hd dvd
Software
4:00AM Matt Buchanan | The other week, we explained how Apple influences a ton of what goes on in tech by shaping industry-wide standards. This week, we’re gonna look at Microsoft and what’s it’s done with standards. More »
Giz Explains: Microsoft, Standards And Damned Standards
4:00AM Matt Buchanan | The other week, we explained how Apple influences a ton of what goes on in tech by shaping industry-wide standards. This week, we’re gonna look at Microsoft and what’s it’s done with standards. More » 
Entertainment
Toshiba Shacks Up With BDX2000 Blu-ray Following HD DVD’s Death
12:51AM Mark Wilson | We all knew this day would come. Following the death of his beloved HD DVD, Toshiba couldn’t stand the cold bed, the lonely nights and the tables for one. Suppressing tears, he released the BDX2000 Blu-ray player. More »
Entertainment
Toshiba Even More Officially Gives Up The War, Will Launch BD Player
8:00AM Dan Nosowitz | Toshiba, the former leader of Blu-Ray’s enemy HD-DVD camp, is admitting defeat in the most final way they can: By launching a Blu-Ray player. More »
Entertainment
A New Front Opens In The High-Def Disc Format War: CHINA!
12:40AM John Mahoney | You may have thought stupid format wars were over. You thought wrong! This week brings the first saleable “China Blue” players—a rival to Blu-ray. My guess on the rationale? Players made of heroin. More »
Weapons
Make a Blue Laser Gun Out of the Corpse of an HD-DVD Drive
6:00AM Gizmodo US Edition | Instructables has posted a guide for how to yank the blue diode out of a dusty Xbox 360 HD-DVD player and attach it to a (fake) gun to create…. a laser gun! It’s a pretty easy little mod, if you have the equipment lying around (and a laser gun sight you don’t use), and when you’re done, you’ve got a blue laser pistol powerful enough to light a match or pop a balloon. [Instructables] More »
Entertainment
Netflix Cuts Off HD DVD Rentals on December 15
10:30AM Gizmodo US Edition | In the battle between HD DVD and Blu-ray, Netflix has thrown its considerable weight behind one format. Starting December 15, Netflix will no longer carry HD DVDs and will be going exclusively Blu-ray. However, members need not worry: HD DVD titles added to their queues will be replaced automatically by standard DVDs. Take that, HD DVD! Wait, this is still November 2007, right? [Hacking Netflix] More »
Home
4:30PM Nick Broughall | 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. More »
Toshiba Stays The Upconverting DVD Player Course
4:30PM Nick Broughall | 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. More »
Software
Toshiba HD DVD Players Get Firmware Update
3:00AM Mark Wilson | There is nothing wrong with your computer. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. You have not awaken in a crazy, alternate reality where HD DVD won the format war. But Toshiba has unrolled the firmware 4.0 update for its HD DVD players to improve playback issues like a pause bug. We’d make fun of Toshiba mercilessly for the update, but it’s actually a classy move to support one’s tech even when the market has declared it extinct. Nice work, Toshiba. [Toshiba via CrunchGear] More »
Entertainment
Sony Just Can’t Stop Kicking a Dead, Dead Horse
9:34AM John Mahoney | A banner year for Blu-ray, to be sure, with a 100% drop in the most important stat of all, there in yellow. All this according to “Sony Figures.” They just can’t help themselves. More »
Entertainment
12:19PM Nick Broughall | I was fortunate enough to see an advanced screening of Tropic Thunder last night, and it was fantastic. The one thing that really stood out for me though was that Writer/Director/Actor Ben Stiller must be a Gizmodo fan – there were gadget references everywhere.
Without spoiling too much, let’s just say that TiVo plays a big part, as do satellite phones and private jets. Plus there’s a rather lengthy explanation on why Blu-ray won the format war (yep – porn and the PS3), which you wouldn’t normally associate with a movie set in a jungle.
Definitely worth checking out when it launches next week.
More »
Ben Stiller Must Be A Gizmodo Fan…
12:19PM Nick Broughall | I was fortunate enough to see an advanced screening of Tropic Thunder last night, and it was fantastic. The one thing that really stood out for me though was that Writer/Director/Actor Ben Stiller must be a Gizmodo fan – there were gadget references everywhere.
Without spoiling too much, let’s just say that TiVo plays a big part, as do satellite phones and private jets. Plus there’s a rather lengthy explanation on why Blu-ray won the format war (yep – porn and the PS3), which you wouldn’t normally associate with a movie set in a jungle.
Definitely worth checking out when it launches next week.
More » 
