OT: new BluRay player does DIVX

apit34356 wrote on 8/31/2007, 1:33 AM
news from IFA07, new product with USB and DIVX.
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Daewoo demos 'Blu-ray Disc 2.0' player

By Tony Smith in Berlin
30th August 2007 11:38 GMT

IFA 07 Daewoo has given the Blu-ray Disc next-gen optical disc format the thumbs up by showing off its first BD player, the slim, blue-hued DBP-1000.

The player supports the full BD specification, including the ability to access BD Live online content, to present picture-in-picture material and deliver BD's interactivity features - missing on many early BD players because the specification had yet to be completed.

Daewoo said its player can pump out pictures at up to 1080p via its HDMI port. It will upscale DVD and JPEG photos to full HD resolution, and supports DivX content too. The DBP-1000 can handle all the major recordable and rewriteable DVD and CD formats, along with BD-R and BD-RE discs.

In addition to HDMI, the DBP-1000 has a full array of s-, composite- and component-video, and digital and analogue sound outputs. There's even a USB port on the front for feeding the player with downloaded video content off Flash drives.
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Price - $198.99 ;-) just pushing the HD DVD buttons, price was not announced yesterday, maybe today.

Comments

apit34356 wrote on 8/31/2007, 2:02 AM
And more news;
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Samsung Blu-ray Disc player line blooms

By Tony Smith in Berlin
30th August 2007 09:35 GMT

IFA 07 Samsung's third generation of Blu-ray Disc players made an appearance at the IFA show in Berlin today. The company took the wraps of four machines, including the first BD-equipped home cinema set-up and a dual HD DVD/Blu-ray rig.

The star of the line-up is the long-awaited BD-UP5000, Samsung's dual-format player, capable of full HD DVD playback as well as Blu-ray. Like all the players unveiled today, the BD-UP5000 supports the full array of HD resolutions and is capable of 24fps at 1080p, all through HDMI 1.3.

The machine also incorporates composite-, s- and component-video outputs, along with a full set of analogue and digital audio feeds. The BD-UP5000 can handle 7.1-channel sound, as can the Blu-ray only BD-P2400, which offers the same features as the dual-format player, minus the HD DVD support of course. Both players can upscale standard-definition content to any HD resolution.

On the HD DVD side, the BD-UP5000 incorporates local Flash storage to make the most of the format's HDi interactivity system. It support's HD DVD's picture-in-picture mode, too.

The BD-P1400 sits under the BD-P2400, offering the same array of connectors and HD support, but lacking the upscaling technology and limited to 5.1-channel audio output.

The HT-BD2 home cinema set sits between these two players - it does 7.1-channel sound through its eight speakers - four towers, two satellites, a sub-woofer and a centre speaker - but there's no upscaling facility. The set can pump out 1.1kW total sound power.

Samsung didn't say how much is plans to charge for these boys, but we won't have long to wait. The BD-P1400 is due to hit the shops in September, with the BD-P2400 following in October. The HT-BD2 and the BD-UP5000 are both scheduled to go on sale in Q4, Samsung said.
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apit34356 wrote on 8/31/2007, 2:09 AM
Oops, another big OEM blows off HD DVD, tears are in my eyes....
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Acer backs Blu-ray

By Tony Smith in Berlin
31st August 2007 09:00 GMT

IFA 07 Acer has thrown its weight behind the Blue-ray Disc to become the fifth big-name computer maker to back the next-gen optical disc format. It's launched a BD-equipped media centre PC to affirm its intentions.

Acer's plan to acquire Gateway will catapult the joint company into the top tier of PC manufacturers alongside HP and Dell. Dell has always supported Blu-ray, and while HP has been notably pro HD DVD of late, it was nonetheless an early supporter of BD.

To that list we can add Apple and Lenovo, both of whom have pledged themselves to the Blu-ray cause. As has Sony, of course - it's the only PC maker yet to equip its machines with BD drives to any great extent.

At the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin today, Acer announced the Aspire iDea 520, a media centre system with a slot-load Blu-ray Disc drive. The machine is based on a 1.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 and packs in 2GB of DDR 2 memory, a 500GB hard drive, an AMD ATI 'M76M' graphics chip with 512MB of video memory, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, and a digital/analogue TV tuner.

The iDea 520 is due to go on sale in Europe in October for €1999
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apit34356 wrote on 8/31/2007, 8:02 AM
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Sony breaks out 'mass market' Blu-ray players

By Scott Snowden in Berlin
31st August 2007 09:15 GMT


IFA 07 High-definition at home is the big theme at the IFA consumer electronics show this year with a myriad of media players and a titanic turnout of new TVs. Not to be left out, Sony announced two new Blu-ray Disc players: the BDP-S300 and the BDP-S500.

The BDP-S300 is being marketed for the mainstream and will be priced accordingly. The BDP-S500 is a high-end alternative aimed at customers with a bit more mazuma to invest in their definitive HD viewing experience.

Both come with a complimentary copy of the Spider-Man trilogy on Blu-ray disc... after registration of the product and completion of a customer questionnaire online.

Both models support 1080p over HDMI 1.3 and output 7.1-channel Linear PCM and Dolby Digital Plus surround sound. The BDP-S500 also supports Dolby True decoding and Bit Stream Output for DTS-HD1 and Dolby True.

Both models also support a wide variety of formats and media, including the still centrally important CD. In addition each supports BD-ROM, DVD, and DVD video playback from DVD/DVD±R/RW encoded discs, as well as MP3 audio files and JPEG images stored on DVD. The BDP-S500 will also support BD-R/RE discs.

The BDP-S300 will be available mid September and the BDP-S500 from the end of October. Unfortunately, pricing details weren't available.
apit34356 wrote on 8/31/2007, 9:05 AM
An interesting news article about digital camera being shown at IFA07, the speed is interesting..
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Casio demos 'world's fastest-shooting' digicam

By Tony Smith in Berlin
31st August 2007 10:46 GMT


IFA 07 Casio has developed a digital SLR camera capable of capturing 60 shots every second. That's stills - it can capture 640 x 480 video at a stunning 300fps. The company heralded the device as the 'world's fastest-shooting' snapper.

Not that you'll be able to buy it in the shops any time soon. The camera exists solely as a prototype model, which the Japanese manufacturer showed off at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin today.

For what it's worth the camera on display was a six-megapixel job with a 12x optical zoom lens array, a 2.8in display and an electromechanical image stabilisation system.

Casio's 'world's fastest' camera

We hope it's got high capacity SDHC memory card support. At the camera's capture rate, it's going to fill up the on-board memory in the blink of an eye.

Casio stressed that it has yet to decide what the finished product's specifications will be, what it'll look like and even what it might be called, so don't read too much into the prototype's details
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jwcarney wrote on 8/31/2007, 1:34 PM
Has anyone who actually plans on distributing content on Blu-Ray , at least commercially, know how much higher the costs are going to be?
HD-DVD is also region/country free, so anyone around the world can purchase your movies.
If you think in terms of content creator vs consumer, Blu Ray is not an Indie friendly format.
With HD-DVD players you can author/burn HD content onto a regular dual layer DVD and it will recognize and play it.

Just food for thought, not trying to start a flame war.