That sound you just heard? It was silence -- the silence of thousands of BDP-S1 Blu-ray players sitting unsold on warehouse shelves, gathering dust and wondering why they did to deserve the wrath of the dreaded Osborne Effect. Because unless retailers do some serious price shaving off of the first-gen machines, Sony's official promise today of a cheaper, smaller, and more functional box landing this summer will likely convince all but the most impatient consumers to drop the S1 right off their radar. On the plus side, those of us who haven't yet picked sides in the "format war" will be treated to a much more attractive product in the BDP-S300, from its CD friendliness and Bravia Theater Sync to bonuses like AVC-HD support for playback of conent that employs x.v.Color (Sony's version of the wide color space xvYCC technology). Keep reading to check out the remote that comes paired with the S300, then forward this post to your buddies who blew $1000 on its lonely predecessor.

The faint of wallet can bail out now, we're about to engage in some multi-thousand dollar camcorder biz up in here: we've got two new 3-CCD 720 / 60p options for you, indie filmmakers, so welcome JVC's GY-HD250U and GY-HD200U. The $7,995 GY-HD200U rocks the same accessories as their previous GY-HD100U, as well as new 1/3-inch mount HD lenses; the $8,995 GY-HD250U can also record to hard drive via JVC's optional DR-HD100U Direct-to-Edit recorder for dual MiniDV tape and drive recordings. Both should ship in October, which should be more than enough time to decide what you love more: your car, or the up and coming Sundance-bound documentarian in your life.

[Via Mobilewhack]

Both sides have announced, built, and even begun selling their devices -- if you don't think the next gen optical war between HD DVD and Blu-ray for the high definition living room hasn't already begun, well, you're probably not a regular here. But just in case there was any hope that these two factions would come together and truce before too late turned into too too late, well, sorry, consider those hopes dashed; according to Panasonic CEO Kazuhiro Tsuga (pictured right heading to work) regarding unifying with HD DVD, "We are not talking and we will not talk," and that "the market will decide the winner." Just like that. You hear that Toshiba? Bring it on, they say. Man, we can't wait to start reporting all the flaming-bag-on-doorstep incidents that are so going to occur between Blu-ray and HD DVD executives.

It's not going to do you a whole lot of good this side of Europe, but Acer's got a new LCD HDTV due, and it's got a few interesting features to set it aside for the World Cup buying season that's about to sweep the world (and some parts of America). Their 32-inch AT3205-DTV has a 1366 x 768 panel, both HDMI and DVI inputs, as well as integrated analog and DVB-T tuners. definitely not your usual HDTV, but you know how they roll over Europe way: deeper, harder, better. And really, the last thing you want to do is tempt them with a TV that's not up to snuff when it's World Cup season.

Looks like Panny's not the only company showing off their Blu-ray offerings in Japan today. IODATA's got two of their own: the internal BRD-UM2, and external USB BRD-AM2B, which will go for ¥110,250 and ¥121,800, respectively (that's $942 US and $1,041 US, also respectively). Looks like these will also burn dual-layer BD-R and BD-RE media, as well as your usual DVD±RW and CD-RW, and will even beat Panasonic's offering to market by a solid 9 days with a June 1st release date. So keep an eye out with your favorite gadget importer and keep that credit card clean.

[Via Impress]

Sharp's got two new DLP projectors launching in Japan today, and while neither seems poised to take on Marantz's mammoth VP-11S1 from earlier this week, we can't imagine why they would want to. Their XV-Z3000 (left) features a 1,280 x 768 1,200 lumen picture with a 6,500:1 contrast ratio, and HDMI, two component, VGA, S-Video, and composite inputs; the DT-100CJ projects a 854 x 480 1,000 lumen picture, with a 2,500:1 contrast ratio, and component, VGA, composite, and S-Video inputs. Unfortunately we couldn't glean a price or launch date (even if it's only for our Japanese compatriots), but we'd imagine it wouldn't pinch the wallet quite like our aforementioned $15,300 friend.

In what would appear to be a global release, though it's unclear from the machine translation, Panasonic just announced that they will be shipping their LF-MB121JD Blu-ray Disc drive for PCs (not to be confused with their DMP-BD10 player expected in September) in OEM, regular, and slimline slot-loading form factors, starting 10 June with support for 13 BD / DVD / CD formats. The drive delivers on both 25GB and dual-layer 50GB Blu-ray discs allowing you to write at 2x (72Mbps) speeds to both BD-R / RE formats via a suite of bundled software. It also features 8x write speeds to both DVD±R and DVD RW, 4x to DVD±R DL, 6x to DVD-RW, 5x to DVD-RAM, 24x to CD-R and 16x to CD-RW. Pretty much the same unit (and may well be) as the BenQ BW1000, but superior to both the Samsung SH-B022 (which can read but not write to DVD and CD formats) and the Pioneer BDR-101A which, oddly, the last time we looked, didn't support CDs at all. Panasonic also announced their 25GB and 50GB 2x discs which will hit the shelves starting April 28 just in time to prime the pump a bit.

[Via Newlaunches]

Pioneers back again re-re-announcing their PDP-5000EX, that "tiny" full 1080p 50-incher, this time with a price tag ¥1,050,000 (just shy of $9,000 US) and that same June launch, though we are very heartened by the machine translated phrase: "worldwide beginning." They also threw out a couple of slightly less impressive but slightly more affordable displays, the ¥600,000 ($5100 US) 50-inch PDP-507HX, and ¥480,000 ($4100 US) 42-inch PDP-427HX. They feature 1,365 x 768 and 1,024 x 768 panels respectively, and dual digital tuners, dual HDMI, three composite, VGA, and Ethernet (among other, more Japanese inputs). No word when or if they'll jump the pond, or how much tariffs will bloat up that price, but we know you're waiting for the big hundie-three, ain'tcha?

[Via Impress]

Dell's got a new 26-incher kicking around on their site, the W2607C, successor to their W2600 and W2606C. It doesn't exactly have any standout figures in terms of specs and performance (600:1 contrast ratio, 500cd/m2 brightness, 1366 x 768 panel, 89 degree viewing angles), but this thing does have an integrated ATSC tuner, and a decidedly sizable amount of inputs for its class. We're talking three composite ins, two S-Video, two component, two analog coax, DVI, and VGA in a $1,049 panel (well, $1,199 MSRP, but you know Dell).

You know that 103-inch, ain't ever going to go on sale, plasma TV Panasonic's been lugging around the trade show circuit? Well, start pinchin' those pennies son, cause Panny is putting them on sale in time for the holidays. This 7.5 x 4.2-foot (8.5-foot diagonal) plasma goes 16:9 and throws up a 1920 x 1080 resolution, 3000:1 contrast ratio and features Panasonic's 1080p HD high-speed pixel drive we've already seen in their 65-incher. The perfect, er, accessory for their DMP-BD10 Blu-ray player, no doubt. Sorry, no pricing announced -- but if you gotta ask, you can't afford it.

[Via New Launches]

We first saw RCA's HDV5000 at CES in January, and true to their word here we are in April with the launch release in our hands. Expected MSRP still stands at $500, and the device will feature HDMI and component outs supporting 720p / 1080i (plus up-converstion of standard DVDs), S/PIDF, 5.1 channel surround out, and a network connect, as expected -- really nothing out of the ordinary here. Expect to see this ship next month, and to appear in stores in June.

Marantz has a new projector, but you'd better listen up, because even if they're not incredibly well known for their HD gear this side of the Pacific, this thing's a DLP powerhouse. Their freshly minted VP-11S1 features a full 1080p high definition picture, Konica Minolta lens, 6,500:1 contrast ratio, pumps out 700 ANSI lumens, and has dual HDMI, dual component, VGA, S-Video, and composite video inputs -- all for a mere 1,800,000. Ahem, that's about $15,300 US. In other words, you'll have a little time to scrap for spare change before they release this thing Stateside -- if they release this thing Stateside.

[Via Impress]

Samsung ain't the only company out with a cheap up-scaler now: ladies and gentlemen, say hello to Panasonic's DVDS52, the other high definition DVD up-scaler with HDMI-out and a $100 price tag. We've yet to vouch for the quality of the picture (perhaps because it's not out yet, so far as we can tell) or even get some firm details on this puppy, but as long as you're waiting for your Blu-ray or HD DVD player, you may as well at least be watching video on that HDTV the right way (and the cheap way, which itself is sometimes the right way).

Although not the complete screw-by-screw disassembly that we're accustomed to, here's your first chance to get a glimpse inside Toshiba's new HD-A1 HD-DVD player and check out the magic circuitry delivering all that 1080p goodness. As we learned yesterday, a few retailers (we're looking at you, Best Buy) jumped the gun on Tuesday's scheduled rollout and began selling some of their stock early, much to the delight/frustration of early adopters who got the latest tech but no HD content to play on them. Luckily for us, one of those foolish trailblazing souls was kind enough to remove the lid from his unit's case (gently, we hope) and snap some photos of the guts for all Internetland to peep. Nothing really exciting here -- like the VCRs and DVD players before it, most of the content is air -- but there is a nice closeup of the rather imposing heat sink, along with the obligatory CPU and RAM shots. Click on for another pic, or hit the "Read" link for the entire set...

[Via HD Beat, thanks Dave Z.]

Since Sony, et al. hammered out the Blu-ray Disc spec, there's been speculation, theorization, and discussion of an 8-layer 200GB disc. Sony even supposedly had some working 200GB BRD demos way back in 2004. Well, now those mammoth coasters are in the works over at TDK, who apparently hope to commercialize the first presumably quad-layered dual-sided discs (or possibly octo-layered single-sided discs -- yeah, right). They're not giving it up as to when these discs could come out or how much they'll cost, but right now we're more worried about just getting our hands on some players, you know?

[Via TechDigest]