Filed under: Industry, Blu-ray, Players, Sony

And so it begins. With the day after Thanksgiving in the USA (more affectionately known as Black Friday) closing in, we’re starting to see the earliest slippage of deals from large box retailers. Up first this year is Sears, which has let loose a laundry list of discounts that will be available for a limited time on November 28th. When peering at the items we care about, the most notable inclusion is a Sony Blu-ray player for $179.99; allowed, we’ve seen the BDP-S300 for under $200 already, but the link takes us to Sony’s fresher, better BDP-S350. Hard to state how legitimate that’s, but at any rate, those looking for BD and audio can find Samsung’s HT-BD2E Blu-ray home theater system for $599.99, and folks just now looking to dive into DVD will find a Memorex DVD player for $14.99. Check the read link for the full rundown, and get prepared for an onslaught of lists just like this from elsewhere as B-Day draws closer.

[Via I4U News]

Sears Black Friday deals slip out: Sony Blu-ray player for $179.99 originally appeared on Engadget HD on Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

Share This

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

Filed under: Cable, New content

Ah, is it that time of year again already? Seems like just yesterday that we were kicking back in our couch, wondering how the New Year would treat HD DVD and sipping a hot cocoa while enjoying the faux warmth of an HD Yule Log. This year, iN DEMAND’s high-def version of the famed Christmas classic will be coming to HD VOD systems on Comcast, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable and Bright Home Networks. In addition, iN DEMAND has created two other holiday offerings for viewers to like in Winter Green and Snowman, both of which were filmed with HD cameras and are to be presented in 1080i with 5.1-channel audio. The fun begins nationwide on December 8th; full release is after the break.

[Image courtesy of ByrdHouse]

Continue reading Yule Log, new holiday films come to HD VOD on Comcast, Cox and TWC

Yule Log, new holiday films come to HD VOD on Comcast, Cox and TWC originally appeared on Engadget HD on Wed, 03 Dec 2008 14:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Share This

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

Filed under: Misc, Displays, Sharp

Headed to Schaumburg, Illinois to visit those in-laws, are you? You’re in luck. Hyatt Regency Woodfield has just announced that every last one of its 470 guest rooms will be locked and loaded (but unlocked prior to your arrival) with a 32- or 37-inch Sharp LCD HDTV, not to mention a copious amount of HD content flowing from the SuiteLinq in-room digital entertainment solution. Both linear channels and video-on-demand material will be delivered in SD and HD, and it appears that everything’s in place for enjoyment as we talk. So, are your reservations in order?

Hyatt Regency Woodfield home to Sharp HDTVs, SuiteLinq HD programming originally appeared on Engadget HD on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 07:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

Popularity: unranked [?]

Share This

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

Filed under: Cable, New content

Hot on the heels of TWC’s Greensboro expansion announcement comes some official word from the carrier itself on how it’ll be handling new HD rollouts in the Carolinas at massive. For starters, many Raleigh-area customers received an e-mail proclaiming that 20 new high-def stations would be coming soon, though it mistakenly claims ESPN2 HD as a newcomer. At any rate, the director of digital communication at Time Warner Cable chimed in to clear things up, noting that the company is “rolling out up to 20 HD channels over the next several months, depending on the division.” From the looks of things, Raleigh and Charlotte will be getting just about everything TWC has, while Greensboro, NC and Columbia, SC will receive smaller allotments. Curiously enough, the Wilmington area wasn’t mentioned at all, but here’s hoping they’ll be on the same wave as Raleigh. For the full report from Jeff Simmermon, jump on past the break. [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family]

Continue reading TWC gets official with HD expansion in the Carolinas

TWC gets official with HD expansion in the Carolinas originally appeared on Engadget HD on Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Share This

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

Filed under: Industry, Blu-ray

It’s hard to know what to believe these days. Just weeks ago, we heard that the worldwide economic situation would actually increase at-home entertainment sales; now, we’re hearing that overall home entertainment spending will likely decline 3% to 4%. Regardless of what actually happens, Blu-ray backers are still scaling back their expectations for the format, with Warner Home Video president Ron Sanders and Sony Photos Home Entertainment president David Bishop each estimating that total BD software sales in 2008 will reach $750 million. That’s compared to earlier forecasts of around $1 billion, though it was noted that Paramount Home Entertainment president Kelley Avery nailed the revamped estimate a few months back. As it stands, year-to-date Blu-ray sales have surpassed $500 million, which means BD still needs a large holiday season to hit the fresh figures — do see you it happening?

Blu-ray forecasts slightly lower due to wild economy originally appeared on Engadget HD on Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

Share This

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

Filed under: Industry, Blu-ray, Other hardware, Others, Sony

Man, talk about talking tough. In a recent interview with Venture Beat, Microsoft executive Shane Kim pointed out that the impending New Xbox Experience would be the beginning of a “fascinating time as all of these different media evolve.” Kim got rough when questioned about the value of a built-in Blu-ray player in Sony’s PS3, stating that “Microsoft made the right decision by not including HD DVD or Blu-ray in its box and offering HD DVD as an accessory.” Following up on that, he noted that “digital downloading of movies to the Xbox 360 over the on the web connection would likely prove more important than Blu-ray in the long run,” and that it would continue producing the 360 “one day longer than the lifespan of the PlayStation 3.” My, oh my.

[Via GameDaily]

Read

Share This

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

Filed under: Industry, Displays, New content

We’ve been awfully hard on Toshiba’s super-resolution upscaling pitch, but it looks like the tech might be a good fit for the Netherlands, where HD subscriptions are having a hard time getting off the ground despite an explosion in the number of HDTVs taking up residence in Dutch homes. Estimates put the number of households receiving HD signal at a paltry 85,000 in a country where 1.2 million HD sets are supposed to sell through this year alone. Maybe those people are waiting for the free OTA HD stuff, but based on what’s in the pipeline, there’s no telling how long it will be before HD pixels become abundant.

The Netherlands takes baby steps towards HD originally appeared on Engadget HD on Sun, 16 Nov 2008 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

Share This

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

Filed under: ABC, CBS, Discovery-HD, HBO-HD, NBC, Listings

What we’re watching tonight:

• Showtime (1080i) has Brotherhood at 8 p.m. followed by Dexter and Californication
• NBC (1080i) airs Cowboys/Redskins at 8:15 p.m.
• HBO (1080i) premieres De La Hoya/Pacquiao 24/7 at 8:30 p.m. followed by True Blood, Entourage, Summer Heights High and The Life & Times of Tim
• ABC (720p) lines up Desperate Housewives at 9 p.m. and Brothers & Sisters at 10 p.m.
• CBS (1080i) presents Cold Case at 9 p.m. followed by The Unit
• Discovery (1080i) has Storm Chasers at 10 p.m.

HDTV Listings for November 16, 2008 originally appeared on Engadget HD on Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Share This

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

Filed under: Industry, Blu-ray, Other formats

While the “HD streaming rulez!one11!1!” bandwagon was swiftly filling up after Netflix announced that it would be bringing such a service to the Xbox 360, the numbers just don’t substantiate the claims that physical discs are doomed anytime soon. Sure, for the budding technophile, streaming is just the next great thing, but for the average joe / jane, the tried and true disc still holds a great deal of importance. A current study by market research firm SmithGeiger found that out of over 2,000 surveyed, “HDTV owners familiar with Blu-ray favor the format over downloading and streaming by a margin of almost 10-to-1, with about 70% of respondents citing the fact that there’s a physical disc to keep as a key factor in their decision to buy Blu-ray.” It also found that 96% of BD users were “familiar with downloading and streaming services, but that two-thirds believe watching a movie on Blu-ray is a better overall entertainment experience.” Sure, BD has its flaws, but not having to re-rent an HD film after a remarkably short 24-hour window sure is nice, huh?

[Image courtesy of TechFresh]

Research finds that people still heart physical discs, greatly prefer Blu-ray to streaming originally appeared on Engadget HD on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

Share This

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

Filed under: Industry, Blu-ray

We know that some of the James Bond classics on Blu-ray have had issues playing back on certain BD players (Samsung BD-P1500 and LG BH200, we’re looking at you), but at this price, we’re almost willing to take the risk. Amazon’s Gold Box Deal of the Day (read: this won’t exist tomorrow) offers up all six of the 007 hits that were recently released on Blu-ray for a whopping 64% off of MSRP, or $64.95. We’re too humiliated to share our Calculus III grade here, but we’re pretty sure that makes each film right around $10.82 given that shipping is free. We know money’s tight, but seriously, how could you possibly resist whipping out the plastic for this? Who’s in?

[Via HighDefDigest]

Amazon goes looney: James Bond Blu-ray Collection six-pack for $64.95 originally appeared on Engadget HD on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

Popularity: unranked [?]

Share This

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This