Just in time for Christmas, Sharp has released a couple of Blu-ray HDD recorders. The BD-HDW20 sports a 1 TB HDD and the ability to record to BD-R discs whilst it’s little brother the BD-HDW15 only 500 GB of HDD. I’m a bit bemused as to why Sharp have not offered the ability to record to re-writable BD-RE discs on these machines, their non-HDD recorders the BD-AV1 and BD-AV10 both sport this functionality so why not have it on the HDD recorders?
These puppies have a lightening fast 0.8 second start-up time, gold-plated HDMI ports no less, Dolby HD sound, i-Link connectivity and the 1 TB model can record up to 127 hours of glorious hi-def TV. Both units are able to record to lowly DVD-RW/R and DVD-R DL discs as well in case you wanna go ‘retro’ ;)
Unfortunately Sharp are only planning to release these suckers in Japan at the moment, on the 1st of December for the equivalent of US$1,730 for the 500 GB unit and US$2,600 for the 1 TB big boy. So come on Sharp give the rest of world’s hi-def enthusiasts some Christmas cheer and get these suckers on Santa’s sleigh.
Whilst the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray format war rages on, there are still some manufacturers telling us to ‘give peace a chance’. So for those of us who want to sit on the fence and have the best of both worlds LG have kindly launched the BH200, their second generation combined Blu-Ray and HD-DVD player. For those of you who have already invested in the BH100, here are the extra bells and whistles that you’re missing out on ;)
* The HD-DVD has played catch up and now has the HDi features of the Blu-Ray
* The Blu-Ray portion features the latest Java functionality such as storyboards
* There’s an ethernet connection for Internet features
* HDMI 1.3 output
* 1080p res at the oh-so important 24 fps
The BH200 will also set you back US$1000 slightly less than the BH100 was originally released for, but presumably still more than what a BH100 will now cost you assuming the BH100s are even still for sale!
These dual-format units are obviously targeting the hesitant and indecisive and the manufacturers are also hoping consumers will ignore the fact that the players cost more than twice the price of a single format player. So whilst they may be the way of the short-term (peaceful) future, with such prohibitive price tags I’m not so sure they are the long term answer. However imagine if a manufacturer released a dual format player that was only say 25% more than a cheap single-format player, now that could bring ‘peace in our time’!
More news from the IFA 2007 in Berlin - Sharp announced the launch of their first dedicated Blu-Ray player outside of Japan. The BD-HP20S will appear in Europe sometime in the autumn and in the US not long after, presumably in time for it to be found in a number of Christmas stockings across the country.
In terms of spec there’s nothing amazing in the BD-HP20S, just the usual suspects, 1080p res, 5.1 audio, HDMI 1.3, support for Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD etc. It plays well with other Sharp devices that conform to their CEC control standard and offers ‘Quick Start’ which provides playback ‘within seconds’ - this is to counter the oft touted ’slow start’ criticism of Blu-Ray players. The sucker has a nice slim line look to it, measuring a mere 2.7 inches from top to bottom and should fit snugly into most entertainment units.
Unfortunately there’s no pricing available but I would imagine that this puppy won’t be setting you back too much and could be added to even the most frugal of Christmas present shopping lists.
If I’m allowed to use military analogies in the Blu-ray vs HD-DVD war then inteset must be considered a ‘neutral’ participant. Their new Home Theatre Media Server releases, the Maximus and Denzel, both sport a Blu-ray/HD DVD combo drive. Good news for the consumer. The down side is that these ‘neutral’ puppies will probably set you back a pretty penny judging by the spec for the Maximus. Here’s a selection of goodies on offer in the Maximus
2 HDTV, 2 SDTV and FM tuners
7.1 Surround Sound, Dolby DigitalEX, DTS-ES, THX Audio
nVidia GeForce 8600GTS 256-bit GDDR3 memory
3 TB of storage space
Windows XP MCE 2005 Edition
Although these offerings from Inteset are aimed at the top end of the market, hopefully the combo drive option will be available in lower end HTPCs and perhaps we can declare that the ‘war’ is over. But that wouldn’t make for fun blogging, now would it? ;)
No doubt in a build up to a Christmas format war unlike any other we have ever seen, Sony have announced an ‘exclusive’ deal with Target and I quote …
Beginning this fall and continuing at least through the holiday season, Target will feature Sony® Blu-ray Disc® players as the exclusive product in the emerging category of high-definition home video systems, as well as an expanded assortment of Blu-ray Disc movies.
Sounds like a good win for Sony? Well you can still purchase a Toshiba HD DVD player at Target through their website and the exclusivity only applies to hi-def players in the retail stores, so presumably you can still get the latest movies on HD DVD in store. The main point from the announcement (full version) is that Sony Blu-ray players will be featured on aisle-end displays. Sony would have played a pretty penny for this but still a good move in the build up to the spending holiday season ahead.
So, to keep the military metaphors flowing, it’s more of an outflanking manoeuvre than a battle won.
One way to avoid the format wars involving HD DVD and Blu-ray is to opt for the Samsung BD-UP5000, a dual format player. Samsung have just announced that the ‘neutral’ player will be available in October this year and will cost around 550 Euros (US$750), not a bad price to have the best of both worlds. According to the blurb from Samsung back in April
Samsung’s Duo HD player (BD-UP5000) will fully support both HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats and their interactive technologies, HDi and BD-Java. With the Duo HD consumers can enjoy additional studio content such as trailers, director’s comments, more elaborate interactive menus and behind the scene footage. The new Duo HD joins Samsung’s next generation DVD line-up which includes Samsung’s second generation Blu-ray player available at retail this month. Together, these two models offer the consumer a strong line of High-Definition players to match Samsung’s award winning, and best selling, line of HDTVs.
The price stacks up well against the competition with the LG BH1000 rocking in at US$1200. So for all the people who enjoy sitting on the fence this could just be the player you’ve been waiting for.
If the coolness of ads were directly linked to sales of the product (and some people in marketing think it is) then Blu-ray would be wiping the floor with HD DVD after this Sony ad. With imagery of warriors, wolves and sports cars and with its blue laser effects no-one can help it but watch the ad the whole way through. I wasn’t too convinced by the falling sports cars myself, a metaphor of who knows what but I’m a sucker for piano background music and I was expecting to hear Amy Lee’s beautiful haunting vocals start up at any time.
However most consumers are not swayed by bright lights and smoke and are more concerned about the bottom line, so until Blu-ray players drop in price to match the equivalent HD-DVD players then expect more of these funky ads!
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If I’m allowed to use military analogies in the Blu-ray vs HD-DVD war then inteset must be considered a ‘neutral’ participant. Their new Home Theatre Media Server releases, the Maximus and Denzel, both sport a Blu-ray/HD DVD combo drive. Good news for the consumer. The down side is that these ‘neutral’ puppies will probably set you back a pretty penny judging by the spec for the Maximus. Here’s a selection of goodies on offer in the Maximus
