideal because, as any bona fide germaphobe will tell you, the hotel room is the ultimate breeding ground for cooties. The scientific-sounding "Violight VIO200 Travel Toothbrush Sanitizer" is the portable version of … Read more

Paramount, DreamWorks commit to HD DVD

Just when it looked like Blu-ray was getting the best of HD DVD, the latter scores a combination like Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation.

Both companies announced on Monday that they had agreed to release exclusively on the HD DVD format, which is battling with rival Blu-ray to become the high-definition successor to the DVD disc.

The move by Paramount represents a setback for Blu-ray. The studio has supported both formats and the tally of studios exclusively committed to each format stands at 3-2 in favor of Blu-ray.

Sony, Disney and Fox support Blu-ray, but the momentum may be swinging … Read more