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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.
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.
When a video editor became depressed looking at his laptop, he did the only logical thing. He went to the garage, whipped out the welding torch and cooked himself up a portable system that could store a five-drive RAID0 array and two 22-inch monitors. Video is captured via unspecified HDMI-wielding video card and project output occurs through a Blu-ray burner. We don't know what the whole honking system weighs in at, but we do know that this 10-minute spark montage build video puts Rocky !, II, III and IV to shame:
You know the drill. First a rumour spreads across the internet. Then an executive in the company offers up some sort of vague denial of said rumour. Time passes. An announcement is made. Guess what? The rumours were true all along. Obviously, that doesn't happen in every situation, but I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case with the recent rumour that an HD version of the Wii will hit the market in 2011. In a recent interview with Venture Beat, Nintendo of America Pres Reggie Fils-Aime referred to the story as "speculation" and claimed that showing a prototype to the game development community is "not the way they would find out" about a project. While this may be true, rumours tend to stick around in the absence of a flat-out denial. [Venture Beat via Crunchgear]
Even though the blank media companies have been touting 200GB Blu-ray discs for years, mostly as part of the psy-ops war against HD-DVD, the largest discs today's players and burners can handle are dual-layer 50GB blanks that burn at up to 8x. A new 450 mw blue laser diode unveiled by Sanyo, however, will enable players to read and burn four-layer 100GB discs at up to 12x speeds. Actual drives with the new laser are still probably a year or two away. [Computerworld]
VUDU has over 120 new HD flicks available for rent this week, but the big news is that half of those films are in their new HDX format—downloadable HD that looks a lot better than the current downloadable, highly compressed "HD" we're accustomed to. Read on for the full new HD and HDX lists.
Last week, while visiting Criterion Collection headquarters to observe their transition to Blu-ray, I brought up the subject of digital downloads. To my surprise, they let slip a little detail that sheds light on how a master disc maker like Criterion will manage in an all-download future.
According to LG, the future of HD video, mobile phone cameras, and the point-and-shoot varietals couldn't be more, well, the same. At a round table event in London this past week, the company hyped up convergence between the industries, and used its camera-happy KC-910 to show why there is no reason why mobiles should not overtake or absorb digital cameras in the near future. When one looks at what the KC-910 (aka Renoir) will bring to the mobile phone market, it's hard not to agree. As we've detailed here before, this "phone" comes equipped with an 8-megapixel cam with a Schneider-Kreuznach lens and xenon flash. ISO is rated up to 1600, and it also does VGA video at 30fps as well as high-speed 120fps filming (at QVGA resolution).
Since Blu-ray was announced, there's been a lot of talk about its impending obsolescence in the face of digital downloads. Just last week, Samsung took a low blow at the format, predicting its lifespan to be only five years. Sony fired back, claiming that the "Blu-ray format will not only coexist with the networked era, but will actually enhance it for many years to come."
It took a little time, but today is the day that your patience pays off—the Slingbox Pro-HD has gone live on the product website and it is shipping to customers today. An investment of $US300 will get you started on slingin' some sweet 1080i video around your home network or over the internet to your laptop. The Pro-HD works with the Slingcatcher receiver which I'm guessing shouldn't be too far behind. [Slingbox]
