Daewoo demos 'Blu-ray Disc 2.0' player
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Online and interactive IFA 07 Daewoo has given the Blu-ray Disc next-gen optical disc format the thumbs up by showing off its first BD player, the slim, blue-hued DBP-1000.â¦
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Sony and blue-laser diode maker Nichia have developed a component that they say is vital to realizing support for Blu-ray Disc and DVD discs in portable devices, they announced this week.
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New component contains the blue and red lasers required for support of the two disc formats as well as the associated lenses and optical receivers. Commercial production possible by end of next year.
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If stereos were Stetsons, this would be a ten gallon hat Review Of late, the compact Hi-Fi system has struggled to find a place in the affections of consumers keener on more sophisticated home cinema audio rigs. However, the technology that looked like it was about to drive the last nail into the compact Hi-Fi coffin is set to breath new life into the format as products like the Gigajuke deliver the playback quality of a Hi-Fi combined with the storage capacity of a hard drive.â¦
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Engineers at Japanese broadcaster NHK have developed an optical disc that spins 5,000 rpm faster than current technology, which will rival videotape when it comes to recording broadcast-quality HDTV recordings.
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(InfoWorld) - If you're thinking of using your PC to play high-definition Blu-ray Disc or HD DVD movies then you might have to think again. While computer drives for both blue-laser formats make PC playback a possibility, you'll need to have a high-performance PC if you want to watch the majority of movies. Even then, some movies might not playback smoothly, manufacturers of multimedia playback and burning software suites said at this week's Ceatec show in Chiba, Japan. HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc allow the use of three compression systems: MPEG2, VC1 or MPEG4 AVC. To date, most movies have used the latter but that's the hardest for PCs to process, said Noritaka Baba, a manager at CyberLink. The company produces the Power DVD software and other similar multimedia suites. CyberLink recommends that consumers have at least an Intel 3.2GHz Pentium D processor, which is one of the fastest processors that Intel makes. For laptop PCs, the company recommends at least a 2GHz Core Duo T2500 processor for playback of MPEG4 AVC encoded content. Discs using the VC1 codec can be played back with slightly less powerful hardware and MPEG2 encoded video requires the least amount of processing power, he said. In a demonstration on the HD DVD booth at Ceatec, a computer was playing the movie "Shinobi." Encoded in MPEG4 AVC at about 20Mbps it required about 70 percent of the power of the 3.2GHz Pentium D processor for playback, said Kazutaka Aiso, manager of the OEM sales group at Nero's Japan unit. He said that of all the software on the market there is one title that won't playback smoothly on a PC. The title, "Yozakura," was the first HD DVD movie on the market in Japan and consists of high-definition images of Japanese cherry blossoms. The video on the disc averages around 30Mbps and that's just too much for today's PCs to handle, he said. CyberLink and InterVideo, which produces the WinDVD software, also reported problems playing that title. The problems only apply to playback of high-definition video because processing of the video needs to be done in real time. Consumers can get away with much less powerful hardware if they want to burn HD DVD or Blu-ray Disc media -- it will simply take longer to complete the task as the processor's computing power drops, said Baba. The advice of the software makers is borne out by the first computers to feature drives for the new disc formats. Sony's Vaio L computer, which was launched earlier this week at the show and includes a Blu-ray Disc drive, runs on Core 2 Duo processors running at between 1.73GHz and 2.16GHz.Â NEC's Valuestar X, which is also based on a Blu-ray Disc drive, runs a 3.4GHz Pentium D processor. AndÂ Toshiba's HD DVD-based Qosmio G30Â has a 2.0GHz Intel Core Duo processor inside.
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Sony plans to launch a Blu-ray Disc player this year that will cost $400 less than many current models.
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A Blu-ray Disc drive and home photo viewer both do the HD tango, and an upgraded version of Sony's LocationFree TV base station serves to remind that there are still some obstacles to HD ubiquity.
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Electronics companies are at war over next-generation DVDs
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According to a Samsung representative, Samsung's new Blu-ray/HD DVD combo player will have onboard decoding for all high resolution audio formats, including DTS-HD Master Audio.
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Philips Electronics unveiled an optical disk drive on Monday for use in computers that can burn and play CDs and DVDs in three formats, including the new Blu-ray standard.
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This is fantastic news and could possibly make the HD-DVD format the winner over the competing Blu-Ray technology.... Two Japanese companies said Tuesday they have developed a DVD that can play on both existing
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Hard drive-based audio player will get a new look and a lower price.
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Discs would offer 100 times the capacity of today's DVDs--but when will they be available?
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Hard-drive based digital audio player will be available by the end of the year.
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Add-on to bring PSP-like movie, music playback to console
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Philips Electronics unveiled an  optical disk drive on Monday for use in computers that can burn  and play CDs and DVDs in three formats, including the new  Blu-ray standard.