Archives for the 'Hardware News' Category
Lite-On developing Blu-ray drive for Xbox 360
According to Digitimes, Lite-On is developing built-in Blu-ray Disc-(BD) ROM drives for the Xbox 360. Lite-On declined to comment, citing client confidentiality.
Lite-On’s shipments of the BD ROMs will start in the second half of 2008. Lite-On is currently one of the suppliers of Xbox 360 DVD-ROM drives.
Update: Microsoft has denied this. But then again, they may not want to let the cat out of the bag just yet. So as always, should anything develop, we’ll keep you updated.
132 million Blu-ray homes by 2012
According to Strategy Analytics, Blu-ray players will be in 29.4 million homes worldwide by the end of 2008. According to, “Blu-ray Devices: Forecasting Sales and Ownership,” Sony’s PS3 games console will continue to drive the Blu-ray market until 2009, after which stand-alone Blu-ray players will become dominant. By 2012 more than 132 million homes worldwide will own at least one Blu-ray device.
“HD-DVD’s withdrawal leaves the way open for Blu-ray to become a major revenue earner for technology vendors and content owners alike,” says David Mercer, Principal Analyst. “The 265 million homes that will own an HDTV by 2012, and Hollywood’s need for a new growth engine, represent huge incentives for the industry to coordinate marketing activities and demonstrate unified support for the successor to DVD.”
New PS3 firmware released
Just a heads up to let you all know that the new Sony PlayStation 3 firmware, version 2.20, launched last night. As mentioned before, the new update adds Blu-ray Disc Profile 2.0 (BD-LIVE) support. All you have to do is go to the System Update section of the PS3 menu and the download will start. It should take no more than 10 minutes. That’s all you have to do. You now have a 2.0 Blu-ray player and are ready to take advantage of new Blu-ray features.
New PS3 update adds Blu-ray Disc Profile 2.0 support
Sony today announced that system software update v.2.20, for the PS, planned for release in late March, will add Blu-ray Disc (BD) Profile 2.0 (known as BD-LIVE). With this new update comes the ability to take full advantage of interactive features, such as downloadable video content, ringtones, games, and more.In addition to BD-LIVE, the system software update will enable photo and music playlists on a PS3 to be copied to a PSP, as well as other new features.
To access Blu-ray Profile 2.0, users require an Internet connection and at least 1GB of local storage. Movies with BD-LIVE are scheduled for release next month.
Best Buy offers gift card to HD DVD owners
Best Buy is giving $50 gift cards to customers who purchased an HD DVD player or HD DVD Xbox 360 attachment from its U.S. stores before February 23, 2008. Customers will get a gift card for each player or HD DVD attachment that they purchased. Through this program, Best Buy will distribute more than $10 million in gift cards to customers across the country.
Most Best Buy customers won’t have to do anything to receive their gift card. Best Buy will proactively mail cards to all customers that the company can identify as having purchased an HD DVD player. Members of the Best Buy Reward Zone program, customers who purchased Performance Service Plans (PSPs) or who made their purchase on BestBuy.com should look for their gift cards in the mail by May 1. Other customers who may not be easily identified can call (888) BEST BUY to receive their gift cards with proof of purchase through a credit card or their Best Buy receipt.
Why is Best Buy doing this? Because they want you to use that gift card to hopefully purchase a Blu-ray player, some movies and some of those overpriced Monster cables.
Sony to invest nearly $110 million in Blu-ray plant
Sony is planning to invest nearly $110 million in new equipment and property improvements to upgrade its Terre Haute, Indianapolis plant following Blu-ray’s victory in the “high-def war”.
Sony will invest more than $101 million in new equipment and more than $7.4 million in property improvements, for a total of $108.5 million. Along with new equipment, the company will hire at least 65 new employees.
Acer reveals Blu-ray laptop
Acer today presented the Aspire 8920G, a brand new notebook PC series designed to take full advantage of Blu-ray discs. To enjoy the full 1920×1080 resolution, these new laptops will include a huge 18.4″ screen.
To power this beast, Acer includes an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and either an NVIDIA GeForce 9650M GS graphics card or an NVIDIA GeForce 9500M GS card. Both of them support NVIDIA PureVideo HD technology, Shader Model 4.0 and Microsoft DirectX 10.
And if you have an HDTV with an HDMI input you can hook up the laptop to it to enjoy HD goodness on your big screen.
Microsoft to support Blu-ray
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer quotes Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer when asked about Microsoft’s support for Blu-ray:
“We’ve already been working on, for example, in Windows, device driver support for Blu-ray drives and the like,” Ballmer stated. “I think the world moves on. Toshiba has moved on. We’ve moved on, and we’ll support Blu-ray in ways that make sense.”
The comments were made during an on-stage conversation at Microsoft’s Mix08 Internet conference in Las Vegas.
Exchange your HD DVD player for a Blu-ray player at Circuit City
Circuit City has announced today that they will be extending their HD DVD return window for those who may have been stuck with an HD DVD player. Circuit City spokesman, Jim Babb, said Circuit City will “accept returns of HD DVD players within 90 days of purchase.”
Customers who purchased HD DVD players to return them for store credit. The policy doesn’t apply to HD DVD movie discs. The reason why Circuit City is doing this is because they hope you will use your store credit to purchase a Blu-ray player, some Blu-ray movies and perhaps some of those overpriced Monster video cables to “get the best possible quality from your new player!” Word of advice — don’t waste your money on Monster brand cables.
Panasonic to Release DivX Certified Blu-ray Player
DivX today announced the DivX Certification of Panasonic’s Blu-ray Disc Player, scheduled to be released in March and expected to be the first DivX Certified Blu-ray Disc Player available in Europe and Russia. The model number, for those interested, is DMP-BD30EG/EE.
“In order to give our users access to the extremely popular, high-quality DivX format, we have introduced the first DivX-Certified Blu-ray Disc Player for Europe and Russia,” said Yuki Kusumi of Panasonic. “The timely launch of this strategic product is a direct response to the strong demand for DivX playback among consumers. We are very confident this product will be very popular in the European and Russian markets.”
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