Handy Gadgets

A review of the Samsung HT-BD2 Blu-ray Home Cinema System has been posted over at Trusted Reviews. 'All of the processing and amplification takes place in the main unit, which pumps out a respectable 1,100W (RMS) or power, which works out at 135W per channel with 155W for the sub. The built-in disc drive obviously plays Blu-ray, but it also spins DVDs (upscaling them to 1080p if you want), finalised DVD-RW/-Rs and CDs, and you can also play MP3 and JPEG files from recordable CDs and DVDs. However, the unit is locked into Blu-ray Region B and DVD Region 2 and you can forget about DVD-Audio playback, which would have been a nice bonus feature for fans of hi-res music

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Posted by Handy Gadgets Admin at 5:18 PM | Permalink

Press Release

Mini Blu-ray discs deliver remarkable capacity for a wide range of HD video applications

OAKDALE, Minn., Imation Corp. (NYSE: IMN), exclusive licensee of the "TDK Life on Record" recording media brand, today announced the global release of 8cm recordable Blu-ray Discs. Available in both BD-R (recordable) and BD-RE (re-recordable), each TDK 8cm Blu-ray Disc offers 7.5 gigabytes of capacity, ample to store 60 minutes of full-quality high-definition video. TDK BD-R (BD-R75A) and BD-RE (BD-RE75A) 8cm Blu-ray Discs will begin shipping in the U.S. in September at manufacturer suggested retail prices (MSRPs) of $24.99 and $34.99, respectively. TDK Corporation manufactures these 8cm recordable Blu-ray Discs using TDK advanced technologies and supplies the product to Imation for sale under the TDK Life on Record brand.

Continue reading "Imation Introduces 'TDK Life on Record' Brand High-Performance 8cm Recordable Blu-ray Discs" »

Posted by Handy Gadgets Admin at 10:19 PM | Permalink

Extreme Tech have published a review of the Lite-On LH-2B1S Blu-ray Burner. 'Blue laser hardware is gradually becoming more affordable. On the consumer side, Blu-ray players such as the Samsung BD-P1000 are starting to approach the $500 price point. HD-DVD players are dipping below $300 for 1080i units like the Toshiba HD-A2, and you can pick up a 1080P Toshiba HD-A20 for under $400.On the PC front, events have moved a little more slowly. Blu-ray burners have dropped in price by about a third. For example, the Sony BWU-100A we reviewed late last year initially weighed in at $750, but you can now find it for $599. The HD-DVD front for the PC has been somewhat slower to materialize. External HD-DVD drives from HP are available, as is the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive, which works fine on a PC. But both are HD-DVD ROM drives, not burners. The Toshiba SD-H903A internal HD-DVD burner has supposedly shipped, but you can't find it anywhere, and review samples from Toshiba haven't been available either.'

Continue reading "Review: Lite-On LH-2B1S Blu-ray Burner - Extreme Tech" »

Posted by Handy Gadgets Admin at 3:34 PM | Permalink

CNET have posted their review of the LG Super Multi Blue HD player which plays back both HD DVD and Blu-ray discs. 'One of the first things you might notice when you look at the BH100 is that there are absolutely zero buttons on the front panel, not even a button to open and close the disc tray. What are you to do when the remote goes missing? Well, there are actually five touch-sensitive buttons located on the top of the unit. This arrangement is stylish, but it introduces a slight design issue--you can't stack other components on top of the BH100 if you plan on using the buttons. The other problem we had is that the buttons don't stay lit up, which makes them a little difficult to see in a dark home theater environment. Aside from that, we were actually pleasantly surprised by how well the buttons work--sometimes touch-sensitive buttons can be finicky, but these were nearly flawless in their responses.'

Continue reading "LG BH100 - CNET" »

Posted by Handy Gadgets Admin at 3:20 AM | Permalink

Technology Review have published a review of the two competing second generation movie disc formats from Sony and Toshiba. 'From the HD DVD camp I tried Toshiba Corp.'s $499 HD-A2 player. In the other corner of the ring swaggered Sony Corp.'s BDP-S1 Blu-ray disc player, which lists for $999 but is available for less. As a cheaper alternative, I also looked at the Blu-ray function of a $599 PlayStation 3 from Sony. Our review of the first Toshiba HD DVD player, the HD-A1, in September noted that it was a massive affair that took a minute to start up and another to load the movie disc. The first Blu-ray player, from Samsung, was met by similar complaints, and appeared to degrade image quality slightly.'

Continue reading "Prize Fight: HD DVD vs Blu-ray" »

Posted by Handy Gadgets Admin at 11:24 AM | Permalink

Gizmodo have come into possession of one of LG's BH100 (Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD High-Definition) Players and have posted their "First review' of the gadget which is capable of playing both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs. 'Right off the bat, I'll tell you that the rumors that the HD-DVD compatibility is half-assed are absolutely true. One of HD-DVD's strongest points is its interactive menus and video features, like the ones we wrote about in our Fast and the Furious HD-DVD review. This player didn't support the menus on this movie, and some of the special features, like being able to repaint a race car in the movie, were only found when I manually skipped to the chapter. Even then, the only thing you can depend on is that the movie will play. Which may be enough for many, but not enough for those who want the most from both formats.'

Continue reading "Review: LG BH100 Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD High-Definition Player - Gizmodo" »

Posted by Handy Gadgets Admin at 12:24 PM | Permalink

Matthew Elliott, writing on CNET.com, reviews the "first Blu-ray burner to hit the market". 'Pioneer won the Blu-ray burner race, but it cut some corners on the way to the finish line. The company's BDR-101A, an internal PC drive, is the first drive available that uses Sony's Blu-ray disc (BD) format. When DVD burners first arrived and CD burners before that, the first-generation drives were expensive and slow. The Pioneer BDR-101A's sky-high price of $999 and its slow 2X write speeds, therefore, should come as no surprise. What did surprise us was the fact that the drive supports neither dual-layer 50GB Blu-ray discs nor plain Jane CDs. Sony just announced its first Blu-ray drive, the BWU-100A, which supports both of these disc types, and it costs $250 less.

Continue reading "Pioneer BDR-101A Blu-ray Disc/DVD Disc Internal Writer Review" »

Posted by Handy Gadgets Admin at 9:17 AM | Permalink