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Ask Engadget HD: Which HD DVD player upconverts the best?
Soon after the format war came to a close, we wondered what HD DVD adopters would do with all their red-related hardware / software. We were also curious to see if fencesitters and red supporters alike would be quick to pick up a Blu-ray player given the (still) lofty prices. Now, however, we've got yet another angle on all of this -- what if closeout HD DVD players were viewed as DVD upconverters on the cheap? Take a glance at Larry's inquiry: "I was thinking of picking up a HD DVD player and using it as an upconverting player, but I'm not sure which one to get. Which HD DVD player upconverts the best? For what it's worth, I'm working on a 52-inch 1080i HDTV without 720p picture capability." All things considered, HD DVD players marked down substantially aren't a half bad investment if you're already interested in a bulk of the films out there on the format and you're in need of an upscaling DVD player. So, for all of you still clinging tight to your HD DVD decks, how's the upconverting treatin' you?Got a burning question that you'd love to toss out for Engadget HD (or its readers) to take a look at? Tired of Google's blank stares when you ask for real-world experiences? Hit us up at ask at engadgethd dawt com and keep an eye on this space -- your inquiry could be next.
Hey, Office Depot: the format war is over
Yeah, we've seen some retail mix-ups before, but this one really leaves us scratching our heads. We know -- it can take some time before word trickles down and stores start slashing prices once a major high-definition movie format kicks the bucket, but a full month after we sadly let HD DVD go, this particular Office Depot -- located in Houston, Texas -- still hasn't come to terms with reality. And yes, this was snapped within the last 24 hours.[Thanks, Thomas]
Best Buy offers HD DVD owners $10 million in gift cards, trade in, shoulder to cry on
Best Buy is following Future Shop, Circuit City and others in reaching out to casualties of the format war. In this case, anyone who bought an HD DVD player from Best Buy before February 23, 2008 can request a complimentary $50 gift card for each player. For those too traumatized to even look at their discontinued hardware and software, Best Buy also announced it's adding HD DVD players and media to its Trade-In Center program, starting March 21. No word on how much a player can net you, but once it's updated, check BestBuyTradeIn.com to get an estimate and decide how much holding onto the past is worth.[Thanks, Harmin C.]Update: Best Buy just issued a press release with additional information about the more than $10 million in gift cards it plans to distribute, and details on how to make sure you get yours, check out the full PR after the break.
Toshiba projects $669 million loss on HD DVD (and $459 million more)
While entering a format war is still worthy of a cautionary tale or two -- Sony, you may have been on a winning side this time, but we remember Betamax -- Toshiba appears to have escaped the fall of HD DVD a bit more intact than expected. Its official forecast for the financial year shows a loss of 65 billion yen ($669 million U.S.), a bit less than the ¥100b/ $1b U.S. figure anticipated last week. Unfortunately, the company as a whole is expecting slightly lower profits, so former red campers may not want to light cigars just yet.Update: That's actually 65 billion yen PLUS an additional one-time charge of 45 billion yen for a grand total ¥110b ($1.12 billion) going the wrong way in 2007's books. Hey Toshiba, uh, you guys want a Best Buy gift card?
WinDVD 9 Plus Blu-ray finally supports TrueHD and DTS-HD
The format that some say isn't done, just got one step closer for those with media PCs, as the latest version of WinDVD 9 Plus Blu-ray -- despite the new name, HD DVD is still supported -- finally includes support for the latest audio codecs Blu-ray has to offer. But improved audio support isn't all it has to offer, as BonusView is now supported, as well as support for the latest HD video camera codec, AVCHD. We had a chance to play around with it early, but unfortunately we weren't able to unlock TrueHD or DTS-HD -- still waiting to hear back from support. We also had a few HDCP errors despite the fact that PowerDVD plays just fine with our Radeon 2600HD video card. Either way, maybe you'll have better luck, and it'll only cost you $99 to find out -- or $69 if you are upgrading.**Update** Thanks to support we got TrueHD and DTS-HD working by messing with the sound card settings, but the HDCP issue is still bugging us.
HD DVD and Blu-ray releases on March 18th, 2008
Well this it, the very last HD DVD exclusive gets released tomorrow -- at least from any studio you've actually heard of. Although HD DVD exclusives have still been selling well, we don't expect Atonement to sell anywhere near as many titles as the past few hot HD DVD exclusives. Moving forward, HD DVD only has 16 titles left on the calendar and ten are Warner titles previously released on Blu-ray. So, starting next week, this will become the Blu-ray release post, where we'll focus on Blu-ray releases vs what's available in SD on DVD. Speaking of which, Universal is releasing the first season of the now canceled show Bionic Woman on DVD, but there's no mention of an HD version. The hottest title this week is without a doubt I Am Legend. Will Smith's night crawler movie is at the top of the Amazon DVD chart (that's right, it's outselling DVDs), so we expect it'll easily take number one on the Nielsen VideoScan numbers next Friday as well. The other Blu-ray title released this week is no slouch either, as Disney's Enchanted is at nine on the Amazon charts, with the DVD version sitting at two. HD DVD 413 vs Blu-ray 473*Blu-ray Enchanted (Walt Disney) I Am Legend (Warner) HD DVD Aquarium Impressions (Navarre Corporation) Atonement (Universal) Fireplace Impressions (Navarre Corporation) Justice League: The New Frontier (Warner) Led Zeppelin: The Song Remains the Same (Warner) Mystic Forests (Navarre Corporation) * Blu-ray total does not reflect 32 Paramount titles that were previously officially available.
Toshiba reportedly set to lose nearly $1 billion in wake of HD-DVD format death
In order to truly enter a format war, one must possess a number of things. The first, of course, is a viable format, unique from all others currently on the market. The second is the persistence to constantly push your format on as many film companies and consumer electronics producers as you possibly can, to ensure your victory. Finally, should said victory never come, you must possess a strong stomach and a wide wallet -- as losing a format war is a costly and heartbreaking endeavor. According to the Nikkea Business Daily, Toshiba is learning this lesson to the tune of a ¥100 billion loss in revenue this year (to grasp the magnitude of this loss, here it is in numeric form: ¥100,000,000,000) or roughly $986 million in U.S. cash. We usually leave the economic speculation to the experts, but we're pretty sure that's a large sum of money that Toshiba would rather not part with. But as they say, in order to make an omelet, you've got to break a few eggs; though sometimes, you have to break 100 billion eggs, only to find that nobody wants to eat your omelet. Okay, nobody says that.
An up-close look at Niveus' new Movie Gallery
NiveusMedia has always been known for making the coolest Windows Media Centers around, but when it comes to playing content from other places on your top of the line Media Center, you were on your own. We completely understood where Niveus was coming from, not wanting to get involved in the grey area of the business, and while the My Movie plug-in works really well, we always felt Niveus needed to provide a solution it could support. And after a quick visit to the Niveus demo at the EHX's Demo Alley this week, we got an up-close look at the new Movie Gallery plug-in -- yes it supports ripped movies -- and it is exactly that. This cool feature will bring together all your movies from whatever source, (DVD, recorded TV, VideoGiants, Blu-ray and wherever) and give you easy access to your content. We have to say we were impressed, but what we really want to know is when Niveus will allow us to try it out on our DIY box, like Niveus does with its Companion software.%Gallery-18460%
Hands-on with the SE2 Labs ITC One
Although a show like EHX (Electronic House Expo) is small compared to CEDIA or CES, it is a great chance to get up close and personal with hardware you'd otherwise not be able to -- 'cause it costs so darn much. And we have to say, the all-in-one gadget lover's idea of the perfect home theater system, the SE2 Labs' ITC One, is pretty cool in person. We mean, what's not to love about a $25k box that does everything including an Xbox 360, Apple TV, Blu-ray payer, 7.1 AV/R with amplifier and controller for misc automation gadgets around the house. We have to say, it didn't disappoint as long as you don't subscribe to the jack of all trades master of none motto, but switching between devices could've been more seamless.%Gallery-18432%
20% of US households will spend stimulus funds on consumer electronics
Forget income tax rebate checks -- what are you doing with that bonus that should be arriving between May and August of this year? Apparently, 1 in 5 of you will be spending at least a portion of your economic stimulus rebate check on consumer electronics. Granted, this "research" was dug up and put out by the Consumer Electronics Association, but all in all, it actually sounds about right. After all, shipments for flat-panels have already been on the rise this year despite a softening economy, and according to the CEA, "computers, televisions and mobile phones" are the items most likely to be targeted. More specifically, some 39-percent will purportedly use their extra income on a TV, but for their own sake, we certainly hope they set aside enough to purchase HD service to go along with it.[Image courtesy of Crutchfield]
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending March 9th, 2008
This week's Nielsen VideoScan numbers courtesy of Home Media Magazine remind us of the good 'ol days when the format was still raging. In fact, it's kinda nice to see HD DVD go out with a bang, as we suspect this will be the final week HD DVD is able to hold on to a respectable share of the market. We chalk up this week's results to Disney, because we believe that if 101 Dalmatians was released on Blu-ray this week, we'd be looking at completely different results. The reason we think that is because on DVD, the classic dog movie outsold Beowulf by over 4:1 -- that's not to say it would've sold that much better on Blu, since Beowulf probably appeals more to the HDM crowd. Blu-ray's top title didn't do too bad this week though ,but it barely bested the three week old American Gangster. As much fun as it is to see how well hot excluvies continue to sell on HD DVD, the fun is over as the only remaining new release left is Atonement in a few weeks. But even if there were any left, we doubt they'd stand up to Blu's lineup that will be reflected in next week's numbers. What's more up in the air is the status of this weekly post, but we're sure we'll think of something -- no we won't compare Blu-ray to DVD.
VidaBox brings HD DVD / Blu-ray storage and streaming to Media Servers
Although Toshiba itself has walked away from HD DVD, it seems that some companies are still giving users the option to never let go (and understandably so). VidaBox is one such outfit, which has just announced that it's bringing Blu-ray and HD DVD storage and streaming capabilities to its growing list of Media Servers. According to the firm, "unencrypted titles can be copied onto a VidaBox server, and then streamed to VidaBox extenders." Interestingly, that's about where the details end, but feel free to peep the full release in the read link below.
Toshiba's v2.0 firmware for third-gen HD DVD players causing jaggies?
This most certainly isn't the first time we've heard of a firmware update causing more harm than good, but apparently, the latest version -- which supposedly enables 1080p24 output on the HD-A30 / HD-A35 -- is creating all sorts of headaches. According to a lengthy thread over at AVS Forum, the HD DVD faithful that are hanging tight to their players are growing increasingly frustrated by the addition of jaggies on MPEG4 / AVC discs when played back in 1080p24 -- a problem that was also present in the last HD-XA2 firmware. Worse still, it seems as though Toshiba isn't stepping up to address the issue, and considering that its format has now passed away, many are wondering if a bona fide solution will ever surface. If you've been battling this very quirk, head on down to the read link to check out a few workarounds -- here's to hoping a real fix emerges in the not-too-distant future.[Thanks, Colin H.]
Think twice before you tell Netflix you don't want HD DVDs anymore
Evidently Netflix is pretty serious about going Blu-ray exclusive, so much in fact that they stopped buying new releases a few weeks ago, and now when you adjust your format preferences, you see this stern warning letting you know it's a one way change. But just to make sure, we tried to switch it back on and sure enough it's as if HD DVD never existed.
Bee Movie HD DVD slips through cracks, goes for $400
We'll be honest, we can't exactly recall what the going rate on rare Betamax tapes was soon after VHS took over, but it seems that one HD DVD fanatic was willing to shell out quite a bundle in order to take home a presumably canceled version of Bee Movie. In a war that saw some 23 bids fly in, one particularly fortunate eBay seller was able to move a copy of Seinfeld's latest on the now-deceased format for $400 -- we think. Curiously enough, the seller didn't specifically mention that it was the HD version in a publicly answered question, and even more suspicious was the fact that he / she chose to end the auction early despite the chance of it soaring even higher. Here's to hoping the winning bidder both reads this and gets the film they purchased, but let's see some actual pictures as soon as it arrives, cool?[Thanks, Mack S.]
Toshiba swallows a billion dollars on HD DVD
There are spicy meatballs, and there are spicy meatballs -- and now there's a figure that will be tossed around for decades to come, one which will instantly represent the caution companies should take when embarking on another format war: a billion dollars. At least that's what Nikkei is reporting that Toshiba's losses on HD DVD totaled in 2007 alone: a ¥100b, or about $982m USD. It won't drive Toshiba under or anything, but you seriously have to ask yourself, was it really all worth it? [Warning: subscription req'd][Via Reuters]
Lack of competition sends Blu-ray player prices upward
Late last month, we actually posed the question of buying a Blu-ray player now (being that the format war is over and all), or waiting things out until prices sink and Profile 2.0 players flood the market. Aside from the PlayStation 3 -- which is actually priced fairly reasonably if you were in the hunt for a new console anyway -- it seems as though HD DVD's exit has actually caused Blu-ray player prices to creep back upwards. Granted, this is about as far from surprising as it gets -- after all, it's nothing short of supply and demand working its magic. Still, it wasn't too long ago that we saw Toshiba actively putting pressure on the Blu camp to reduce prices in order to stay competitive, and now that said pressure has vanished, stickers on the whole have headed north. Ah well, it's not like the consumer didn't ask for this, um, right?
Discovery Channel offers rock bottom prices on HD DVDs
Not like this comes as any surprise whatsoever, but the latest to jump on the HD DVD fire sale wagon is Discovery Channel. As of now, the firm is offering up its famed Planet Earth, Sunrise Earth and Discovery Atlas titles with massive discounts attached (some flicks are as low as $9.99), but alas, all sales are inevitably final. Still, $29.99 for the Planet Earth HD DVD set could be reason enough to keep that unsupported player around.[Via John B.]
HD DVD and Blu-ray releases on March 11th, 2008
HD DVD had quite a run there for the past three weeks, but now it's over as Blu-ray has an impressive list of new releases and catalog titles. The biggest title this week is easily No Country for Old Men, with its impressive 8.5 IMDB score, and sweeping the Academy Awards a few weeks ago taking just about everything including Best Picture. From our perspective this is one of the best weeks for catalog titles Blu-ray has had in some time, with classics like Gattaca, Dogma and Independence Day. But HD DVD fans do get a good catalog title this week as well, as the hilarious Fletch is released from Universal. This is Universal's second to last title, with Atonement coming out next week. HD DVD was supposed to also get the Bee Movie today, but we know how Dreamworks rolls. Warner, who is the exact opposite continues its red-delay, but like we saw in last week's Nielsen numbers, not many are rewarding Warner for its dedication. We'll have to wait until the Friday after next to see how this slate does, but we'd bet it'll break all the records as Blu might get it's first +90 percent share. HD DVD 407 vs Blu-ray 471*Blu-ray Appleseed Ex Machina (Warner) August Rush (Warner) Dan in Real Life (Walt Disney) Dogma (Sony) Gattaca (Sony) Hitman (Fox) I, Robot (Fox) Independence Day (Fox) No Country for Old Men (Walt Disney) Sleuth (2007) (Sony) HD DVD Fletch (Universal) In the Valley of Elah (Warner) Michael Clayton (Warner) * Blu-ray total does not reflect 32 Paramount titles that were previously officially available.
Circuit City triples return time window for HD DVD player purchases
Hot on the heels of news that Circuit City may in fact be offering up a hush-hush trade-in program for HD DVD purchasers comes official word that said retailer is tripling its standard return window in order to appease early adopters. According to company spokesman Jim Babb, it's looking to "take care of [its] customers" by lengthening the return window from 30 to 90 days for all HD DVD player purchases. When returning the unit, users are given store credit, and while we are told that HD DVD movies are omitted from the policy, we've no idea if combo players are included. We're guessing no, but then again, it's not like those purchasers have nearly as much to worry about.[Thanks, Killer]
