I just realized it’s been a while since I’ve written anything ephemeral or lighthearted. Although, in my defense, it’s been a really weird year. And like everyone else, I’ve had a lot to deal with. Way back at the end of 2019 (in the before times, if you remember those) I had chronicled how we […]

Sony Electronics announced a new Ultra HD Blu-ray universal player. Sony’s first 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray (dubbed the UBP-X800) is compatible with Ultra HD Blu-ray (3840×2160) as well as video streaming in 4K resolution and High Dynamic Range (HDR). The UBP-X800 provides Ultra HD Blu-ray playback with wide color space BT.2020, which offers twice the […]

Most middle class homes have multiple mobile devices floating around. From iPod Touches to smartphones, tablets and laptops, the average family has quite a few gadgets relying on its Wi-Fi wireless connectivity to get to the internet and consume social media and streaming content like video and music. Many consumers don’t realize that there’s an alternative to Wi-Fi called Ethernet. […]

Having attended probably 15 to 17 CEDIA Expos over the past 20 years, I feel I am comfortable in saying that this year, the 2014 show, is the best they’ve had in the past six years. Don’t get me wrong, last year’s event was well attended and was a good show, but there was a […]

Kaleidescape has announced it’s finally shipping the M700 Disc Vault, a server-based system that simplifies the process of adding movies and music to a Kaleidescape system. The M700 works in conjunction with a Kaleidescape 1U Server in a basic system — a more complex system could have multiple servers, players and disc vaults. The M700 […]

Sharp is the first optical disc maker to launch a new Blu-ray format (BDXL) that offers 100GB to 128GB of storage. This is pretty interesting since Sony invented Blu-ray!  While the existing dual-layer Blu-ray format offers approximately 50GB per disc, the new BDXL format (by increasing the allowed layers on a disc from two to […]

It’s not that Blu-ray isn’t finally racing along… it’s more the danger that digital download is sprinting faster and is threatening to permanently overtake Blu-ray in the future. Digital distribution platforms (streaming video) for home entertainment (including video-on-demand) outpaced Blu-ray discs in US consumer spending during the first half of 2010, passing the $1 billion […]

Today I’m revisiting one of my favorite topics: The Blu-ray optical disc format, and its continuing struggle to supplant red laser DVDs while fending off challenges from broadband-delivered video; in particular, Netflix streaming and direct digital downloads of movies in the 1080p HD format to DVRs. My file of BD-related stories has grown enormous over […]

Little-known UK media firm DF Solutions says its Base media server is now fully enabled for Blu-ray disc storage, playback and multi-room distribution. The Base Media Server from DF is positioned as the most affordable media server on the market with Blu-ray compatibility. The Blu-ray capable Base Media Server offers 1TB of internal storage but […]

The Blu-ray Disc Association will release a new commercial HD disc format that offers up to 128GB of write-once capacity. The association also plans to release a rewritable disc format for consumers that will support up to 100GB of data, or 2x today’s Blu-ray capacity. The specifications for BDXL (High Capacity Recordable and Rewritable discs) […]

Combining a Bu-ray disc player and an AV receiver, Denon launched the S-5BD – a 5.1 receiver (no amp spec yet) that includes Dolby TruHD, DTS-HD Master Audio processing, an SD memory slot and a USB port for iPod connection (or any USB music player).  Listing for just under $1800, the S-5BD is networkable and […]

Designed by Sonoran, Sony’s Blu-ray disc player iPhone App is designed for all current and future generation Blu-ray players from Sony (including the PS3). It’s a typical touch screen as it has both a fully-functional (translation: way, way too many buttons) remote OR you can use it multi-touch and swipe style like the iPhone or […]

We’re including a look at what we think is the coolest looking Blu-ray player ever: the Samsung BD-P4600.  We know nothing of it’s performance or reliability (or how long it takes to start-up – a spec often, amazingly exaggerated by manufacturers of Blu-ray players), but we do know that it’s got a very low profile […]

At CES, S1Digital launched the S1Digital Blu-ray Disc Changer that can hold 100 discs and seamlessly integrates with any S1Digiral Entertainment Server. When connected to an S1Digital Media Center (or any third party Microsoft Windows 7 or Vista PC that includes media center), users are able to load up to 100 Blu-ray and/or DVD movies […]

Panasonic is the first Blu-ray manufacturer to actually show a production model 3D recorder/player in the form of the DMP-BDT900K.  It’s HDMI 1.4 capable, includes 2 HDMI ports, 2 USB ports (in and out) and an Ethernet port (for connecting to Netflix).  No price, yet, but expect it to be in the range of $1000 […]

Calling themselves the “leading manufacturer of high-end electronics,” Anthem has debuted a $799 Blu-ray player in the form of the BLX 200.  Incorporated with HDMI 1.3, the networkable Blu-ray includes 1GB of memory, a 2GB USB Flash Drive, 12-bit color, 7.1 PCM audio output and, of course, native 1080p playback from any Blu-ray disc. The […]

A 200-disc Blu-ray changer and a network video server are the latest additions to Crestron’s ADMS Intermedia Delivery System line. The ADC-200BR 200-disc Blu-ray changer can be cascaded to hold 1,000 discs, the CEN-NAS-4TB features four hot-swappable 1TB hard drives with RAID 5 protection, and both are designed to integrate with the 1080p output Crestron […]

By Chris Chinnock Sr. Editor/Sr. Analyst, Insight Media Blu-ray Disc Association web site has no information about the 3D spec release or any details about how to access it. According to news reports and the people we have talked to about the spec over the last few months, “encoding of 3D video will be done […]

NAD Electronics launched the Masters Series M56 Blu-ray Player at CES, what they are calling the flagship of its Blu-ray offerings. With full support for the latest HD audio and video formats, plus compatibility with existing CD and DVD collections (like every other Blu-ray player on the market), the M56 includes NAD’s upscaling engine that […]

The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) releases the Blu-ray 3D, a long-awaited standard for full 1080p viewing of 3D movies on home TVs. The first Blu-ray machines for 3D will be shown at CES in Las Vegas in January and shipping later this year. 3D movies (yes, Avatar!) will be played on these Blu-ray 3D machines […]

Did the HD-DVD marketing muscle of Toshiba dupe you last year?  Did they talk you into buying the HD-DVD player and now you’re stuck with dozens of HD-DVD titles in your closet?  Well, there’s a new service out there from Warner Bros where you can send in your Warner Bros HD-DVD movies and they’ll send […]

In the third such move in a month, a new device was announced that can stream Netflix movies directly onto the television. Previous announcements included players from Roku and Xbox. Only THIS time, it’s LG, and THIS time, it’s combined with a Blu-ray player. LG and Netflix announced plans for the first Blu-ray disc player […]

Sony is shipping its new Blu-ray player and finally, the price is coming within reach of more consumers. The BDP-S350 is priced around $400 and is now available across the country at Sony Style retail outlets, sonystyle.com and other authorized Sony retailers. The BDP-S350 supports BonusView (picture-in-picture), which is featured on select new Blu-ray Disc […]

PC World reports that Pioneer has developed a new disc similar to Blu-ray only with 16 layers of 25GB capacity in each for a whopping 400GB capacity. Blu-ray, by example, has 25GB on a one-sided disc. PC World reports that Pioneer does not plan to produce these but, instead, plans to license the technology to […]

By Gary Kayye, CTS By now, you’ve probably all seen the HDMI connector (the connector standard for high-resolution HD-TV content) on something. It’s everywhere. It’s on HD-DVD players, Blu-ray Disc players, HD DirecTV set-top boxes, Explorer 8300 HD Cable TV boxes, HD-flat panel TV’s, Sony’s PlayStation 3 – everywhere you see HD content. But, it’s […]

You read it here first, when I predicted that Blu-ray would, hands down, beat HD DVD in the new HD format war. Apparently, Blockbuster agrees. The movie rental giant announced the company has chosen Blu-ray as the official HD format for its stores and all 1,700 of its corporate-owned stores will stock Blu-ray titles by mid-July. It’s […]