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Cheaper PS3 loses HDMI, slots, Wi-Fi, 40GB
As you can see above, there are a few things different between the two PS3 SKUs planned. (Hint: the obvious alterations concern high-def output and wireless connectivity -- though Bluetooth controllers should work just fine with both, with or without any chrome case highlighting.)So what's HDMI, built-in multimedia card-reader slots, wireless internet connectivity, and an extra 40 gigabytes' hard disk space worth to you? $100? Now that Sony's gone with the 2-SKU approach with its next-gen hardware (a la the Xbox 360's premium and "Core" systems), we can expect some tough consumer choices after six months -- with console shortages possibly for another six months after that -- as $100 separates the base $499 and premium $599 versions of Sony's "Clear Black" hope.HDMI is important to those who want to take full advantage of Blu-ray high def and have the new screens to use it; MemoryStick, SD, and CompactFlash slots would be nice for the PS3 memory-card users and those will run multimedia on the system; Wi-Fi's the only way to avoid stringing ethernet cables for online access; and 360 owners might appreciate the full 60GB available to potential buyers of the premium PS3 model. Neither model comes with a second HDMI port; thankfully, one should hopefully be all most users need. The details are laid out in a feature-comparison table at the end of Sony's official PS3 hardware press release, available in both Adobe Reader and Microsoft Word formats. Determine what's most important to your PS3 ambitions there.[Image pieced together from the PlayStation.com forums; thanks, Guru]
JVC's new GY-HD250U and GY-HD200U HD camcorders
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]
Blu-ray not merging with, thumbs nose at HD DVD. Again.
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.
Acer's new AT3205-DTV 32-inch LCD
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.
IODATA launches BRD-UM2 & BRD-AM2B Blu-ray drives
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 launches two DLP projectors: XV-Z3000, DT-100CJ
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.
Panasonic LF-MB121JD Blu-ray drive ships June 10th for $850
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]
Pioneer's PDP-5000EX is back, brings along PDP-507HX and PDP-427HX
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 new W2607C 26-inch LCD HDTV
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).
Panasonic's 103-inch plasma shipping this year
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]
RCA announces HDV5000 HD DVD player
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.
Panasonic's DVDS52 $100 up-scaler
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).
Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD player goes topless
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.]
TDK hard at work on 8-layer 200GB Blu-ray Disc
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]
Dolphin Stadium gets world's largest 720p display
We're used to a lot of companies calling their products the world's largest, smallest, first or most expensive, and most of the time, we're able to deflate the hype at least a little. But in the case of the newly unveiled display at Miami's Dolphin Stadium, we may just have to hand it to them: the 720p display is a whopping 137 feet wide by 50 feet high, making its diagonal dimensions 1,750 inches. So, when stadium officials boast that it's the world's largest HD display, we really don't think we can argue with them (though we do take issue with their removal of the "s" -- but that's another story). Sort of makes those 103-inchers we were just drooling over seem kind of tiny. Then again, we're not quite sure where we could put a 1,750-incher if we actually had a chance to get one for ourselves, so a 103 will do us just fine, thanks.
Hands-on pics of Toshiba HD-XA1 HD DVD player
We admit that, for most of you, pics of Toshiba's HD-XA1 HD DVD player from every conceivable angle probably won't be as exciting as similar shots of, say, the latest from certain gaming or computing companies. Nevertheless, we can't help but feel a little frisson from finally getting to see this box in action. Or inaction, since there are no shots of it actually showing any HD DVD flicks. Still, courtesy of AV Watch, we get to see some of the setup screens (in Japanese, of course), the remote, and the inputs, which will have to tide us over until this player (and some accompanying content) finally makes its way to US stores.
Samsung confirms delays for BD-P1000 Blu-ray player
Looks like Toshiba isn't the only company with last-minute jitters about the market for next-gen optical disc players. Samsung has now confirmed rumors that the company's BD-P1000, its first consumer Blu-ray disc player, will be delayed from its original ship date of May 23 to sometime in late June. According to Samsung, the $999 player is being delayed due to "testing" needs, though we certainly can't rule out the possibility that at least one of the "tests" the company is planning will be a check of the amount of BD media in the marketplace by the launch date. Samsung still says its player will be the first Blu-ray unit to hit the US market, though Sony's BDP-S1 is currently scheduled for a July ship, so Samsung had better hope the tests are finished on time.[Thanks, Jim]
Pioneer launches PDP-5000EX for June
It's been a while since we heard about Pioneer's "world's smallest" 50-inch 1080p plasma at CEATAC 2005 (which was knocked down a couple of months later by Fujitsu & Hitachi's 42-inch 1080p plasma), but they may yet be the first company to actually get theirs on the market. Pioneer's launching their PDP-5000EX 1080p Pure Vision Black 1080p set in June with component, composite, HDMI, and HDCP DVI inputs. Of course there's no telling what it's going to set you back, but they just better hope Fujitsu & Hitachi don't swoop in for the kill and release theirs first.[Via NewLaunches]
Sharp's new 20-inch LC-20AX6 HDTV
Another day, another Sharp Aquos gets announced -- today it's the LC-20AX6, a simple livin' 20-inch LCD HDTV featuring a 1,366 x 768 panel with a brightness of 500cd/m2, 1,200:1 contrast ratio, 8ms pixel response, integrated digital and analog tuners, and VGA, composite, and S-Video ins, among others (sorry, no DVI / HDMI listed). No figure for a price tag on this thing (or if we'll see it in the States), but it sounds like a decent smallish mid-range set for broke city dwellers such as ourselves.
NuVision to drop the first 1080p LED DLP?
We didn't think it'd be a no-name like NuVision that took the eh-kinda-illustrious title of first company to release a 1080p LED DLP, but they're claiming to have their 52-inch non-wobulator on the market in 3 months. We'll believe it when we see it, but we've no doubt that a good LED DLP would do our respective livingrooms some serious good. Unfortunately we don't have a lot of information on this thing right now, so we'll be scanning HD Beat for the schoop at EHX just as you'll probably be scanning us for an update.
