Oct 26
Already available for the Xbox 360 Netflix and Sony today announced that movies and TV shows will soon be available via Netflix streaming on the PS3. The system sounds a little weird in that users will visit www.netflix.com/ps3 and sign up for the service. They will then receive a Blu-ray disk featuring BD-Live software to enable streaming. The disk must be inserted every time they want to access Netflix. This sounds a little bit of a kludge, hopefully in time this could be made a download from the Playstation Store.
Convenient and if you’re not bothered about having the best HD experience in audio and video then OK but those that do would stick to Blu-ray.
Oct 23
In an interview with web site Gizmodo Steve Ballmer CEO of Microsoft stated quite emphatically that the Xbox 360 would be getting Blu-ray support which threw the web into frenzy. When asked about adding Blu-ray to Xbox 360 he said ”Well I don’t know if we need to put Blu-ray in there—you’ll be able to get Blu-ray drives as accessories”. Well now Microsoft is now back tracking on that commitment and saying that he was talking about the PC.
Um could the cat be out of the bag or is there confusion in Microsoft and its own CEO is not on the ball? Certainly the strategy at Microsoft is around downloading movies and entertainment, we all know that they backed the wrong horse by releasing the HD-DVD drive. We wait with baited breath for the Xbox 360 Blu-ray add-on
See the full video here
Oct 19
The December 8th release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will feature an invitation at join an online live screening on December 12th via BD-Live (so you will need an Internet connected Blu-ray player to participate). The screening will feature live audio commentary from director David Yates who will be joined by Harry himself Daniel Radcliffe.
“I’m really looking forward to the Live Community Screening of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and excited to talk directly to fans of the movie about my experiences and answer their questions,” said Daniel Radcliffe. “It’s a wonderful way for fans and for those directly involved with making a film to share opinions and ideas.”
More great news for fans, the disk will also feature exclusive footage from the final movie in the Harry Potter series Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to be released in November 2010.
You will also be able to create you own screenings and invite friends via facebook
Get that pre-order in now…
Oct 19
Video Business reports that DEG: Digital Entertainment Group reports that Blu-ray purchases are up 83% year on year while overall sales of home entertainment was down 3.2% including digital distribution. Blu-ray rental spending was also up 44.5% reported by Rentrak.
Full story here
Oct 08
Sony has announced a new range of Vaio L Series PC’s featuring full 1080p displays with multi-touch capabilities. These new computers feature 24” LCD displays supporting touch allowing the user to interact with images and Windows 7 through touch with Sony’s latest X-Black panels giving excellent images. The some PC’s also feature Blu-ray drives enabling HD disk playback. Processing power will be from Intel’s Core2 Quad processors. Storage will be available up to 1TB with the built-in tuner giving these PC’s full DVR capabilities. The Vaio L Series will be available from October 22nd which is also the launch date for Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system.
Oct 04
Hot Hardware reports that TDI has created a 10 layer disk using Blu-ray’s Blue laser technology to hold up to 320MB. We have heard of such developments before with 100GB and 200GB disks unveiled before but none have made it to practical release.
Full story here
