When HD DVD gave up the ghost a couple of years ago, many pundits claimed that it was merely a battle won for Blu-ray, and that they’d need to man up to face the war with digital downloads. Now in 2010, it’s time to take a look at just how well that war is going, and who exactly is winning it here in Australia. More »
Blu-ray’s latest bit of brilliance is the Flipper: a disc that’s plain ol’ DVD on one side, and Blu-ray on the other, like bolting a cassette tape on the back of a CD. Amazing. More »
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 »
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.
newVideoPlayer("/bluelasergiz.flv", 506, 423,"");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]
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]
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 »
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]
