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Sonic Blaster is defeated by fashionable noise-canceling 'head shield'
The Long Range Acoustic Device (or Sonic Blaster, for us simple people) is among the Navy's proudest feats of warfare engineering and a favored tool of law enforcement agencies. The non-lethal amp pumps out an ultra-powerful beam of sound that deters baddies from coming within 82 feet of its position. Unless, of course, those baddies decide to act fresh and bring one of these sound insulating, double-glazed head shields, which will let the wearer stand right in front of a Sonic Blaster without losing his hearing for all eternity. Created by the BBC's Bang Goes the Theory show, the head shield is a perfect complement to your favorite hoodie and casual pair of jeans for a stylish riot out on the town.
Mishmash TV show created to judge power consumption
Accurately measuring exactly how much juice your HDTV is consuming has been all the rage of late, and now, "television manufacturers and broadcasters have produced what may be the world's most boring TV program to measure energy consumption on new-generation televisions." Apparently, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is looking to "have a standard way of measuring how much energy plasma and LCD TVs use," and there seems to be no better way to accomplish the goal than to edit together a ten-minute clip consisting of bits from soap operas, nature programs and sports which the tested sets would play. No word yet on whether this highly-anticipated programming will hit HD DVD or Blu-ray, though.
The Sopranos Season 6 hitting Blu-ray, HD DVD December 19th
We thought HBO and Warner might be up to something when they delayed the debut of The Sopranos Season 6: Part 1 from its original November launch date on HD DVD. We don't know if they were just waiting for the PlayStation 3, impressed by the improving quality of Blu-ray releases or what, but now the 4-disc, 12 episode boxed set is back and set to go on sale for both high definition formats December 19th. With a steep MSRP of $129.95 this could make an expensive Christmas gift for the well-connected HDTV owner in your life, but isn't The Family worth it?[Via MovieWeb]
Lost Season 1 hitting Blu-ray next summer?
Lost fansite The Tail Section is reporting that sources from ABCs marketing department have indicated Disney's home video arm, Buena Vista is close to announcing a series of HDTV shows coming to Blu-ray boxed sets next year. ABC's Lost would be the flagship of the lineup and include many extras not available on the already successful DVD release. Unfortunately, if you thought the $79 Smallville Season 5 boxed set was high priced you may want to sit down as the rumor pegs a single season of Lost at $200. Future plans would include releasing shows in in two-episode discs, for $20 each. Lost is still a wildly popular series, but $200 per season is just a bit much, no matter what the extras...but you do want to be able to catch every single detail right?
More Smallville HD DVD details
The first network TV series to see release on HD DVD or Blu-ray, Smallville just gave us a few more reasons to eagerly anticipate the release of the season 5 boxed set. There will be an HDi interactive feature for the season premiere episode "Arrival" -- we suppose Warner can't call it IME seeing as its not a movie, but we're sure they'll come up with something -- and all episodes will be encoded in 1080p, with Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks. All this HD goodness comes at a price, $79.98 to be exact; a $20 bump over the standard DVD edition when it hits February 6, 2007. Despite the premium price, after watching a series in HD, going back to DVD quality later isn't our preferred option.Update: VideoBusiness is reporting that the 5-disc set will be available November 28, 2006. Sooner = better. (Confirmed.)[Thanks, TJ]
The West Wing is NOT coming to HD DVD
It might be coming someday, just not anytime soon. In response to those shots of the advertisements included in the recently-released Invasion DVD boxed set, Warner has issued an official statement that they currently have no plans to make the seventh season of The West Wing available on HD DVD. The standard-def DVD launch is still on for November 7, but no HD at this time. The good news is that Smallville still appears to be on track.
Smallville and The West Wing next TV shows to HD DVD?
Our friends at TheManRoom stumbled upon an interesting bit of information in their Invasion DVD boxed set, an advertisement for Smallville and The West Wing coming soon on HD DVD. Based on the box art displayed, one can assume that they plan on releasing current seasons of high-def shows on the new formats first, then working their way back through the older shows. Whether or not these will be day-and-date releases like The Sopranos remains to be seen, but we'll be keeping an eye out for Lost and 24 boxed sets.
Rumor: game based on TV's Lost this fall for consoles
EGM's April 2006 issue sports a short entry under its monthly Rumor Mill section telling readers to expect a Lost video game this fall for unspecified consoles.The Q also claims that the playable adaptation will "even feature an online multiplayer mode called something like 'Passengers versus The Others.'" Predicting possible genres is sketchy at this point, but one could imagine modes such as Capture the Hatch, Pregnant Woman Rescue, and Team Freak-out popping up like a season or two's stranded passenger hallucinations. (Then again, maybe not...)
