If you're in the market for a new television and a Blu-Ray player, Sharp will help you kill two birds with one of its new Aquos DXs. The company has released a line of LCD TVs that have built-in Blu-Ray disc recorders, which they tout as an all-in-one solution for recording television onto BDs... in case there's television that's actually worth the trouble. The 16 sets in the Aquos DX line range from 26-inch to 52-inch models and cost between $US1,600 and $US4,900.

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It's not official, but the word from our friend HD Guru Gary Merson is that Panasonic has a lot of cool hardware coming to America next year. The biggest news is that there will be Blu-ray decks that actually record HD video onto shareable BDs, something we hear about from Japan, but haven't seen in these parts (AU: Wow! we have something before the US). On the plasma front, Panny is working on NeoPDP 1080p plasma that would cut power demands by 50%, making them even more efficient than LCD. This efficient panel, says Merson, will be made in sizes all the way up to our beloved 103". And in another direction, Panasonic will be joining the coalition of the slimming, releasing plasmas under 2.5cm thick. And now... we wait. [HDGuru]

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On the lack of BD drives in the new Mac notebooks, quoth Jobs:

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Giz pick of the week: IMAX Anything

Just in case you enjoyed Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as much as Trey Parker and Matt Stone (or our former Editor Jason Chen), there's always the slew of IMAX double feature releases hitting shelves today. Cosmic Voyage/Destiny In Space and Space Station/Mission to Mir double up the 45 minute movies to make the purchase (or rental) a bit more worthwhile. And if four IMAX movies just aren't enough, there's always Coral Reef Adventure, Dolphins and The Living Sea, all of which are also being released this week.

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You might want to hold off on buying a Blu-ray player for a few weeks, because thankfully, finally, seriously, and almost too-latedly, Blu-ray players will soon drop into truly affordable territory. A source close to Ultimate Electronics has told us to expect the Samsung BD-P1500 — usually about $400 — for $149 on this particularly welcome and poignant Black Friday. Ultimate Electronics is a primarily Midwestern chain, but look to be offering this deal in cooperation with Samsung — in other words, it's probably not the only place you'll see stupidly cheap Blu-ray players come November 28th. -Thanks, Carmel and Matt!

AU: Thought this would be interesting to post for you guys, even though I doubt it will translate across the Pacific.

It's tough to decide whether Toshiba is being incredibly intelligent or incredibly stubborn in their decision to back upconverting DVD technology instead of Blu-ray. I mean, they were certainly burnt - badly - by Blu-ray with that whole HD DVD format war, but is their decision to stick to DVD smart?

Take their latest DVD player, the XD-E500 DVD upscaler. It's marketed on the fact that it can take your vanilla old DVDs and upscale them to HD-like quality with 1080p output. That sounds pretty good (although the press release says that standard def DVDs are 480p - not in Australia, Toshiba!). But then there's the price: $199.

Sure, the Toshy's got some pretty catchy-sounding tech on board (XDE Technology, anyone?) for upscaling, plus DivX playback, HDMI CEC connectivity and a host of connections, but is it worth $200 bucks? Sony's latest Blu-ray player has an RRP of $449, but you can pick it up for $380 online, and it will not only upscale your DVDs, but playback Blu-ray movies as well. Even at $150 for the Toshy, don't most people already own a DVD player?

Still, if the infinite format war takes Blu-ray as its next victim, Toshiba will probably be the company laughing all the way to the bank.

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At face value, "1080p high definition" means 1920×1080 pixels presented progressive scan (all at once). But if a clip is 1080p that alone doesn't necessitate that it will look good. Just as you can stretch a thumbnail in Photoshop to any gargantuan size you like, so too can content providers give you ugly 1080p.

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Despite Microsoft denying any plans to develop a Blu-Ray drive for the Xbox 360 at least a million times now, rumours are surfacing that the company's already made one and just needs to decide on a release date. If X-bit Labs is to be believed, a joint-venture between Toshiba and Samsung has been contracted to manufacture external Blu-ray disc drives for Microsoft's game console. According to their market sources, the company is aiming at a $US100 to $US150 price point in order to compete with the PlayStation 3.

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In perhaps the most spirited and cheery interview I've ever seen given by Sony chair Howard Stringer, the knight of the realm tells Charlie Rose that after several years in the driver's seat, he's still trying to integrate all of the electronics divisions of Sony. "We're so big that we're making the same thing twice in different parts of the company, and nobody seems to notice!" he laughs. On a side note, I am glad to see Stringer so relaxed. I think he really was playing Chicken during the Blu-ray/HD DVD format war, and at least there's one major issue he doesn't have to worry about anymore. Now, about this economic downturn... [Charlie Rose]

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There's only one week left until the Blu-Ray release of the worst sequel ever (at least in terms of how it took my childhood and ripped out its heart Kali Ma-style), Indiana Jones and The Goddamn X-Files, and retailers have decided to go with an equally frustrating promotion gimmick. Indy-enthusiasts will have to choose between five different exclusive retail packages—getting every single piece of movie paraphernalia will be like a treasure hunt... with mediocre cinema attached!

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