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Goldmund Debuts $16,900 Blu-ray Disc Player

by Will Safer, posted Feb 27th 2008 at 3:15PM

Goldmund $16,900 Blu-ray Disc player

It's a fact that Blu-ray provides higher definition, more clarity and greater color representation than DVD. But is there then a hierarchy among Blu-ray Disc players?

Leave it to Swiss firm Goldmund to stake a claim to the highest of the high-end in HD machines. With the introduction of the Eidos 20 BD, a Blu-ray Disc player originally slated for a debut later this year but moved up on the calender in the wake of HD-DVD's death knell, Goldmund has produced a device that they claim will out-pace all competitors.

And it had better. With a price tag of $16,900, expectations will be high.

The Eidos 20 BD has several of Goldmund's "signature" features, such as an AC-Curator power supply circuit to improve picture and sound stability and dynamics, plus Mechanical Grounding construction to remove "spurious vibrations," which would blur the video signal and increase jitter. Add to that a Magnetic Damper, which lowers reading errors, a feature that before now was found on only Goldmund's highest end devices.

Yes, you read that right. Higher end. This is the company that brought you the $300,000 turntable and the million dollar media room, which Switched had the privilege of visiting during January's Consumer Electronics Show.

So, comparatively speaking, maybe $16,900 is a bargain?

From Goldmund.

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Netflix Not Stocking Enough Blu-ray Discs?

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Feb 25th 2008 at 2:00PM


Excited to see all the Academy Award winners you missed over the last year? Want to see them on your new Blu-Ray payer? Psyched to check out all the new releases in high-definition? Sure you are, so you hit up Netflix to add them to your queue and wait for them to arrive. The only problem? It seems Netflix isn't stocking enough Blu-Ray discs, and your queue looks something like the one above.

We've been aching to say something about this apparent Netflix Blu-Ray shortage for a while, but before we went off on some wild accusatory tangent, we decided to wait for a couple weeks to see if the death of HD-DVD would get Netflix to stock more Blu-Ray discs. You know, to be fair to Netflix. It seems the problem hasn't let up, however.

The above picture is what our queue has looked like for the past couple weeks. See all those "Short Wait, Long Wait, and "Very Long Wait" messages? Those mean those discs are not in stock at Netflix, they're not sure when they will be, and we'll just have to wait for other customers to return their discs. And in the afterglow of the Academy Awards, we're not confident the problem will let up any time soon.

Isn't it time for Netflix to stock more Blu-Ray discs? With the rising popularity of the format, the end of HD-DVD as we know it, and the oncoming rise in Blu-Ray releases (just take a look at the Blu-Ray association's web site that lists upcoming releases), we think it's time for Netflix to stop treating Blu-Ray like a niche product and let us have the HD goodness we're (apparently) waiting for.

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Sony Stakes its Future In OLED TVs With Huge Investment

by Thomas Houston , posted Feb 20th 2008 at 3:15PM



Sony announced Tuesday that it will spend $200 million on OLED development and production. OLED, a next-generation display technology, can be made extremely thin and flexible because they are built from organic carbon materials. OLED displays are currently prohibitively expensive and small--Sony's newest $2500 OLED-TV is only 11 inches--and a drive towards larger and cheaper displays may explain Sony's huge investment in the technology.

The future for OLED looks brighter and brighter, thanks to Sony's investment and an increasing number of OLED prototypes and products becoming available on the market.

From Newsvine

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BBC Coming to iTunes

by Thomas Houston , posted Feb 19th 2008 at 5:40PM


Following today's announcement that iTunes is now among the top 10 US record sellers, the BBC will be offering its programs through Apple's iTunes Music Store as part of continuing efforts to expand its content outside the borders of the UK.

Currently, BBC programs are made available on the free, UK-only iPlayer application after airing on TV, and short clips and previews are available on the BBC YouTube Channel. The new deal with Apple outlines the BBC's plan to offers at least 10 series through iTunes, including "Life on Mars" and "Ashes to Ashes." Simon Danker, director of digital media at BBC Worldwide, said, "We want to give audiences a wide variety of options on how and where to view their favorite BBC shows." Once purchased and downloaded, users will be able to view the content in iTunes and on iPods, iPhones, and Apple TVs.

While we're encouraged by the BBC's first step in making this content available worldwide, we're hoping that more of the enormous BBC archives will be opened up and made available on iTunes soon.

from BBC News

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Wal-Mart Sides With Blu-ray

by Thomas Houston , posted Feb 15th 2008 at 6:16PM

blu-ray

It's been a rough week for HD-DVD, Toshiba's high-definition video format, and things are starting to look even worse. Sony Corporation's Blu-ray format, supported by heavyweights 20th Century Fox, Sony, and Walt-Disney, won important allies this week: Best Buy announced it would start recommending Blu-ray over HD-DVD to its customers, Netflix completely dropped HD-DVD in favor of Blu-ray, and now Wal-Mart is making a move to potentially end the format wars once and for all.

Wal-Mart, one of the world's leading retailers of movies, announced today that it would sell exclusively Blu-ray movies and hardware (though it will continue selling standard-definition DVDs), beginning in June. As we announced earlier, anonymous sources are suggesting that Toshiba may be halting production of HD-DVD players in the coming weeks.

In light of these recent announcements, Blu-ray may have won the format war, which will come as a relief to many consumers waiting for it to be over before purchasing a next-generation video player.

From Check Out

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HD-DVD Going the Distance With $2.7 Million Super Bowl Spot

by Alon Avdi, posted Jan 29th 2008 at 5:37PM



Rocky always refused to go down, even if his face got beaten into Hamburger Helper. Despite looking like Rocky sans the steadfastly loyal fan base, the folks behind HD-DVD are trying to get that cinematic comeback-when-the-chips-are-down win... or at least some sort of moral victory.

Wired reports that Toshiba, one of the companies that's backing HD-DVD, has paid $2.7 million for a 30-second commercial airtime spot during this Sunday's Super Bowl. This is very strange news indeed, considering most people -- including consumers in January -- have already decided that HD-DVD is dead.

Perhaps this is Toshiba's way of saying that it's going the distance, no matter the facts. Maybe the HD-DVD player manufacturers are determined to carve some sort of new niche as the cheaper, downmarket alternative to Blu-ray's pricey and flashy product. Time to cue the inspirational soundtrack...

From Wired

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Blu-Ray Disc Player Sales Skyrocket

by Alon Avdi, posted Jan 24th 2008 at 2:39PM



It appears that the high-definition disc format war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD is nearing the mop-up stages, as Blu-Ray sales have accounted for 93% of the market share for set-top players since the second week of January. Coming on the heels of Warner's announcement to support Blu-ray rather than its rival, HD-DVD, these figured indicate that HD-DVD could be in its death throes. Interestingly, sales were almost evenly split during the first week of January, before the Warner announcement.

While the numbers suggest that the general public is taking the pragmatic approach in supporting the supposed victor, HD-DVD nevertheless continues to insist on business as usual. One aspect of the issue to consider is whether or not the mainstream media bears some responsibility for the skewed sales, as most media outlets reported the Warner story as the nail in HD-DVD's coffin. Did the media "make" news which the public followed? You decide, but it may be a moot point if Blu-Ray continues to enjoy its current market share for DVD players.

From The Digital Bits Via Engadget

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Million-Dollar Home Theater Delivers 13,000 Watts (Video)

by Ben Chertoff, posted Jan 23rd 2008 at 5:04PM


Forget home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB). For around a million dollars, Swiss-based ultra-high-end audio manufacturer Goldmund will build you a custom-designed media room, specifically tailored and built to withstand peak audio levels equivalent to a jet taking off.

When Goldmund invited us to their exclusive Los Angeles showroom during the Consumer Electronics Show, we were skeptical that 130dB of sound energy would melt our brain. In a way, it did, but not in the painful, drippy sort of way. After watching a movie in a Goldmund media room, no theater will ever compare. Take a look at our exclusive video to find out more.

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Robots You'll Want to Buy In 2008

by Switched Staff, posted Jan 14th 2008 at 12:41PM


Robots are everywhere. Especially at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show last week. But here's the good news -- you'll be able to buy many of the robots you'll see talking, posing, and rolling around in the above exclusive Switched video. Check it out.

Hands-On With Philips' New Dream HD LCD TV

by Alon Avdi, posted Jan 10th 2008 at 4:36PM

Philips Dream HD LCD TV

Your heroes at Switched came away impressed after our hands-on with Philips' latest high definition (HD) LCD television sets last night. The new sets comprise Philips' 2008 "Design Collection", featuring round-edges surrounded by acrylic framing in all TVs ranging from 19 to 52 inches (diagonal). Forgive us for jumping to the dessert course of the meal, but we think it best to go into detail about the Ultimate Dream TV, the top-of-the-line product from Philip's new 7000 Series that is being hailed as a winner of the 2008 CEA Innovations Award for Design and Engineering.

Continue reading Hands-On With Philips' New Dream HD LCD TV

Video: The World's Largest Television Unveiled

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jan 8th 2008 at 9:30PM


No, I'm really not that short. This TV is just that big. As we promised you last week, the world's largest TV from Panasonic measures in at 150-inches diagonal.

Comcast to Offer 50x Faster Web Speeds, More HD On-Demand, and Fancast

by Alon Avdi, posted Jan 8th 2008 at 3:10PM



Today at CES, Comcast CEO Brian L. Roberts announced a bevy of new services and technologies for the cable giant's customers. The signature development Roberts touted is the launch today of Fancast, a Web site that that translates cable television services to the PC. Under the new service, consumers will be able to search for content from most major networks and a plethora of video sources, with the option to view the selected items on TV, the computer or DVD. In addition, Fancast offers remote DVR recording capability, meaning consumers can direct their television to record shows from a PC or handheld device. In the future, Comcast plans to enable access to the Web site through the customer's television set.

An equally important announcement to the Fancast debut is the coming availability of the DOCSIS 3.0 modem connection technology, the next generation successor to broadband. Wideband, as Comcast has termed it, transmits at 100 Megabytes per second (Mbps), roughly fifty times the speed currently available, with the potential to reach 160 Mbps. While current cable connections typically run around 5 Mbps, fiber optic systems like Verizon's FiOS boast 100 Mbps capability. In one fell swoop, Comcast aims to blow other cable companies out of the water and offer Verizon stiff competition. To give some perspective, customers with wideband service could download a feature-length film in HD in an impressive four minutes, compared to the six hours it would require to download HD films using a DSL connection. Roberts signaled that Comcast's intention is to offer wideband to consumers this year.

Other notable pronouncements include the advent of a Java-based open cable platform called tru2way. Open to all two-way cable services, tru2way will eliminate the need for cable set top boxes and is open to third party innovation. The tru2way system will enable users to control media through computer, cable or handheld devices. In addition, Comcast partnered with Panasonic to unveil the AnyPlay, the first portable DVD/DVR device equipped with tru2way technology that can recall all Comcast content. Customers simply attach the piece, record desired material and detach for mobile viewing.

Furthermore, Roberts stated that Comcast plans to offer 1,000 HD screening choices by the end of 2008 for its cable subscribers. Additionally, a new architectural structure for its cable system called Project Infinite will make putting up 6,000 movies, with 3,000 of them in HD, possible. The development of Infinite means that Comcast will deliver any conceivable video from any type of business model, whether free, by subscription, etc. Finally, Roberts received help from comedian Dennis Miller in releasing the Smart Zone communications center, a service that allows customers to check E-mail and voicemail from a PC.

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Pioneer Unveils Super-Thin, High-Contrast Plasma TVs

by Alon Avdi, posted Jan 6th 2008 at 3:12PM



Today, Pioneer showed off two significant concept models for its flat-panel plasma TV product line. Under the banner of Project KURO, a sci-fi-sounding internal anthem for change, Pioneer unveiled both the thinnest flat panel TV and a flat panel that boasts an unparalleled contrast ratio.

To give you a better perspective, one TV has a screen frame 9mm thick (thinner than the iPhone!), as opposed to contemporaries that are 3.5 inches thick. The other, in techno babble, eliminates all idling luminance – or, if you prefer an example in English, the screen would not be visible in a dark room when displaying a black screen.

The latter, dubbed the Extreme Contrast Concept Model, adheres to the golden rule of the plasma TV viewing experience: Black is the most important color on a display, controlling where an image starts and the shadows it projects. By developing a screen that gives off no ambient light, the black is the blackest, to put it simply.

The 9mm flat panel, on the other hand, creates a new form factor for 50-inch screens, getting rid of the bulky frames that characterize current models. While the concept models exhibited at CES do not combine the two innovations, Pioneer plans to integrate them when this next generation of flat panels becomes available to the public at some indeterminate point in the future.

In case you hadn't noticed, we're pretty psyched about this announcement. Not only will we get to that holy grail of picture clarity, but the TV will seem to blend into the wall upon which it is attached. And, hey, we're not excitable folk – unless it comes to technology that really matters to you.

Gallery: Pioneer's Super-Thin and High-Contrast Plasma Screen TVs



From Pioneer

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Wi-Fi Robo-Webcam Can Be Controlled From Anywhere

by Alon Avdi, posted Jan 6th 2008 at 5:17AM

Rovio

Who would have thunk it, but those Canadians sure don't mess around when it comes to... well, the "wow" factor. WowWee, a Montreal-based robotics company that brought us the Robosapien and the animatronic Elvis Head, is already dazzling the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas with some brand new products for 2008. Easily the coolest development from those guys that like to say "eh" is something we first mistook for a miniature Batmobile, a sweet little thing Wowwee call Rovio.

The device, a Wi-Fi-enabled robotic webcam, streams audio in addition to video and gives users remote control from any Web-connected gadget, such as a computer or even a cell phone. Owners can direct Rovio to move to a specific location with the touch of a button, and the robot will get itself to the destination. Using the impressive NorthStar navigation system, Rovio knows where it is, where other objects are and moves from way point to way point on its own. Whether you want to know what's shaking with the fam when you're away or simply solve the mystery of which dog has been peeing on the carpet, you need look no further than Rovio for help.

Wowwee has certainly wowed us with mass-market robotic inventions that dance, growl, fly, sing, and sometimes just act cute, but this is the first wireless one we've seen that has both a gee-whiz factor and a genuine practical use.

Unfortunately, we'll have to wait until the Fall for this one to hit stores, and it'll be a semi-hefty $299 a pop, but it's certain to make you the coolest gadget hound on the block (at least judging by the attention the Rovio was getting on the CES show floor this evening).


From Wowwee


Gallery: Rovio




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Epson's Home-Theater-In-a-Box Comes with 100-Inch Screen, Projector

by Tim Stevens, posted Jan 4th 2008 at 9:34AM

Epson's Big-Screen Home Theater In a Box

HTIB's -- "home theaters in a box" -- are all-in-one systems that deliver everything you need to take that big new HDTV you just bought and give yourself the full home theater experience with a surround-sound system. However, these systems generally assume you've already purchased a TV, and most are targeted toward entry-level consumers who just want to be flanked by speakers (and speaker cable) but aren't too picky about sound quality.

Epson's Ensemble HD package is a different beast.

This is similar in purpose, including a 5.1 speaker system with an integrated A/V receiver and DVD player, along with all the wires and cabling you'll need to hook it all together. However, this bundle also includes a motorized screen and your choice of one of Epson's high-end LCD projectors. Couple the two together and, if you opt for the higher-end bundle, you can project a 100-inch 1080p image onto the screen, which will silently retract into its housing when you're done for the night.

So, it's a little more high-end than you're typical HTIB, and is priced accordingly. The top-of-the-line system with the 1080p projector will set you back $6,999 when it's released next month, though you can save yourself two grand and go for the $4,999 720p projector if you like. But, really, what's two grand when you're living the life?

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