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MIT Media Lab develops glasses-free HR3D, supports broad viewing angles (video)
We've already seen plenty of glasses-free 3D HDTVs and portable devices, but a promising new technology called HR3D (High-Rank 3D) has hit the prototype phase. Engineers from MIT's Media Lab, who developed the new solution, say that it avoids compromising on screen brightness, resolution, viewing angle, and battery life, and doesn't require those pesky (and pricey) 3D glasses. HR3D uses a pair of layered LCDs to give the illusion of depth, with the top layer (or mask) displaying a variable pattern based on the image below it, so each eye sees a slightly different picture. Nintendo's 3DS uses a similar technique, but with a parallax barrier instead of a second display. The designers constructed the prototype from two Viewsonic VX2265wm displays, removing the LCDs from their housings and pulling off polarizing filters and films. We've yet to go eyes-on with HR3D, so we're a mite skeptical, but tech this promising is worth watching closely, and from every angle.
Plextor PL-LB950UE Blu-ray burner lands in the US with heady mix of USB 3.0 speed and double-layer storage
Europeans have been able to bag this speedy external writer for a few months now, but it's only just received its Green Card -- turning up in the US with a suitcase full of dreams and a price tag of $239.99. A quick check of its CV resume reveals a choice of either USB 3.0 or eSATA connectivity, 12x write speed, and the ability to burn up to 50GB of data on a dual-layer disc. The drive is being pitched as an "all-in-one Blu-ray device" because it also handles 3D playback and has a low vibration system for quieter operation. Admittedly, it only offers half as much storage as BDXL writers, but those burn slower and onto judderingly expensive media. Closer competition comes from Buffalo, which arrived early to the USB 3.0 table, but whose current MediaStation model omits the eSATA option.
Don't forget: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind comes to Blu-ray January 25th
Come January, if your recollections of 2010 leave you wishing for a full brain reformat, unfortunately science -- at least in its legal incarnations -- can't help you. Universal's decision to release Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind on Blu-ray this coming January though will at least let you live vicariously through the trippy shenanigans of Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet. Available for pre-order now from Amazon for just shy of $20, the 1080p version will ship as a single 50GB dual-layered Blu-ray disc and feature a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio soundtrack along with a host of extras, like interviews with the cast and short documentaries on the film's production. Now that you've been alerted, if you try to pull the I don't remember card come January, we'll know Frodo, Kirsten Dunst and Mark Ruffalo stopped by your crib in the middle of the night.
Sharp's laser to enable 6x, dual-layer Blu-ray laptop recording
Sharp just introduced their latest, itty bitty blue laser. While maintaining the same 3.3-mm diameter of their previous package, Sharp's new GH04P25A4G semiconductor laser manages to boost the power to 250mW. That little trick should make 6x recording speeds to dual-layer BD media in laptops a reality. They've also announced a similarly speced 5.6-mm (GH04P25A2G) jobbie for desktops. Both are shipping now in ¥50,000 sample quantities with mass production set to begin in April. That translates to about 462 US dollars -- not that the US manufactures CE equipment anymore. [Via Impress]
Samsung unveils Super-WriteMaster 16x DL DVD burner
Samsung has rolled out its fastest DVD burner yet, with the Super-WriteMaster (ha!) SH-S203N running at 20x for DVD±R discs, 16x for dual layer DVD+R variants, 12x for DVD-RAM, and progressively slower for other disc standards. It's all kitted up with a SATA connection standard, and supports LightScribe burning so you know what the hell's on that disc you just burnt. Samsung says this is the fastest dual layer DVD burner out there: we don't know if that's true, but we do know it's faster than our crappy 8x DL burner. Pick it up anywhere from now for $79.99.
JVC announces first rewritable single-sided dual layer DVDs
Inventing the dual layer DVD-RW standard may seem like an extreme example of too little too late in the days of 15GB+ HD DVD and 25GB+ Blu-ray, but JVC has gone ahead and done it anyway. Hitting up the same 8.5GB capacity as regular double layer DVD-RWs and dual layer DVD-RWs, the JVC discs come with a specially hardened coating which is apparently "150 times" more effective than the coating on plain old DVDs. Unfortunately, the new format requires entirely new burners, is only available at 2x write speeds, and no shipping dates or details are available. Sounds like JVC's got a winner on its hands ... yeah.
Lionsgate to put two films on a dual-layer Blu-ray disc
Sure, manufacturers have been cramming vanilla DVD content onto high-definition discs for some time, but aside from a few nifty features, they haven't gone out of their way to truly take advantage of all that space. Lionsgate and Marvel Enterprises are looking to change all that, as the duo plans to loose Ultimate Avengers: The Movie and Ultimate Avengers 2 on a single 50GB Blu-ray disc. Each film will reside on its own separate side, but neither will purportedly include DVD versions for use in standard players. Additionally, the flick will contain "two featurettes, a gag reel, a trivia track, and a first look at upcoming movie Dr. Strange," and should hit store shelves on April 24th for $39.99. Now, how long before we start seeing full-fledged trilogies on a single disc?[Via TGDaily]
Sony Pictures reveals first quarter Blu-ray release schedule
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has revealed its first quarter Blu-ray lineup, and the studio is putting the new Bond front and center right away. A Blu-ray player was featured in the movie as a result of the close ties so we're not very surprised, but new Bond Daniel Craig is actually hitting Blu-ray twice in one day. The studio is releasing another film of his, the previously delayed Layer Cake, the same day. Both are on dual-layer 50GB discs and feature uncompressed soundtracks, which make up a large part of SPHE's early 2007 lineup, while Casino Royale is encoded in MPEG-4 AVC. Also of note is Resident Evil: Apocalypse, the second Blu-ray movie featuring Blu-Wizard technology to custom select special features that can then play during the movie. Hopefully this combination of high profile movie and 50GB disc works out better than on the universally panned transfer of Talladega Nights. Check the press release for complete special features details or after the break for a list of movies and release dates.
Verbatim ready to ship 30GB HD DVD-R media to North America
If you've already laid down your order for one of the HD DVD writers announced at CES, you're probably in need of just two things: HD DVD-R media and more cash. While we can't exactly help with the latter, Verbatim has just announced that it plans to start shipping 30GB HD DVD-R media to the North American market "when HD DVD writers become available." Considering those drives are now finding their way to shelves, we'd guess these writeable discs won't be too far behind. Parent company Mitsubishi Kagaku Media has been shipping these discs for months to Japan, and Memorex has likely been holding down the blank HD DVD market thus far in the US, but we're not complaining with a little head-to-head competition.
Toshiba unveils SD-H903A HD DVD burner for PCs
Hot on the heels of all this last minute, pre-CES HD DVD-related action is the SD-H903A, which Toshiba touts as "the world's first dedicated PC-based HD DVD burner" that writes "to all main optical discs." Aside from the obvious (albeit expected) hand-to-the-face to BD-Rs in that last claim, the burner does manage to write nicely to HD DVD-R (single and dual-layer at a measly 1x), DVD +/- R, DVD-RAM, DVD +/- RW, CD-R, and CD-RW. Additionally, it'll include an 8MB buffer, and if all goes well, should play back all your precious HD DVD titles without complication. While we've no idea how much coinage will be required to pick this (admittedly sluggish) drive up, sample shipments are scheduled to take off this month, and we should get a good look at just what it's capable of at next week's CES.
Pioneer unveils DVR-A12J 10x dual-layer DVD burner
Similar to the height / width race that's always going on in the land of HDTV, the write speed race is also one that never seems to cease. While you can toast a blank DVD at 20x, the dual-layer variety demands a bit more patience, but thanks to Pioneer's latest, the waiting game is getting ever shorter. The DVR-A12J lineup comes in piano black, silver, and white color schemes, claims Windows XP compatibility, and offers up 10x write speeds on dual-layer DVD+/-R media. Additionally, it touts Labelflash technology (similar to LightScribe), writes to single-layer DVD media at 18x, and takes care of DVD-RAM at 12x. Moreover, it boasts a 2MB cache and a rather stout Cyberlink software bundle, including PowerDVD6, PowerProducer, and Power2Go. So if you're still holding out on those pricey (and sluggish) Blu-ray burners, you can snap this sucka up for just ¥10,000 ($86) later this month.[Via Impress]
Sony DADC 50GB Blu-ray production underway
The last time we checked in on Sony's Terra Haute, IN-based Blu-ray plant dual-layer 50GB discs were still nowhere to be seen, but the company announced recently it now has 6 50GB production lines up and running and is ramping up to produce 60,000 discs per day. According to the Executive Vice President production is "meeting expectations", and not a minute too soon. With the PlayStation 3 finally here and the BDP-S1 coming... some day if Blu-ray is going to win the format war they'll certainly need more than 25GB discs to do it. With over 130 BD titles mastered, including some dual-layer releases even though 50GB is late to the party, it's earlier than some anticipated.[Via HDBlog.net]
Lite-On finally releases 20x Super AllWrite LH-20A1P DVD burner
Ok, so we knew these bad boys were coming, and now they're finally here -- well, almost. Lite-On is setting the burning world on fire with its newly released 20X Super AllWrite LH-20A1P DVD burner. Touting a lighting-fast 20x write speed for single-sided DVD+/-R discs and 8x for DVDs of the dual-layer variety, the new burner can toast 4.7GB of data in "around five minutes." Of course, it can handle those CD-R / RWs as well, and even DVD-RAM, but we all know you DVD archivers are after the coveted 20x mark when eying this one. To prevent pumping out coasters at an alarming rate, Lite-On included its SMART-BURN technology, which provides buffer underrun protection to keep those burns error free. Unfortunately, the drive hasn't quite hit shelves yet, but it should be ready to grab sometime next month for a currently undisclosed price.[Via Far East Gizmos]
Xbox 360 backup hack leads to surging dual-layer DVD+/-R sales
Although a lot has been said regarding the hackability of the Xbox 360, there's always a way if there's a will. Sure enough, the clever, engineering minds of the world finally figured out how to flash its firmware, create backup discs, and subsequently destroy any remaining warranty. While Microsoft certainly doesn't appear to be the beneficiary in this here scenario, someone's always there to catch the spoils of such widespread hackeration, and this time it's the dual-layer DVD manufacturers. As the hack has seemingly become quite the rage, companies such as CMC Magnetics and Ritek are seeing demand for their "dual-layer DVD±R discs" creep upward; coming off numerous months of sluggish sales, the outfits are pointing the finger at widespread availability of the Xbox 360 hack to explain the sudden resurgence in popularity. While "global DVD±R DL disc shipments are expected to reach 100 million in 2006," analysts are now expecting that number to "double" in 2007, so hopefully the cost of backin' it up will continue to become more affordable than ever (until Microsoft rolls out another fix, that is).
Sony Pictures' first 50GB Blu-ray releases coming soon
Blu-ray supporters will be getting a shot in the arm next week when Click becomes the first Sony Pictures Home Entertainment movie released on 50GB dual-layer Blu-ray discs. We got tipped by an inside source at Sony to expect announcements tomorrow regarding Click's release on October 10th -- with all the features of the standard DVD plus bonus HD features -- followed by Black Hawk Down November 14th and Talladega Nights on December 12th. Black Hawk Down is said to include "Blu-wizard" technology that will allow viewers to customize how they see special scenes. The high-def DVD war really begins in November, between the Xbox 360 HD DVD player, Black Hawk Down & Fox's Blu-ray Java releases plus a little something called the Playstation 3, that magnetic strip on your credit card may be the first casualty.
Sony intros new 18x DVD burners, and a slimline model to boot
Sony has unveiled a new line-up of 830 series DVD burners which somehow have the ability to burn 16x media at 18x speeds, or a whole 4.7GB DVD in around 5 minutes. The new burners come in three different enclosures: firstly, the $90 DRU-830A, a internal drive that comes bundled with Nero 7 authoring software; secondly, the $130 DRX-830U, which is an external drive running off USB 2.0; and finally, the $150 DRX-830UL-T, which comes with Toast 6 Lite and a FireWire port to cater to Mac users. Sony has also announced a new external slimline model called the DRX-S50U -- a $130 drive capable of 8x single-layer DVD writing from inside its diminutive 4/5-inch thick enclosure. Mail-in rebates will be available on the 830 series drives, and all but the Mac-compatible DRX-830UL-T will be available in October -- Mac users will have to wait until December to get their burn on.
Report: 50GB, dual-layer Blu-ray discs WILL play
So check it: intrepid optical media journo Bill Hunt -- the same man who told us with some confidence that 50GB Blu-ray discs would definitely NOT work on currently-configured BD-P1000 players -- is now reporting that dual-layer movies WILL actually play on the Samsung machine, no firmware update required. Hunt was at an unnamed Hollywood studio the other day before a taping of Attack of the Show when he had the privilege of watching one of the first production 50GB discs playing in an unmodified P1000, even observing the seamless switch from one layer to the next. According to Hunt, the previous compatibility problems were restricted to BD-R discs only -- media that was being used to test authoring -- and that the final production BD-ROMs should work just fine on your existing hardware. In all honesty we're kind of disappointed at this revelation, as were just about to snatch up an HD DVD player, and now once again we're hopelessly torn between the two formats. Bah, maybe we'll just cave in and settle for whatever low-res fare we can dredge up on Unbox and iTunes.
Fox announces first Blu-ray releases: 8 titles, BD-J, MPEG-4 AVC, 50GB
Fox has announced they are jumping into the Blu-ray market in a big way this fall, with eight titles scheduled and the debut of many of the advanced features we've been expecting to see from Blu-ray since launch. Slated to launch just ahead of the Playstion 3 in Japan November 10th followed by North America, Europe and Australia release on November 14th, all of the movies will carry an MSRP of $39.98 and appear to be well worth it. Also announced today is the day-and-date with the DVD release of Ice Age: The Meltdown on Blu-ray November 21st. The rundown of the titles and their features is as follows: Behind Enemy Lines: BD-J authored, DTS HD Lossless Master Audio and MPEG-4 compression. Includes several director commentaries and HD trailers for coming BD releases. Fantastic Four: DTS HD Lossless Master Audio, HD Trailers, HDMV authored. Kingdom of Heaven (Directors Cut): 50GB dual-layer Blu-ray disc to accommodate the 3 hour 42 minute movie DTS HD Master Lossless Audio, HDMV authored. Kiss of the Dragon: Director commentaries, HDMV authored, HD Trailers. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: BD-J authored, MPEG-4 AVC compression, special features including search index by actor/character/location and more, a first-person shooter game, up to 99 bookmarks, pop up animated trivia game and HD trailers. The Omen (666): DTS HD Lossless Master Audio, director commentaries plus BD-exclusive pop-up trivia track The Devils Footnotes exploring the history of 666. Speed: BD-J authored, DTS HD Lossless Master Audio, 56 category search index, Speed: Take Down Java game with six play modes and HD trailers. The Transporter: DTS HD Lossless Master Audio, HDMV authored, director commentaries, HD trailers. Twentieth Century Fox is obviously going the extra mile to show what Blu-ray can do in these initial releases, with features even Sony Pictures has put off until 2007 like BD-J. As the press release states, these titles and features have been chosen specifically to appeal to buyers of the Playstation 3 and Blu-ray early adopters. While you may be familiar with Blu-ray's advanced Blu-ray Java features obviously present in the BD-J authored releases, if you're unfamiliar with HDMV, that is the term for discs authored with simpler menus more reminiscent of traditional DVDs. While HD DVD has undoubtedly outclassed Blu-ray up to this point, it looks like the BDA's first strike back will come in November.
Samsung BD-P1000 & 50GB Blu-ray incompatibility rumors continue
Ever since the Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray player launched there have been rumors that it did not ship with the ability to read 50GB discs based on a passage in the manual which only cited 25GB compatibility.. Over at The Digital Bits, they cite unnamed sources from as recently as two weeks ago stating that dual-layer 50GB discs weren't available for testing (even though it was originally delayed for further compatibility testing) before the player launched and now that there are, they just don't work. The good news would be that this is apparently fixable via a firmware update like another BD-P1000 problem we've heard about; but this problem is figuring into the delay of not only dual-layer movies, but other upcoming standalone Blu-ray players as well. Firmware update or not, we're pretty sure early adopting Blu-ray buyers didn't spend $1000 to only be able to read 25GB discs. We'd love to confirm or deny these rumors, in fact, we'll just go grab a dual-layer movie release and put it in right now...oh. Like so many other things about this format war we'll have to wait and see.
Sony Pictures: At least two 50GB Blu-ray releases by year-end, no BD-J until 2007
Retail movie releases on dual layer 50GB Blu-ray discs will become a reality in 2006, according to Sony Pictures President Ben Feingold, quoted by VideoBusiness as stating that the studio will release at least two movies on the discs by the end of this year. He didn't specify any additional features, titles, prices or advanced codec support yet, but while another executive confirmed more Blu-ray features would be coming, we shouldn't expect to see discs using Blu-ray Java (BD-J) technology until January. They also commented on the criticism of the quality of some Blu-ray releases, noting that newer movies and more recent releases have received better reviews, while also putting some blame on the decisions of filmmakers and the monitors used during the mastering process. Movie houses are also waiting for more players (read: PS3) to hit the ground to be able to test compatibility before they start including highly interactive features. At least so far, HD DVD has been able to take advantage of their lead time on the movie side with (currently) larger discs, more efficient compression and some interesting bonus features. The real Blu-ray launch is coming this winter as several new players will be greeted by these much improved discs, we'll see how the format war stacks up then.
