Yahoo Tech News is reporting that Sony will start including PSP movies on Blu-ray disks. Users will be able to download a lower resolution version of the movie from a Blu-ray disk via their PS3 to their PSP. I guess it was inevitable since with the launch ps the PSP Go Sony has abandoned the UMD disk format (about time).
The UK has had digital TV for quite a few years now but decided on a different strategy to the US introducing standard definition digital TV to free up the spectrum for future services and so that the government could sell it off. Well today marks the start of the future for UK digital TV with a mass change in frequency to get ready for more channels and future digital terrestrial HD channels. So if you have a Freeview TV (the name of the UK standard based on DVB-T) or set-top-box then you need to go into your setup menus and retune it otherwise some of your channels may go missing. Most users will see a warning on their TV recommending they do so but some older box’s (I still have an original OnDigital – the original name for Freewiew), that did not show any warningor any instructions. You have been warned
Denon is a brand that’s produced good home cinema gear and now they have introduced their cheapest Blu-ray player yet, the BDP-1610. All the usual features are there including DVD upscaling to 1080p, 1080p/24 support and support for the latest audio formats including Dolby Tru HD and DTS Master Audio. In addition it will play DivxHD content and AVCHD contend from cameras and camcorders. The player will be available in the UK in October for a recommended price of £399.
From the title you might think that this is not going to be a very good review. Well far from it I really enjoyed the first Crank movie with its non-stop adrenalin pumping pace and sense of humour. Well Crank 2 is more of the same only with the dial set to eleven. The movie starts where the previous movie ends with our hero (?) dropping to the ground from a helicopter and surviving only to have his heart stolen and replaced by an artificial version which he must keep charged and that’s all I’m going to reveal about the plot.
As far as picture quality at times it’s outstanding and always looks good. At low of the action takes place outside or in well lit interiors which contribute to the quality. However once you realise while viewing the extras that the whole film was made on hand held consumer 1080p cameras you’ll understand a good job they have gone with the picture and some of the effects. The 7.1 channel DTS HD Master Audio mix is also very good bullets and the effects constantly fly around the sound stage.
The extras are also reasonably good with some insight into why and how the movie was made but as with the movie don’t expect anything too deep and meaningful. However marks are taken off as the US version comes with a digital copy which is missing from the UK release.
Now the Cranky bit. There is a major issue with this disk in the UK. It’s quite obvious that the disk was not thoroughly tested before it was sent to be mastered and there are a lot of posts on the internet from people having issues getting this title to run and I experienced it myself. After inserting the disk and waiting quite a while you get a small square in the middle of the screen and you only get video here and no menus. I experienced this on both a PS3 (I never download updates the first time I load a movie) and also on a Sony BDP-S350, both very popular players. On the PS3 I was able to stop the disk and start it again and said yes when it prompted me to down load an update, after this all was good. For the S350 it was a little more complex as the machine is not within easy reach of an internet connection and I had to add a USB memory stick to allow it to update, again once the update was complete all was good. But a word of warning if you have a profile 1.0 player or your player it not connected to the internet, it’s not your player it’s the disk.
Overall a good fun movie but Lionsgate really need to sort their testing out for future releases.
Sorry for those that visit regularly, not been many posts recently. My day job has been getting a little hetic and will do so for the next few weeks but I’ll try to keep the posts and reviews coming
OK I get the trend for everything wireless but the current trend for wireless TV’s and speakers a little perplexing both these types of devices require and electrical current to drive them so you either have to have a really good battery power solution (which no one is offering) or you have to run a power cable to them. For speakers the wires are traditionally quite thin (I’m not talking the horrors of bell wire here though, good quality cables) and no matter how wireless you TV is there’s no way you can get away without running a power cable, so if you’re running power why not run a single video/audio cable too, isn’t that what HDMI was made for?
Anyway enough rant, LG has announced its new 55LHX and LH85 wireless (cough) TV’s. The 55LHX is THX certified and features LED backlighting giving a claimed 5,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio. The LH85 features LH85 series an 80,000:1 contrast ratio. Additionally, the LH85 series features LG’s 24p Real Cinema technology both sets include ISF expert calibration modes to allow a trained ISF technician to correctly calibrate the TV’s in the environment they are to be enjoyed in. The TV’s come with a wireless media box featuring all the external connections which are then wirelessly transmitted to the TV.
The 55LHX will be available soon at a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $4,799 and the LH85 series will be available later this Fall in 55- and 47-inch screen sizes with MSRPs of $3,199 and $2,399, respectively
Following the earlier announcement of Disney’s Snow White Diamond special edition on Blu-ray the company has announced further titles as well as final details on its first title. Titles joining Snow White include Beauty and the Beast; Fantasia and Fantasia 2000; The Lion King; Bambi; Cinderella; Lady and the Tramp; The Little Mermaid; Peter Pan; The Jungle Book; 101 Dalmatians; Sleeping Beauty; and Pinocchio.
Each title will be restored to the highest possible standard and audio also remastered to full 7.1 Dolby Digital sound. A host of new featurettes will include;
Hyperion Studios, a ‘Backstage Disney’ feature, which allows audiences to be digitally transported to 1937 to discover first-hand the Hyperion Studios, the original studio Walt Disney himself built and where Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was conceived and developed. Viewers will virtually walk the halls of this historic landmark experiencing life at Hyperion Studios back in the 1930′s. This “Backstage Disney” feature contains newly discovered archival photos, animator recordings, archival transcripts and rare footage of Walt himself revealing how Disney’s gifted filmmakers crafted the very first animated feature.
The Magic Mirror offers ‘Smart Navigation’, using the latest in Blu-ray technology, the iconic Magic Mirror guides the audience through the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Diamond Edition features with ease serving as the “host” for an incredibly immersive experience. The Mirror will recognize viewing patterns, knows where the audience has left off and will even suggest where to navigate next. This marks the first use of artificial intelligence in a Disney Blu-ray release and provides viewers the control to personally create a customized Snow White experience.
Mirror, Mirror On The Wall is one of ‘Disney’s Family Play’ features, through BD-Live, this mirror can find the secret princess inside each viewer with a series of questions, then create for them a personal message from their favorite princess who will call them on the telephone. Additional Family Play features include, What Do You See? an interactive game, where players must untangle scrambled images and Jewel Jumble a game where jewels from the Dwarfs’ mine must be put in order to win the game.
No specific dates on the other titles have been released but Disney expects the releases to run from later this year for Snow White until 2016 for the remaining titles.
It seems like the 3D bandwagon is well and truly rolling, following recent releases from Panasonic and other manufacturers Sony has announced that it will bring 3D into the home in 2010. Unlike some other manufacturers technologies Sony is committing to offer full HD 1080p resolution to its 3D offering. As well as announcing that it will introduce a full line up of TV’s they also announced that 3D support will come to the Playstation 3 for Blu-ray and games. Sony’s system will be based on sequential display technology where the screen runs with high refresh rates showing each eye’s frame in succession synchronised to a pair of glasses. Sony is in a somewhat unique position to drive 3D not just by owning Sony Pictures Entertainment but also in producing Cinema equipment as well as home hardware and being a driver in Blu-ray technology
Toshiba has announced availability of the BDX2000, its first hi-def disk spinner featuring Blu-ray technology and it’s first since it admitted defeat around 18 months ago and abandoned HD-DVD. Toshiba’s experience in developing HD-DVD should mean it should deliver the goods on with Blu-ray. Many of the core technologies are the similar including audio formats and video encoding. The BDX2000 offers everything you would expect from a current profile 2.0 player including 1080p/24 video, AVCHD video playback from HD cameras and camcorders, HD audio support including Dolby Tru HD and DTS HD Master Audio. The unit features a SD card slot to take pictures and that HD camera video directly. One slightly weird requirement is that in order to enjoy profile 2.0 you need to put at least a 1GB SD card into the slot. With the current price of memory it seems a little stingy that this was not included inside the machine. The player will be available from November at the price around $249, no word yet of an international release.
LG has launched a new range of ‘borderless’ TV’s. The new SL8000 and SL9000 feature the companies new BORDERLESS™ technology to almost completely eliminate the borders usually found around TV’s. The BORDERLESS™ SL9000 LED TV delivers picture quality as flawless as its smooth surface. Its LED backlight makes possible a dynamic fine contrast ratio of 3,000,000:1. Other features include Bluetooth and HD DivX compatibility. Beneath the SL8000’s beautiful exterior hides a top-end Full HD 1080p SuperIPS panel, which can be finely tuned using LG’s Expert Mode. TruMotion 200Hz ensures that fast onscreen action is always super sharp and a dynamic fine contrast ratio of 150,000:1 gives the TV amazing clarity. LG’s exclusive Intelligent Sensor reduces energy consumption, helping make both TVs friendlier to the environment.
With most people’s AV setup’s far away from their internet connection it’s often puzzled me why so few manufacturers have included wireless internet connectivity in their Blu-ray players so people can enjoy all the wonderful BD-Live content they can’t experience anywhere else (please note the sarcasm). Well it appears Sony is now among the few that have woken up and have launched two new players with 802.11n high speed wireless. Both new players also feature DLNA so that all your home cinema devices can control each other. 1080p upscaling is included as well as support for HD audio including Dolby HD and DTS HD Master Audio. The BDP-S760 differs from the BDP-S560 in offering Sony’s Super Bit Mapping technology for audio and video as well as Sony’s ES (Elevated Standard) and has the HD Reality Enhancer, which smoothes the image tone, and reduces picture noise (re3ad robs the picture of fine detail). Both players will be available shortly.
Well is if you like your HD programming sparse (I like to think of Freesat as HD 1.1 as you only get BBC HD as a complete channel with the odd ITV HD program now and then) well previously only Panasonic had launched TV’s with integrated Freesat receivers so if you want to join the recently disappointed then you have another option.
All the usual features are there, 1080p, 100,000:1 contrast ratio, 24p support, BRAVIA ENGINE™ 3 and Live Colour™ the main difference is that the W5810 offers 100Hz picture processing and the Z5800 comes with 200Hz processing