Disney’s “Magical Blu-ray Disc Tour”

When we heard Disney was doing a nationwide mall tour promoting Blu-ray, we wondered how effective it would be swaying J6P into buying Blu-ray. We also wondered how good the presentation would be as far as Audio/Video quality wise. On both counts we were pleasantly surprised. The presentation used a 58″ Panasonic 1080p Plasma, a [...]

HD DVD/Blu-ray Sunday Ad Wars Pt. X

In this edition of “Sunday Ad Wars“, The great folks at Circuit City offer us the Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray player for $499.99 (MSRP). They are also giving you 2 free Blu-ray movies at the time of purchase, this is in addition to the 5 free you get by mail in rebate. If it were us, [...]

Home Theater Installer Group Prefers Blu-ray

TVPredictions/TWICE is reporting that Home Theater Specialists of America is endorsing Blu-ray over HD DVD in the high-def disc format war.
The HTSA member survey found that 92 percent of their high-def player sales have been Blu-ray players.
“The industry looks to HTSA as an expert for custom Home Theater, built upon a foundation of the top [...]

32″ HDTV Free w/ Purchase of HD DVD Equipped Qosmio G30 Laptop

For a limited time (until Sept. 30th), Toshiba is offering a free 32″ Regza 32A3000E HDTV with your purchase of the Toshiba Qosmio G30. The G30 includes full featured HD DVD playback, as well as an HDMI output.

Other features included in the Qosmio G30 are:

HD-DVD-ROM drive with DVD Super Multi capabilities for ultimate backward compatibility [...]

Pioneer and Mitsubishi Develop Low Cost BD-R Discs

CDRInfo is reporting that Pioneer and Mistubishi have developed a new manufacturing method for BD-R media using organic recording layers that will significantly reduce manufacturing costs.
The technology is called “Low to High” (LTH, in groove recording) and it was included in the “Blu-ray Disc Recordable Format Ver.1.2″ specifications.
While current drives are not compatible with the [...]

HD DVD/Blu-ray Sunday Ad Wars Pt. IX

In this edition of “Sunday Ad Wars” Best Buy has a host of offerings, while Circuit City has nothing to show. First on the list is the LG BH100 Dual Format HD player for $799.99 after $200 in instant savings. Best Buy is also offering the Toshiba HD-A2 for $299.99 (MSRP Price), but you do [...]

Toshiba Releases 1080p24 Enabled Firmware for 2nd Gen HD DVD Players

Toshiba has finally released the long awaited firmware update that enables 24p output for the HD-A20/HD-XA2. This is great news for people that have display devices that can accept native 1080p24. You can wait until Friday and update your player via the ethernet connection , or right now you can download/burn one of the [...]

Warner Continues To Support Both Formats… For Now?

Twice is reporting an interview with Warner president Ron Sanders where he states that the company has enjoyed strong sales in both formats and will likely continue to support both until that changes. Sanders also stated that TotalHD is currently on hold.
Regarding neutrality he says “We remain committed to both for the time being. We’ll [...]

New Line Holds Back HD DVD Due to Lack of Region Coding

Video Business is reporting that New Line Cinema will be releasing the title Hairspray day and date on DVD and Blu-ray discs only on November 20.
The HD DVD version of the title will be held back until the first half of 2008 due to the format’s lack of regional coding, effectively making Hairspray a Blu-ray [...]

HD DVD/Blu-ray Sunday Ad Wars Pt. VIII

In this edition of “Sunday Ad Wars“, our blue shirt wearing friends at Best Buy offer the Toshiba HD-A2 for $299.00 including 2 free HD DVD movies of your choice. This is in addition to the 5 free movies you get from toshiba. Best Buy is also offering a free $10 gift card when you [...]