Archives for the 'Hardware News' Category
Mitsubishi steps up rewriteable Blu-ray Disc production
Trading Markets reports that the Mitsubishi Kagaku Media Company is stepping up production of writable Blu-ray Discs, anticipating higher demand since Toshiba’s decision to exit the HD DVD business has left Blu-ray as the sole next-gen disc format.
At its Singapore plant, the firm will install a production line for recordable Blu-ray Discs which will go into service in July or August and is expected to produce 500,000 units a month.
The new line at the Singapore plant will raise monthly companywide production to 700,000 units. In addition, the firm will begin outsourcing some production to foreign manufacturers.
Sony reveals two new Blu-ray players, S350 and S550
Sony updated its Blu-ray Disc player line today with two new models that will be capable of accessing advanced interactive features such as BonusView and BD-Live.
The BDP-S350 and BDP-S550 models both support BonusView (Picture-in-Picture) featured on some of the new Blu-ray Disc theatrical releases. The BDP-S350 model is BD-Live ready featuring an Ethernet port for an easy firmware update and access to Internet-based interactive content features. The BSP-S550 is BonusView and BD-Live capable when it ships.
Both models also feature an external port for local storage, so users can add optional storage device. The BDP-S550 ships with a 1GB storage device.
The players feature 1080/60p and 24p True Cinema output. They are compatible with most standard DVDs and feature 1080p upscaling through an HDMI connection to capable HDTV sets, improving the picture performance of existing DVD libraries.
The models offer 7.1 channel Dolby TrueHD and Dolby(R) Digital Plus decoding and bit-stream output, as well as dts-HD High Resolution Audio and Master Audio bit-stream output. The BDP-S550 adds dts-HD High Resolution Audio and dts-HD Master Audio decoding as well as 7.1 channel analog audio output.
The players support AVCHD discs encoded with x.v.Color (xvYCC) technology, an international standard for wide color space reproduction. The standard expands the current data range of video by about 1.8 times, allowing the players to output more natural and vivid colors similar to what the human eye can actually see. The players also feature compatibility with an array of video formats, including BD-R/RE (BDMV and BDAV modes), DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW, CD, CD-R/RW (CD-DA format), and JPEG on DVD//CD recordable media.
The new BDP-S350 ships this summer for about $400 and BDP-S550 will be available this fall for about $500.
Golmund announces $16,900 Blu-ray player
Goldmund introduced today the company’s first Blu-ray player, the Eidos 20 BD. With the announcement of the Eidos 20 BD, Goldmund becomes the first high-end audio/video manufacturer to issue a Blu-ray player.
Goldmund signature features found on the Eidos 20 BD include the “AC-Curator” power supply circuit which dramatically improves picture and sound stability and dynamics, and the “Mechanical Grounding” construction which removes from the player mechanism spurious vibrations blurring the video signal and increasing jitter. In addition, the new Eidos 20 BD uses the Goldmund “Magnetic Damper,” a device lowering the reading errors, a feature that previously was exclusive to Goldmund’s highest end devices.
Oh and it costs $16,900. Yea… sixteen thousand nine hundred dollars!
Sony announces Metal Gear Solid PS3 bundle
At its annual retail and publisher conference Destination PlayStation, Sony announced details of the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots PLAYSTATION 3 bundle.
To coincide with the North American launch of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots in late Q2 2008, Sony will introduce a PS3 bundle, which will include an 80GB PS3, the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and a DUALSHOCK 3 wireless controller for $499.
Why am I posting this news here on BlurayWire? Well because the PS3 is also a Blu-Ray player! For those wanting to make the leap from DVD to Blu-Ray, this new bundle is a great deal. You not only get a gaming console w/ one game — you also get a Blu-Ray player!
Microsoft says no to Xbox 360 Blu-Ray add-on
While speaking at this year’s Game Developers Conference, John Schappert of Microsoft had the following to say in regards to a Blu-Ray add-on for the Xbox 360:
“We have no plans to announce anything like that right now. But I’d also urge you to look at the attach rate for the HD-DVD drive. It was a 3% attach rate…”
With 18 million Xbox 360 units sold worldwide a 3% attach rate just isn’t worth it for Microsoft. So those wanting some Blu-Ray love will have to turn elsewhere… like a PlayStation 3.
Onkyo drops HD DVD, focuses on Blu-Ray
Onkyo in the next company in line to drop the defeated HD DVD format. Effective immediately, Onkyo will discontinue the development and production of HD DVD players and will shift focus to the newly crowned Blu-Ray format.
Onkyo has distributed and sold approximately 2000 units of the HD DVD players in the selected markets. Onkyo manufactures HD DVD players with core parts supplied by Toshiba, which would make it difficult for Onkyo to continue its development and production of HD DVD players. Despite this, Onkyo will continue to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Onkyo HD DVD players.
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