I read this article and got a little miffed. (I almost said “ticked off” but that’s not true. If I really get ticked off about something related to HDMI, then I have problems.) So what got me “miffed”? It looks like manufacturers are not required to specify that their devices are HDMI 1.3 compatible. So you have to go down the feature list, and check to see if the device is indeed HDMI compatible.

That’s not nice!

What if they don’t list the capabilities? What if they only list some, and you forget if those were HDMI 1.1 or HDMI 1.3? What if your wife wins the lottery and buys you an HDMI 1.1 Blu-ray player instead of the HDMI 1.3 one? I just see how this could go wrong in so many ways. It would be so much simpler if all HDMI 1.3 devices would be so labeled. We know that the PS3 will be an HDMI 1.3 device. But will it be labelled as such? I don’t know of any other planned HDMI 1.3 devices.

HDMI V 1.3 Products coming in 2007

This article from B&C is called “Fox Makes Blu-ray Push” but I think a better title would be more along the lines of “Fox Backs Blu-ray, but Doesn’t Do Much About It”. Why? Because Fox isn’t planning on releasing any BD movies anytime soon. Their first batch of about 20 titles is currently scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2006. The titles include Ice Age 2, X-Men: The Last Stand, Omen 666, and Garfield 2.

So far, we have Sony and MGM releasing BD titles. Warner Brothers, Paramount Pictures, Fox, and Disney have all announced support for the BD format, and so far none of them have released any BD titles. So far we have Warner, Paramount, and soon Universal supporting the HD DVD launch, and Sony, MGM, and eventually Fox supporting the BD launch. Both of these formats need a little bit more studio support, don’t you think?

Fox Makes Blu-ray Push

My favourite superhero is not Batman or Superman, it’s Spider-Man. I like the movies, and I have a feeling I’ll like Spider-Man 3, too.

A complex web of secrets, vengeance, love and forgiveness, Columbia Pictures’ Spider-Man 3 is a riveting adventure that will transport worldwide audiences to thrilling new heights.

Spider-Man 3

Cleveland Heep rescues a mysterious young woman and discovers she is actually a narf, a character from a bedtime story who is trying to make the treacherous journey from our world back to hers. As Cleveland falls in love with the woman, he works together with the tenants to protect his new fragile friend from the deadly creatures.

Lady in the Water

Maybe I’m just getting too cynical. But when I heard that Toshiba wants to maybe unite BD and HD DVD, the first thing that came to my mind was “posturing!”. Both sides have often said how they’re open to a merger. And then the details come out that by “merger” they mean “takeover”. Neither side wants to give up its core IP (intellectual property). Both sides want the other side to cave and go with their format.

So I’m cynical. But I also happen to think that I’m right.

Toshiba president, Atsutoshi Nishida, said this: “We have not given up on a unified format. We would like to seek ways for unifying the standards if opportunities arise.” Nothing new over what has been said before.

Personally, I don’t hold out any hope of a BD / HD DVD merger. I don’t think either side really wants to give up on their format. The only time we’ll see a single format is when one of the formats triumph and grinds the other one into dust.

Toshiba Wants Combo HD Player

HD Beat is keeping a close eye on the HD DVD and BD movie releases, and points out that today the following are scheduled to appear on store shelves:

HD DVD

* Guitarscape Planet (Concert Hot Spot)
* Lethal Weapon (Warner)

Blu-ray

* Crash (Lionsgate)
* Lord of War (Lionsgate)
* The Punisher (Lionsgate)
* Saw (Lionsgate)
* Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Lionsgate)
* Ultraviolet (Sony)

Check out HighDefDigest.com for reviews of some of these titles.

HD DVD and Blu-ray movies released on June 27th 2006

audio|video Revolution has a review of the new Samsung BD-P1000 BD player.

The review is quite extensive. Of course, they noticed that the Samsung player doesn’t take as long as Toshiba’s player to boot. The player did lock up once for the reviewer, but that was it.

The real problem came when watching movies. I’ve seen this elsewhere. It looks like most of the first BD movies aren’t all that great. It seems to be a problem with the movies, not the format or the disc player, because some movies look quite excellent, but not others. For example, The Terminator doesn’t look so good, while xXx looks quite excellent.

All in all, it’s a shame that Sony had to limp the Blu-ray format into existence like this. First, they abandon Samsung to be the only manufacturer to sell a BD player for some months, and then they release mediocre BD movies to “showcase” the format.

Bravo, Sony. Not!

Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray Player

Toshiba broke new ground a couple months ago when they introduced an HD DVD player for $500. Well, the less expensive one retails for $500. Everyone was surprised by the low price, because new technology like that usually comes with a high price tag.

I, and other people too, thought that Toshiba was doing this to really get their foot in the door in the next-gen HD disc war. It seems to be working too, because everybody is complaining about the high price of the Samsung BD player ($1000) and the prices of the upcoming Sony ($1000), Panasonic ($1300), Pioneer ($1500), Philips, and Sharp players (also to be around that price).

It turns out, at least according to iSuppli, that Toshiba is selling these HD DVD players at a $200 loss. This is a relatively small investment for Toshiba, and it seems to be paying off very well. Toshiba has set $500 as the benchmark point of entry into the next-gen disc race. All new BD players are being compared against that price, and not favourably. It’s a very shrewd move on Toshiba’s part, and may turn out to be a large contributor to the war between HD DVD and BD.

Toshiba losing on every HD DVD player sold

Here’s an interesting tidbit that comes straight from the About pages. It’s actually a good question that they’re dealing with this time. How long does a plasma display last? Good question. And to prevent you from actually having to leave this wonderful place, I’ll answer if right here. The half-life of plasma displays is 30,000 hours. Some of the newer plasma displays have a half-life of 60,000 hours. This means that after 30,000 (or 60,000) hours, the plasma display will be half its brightness. The brightness change is very gradual and you probably won’t notice it. If you leave your plasma on for 8 hours a day, that would give your plasma a life of 9 years (for the 30k one).

In other words, plasma displays last a long time. I don’t think you have to worry about how long it’ll last, especially if you get one of those new-fangled 60k half-life ones.

Good to know? Yeah, I thought so.

Plasma Television FAQs - How Long Do Plasma Televisions Last?

Recently there’s been the news going around that Samsung is still interested in doing a combo BD / HD DVD player. Lots of people were excited about the prospect, because buying such a player would protect your hard earned cash. You wouldn’t have to throw it out if you chose the wrong side.

I didn’t report on this because this was old news that resurfaced recently, and I had better things to talk about. But now it looks like Samsung might not be so interested after all. In a statement to the press Samsung says:

“Samsung Electronics is fully committed to the Blu-ray format and currently only has plans to introduce a Blu-ray player to the market. Samsung is looking forward to a very successful launch of the BD-P1000 which will be available on retail shelves, June 25th for a $999 MAP price in the United States.”

Note the word “only”. Samsung if fully backing the BD format and my guess is all this talk of a combo player was just in the event that HD DVD became a popular choice. So for now, Samsung is doing what it can to make BD a success.

Samsungs Backpedals on Combo HD DVD/Blu-ray Player

Samsung: now. Philips: 3rd quarter 2006. Pioneer: September or so. Sony: currently scheduled for October.

I used to say that Panasonic was going to release their BD player in November or so, but now we know that the actual date (if Panasonic can hold a promise) is September. And we also know that the price of Panasonic’s Blu-ray Disc (BD) player will be $1299. Not the most expensive, but not the cheapest either. Right now, the biggest costs are the laser and the lenses, according to Matsushita’s Kazuhiro Tsuga.

Panasonic actually plans to make a full-system push, selling a receiver (for $999) and a set of speakers (for $2999!!!!) along as part of a Blu-ray package. (For some reason, I don’t know why, I think you’ll be able to get a much better speaker package for that price if you look elsewhere, like at Paradigm, Energy, or PSB.) It will promote a new 65″ plasma television (1080p if I remember correctly) alongside the Blu-ray launch. I wonder if they’ll call it “TrueHD” as well.

Panasonic Announces Blu-ray System
Panasonic to deliver the Blu-ray living room