HDTV Reviews

The Pioneer BDP-LX70 Blu-ray player comes nearly a year since the first players, but we are not sure if it is a second generation player or not. The Pioneer BDP-LX70 is very similar the the first gen HD1, and even looks similar. Read more

Sony has joined into the cheaper, more sensibly priced market for Blu-Ray players, the BDP-S300 will cost $599 but will have all the same features as their BDP-S1 which will cost nearly twice as much and will also be much smaller, very similar to standard sized DVD players. The S300 will be able to output at the full HD 1080p resolution and also play back standard DVDs and CDs. I believe this player is a winner as it offers a better sized unit, all the features of the more expensive players and has full HD output for under $600.

The LG GGW-H10N is a standalone combo drive for computers with can read both HD formats, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs. The GGW-H10N can also write to Blu-Ray, DVD and CDs, but not HD-DVD. The drive will also support all iHD functions for HD DVD films. The SATA drive will be out in January for $1200.
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The Pioneer BDC-202 “combo” Blu-ray drive is a smaller drive for PCs. The BDC-202 drive combines a Blu-Ray disc player with a DVD/CD burner. The drive will be able to read / play many blu-ray disc formats, BD-ROM, BD-R and BD-RE discs at 5x, and dual layer recordable Blu-ray discs at 2x. The BDC-202 can als burn / write to DVDs at 12x and CDs at 32x. If you are looking to be able to play back Blu-Ray discs and watch HD movies, but are not too interested in burning large amounts of data the the BDC-202 will be the drive for you.
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HP has released it’s first Blu-Ray writer, the bd135. The blu-ray disc burner will enable to user to watch and record 1080p content via the bd135 with all the HD picture quality. The writer will also be able to ave and store data such as photos, music and camcorder data to 25 or 50GB discs.
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The Samsung BD-P1200 Blu-Ray player has been announced and is Samsung’s first second generation Blu-Ray player to enter the market The BD-P1200 add support for HDMI 1.3 and features 1080p, CEC control, DTS audio support, ethernet connection, and an HQV processor for improved clearer image reproduction. The BD-P1200 will be launed in March for a sujested retail price of $799.
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LG have released an interested dual-hd-format drive called the Super Multi Blue GGW-H10N. I can playback both Blu-ray discs and HD-DVD discs as well as DVDs and CDs. Not only can the GGW-H10N read, it can also write, burn, record Blu-Ray discs (BD-R/BD-RE media) at 4x speed, both the 25gig single and the 50gig double layered discs. Read more

As Blu-Ray players have now been released in the UK and many other countries around the world, the BBC news website has taken many questions from the public that they have about Blu-ray’s release.

Is the time taken to retreive the data from one of these new disks any greater than what it is with current CDs and DVDs?
Steve Cassidy, Hampshire, UK

The loading time is longer than conventional DVD players for the first generation models. Read speeds on DVD players and DVD-Roms will improve over time.

Presumably, hi-def players will be backwards compatible and play all our old DVDs but will these players allow them to be “upscaled” (rendered at a higher picture quality)? Many current, standard definition machines do this so it would seem perverse if new ones did not.
Timothy Spence, Greenwich, London

The Samsung BD-P1000 we tested can upscale current DVD format movies to 1080p, offering significantly better viewing than stand alone DVD movies. But it should be remembered that upscaling to higher resolutions will not result in a picture as good as high definition. There is simply not enough picture information on an ordinary DVD.

If most film companies support Blu-ray and Blu-ray can hold far more data, what is the point of HD-DVD?
Jeff Culshaw, Liverpool, UK

A HD-DVD disk does hold less data than a Blu-ray equivalent. Supporters of the HD-DVD format say the 30GB disk has more than enough capacity for high definition movies.

Blu-ray supporters have said one disk can hold many different versions of a film including more extras but as yet few Blu-ray disks are being pushed to their limit.

HD-DVD has less supporters in the film studio world but some analysts feel the two technologies will achieve a stalemate, resulting in studios supporting both formats.

HD-DVD players are also considerably cheaper than Blu-ray players - in some cases less than half the price.
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The DMP-BD10 is Panasonic’s first standalone Blu-ray player, and only the second player to become available on the market after the Samsung BD-P1000. There are now two reviews available on the Panasonic DMP-BD10 blu-ray player which may help you answer whether it is worth the $1,300.

Home Theater Forum writes: Panasonic is a pricey entry into a format that might not even exist in a year or two. While it is still far too early to declare a winner in this format war, I do believe that quality products like the Panasonic DMP-BD10 do go a long way in showing the high quality and potential of the Blu-Ray format. Picture quality is excellent, Audio is outstanding and the player has enough room for future updating that it is a formidable product for the long term (assuming Blu-Ray survives). If one were to compare this Panasonic player to the offerings in the HD DVD arena from Toshiba, it would be very safe to say that the picture equals the Toshiba player’s on material that is available on both formats. It will probably take dual layer Blu-Ray releases with potentially higher bitrates to really see if the Blu-Ray format is capable of producing a better image than HD DVD. Since the current crop of releases that are available on both formats make use of the same transfers, it is going to be impossible to distinguish between the two. I’ll take a look at the Paramount releases this week and follow up on any advances in picture quality that there might be. Until then, I can wholeheartedly recommend the Panasonic DMP-BD10 to those who are willing and ready to make the jump into HD.

Canada HiFi Writes: The Panasonic DMP-BD10 Blu-ray player delivered phenomenal picture and sound quality, there is no question about it. This player undeniably proved to me the potential of the Blu-ray format. The player’s $1500 price tag is however questionable given that it’s difficult to say right now how the high definition disc format war will pan out. What’s even more questionable is paying $1500 for a player that produces essentially the same picture quality as a $700 Toshiba HD DVD player. Read more

The Sony BDZ-V7 and the BDZ-V9 are two Blu-ray, and hard disk recorders. Both models have two digital tuners and one analog and can record two TV channels at once (either both digital or digital and analog).
You can backup video to blu-ray discs but it’s limits to 25GB, no suck luck on the 50GB ones yet, it can also play the new AVCHD discs as well as the old cartridge style discs from older blu-ray recorders.
The top specification BDZ-V9 is the only one to offer the full 1080p output, so thats the one to go for if your dying for 1080p, the BDZ-V9 also features DLNA streaming to PCs or Read more