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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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

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LG Electronics announced it is putting its second-generation hybrid high definition disc player on retail shelves, making good on a promise made in September at the CEDIA trade show to have the new devices ready for the holidays.

The LG Super Blu Player, officially known as the BH200, will carry a $999 price tag and is capable of reading high-definition discs in the two competing formats currently on the market, Blu-ray and HD-DVD. (Blu-ray is supported primarily by Sony and Panasonic while HD-DVD is the darling of Toshiba and Microsoft.) The player also works with standard DVDs.

Until the consumer electronics industry can settle on a single high definition format for discs -- something we don't expect to happen anytime soon -- a dual format player is the only solution for movie aficionados who just have to have the latest movie in HD.

While Samsung has announced its new hybrid player will be out soon for $200 less, during a visit to LG's headquarters in scenic Palisades, N.J., marketing vice president Allan Jason pointedly explained the value in LG's offering. "It's one thing to say you have a better price on a product. It's another to actually have product on store shelves," he said. LG says the BH200 is available at retailers nationwide, however a quick check of Best Buy's Web site shows product is sold out there and at its stores across the country -- even in Minneapolis, Best Buy's home town. Same goes for Circuit City online and at its retail locations, even in its Richmond, Va., backyard.

Kudos to LG for having a popular product. Too bad for those of us not fast enough to the store to grab one.

From BetaNews.

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