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Archive for the 'Blu-ray disc' Tag

Sony HD TV owners can download movie — for $25 a day

November 9th, 2009, 4:26 pm by

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.Everyone from Best Buy to Netflix wants a direct line to our living-room TV so we customers don’t have to step outside. Today, Sony Electronics made an entrance — with a twist: If you buy one of its web-friendly TVs or Blu-ray Disc players, you can download the upcoming high-definition version of “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” free for 24 hours.

The animated movie won’t be out until Jan. 5, 2010 so the Sony Pictures release is a good example of what a company can do when it controls the content and the mechanism to watch the movie on.

But it’s not a very good offer. First, you must buy one of 12 Sony Bravia HDTVs or the Sony networked Blu-ray Disc player between today and Jan. 4, 2010. Only then can you get the movie as a free 24-hour rental. The Blu-ray DVD will cost $35 when it is released. And no, this offer isn’t available to the millions of PlayStation 3 owners out there.

On Dec. 8, the rental fee goes to $24.95 for all Bravia TVs (including the W5100, Z5100, XBR9 and XBR10) and the new BDP-N460 Network Blu-ray Disc player.  The majority of Bravia TVs from 2007 to 2008 are compatible with Sony’s Internet Video Link module, currently a $200 add-on at Sony’s online store.

Sounds like a high price to pay for a movie rental, but a Sony spokesperson confirmed to me that the price is correct.

Bravia TVs and the networked Blu-ray players do have access to Amazon Video on Demand, YouTube other Web TV-based services. Netflix streaming was supposed to arrive this fall.

More on the Web TV movement:

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Samsung slims down Blu-ray player

January 7th, 2009, 8:45 pm by

DVD players are no longer very big, but when it comes to high-definition Blu-ray players, there is room to shave. Samsung offered the best looking redesign. Its new BD-P4600 is 1.5 inches thick, which Samsung believes makes it the slimmest Blu-ray Drive player in the industry.

Bonus: Includes a Wi-Fi dongle that plugs into one of two USB ports. So, technically, it’s wireless. Also, this player plays CDs, upconverts regular DVDs and supports BD Live (to access more videos from the Internet). Being so skinny, Samsung offers a way to mount it on the wall for those folks who really want to keep things tidy.

I didn’t see it in person — only through slideshows during Samsung’s press conference. Release date and price were not available. Here are some better photos provided by Samsung:

More CES 2009 coverage: 

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • | 1 Comment »

Toshiba XD-E500 claims to enhance plain DVDs during upconversion

August 18th, 2008, 9:33 am by

So, the whole HD DVD format didn’t work, but Toshiba America Consumer Products is unwilling to admit high-definition defeat and align itself with Blu-ray disc, the winning high-def format developed by rival Sony.

Toshiba’s XD-E500Today, the company announced it is enhancing regular DVD technology with XD-E500, or eXtended Detail Enhancement. It’s more than just upconversion, says the company. XDE takes the regular DVD format (that’s 480i or 480p) and adds more details so it looks like 1080p (the high-definition format of Blu-ray or defunct HD DVD).

How does it make a standard DVD look high def? Think of it as Photoshop for video. Edges are sharpened because XDE “analyzes the entire picture and adds edge enhancement precisely where it’s needed” — unlike traditional sharpness control. Also, colors are richer and contrast mode makes darker scenes more visible. I didn’t test this out myself so I’m curious to see how high-def this non-high-def DVD player is.

Check it out yourself at http://www.toshibaxde.com.

Launching today, the XD-E500 is $149.99.

Related:

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